Quote Investigator® – Tracing Quotations

Dialogue Origin: “Will Computers Ever Be as Smart as Humans?” “Yes, But Only Briefly”

Vernor Vinge? Samuel Butler? Luke Muehlhauser? Anna Salamon? Anders Sandberg? Apocryphal?

**Abstract illustration of AI from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Current commentators are preoccupied with guessing when artificial intelligence (AI) systems will achieve human-level intelligence, but a thoughtful science fiction author crafted the following edifying dialogue:

“Will computers ever be as smart as humans?”
“Yes, but only briefly.”

The author suggested that the advancement of AI systems would not pause; instead, systems would rapidly achieve superhuman intelligence and continue ascending toward human incomprehensibility. Would you please help me to find the author’s name together with a citation.

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 2008 prize-winning science fiction author Vernor Vinge published “Signs of the Singularity” in the journal “IEEE Spectrum”. Vinge discussed the implications of AI:¹

The consequences of creating human-level artificial intelligence would be profound, but it would still be explainable to present-day humans like you and me.

But what happens a year or two after that? The best answer to the question, “Will computers ever be as smart as humans?” is probably “Yes, but only briefly.”

For most of us, the hard part is believing that machines could ever reach parity. If that does happen, then the development of superhuman performance seems very likely—and that is the singularity. In its simplest form, this might be achieved by “running the processor clock faster” on machines that were already at human parity. I call such creatures “weakly superhuman,” since they should be understandable if we had enough time to analyze their behavior.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: If You Would Know What the Lord God Thinks of Money, You Have Only to Look at Those to Whom He Gives It

Dorothy Parker? Martin Luther? Jonathan Swift? Alexander Pope? Anne Marsh-Caldwell? Matthew Poole? Richard Steele? Thomas Guthrie? Austin O’Malley? Maurice Baring?

**Illustration of a cascade of money from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: A scathing comment about wealthy people has been attributed to the U.S. writer Dorothy Parker:

If you would know what the Lord God thinks of money, you have only to look at those to whom he gives it.

Similar comments have been credited to German theologian Martin Luther, Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, and English poet Alexander Pope. I do not know whether any of these attributions are correct because I am having difficulty finding solid citations. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: An interview with Dorothy Paker appeared in “The Paris Review” in 1956. Parker employed the quotation under examination; however, she credited the statement to the English man of letters Maurice Baring. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

I hate almost all rich people, but I think I’d be darling at it. At the moment, however, I like to think of Maurice Baring’s remark: “If you would know what the Lord God thinks of money, you have only to look at those to whom he gives it.” I realize that’s not much help when the wolf comes scratching at the door, but it’s a comfort.

A version of the saying did appear in Maurice Baring’s 1927 novel “Tinker’s Leave”; however, the character who delivered the line credited Jonathan Swift:²

“Do you remember what Swift said?” asked Troumestre: “‘One has only to look at the people God has given money to, to see what He thinks of it.’”

This harsh criticism of affluent individuals has been expressed in numerous ways during the past five centuries. Below is an overview with attributions and dates:

1566: Our Lord God commonly giveth Riches to such gross Asses, to whom hee affordeth nothing else that is good (Martin Luther; Published in German in 1566; English in 1659)

1696: God commonly throws away Riches upon the basest of men (Matthew Poole)

1710: We may learn the little Value of Fortune by the Persons on whom Heaven is pleased to bestow it (Richard Steele)

1720: If heaven had looked upon riches to be a valuable thing, it would not have given them to such a scoundrel (Jonathan Swift)

1727: We may see the small value God has for Riches, by the People he gives them to (Alexander Pope)

1848: Our Lord God commonly gives riches to those from whom he withholds spiritual good (Martin Luther; Alternative English Translation)

1851: God would mark his contempt of mere material riches by the hands into which he suffers them to fall (Attributed to an old divine by Anne Marsh-Caldwell)

1860: We see what God Almighty thinks of riches by the people to whom he gives them (Attributed to Jonathan Swift)

1861: You may know how little God thinks of money by observing on what bad and contemptible characters he often bestows it (Thomas Guthrie)

1915: It was a poor man that said God shows His contempt for wealth by the kind of persons He selects to receive it (Austin O’Malley)

1927: One has only to look at the people God has given money to, to see what He thinks of it (Attributed to Jonathan Swift by a character in a novel by Maurice Baring)

1956: If you would know what the Lord God thinks of money, you have only to look at those to whom he gives it (Attributed to Maurice Baring by Dorothy Parker)

Here are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Only Difference Between Me and a Madman Is That I Am Not a Madman

Salvador Dali? Leonard Lyons? Apocryphal?

**Surrealist picture with a digital watch (Public domain)**

Question for Quote Investigator: Two very different statements about madness have been attributed to the famous Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali:

(1) The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not a madman.

(2) There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad.

I have not been able to find solid citations for either of these remarks. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in 1934 within a Springfield, Massachusetts newspaper which reported on a visit Salvador Dali made to Hartford, Connecticut. The paper stated that Dali spoke “Catalan French”, but the paper presented his words in English. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

He was, he explained, recreating dreams, so that one could see them in the midst of every-day objects. The world that he is investigating is the world Freud wrote of.

“The only difference between me and a madman,” he remarked calmly, “is that I am not a madman. I am able to distinguish between the dream and the real world.”

Salvador Dali died in 1989. The earliest match QI has found for the second statement in the inquiry occurred in 1994. Thus, the evidence supporting the second statement is weak.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: It Is Better To Be Vaguely Right Than Exactly Wrong

John Maynard Keynes? Francis Bacon? Ian Dishart Suttie? Carveth Read? Curt John Ducasse? Gerald F. Shove? H. Wildon Carr?

**Graph of an upward sweeping curve from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: Two seemingly contradictory adages have become popular:

(1) It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong
(2) It is better to be definitely wrong than vaguely right

The justification for the first adage is: A vaguely right answer is valuable because it provides a starting point that can be refined and improved over time to obtain a more accurate answer. However, an exactly wrong answer provides no insight and is misleading.

The justification for the second adage is: A definitely wrong answer is valuable because it can be detected. This recognition of failure forces creative thought to formulate new ideas and construct new answers enabling progress. However, a vaguely right answer encourages the lazy acceptance and the persistence of faulty incoherent ideas.

The first adage has been attributed to English economist John Maynard Keynes, but I have never seen a solid citation. The second adage has been credited to Scottish psychiatrist Ian Dishart Suttie, but I am skeptical. Would you please explore the provenance of these two adages?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Tracing these dual notions is difficult because they can be expressed in numerous ways. Below is an overview depicting the evolution of these sayings with attributions and dates. The statement from Francis Bacon is a precursor for the second adage:

1620: Citius emergit Veritas ex errore quam ex confusion (Francis Bacon)

1620: Truth emerges more readily from error than confusion (Francis Bacon rendered into English)

1898: It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong (Carveth Read)

1903: To be only vaguely right is worse than being definitely wrong (Unknown person with initials A. J. O.)

1929: Greater service to the cause of philosophical truth is ever done by being definitely wrong than by being vaguely right (Curt John Ducasse)

1933: It is better to be definitely wrong than vaguely right (Ian D. Suttie)

1936: Mandeville, Malthus, Gesell and Hobson … preferred to see the truth obscurely and imperfectly rather than to maintain error, reached … on hypotheses inappropriate to the facts (John Maynard Keynes)

1942: It is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong (Attributed to Wildon Carr by Gerald Shove)

1955: It was better to be roughly right than precisely wrong (K. Smith)

1960: I would prefer to be vaguely right than precisely wrong (Sydney J. Harris)

1966: It is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong (Attributed to John Maynard Keynes in “The Accountants Digest”)

1969: It is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong (Attributed to John Maynard Keynes by Howard Ross)

1978: It is far better to be clearly and definitely wrong than to be vaguely and indefinitely right (J. Lorne McDougall)

1979: It is better to be precisely wrong than roughly accurate (Edmond A. Murphy)

2009: It was better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong (Attributed to John Maynard Keynes by Anthony Hilton)

Here are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Money Cannot Buy Health, But I’d Settle for a Diamond-Studded Wheelchair

Dorothy Parker? Evan Esar? Barry Day? Apocryphal?

**Picture of six diamonds from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: The notable wit Dorothy Parker suffered from ill-health in her later years. She has been credited with the following remark:

Money cannot buy health. but I’d settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair.

I have not been able to find any solid citations, and I have become skeptical. What do you think?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in “The Liverpool Echo” of Merseyside, England in January 1959 within a column titled “Echoes and Gossip of the Day” which contained miscellaneous short items. A title appeared above the quotation. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Settling Up
Money can’t buy health. but I’d settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair. —Dorothy Parker.

Parker died in 1967; hence, this attribution occurred while she was still alive, but no source was specified.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Dialogue Origin: “Young People, Nowadays, Imagine That Money Is Everything” “Yes, and When They Grow Older They Know It”

Oscar Wilde? Henry Wotton? Sibyl Vane? Louis T. Stanley? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The famous wit Oscar Wilde has received credit for the following cynical dialogue, but I am not sure where it appeared:

“Young people, nowadays, imagine that money is everything.”
“Yes, and when they grow older they know it.”

Oscar Wilde has also received credit for the following quotation which has a very similar meaning:

When I was young I used to think that money was the most important thing in life. Now that I am old, I know it is.

I have become skeptical of these attributions. Are either of these quotations authentic? Did Oscar Wilde repeat the same joke? Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Oscar Wilde published the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in 1891. During a scene in chapter three the jaded and hedonistic character Lord Wotton (Henry Wotton) met with his uncle Lord Fermor (George Fermor) and discussed money. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“Money, I suppose,” said Lord Fermor, making a wry face. “Well, sit down and tell me all about it. Young people, nowadays, imagine that money is everything.”

“Yes,” murmured Lord Henry, settling his buttonhole in his coat; “and when they grow older they know it. But I don’t want money. It is only people who pay their bills who want that, Uncle George, and I never pay mine.”

Thus, Oscar Wilde should be credited with this dialogue; however, the acerbic rejoinder was spoken by a fictional character and not by Wilde himself.

QI conjectures that the second quotation in the inquiry was not written or spoken by Oscar Wilde; instead, it was derived from the first quotation via a faulty memory. Wilde died in 1900, and the earliest close match for the second quotation found by QI appeared in 1945.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Language Is the Mother, Not the Handmaiden of Thought

W. H. Auden? Karl Kraus? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Philosophers and scientists are still trying to elucidate the interconnectedness of thought and language. The advent of large language models in artificial intelligence has highlighted this conundrum. One literary figure emphasized the primacy of language with the following adage:

Language is the mother, not the handmaiden of thought.

This statement has been attributed to British-American poet W. H. Auden and Austrian writer Karl Kraus. Yet, I have not seen any solid citations. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match known to QI appeared in 1909 within the Vienna periodical “Die Fackel” (“The Torch”) which published a set of aphorisms crafted by Karl Kraus. The following item was included. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Die Sprache ist die Mutter, nicht die Magd des Gedankens.

Hear is one possible translation into English:

Language Is the Mother, Not the Handmaiden of Thought.

QI believes this saying should be credited to Karl Kraus. Decades later W. H. Auden also used the expression, but Auden credited Kraus.

Below is an overview tracing the evolution of the saying with variants, attributions, and dates:

1870: Language is the handmaiden of thought
Article in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine; author not specified

1907: For speech is the handmaiden of thought, And thought makes the universe to tremble
Written by Francis du Bosque

1909: Die Sprache ist die Mutter, nicht die Magd des Gedankens
(Language is the mother, not the handmaiden of thought)
Aphorism authored by Karl Kraus

1912: Language is … the mother of thought, not its handmaiden
Credited to Karl Kraus in “The Times Literary Supplement”

1965: Die Sprache ist die Mutter, nicht die Magd, des Gedankens
Epigraph of a poem by W. H. Auden who credited Karl Kraus

1966: Speech is the mistress, not the handmaiden, of thought
Spoken by W. H. Auden during an interview

1970 Jan: Language is the mother, not the handmaiden, of thought; words will tell you things you never thought or felt before
Spoken by W. H. Auden during an interview

1970 Sep: Speech is the mother of thought, not the hand-maiden
Spoken by W. H. Auden during an interview

1988: Language is not the handmaiden but the mother of ideas
Attributed to Karl Kraus

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Sweetness of Low Price Never Equals the Bitterness of Poor Quality

Benjamin Franklin? John Ruskin? Thomas B. Lehon? Anonymous?

**A collection of SALE tags from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: A family of sayings warns about the dangers of selecting products based on price alone. Here are three instances:

(1) The sweetness of low price never equals the bitterness of poor quality

(2) The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten

(3) The bitter taste of poor service remains long after the sweet taste of low price is forgotten.

This saying has been attributed to U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin and English art critic John Ruskin. However, I have never seen a solid citation, and I have become skeptical. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Benjamin Franklin died in 1790. John Ruskin died in 1900. QI has found no substantive evidence that Franklin or Ruskin employed this saying.

The earliest match found by QI appeared in a “Catalogue of Copyright Entries” for the United States which contained the following entry from Thomas B. Lehon dated September 4, 1906. Boldface added to excepts by QI:¹

The sweetness of low price never equals the bitterness of poor quality.
card, 3 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches.
T. B. Lehon, Chicago, Ill. A 154632,
Sept. 4, 1906; 2 c, Oct. in 1906.

Thomas B. Lehon is the leading candidate for creator of this saying. Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Fear of Infinity Is a Form of Myopia. The Infinite in Its Highest Form Created Us

Georg Cantor? Galileo Galilei? Rudy Rucker? David Foster Wallace? Apocryphal?

**Symbol of the transfinite cardinal number aleph zero**

Question for Quote Investigator: The careless use of infinity in mathematical and scientific reasoning produces confusion and contradictions. Hence, mathematicians in the 1800s often placed tight restrictions on the use of infinity within mathematical proofs.

The theory of transfinite numbers was pioneered by mathematician Georg Cantor who envisioned an extraordinary hierarchy of infinite sets. Influential colleagues reacted with disbelief and scorn to Cantor’s mind-stretching ideas. Apparently, Cantor responded by saying something like the following:

The fear of infinity is a form of myopia that destroys the possibility of seeing the actual infinite, even though it in its highest form has created and sustains us.

Oddly, this statement has also been attributed to the famous Italian Renaissance astronomer Galileo Galilei. Would you please help me to find an accurate version of the quotation together with a citation identifying the originator?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive support for the attribution to Galileo Galilei who died in 1642. A contributor to the Goodreads website implausibly linked the quotation to Galileo in 2017.¹

The earliest close match in English known to QI appeared in 1982 within the book “Infinity and the Mind: The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite” by mathematician and science fiction author Rudy Rucker. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:²

In mathematics no other subject has led to more polemics than the issue of the existence or nonexistence of mathematical infinities. We will return to some of these polemics in the last chapter. For now, let us reprint Cantor’s opening salvo in the modern phase of this age-old debate:

The fear of infinity is a form of myopia that destroys the possibility of seeing the actual infinite, even though it in its highest form has created and sustains us, and in its secondary transfinite forms occurs all around us and even inhabits our minds.

The accompanying footnote pointed to a letter by Georg Cantor published within a collection of his essays.

Below are details and additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: All True Poems Are About Love, Death, or the Changing of the Seasons

Robert Graves? Samuel R. Delany? Marilyn Hacker? Apocryphal?

**Leaf colors depicting seasonal changes from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: The following witty remark is popular in poetry circles although its accuracy is debated:

All true poetry is about love, death, or the changing of the seasons.

This statement has been attributed to the English poet and historical novelist Robert Graves; however, I have never seen a solid citation; hence, I am skeptical. Would you please explore the provenance of this remark?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has been unable to find this precise statement in the writings of Robert Graves. QI hypothesizes that the saying was derived from a thematically similar remark in “The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth” which Graves published in 1948 and enlarged in 1952. The key sentence occurred at the end of the following passage. Boldface added to excerpts:¹

Originally, the poet was the leader of a totem-society of religious dancers. His verses—versus is a Latin word corresponding to the Greek strophe and means ‘a turning’—were danced around an altar or in a sacred enclosure and each verse started a new turn or movement in the dance.

The word ‘ballad’ has the same origin: it is a dance poem, from the Latin ballare, to dance. All the totem-societies in ancient Europe were under the dominion of the Great Goddess, the Lady of the Wild Things; dances were seasonal and fitted into an annual pattern from which gradually emerges the single grand theme of poetry: the life, death and resurrection of the Spirit of the Year, the Goddess’s son and lover.

The quotation in the form specified by the inquiry was popularized by the science fiction author Samuel R. Delany starting in 1975. Delany believed that the quotation appeared in “The White Goddess”. The best partial match found by QI within “The White Goddess” is the sentence above. Detailed citations for Delany are given further below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.