Quote Investigator® – Tracing Quotations

Quote Origin: The Tree Remembers What the Axe Forgets

Shona Proverb? G. Fortune? Maya Angelou? Wolfgang Mieder? Anonymous?

**Picture of an axe buried in a tree truck from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: A faultfinder may deliver a harsh criticism and quickly forget it. Yet, the recipient of the barb may create a painful memory. Similarly, a person who causes an injury may forget the incident, but the person who is hurt will likely remember it. Here are three versions of a pertinent saying:

(1) The axe forgets what the tree remembers.
(2) The ax forgets, but the cut log does not.
(3) What the axe forgets the stump does not forget.

Would you please explore the provenance of this proverb?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1955 G. Fortune of the University of Cape Town in South Africa published “An Analytical Grammar of Shona” which contained the following English translation of a phrase:¹

What has forgotten is the axe – the stump does not forget

In 1968 G. Fortune published a book chapter titled “Predication of ‘Being’ in Shona” which included the proverb. Fortune stated that the version he presented was based on the Zezuru dialect cluster of Shona:²

Chakángánwá idemo, chigutsá hachíkángánwé

(What has forgotten / is the axe /, the stump (which was once a tree) / does not forget; viz. A person who is injured does not forget though the one who injured him may forget) cp. démó (axe)

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: You Will Find the Key To Success Under Your Alarm Clock

Benjamin Franklin? Apocryphal? Anonymous?

**Picture of an alarm clock from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Achieving success in life requires simple skills such as showing up for work on time. The following saying is pertinent:

You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.

This statement has been attributed to U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin. However, I am skeptical because I have never seen a solid citation. Also, Franklin died in 1790, and mass produced alarm clocks only became popular in the 1800s. Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Benjamin Franklin used this expression. The earliest match found by QI appeared as a filler item in “The Nebraska Ironmonger” of Lincoln, Nebraska in 1922. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Note to Discouraged: You will find the key to success under your alarm clock.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: There Is No Point in Using Exact Methods Where There Is No Clarity in the Concepts and Issues To Which They Are To Be Applied

John von Neumann? Oskar Morgenstern? W. Edwards Deming? Michael A. Jackson? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The brilliant polymath John von Neumann performed pioneering research in game theory, computer science, quantum physics, and other areas. His work was so original that he required the formulation of important new definitions. The following two similar remarks have been credited to him:

(1) There is no point in using exact methods where there is no clarity in the concepts and issues to which they are to be applied.

(2) There is no sense in being precise when you don’t know what you are talking about.

I am having difficulty finding supporting citations. Did John von Neumann actually say or write either of these statements?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1944 John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern published the trailblazing book “Theory of Games and Economic Behavior” which contained the following passage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

To begin with, the economic problems were not formulated clearly and are often stated in such vague terms as to make mathematical treatment a priori appear hopeless because it is quite uncertain what the problems really are. There is no point in using exact methods where there is no clarity in the concepts and issues to which they are to be applied. Consequently the initial task is to clarify the knowledge of the matter by further careful descriptive work.

Thus, von Neumann and Morgenstern should receive credit for the first statement given above. However, QI conjectures that the second statement is an informal paraphrase of the second statement, and it should be credited to neither von Neumann nor Morgenstern.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Trees Voted for the Axe Because the Axe Handle Was Made of Wood

Talmudic Proverb? Turkish Proverb? Kimberly Joyce Pollock? Wafula Chebukati? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: A popular allegory suggests that people are unable to distinguish between allies and adversaries:

The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the axe. The axe was clever and convinced the trees that since his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.

Would you please explore the provenance of this tale.

Reply from Quote Investigator: This metaphorical framework has a long history. A pertinent saying appeared in the Babylonian Talmud which was compiled over several centuries and probably completed by the 6th century. The text in boldface below is an English translation of rabbinical commentary from the Talmud. The phrase “people say” specified an anonymous attribution. The non-boldface text provides a modern supplementary explanation:¹

And this is as people say: From and within the forest comes the ax to it, as the handle for the ax that chops the tree is from the forest itself.

In 1678 the Reverend J. Ray published “A Collection of English Proverbs” in Cambridge, England. The germane saying occurred in a section titled “Adagia Hebraica”, and it was probably derived from the Babylonian Talmud. Boldface below was added to excerpts by QI:²

The axe goes to the wood, from whence it borrowed its helve:

The “helve” is the handle. This saying describes individuals who injure their own people or who injure those who have given them power.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: To Stand Up For the Truth Is Nothing! For Truth You Have To Sit In Jail!

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn? Anatoly Ilyich Fastenko? Alexander Pushkin? Apocryphal?

**Picture of barbed wire together with a daisy from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: A political activist once indicated that standing up for the truth was nothing, whereas sitting in jail for the truth reflected genuine commitment. I do not recall the precise phrasing.

This notion has been attributed to Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but I have been unable to find a citation. Would you please help me?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The English edition of “The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was published in 1974. Solzhenitsyn presented a portrait of the prison system of the Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn described the viewpoint of his fellow prisoner Anatoly Ilyich Fastenko. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Fastenko, on the other hand, was the most cheerful person in the cell, even though, in view of his age, he was the only one who could not count on surviving and returning to freedom.

Flinging an arm around my shoulders, he would say:

To stand up for the truth is nothing!
For truth you have to sit in jail!

Or else he taught me to sing this song from Tsarist hard-labor days:

And if we have to perish
In mines and prisons wet,
Our cause will ever find renown
In future generations yet.

And I believe this! May these pages help his faith come true!

Thus, Solzhenitsyn helped to popularize this saying, but it was spoken by Fastenko who had been imprisoned by the Tsar’s police and later by the communists.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: People Will Only Work Fifteen Hours a Week In the Future

John Maynard Keynes? Bertrand Russell? Herman Kahn? Apocryphal?

**Picture of two clock faces from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: The ongoing developments in artificial intelligence and robotics remind me of a remark attributed to the famous English economist John Maynard Keynes. Apparently, he predicted that technological advancements would allow society to adapt a fifteen-hour work week. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1930 John Maynard Keynes published an essay titled “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren” in “The Nation and Athenaeum”. He predicted a massive increase in the standard of living during the upcoming century due to progress in science and engineering:¹

I would predict that the standard of life in progressive countries one hundred years hence will be between four and eight times as high as it is to-day.

Keynes believed that society would decrease the length of the average work week in response to these advances. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:²

For many ages to come the old Adam will be so strong in us that everybody will need to do some work if he is to be contented. We shall do more things for ourselves than is usual with the rich to-day, only too glad to have small duties and tasks and routines. But beyond this, we shall endeavour to spread the bread thin on the butter—to make what work there is still to be done to be as widely shared as possible.

Three-hour shifts or a fifteen-hour week may put off the problem for a great while. For three hours a day is quite enough to satisfy the old Adam in most of us!

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: It Takes Twenty Years To Become an Overnight Success

Eddie Cantor? Hedda Hopper? Milton Berle? Johnny Desmond? Army Archerd? Anonymous?

**Picture of the famous Hollywood sign from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Years of hard work performed in obscurity are usually required before achieving fame. A humorously contradictory saying reflects this viewpoint. Here are three versions:

(1) It took me five years to become an overnight success.
(2) It took her ten years to become an overnight sensation.
(3) It takes twenty years to make an overnight success

This saying has been attributed to U.S. comedian Eddie Cantor and U.S. newspaper columnist Hedda Hopper. Yet, I have not been able to find a solid citation. Would you please explore the provenance of this remark?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest strong match located by QI appeared in the gossip column of Hedda Hopper in November 1945. Hopper specified an anonymous attribution. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Who was it said Hollywood is the place where it takes five years to become an overnight success?

Hedda Hopper was a significant popularizer of this comical saying, but the creator remains unknown. Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Even If You Are On the Right Track You Will Get Run Over If You Just Sit There

Mark Twain? Will Rogers? Tom Sims? Arthur Godfrey? Anonymous?

**Picture of tree-lined pathway from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: You must stay active and alert to have a fulfilling life. Two famous U.S. humorists, Mark Twain and Will Rogers, have been credited with the following remark:

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

Yet, I have been unable to find any solid citations pointing to either Twain or Rogers. Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence supporting the attributions to Mark Twain and Will Rogers. The earliest citations which credit them appeared many years after their deaths.

The earliest match found by QI occurred in March 1925 within a syndicated column titled “Tom Sims Says” which was printed in newspapers such as “The Sheboygan Press” of Wisconsin¹ and “The Indianapolis Times” of Indiana.² The column contained miscellaneous jokes and observations. Here were three items. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:

The straight and narrow path is plenty wide for its traffic.

Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there.

Love is blind. But there is always some friend who thinks he is an eye doctor.

Based on this evidence QI believes Tom Sims is the most likely creator of this quip.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Most Common Form of Despair Is Not Being Who You Are

Søren Kierkegaard? Carl Rogers? John Rowan? Howard Sasportas? Walter Lowrie? Anonymous?

**Illustration representing confusion about self-identity from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: Unhappy people often feel compelled to wear a social mask and to live inauthentic lives. Danish theologian and existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard has been credited with the following remark:

The most common form of despair is not being who you are.

I have been unable to find a citation and have become skeptical of this attribution. Would you please explore the provenance of this statement?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI believes that this statement evolved over time from passages written by Søren Kierkegaard in his 1849 book “Sygdommen til Døden” (“The Sickness unto Death”). An English translation by Walter Lowrie was published in 1941. Kierkegaard discussed despair extensively in the book. The following sentences contained the central idea of the quotation although the expression was somewhat convoluted. Boldface added to excerpt s by QI:¹

A despairing man wants despairingly to be himself. But if he despairingly wants to be himself, he will not want to get rid of himself. Yes, so it seems; but if one inspects more closely, one perceives that after all the contradiction is the same. That self which he despairingly wills to be is a self which he is not (for to will to be that self which one truly is, is indeed the opposite of despair); what he really wills is to tear his self away from the Power which constituted it.

The central idea was also expressed in the following passage:²

This form of despair is: in despair at not willing to be oneself; or still lower, in despair at not willing to be a self; or lowest of all, in despair at willing to be another than himself.

In 1956 the influential U.S. psychologist Carl Rogers published an article in the journal “Pastoral Psychology”. Rogers wrote a paraphrase of the viewpoint expressed by Søren Kierkegaard:³

In this connection I have been astonished to find how accurately the Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, pictured the dilemma of the individual more than a century ago, with keen psychological insight. He points out that the most common despair is to be in despair at not choosing, or willing, to be one’s self; but that the deepest form of despair is to choose “to be another than himself.” On the other hand “to will to be that self which one truly is, is indeed the opposite of despair,” and this choice is the deepest responsibility of man.

This text was further paraphrased to yield the popular modern expression as indicated further below.

Quote Origin: You’re an Idiot If You’re Not Writing for the AIs

Tyler Cowen? Dwarkesh Patel? Apocryphal?

**Public domain image of two robots reading**

Question for Quote Investigator: Several newspapers including “The New York Times”, “The Chicago Tribune”, and “The Orlando Sentinel” have sued OpenAI and Microsoft. The newspapers have claimed that the companies trained their artificial intelligence (AI) systems on millions of copyrighted articles without permission.¹

This protectiveness is understandable, but the influential economist Tyler Cowen has expressed a provocative counterpoint. Apparently, Cowen said the following:

You’re an idiot if you’re not writing for the AIs.

Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Podcaster Dwarkesh Patel interviewed Professor of Economics Tyler Cowen of George Mason University in October 2024. The video was uploaded to YouTube in January 2025. Patel mentioned that he had used the Claude AI system to help him prepare for the interview. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:²

Dwarkesh Patel: When I was preparing to interview you, I asked Claude to take your persona, and compared to other people I tried this with, it actually works really well with you.

Tyler Cowen: Because I’ve written a lot on the internet.

Dwarkesh Patel: Yeah. That’s why.

Tyler Cowen: This is my immortality, right?

Dwarkesh Patel: That’s right.

Thus, Cowen suggested that the processing of written words by an AI system provides a type of enduring cybernetic life. Later in the interview he said the following:³

Tyler Cowen: No one is writing or recording for the AIs very much. But if you believe even a modest version of this progress. Like I’m modest in what I believe relative to you and many of you. You should be doing this. You’re an idiot if you’re not writing for the AIs. They’re a big part of your audience, and their purchasing power, we’ll see but, over time it will accumulate.

In conclusion, Tyler Cowen deserves credit for this quotation which he spoke during an interview with Dwarkesh Patel in October 2024.

Image Notes: Public domain fanciful picture of two robots reading.

2024 April 30, The New York Times (Online), 8 Daily Newspapers Sue OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. by Katie Robertson, New York, New York. (ProQuest) link ↩︎
YouTube video, Title: Tyler Cowen – The #1 Bottleneck to AI Progress is Humans, Uploaded on January 9, 2025, Uploaded by: Dwarkesh Patel, (Quotation starts at 34 minutes 45 seconds of 60 minutes 33 seconds) (Accessed on youtube.com on January 22, 2025) link ↩︎
YouTube video, Title: Tyler Cowen – The #1 Bottleneck to AI Progress is Humans, Uploaded on January 9, 2025, Uploaded by: Dwarkesh Patel, (Quotation starts at 35 minutes 50 seconds of 60 minutes 33 seconds) (Accessed on youtube.com on January 22, 2025) link ↩︎