Tracing Quotations
Albert Einstein? Bob Samples? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A well-known scholar delivered a lively and appealing lecture online which included the following quotation. The words were attributed to Einstein, but I am skeptical: The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors …
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Kurt Vonnegut? Frank Sinatra? Jean-Paul Sartre? Dale Carnegie? Bud Crew? Socrates? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The 1982 novel “Deadeye Dick” by the popular author Kurt Vonnegut mentioned the following piece of graffiti: “To be is to do”—Socrates. “To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre. “Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra. I think this tripartite list first …
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Napoleon Bonaparte? J.T.R. of Baltimore? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A famous palindrome is attributed to the renowned French leader Napoleon Bonaparte who was once exiled to the island of Elba: Able was I ere I saw Elba. Supposedly Napoleon said this reversible phrase to Barry Edward O’Meara who was his physician during his captivity on …
Dorothy Parker? George Jean Nathan? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The trenchant prose of Dorothy Parker has always impressed me. Reportedly she once lacerated a writer who was receiving a superfluity of undeserved accolades with the following: He is a writer for the ages — the ages of four to eight. Is this Parker’s joke? When …
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Florynce Kennedy? Gloria Steinem? Elderly Irish Taxicab Driver? Germaine Greer? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: An incendiary quotation on the topic of abortion has an uncertain authorship. The following words have been attributed to both Florynce Kennedy and Gloria Steinem: If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament. Could you determine who said it …
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Honoré de Balzac? Mario Puzo? Pierre Mille? Frank P. Walsh? Samuel Merwin? James Henry Yoxall? C. Wright Mills? Jane Bryant Quinn? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The popular 1969 novel “The Godfather” by Mario Puzo recounted the violent tale of a Mafia family, and the epigraph selected by the author was fascinating: Behind every great fortune …
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Winston Churchill? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Winston Churchill played golf for a period of time, but he switched his avocation to painting. The following description of golf is sometimes attributed to him: Like chasing a quinine pill around a cow pasture. Did Churchill use this expression and did he coin it? Quote investigator: There …
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Oscar Wilde? James McNeill Whistler? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I would like to learn more about a famous anecdote involving James McNeill Whistler, the painter who is known for his iconic portrait of his mother. Apparently, Whistler was able to trump Oscar Wilde, one of the greatest wits of the nineteenth century who was …
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Winston Churchill? Copywriter for Budweiser Beer? George F. Tilton? Sam Rayburn? Joe Paterno? John Wooden? Mike Ditka? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Here are two versions of stirring words that are often attributed to the well-known statesman Winston Churchill: Success is never final and failure never fatal. It’s courage that counts. Success is not final; …
Frank Lloyd Wright? William Faulkner? The Elder Gross? Charles Seiberling? Charles Douville Coburn? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The celebrated and innovative architect Frank Lloyd Wright is credited with the following remark about alcohol consumption: A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn’t …