Quote Origin: The Distinction Between Past, Present, and Future Is Only a Stubbornly Persistent Illusion

Albert Einstein? Freeman Dyson? H. Dieter Zeh? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The universe can be modeled as a vast four-dimensional spacetime manifold. From this viewpoint, time does not change; instead, the universe is static and timeless. Here are four versions of a statement attributed to the famous physicist Albert Einstein: (1) The separation between …

Quote Origin: In a Football Match, Everything Is Complicated by the Presence of the Opposite Team

Jean-Paul Sartre? Alan Sheridan-Smith? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The presence of an adversary makes planning more complex because the achievement of goals requires the anticipation of counter-measures. A famous philosopher once said something like the following: In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team. The term “football” corresponds to “soccer” …

Quote Origin: Words Make You Think a Thought. Music Makes You Feel a Feeling. A Song Makes You Feel a Thought

Yip Harburg? Jay Gorney? Caryl Brahms? Ned Sherrin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent songwriter once stated that words are used to make a person think a thought, and music is used to make a person feel a feeling, but the goal of a song is different and more powerful: A song makes you …

Quote Origin: All of Bach, Streamed Out Into Space, Over and Over Again. We Would Be Bragging

Carl Sagan? Lewis Thomas? Douglas Adams? Stephen Fry? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Suppose humanity decided to deliberately send a message out into space. What should be included in that message which might someday be read by a hypothetical alien civilization?   In fact, the U.S. launched two robotic interstellar probes in 1977, Voyager 1 …

Quote Origin: People Do Not Stop Playing Because They Grow Old; They Grow Old Because They Stop Playing

Herbert Spencer? G. Stanley Hall? Karl Groos? George L. Knapp? George Bernard Shaw? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Children enjoy playing, yet this rambunctious and exploratory spirit often fades with age. The following adage encourages the retention of a youthful temperament. Here are four versions: (1) People do not cease playing because they grow old, …

Quote Origin: I Am Not Innarested In Your Horrible Disease

William S. Burroughs? Kenneth Turan? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The transgressive Beat Generation author William Burroughs once wrote something like the following: I am not innarested in your horrible disease. I recall reading this many years ago. The word “interested” was deliberately written with the nonstandard spelling “innarested”. Maybe my memory is flawed because …

Quote Origin: We Learn From History That We Do Not Learn From History

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel? Aldous Huxley? George Bernard Shaw? Henry Tizard? Caroline Thomas Harnsberger? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The historical record displays clear patterns, yet there is enormous resistance to learning from these patterns. Here are two versions of a humorously contradictory adage: (1) We learn from history that we do not learn from …

Quote Origin: Those Who Cannot Remember the Past Are Condemned To Repeat It

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 …

Quote Origin: One Has To Belong To the Intelligentsia To Believe Things Like That: No Ordinary Man Could Be Such a Fool

George Orwell? Bertrand Russell? Thomas Sowell? Nicholas Kisburg? George Will? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Intelligent individuals sometimes embrace remarkably foolish ideas. Here are four versions of an acerbic remark: (1) One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool. (2) This is one …

Quote Origin: Through Love, Through Friendship, a Heart Lives More Than One Life

Anais Nin? Rosalie Maggio? Katherine Young? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A deep emotional rapport with another person allows one to live vicariously. A famous diarist apparently said the following: Through love, through friendship, a heart lives more than one life. This statement has been ascribed to French-born U.S. author Anaïs Nin. Would you please …