I Guess There Are Enough of Them in the Country So They’re Entitled To Representation

Calvin Coolidge? E. E. Whiting? Harold Schoelkopf? Styles Bridges? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: President Calvin Coolidge was once told that a U.S. Senator was an S.O.B. He replied with a comical and wistful statement about group representation within a democracy. Would you please explore this anecdote? Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared …

Coolidge Effect

Calvin Coolidge? Frank A. Beach? Lisbeth Jordan? Robert E. Whalen? Elliot Liebow? Dear Quote Investigator: The scientific literature on animal behavior contains the term “Coolidge Effect” which apparently was inspired by a ribald anecdote about Calvin Coolidge and his wife Grace. Would you please explore the provenance of this term and the accompanying story? Quote …

Purpose and Persistence Are Required for Success: Unrewarded Genius Is Almost a Proverb

Calvin Coolidge? Theodore Thornton Munger? M. M. Callen? Orison Swett Marden? Edward H. Hart? Dear Quote Investigator: Many books extolling self-improvement include a didactic passage that begins as follows: Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded …

“I Bet I Could Get Three Words Out of You.” “You Lose.”

Calvin Coolidge? Frank B. Noyes? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: President Calvin Coolidge was known as “Silent Cal” because of his extraordinarily laconic speech. A famous anecdote tells of a dinner party during which the person sitting adjacent to the Coolidge said: “Mr. President I’ve made a large bet that I would be able to make …

How Can They Tell?

Dorothy Parker? Wilson Mizner? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Calvin Coolidge was the 30th President of the United States, and his highly reserved character in social settings led to the nickname “Silent Cal”. A few years after his death in 1933 two similar anecdotes began to circulate about the spoken reaction to the news of …