Tracing Quotations
George Santayana? Edmund Burke? Winston Churchill? Question for Quote Investigator: The study of history teaches vital lessons; however, those lessons are often unheeded. Here are five versions of a popular adage: (1) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (2) Those who do not learn from the experience of history are …
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Rosalind Franklin? Brenda Maddox? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: In the 21st century the insights gained via science have re-emerged as centrally important to the flourishing of our planet and humanity. Apparently, a researcher enthralled by work was told that she was placing too much emphasis on science. She replied: Science and everyday life cannot and …
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John Maynard Keynes? George Patton? Samuel Harries Daddow? Benjamin Bannan? Henry Smith? S. H. Monell? Thomas Brackett Reed? Thomas Alan Goldsborough? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A brilliant figure of speech has been employed to describe the performance of a futile or counter-productive task. Here are two versions: (1) You cannot push on a string. (2) …
Aretha Franklin? Whitney Houston? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The reputation and legacy of an individual can be seriously damaged by a single misstep. The advent of social media networks has supercharged the transmission of detrimental material. Apparently, U.S. singer Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, once called for more empathy and understanding. She stated that …
Hermann Oberth? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Engineer Hermann Oberth was an extraordinary pioneer in the fields of rocketry and astronautics. Provocatively, he conjectured that Earth was being visited by spaceships from another solar system. I saw a fascinating quotation about the development of advanced technology that was attributed to him in a book about UFOs: …
Mark Twain? Coco Chanel? John Barrymore? Marlene Dietrich? Jackie Kannon? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A creative person can fashion a hat out of almost any scrap of fabric. An imaginative person can combine a wide variety of ingredients to create a salad. An irascible person can generate a quarrel from a mild disagreement. These …
Mark Twain? Frank Marshall White? Albert Bigelow Paine? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous anecdote about the humorist Mark Twain occurred when he was an elderly gentleman. A prominent newspaper reported that Twain was either gravely ill or dead. Journalists rushed to learn more about the story, and they found that Twain was still …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated”
George R. R. Martin? Gloria Swanson? C. S. Lewis? A. A. Pape? Vada B. Reese? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A best-selling author once stated: I have lived a thousand lives. I have loved a thousand loves. This extraordinary achievement had been accomplished vicariously via reading. Fantasy and science fiction author George R. R. Martin …
John Bunyan? Paul Bunyan? Jacob Morton Braude? Frank Look? Eugene P. Bertin? Frank Ney? Titus? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Altruism has been championed with the following saying: You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. This statement has been credited to the 17th-century Puritan preacher …
Henry L. Ellsworth? Charles H. Duell? Roswell Park? Royal S. Copeland? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to a popular legend the Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office wanted to shut down the organization in the nineteenth century. He supposedly proclaimed: Everything that can be invented has been invented. The two primary candidates for the …
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