Quote Investigator® – Tracing Quotations

Quote Origin: It Was Worse Than a Crime; It Was a Blunder

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord? Joseph Fouché? Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe? Napoleon Bonaparte? Jean-Gabriel Peltier? Germaine de Staël? Emmanuel Comte de Las Cases? Walter Scott? Ralph Waldo Emerson?

Question for Quote Investigator: In 1804 the Duke of Enghien was accused of aiding Britain and plotting against Napoleon. Enghien was found guilty and executed. This rapid and brutal action shocked the aristocrats of Europe. Here are two versions of a famous response to this event in French and English:

(1) C’est plus qu’un crime, c’est une faute.
(2) C’est pire qu’un crime, c’est une faute.

(A) It is more than a crime; it is a blunder.
(B) It is worse than a crime; it is a blunder.

This remark has been attributed to the diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the police chief Joseph Fouché, the magistrate Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe, and the military leader Napoleon Bonaparte. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in 1807 within the periodical “L’Ambigu: ou Variétés Littéraires et Politiques” (“The Ambiguous: or Literary and Political Varieties”) which was edited by the French journalist Jean-Gabriel Peltier and published in London. An article attributed the saying to Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe. Below is an excerpt in French followed by an English translation. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

… on ne peut se dispenser de citer ici un mot froidement atroce de Boulay (de la Meurthe) conseiller d’état, à qui quelqu’un disait : je pense que la mort du Duc d’Enghien est un crime inutile. C’est bien plus qu’un crime, s’écria Boulay, c’est une faute !

… we cannot refrain from quoting here a coldly atrocious remark made by Boulay (de la Meurthe), a Councilor of State, to whom someone said: “I believe that the death of the Duke of Enghien is a pointless crime.” “It is far more than a crime,” exclaimed Boulay; “it is a blunder!”

Based on the citation above, Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe is the most likely creator of this saying. Joseph Fouché is the second most likely creator. Fouché received credit by 1813. Talleyrand received credit in 1822, and Napoleon received credit in 1844.

Below are details for additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: A Hero Has the Wisdom and the Maturity to Use the Power Wisely

Christopher Reeve? David Michael Petrou? Clark Kent? Kal-El? Apocryphal?

**Silhouette of a person from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: An actor who played Superman was asked about the enduring popularity of the character. The actor stated that the appeal was not based solely on power. Instead, true heroism was shown by the wisdom and maturity displayed while wielding power. Would you please help me to find the correct phrasing of this quotation and the identity of the actor?

Reply from Quote Investigator: An influential depiction of superheroism appeared in the 1978 film “Superman”. Producer David Michael Petrou published a companion book titled “The Making of Superman: The Movie” in the same year. Petrou spoke to actor Christopher Reeve who had been selected to play the role of Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent / Kal-El:¹

As much as he looked the part, however, Chris made it clear when he talked to me later on the set that the film Superman would have to have greater depth of character than the comic-book figure.

Reeves continued his remarks with a statement about power:

So what I’m trying to do is to go way under. If the script calls for incredible feats, all I have to do is . . . just simply do them. What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely. From an acting point of view, that’s how I approach the part.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Change the Way You Look at Things, and the Things You Look at Change

Wayne Dyer? Max Planck? Benjamin Wheeler? Gilda Wheeler? Wendy Church? Anonymous?

**Crystal sphere at the beach from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: When you change your viewpoint on life the entire world can be altered. Carefully deciding where to focus your attention and your efforts is crucial to leading a successful life. Here is a pertinent adage:

Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.

This saying has been attributed to two very different people: U.S. self-help author Wayne Dyer and German theoretical physicist Max Planck. I have not seen a solid citation, and I am skeptical of these attributions. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Max Planck said or wrote this remark. Planck died in 1947.

In 2004 Wayne Dyer published “The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-Create Your World Your Way”. The tenth chapter began with the following passage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

One of my secrets for feeling successful and attracting bountiful abundance into my life has been an internal axiom that I use virtually every day of my life. It goes like this: Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change. This has always worked for me.

The truth of this little maxim is actually found in the field of quantum physics, which, according to some, is a subject that’s not only stranger than you think it is, it’s stranger than you can think.

QI believes that Wayne Dyer deserves credit for the quotation under examination.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Every Writer Has a Lifetime Ration of Three Exclamation Points

William Maxwell? Annabel Davis-Goff? Elmore Leonard? Helen Dudar? Benjamin Dreyer? William Safire? F. Scott Fitzgerald? Sheilah Graham? Christopher Morley? Terry Hersom? Anonymous?

**Three exclamation points and a question mark from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: The stylistically appropriate use of exclamation points is a contentious topic. One writer proposed the following comically extreme self-contradictory rule:

Kill all exclamation points!!!

Style guides have presented the following instructions:

(1) A writer gets two exclamation points in a lifetime.
(2) Every writer has a lifetime ration of three exclamation points.
(3) Use no more than a dozen exclamation points per book.

Rules of this type have been attributed to magazine editor William Maxwell, crime writer Elmore Leonard, copy editor Benjamin Dreyer, speechwriter William Safire, and others. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match with a numerical restriction on exclamation points found by QI appeared in “The Sioux City Journal” of Iowa in October 1979. Sports journalist Terry Hersom wrote the following. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

After all, writers are entrusted with three exclamation points to last a lifetime, so as not to squander them. When one has wasted the ultimate symbol, he leaves nothing for the future.

The notion of controlling the use of exclamation points can be expressed in many ways; hence, it is difficult to trace. Here is an evolutionary overview with dates and attributions:

1919: It should be written with great rapidity, containing not less than ten exclamation points per page (Satirical remark by Christopher Morley)

1930: The Times’ typographical rules for news-stories forbade the use of the exclamation point (Claim about “The New York Times” made in “The New Yorker”)

1958: Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke (Attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald by Sheilah Graham)

1979 Jan: The quote … always appears with more exclamation points than a prudent writer is likely to use in a lifetime (Helen Dudar)

1979 Oct: Writers are entrusted with three exclamation points to last a lifetime (Terry Hersom)

1979 Nov: Don’t overuse exclamation marks!!! (William Safire)

1990: Unless you are quoting other people’s exclamations, kill all exclamation points!!! (William Safire)

1997: A writer gets two exclamation points in a lifetime (Attributed to William Maxwell by Jane Schwartz)

1999: A writer gets two exclamation points in a lifetime (Attributed to William Maxwell by Edward Hirsch)

2001: Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose (Elmore Leonard)

2004: Every writer has a lifetime ration of three exclamation points (Annabel Davis-Goff states that William Maxwell made this statement directly to her)

2008: Each of us is allowed only three exclamation points in a lifetime (Attributed to Allen Smith by colleagues Candy Schwartz and Peter Hernon)

2019: Some writers recommend that you should use no more than a dozen exclamation points per book; others insist that you should use no more than a dozen exclamation points in a lifetime (Benjamin Dreyer)

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: God’s Only Excuse Is That He Does Not Exist

Stendhal? Marie-Henri Beyle? Friedrich Nietzsche? Albert Camus? Prosper Mérimée? Apocryphal?

**Silhouette of a person contemplating a star field from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: An atheist who was angry about the state of the world crafted the following comically paradoxical saying:

The only excuse for God is that he does not exist.

This remark has been attributed to the French Romantic novelist Marie-Henri Beyle (known by his pen name Stendhal). The statement has also been credited to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the French philosopher Albert Camus. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Marie-Henri Beyle died in 1842. In 1850 the French writer and archaeologist Prosper Mérimée published a short work about his friend. The title of the work, “H. B.”, was based on the initials of Henri Beyle. Mérimée presented the following tale about Beyle. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Il n’avait aucune idée religieuse, ou s’il en avait, il apportait un sentiment de colère et de rancune contre la Providence. « Ce qui excuse Dieu, disait-il, c’est qu’il n’existe pas. »

Here is one possible rendering into English:

He never had any sense of religion, or if he did, he harbored a sense of anger and resentment toward Providence. “God’s only excuse,” he’d say, “is that He doesn’t exist.”

Friedrich Nietzsche mentioned this saying in his book “Ecce Homo”, but Nietzsche credited the remark to Stendhal.

Albert Camus mentioned the saying in his book “L’Homme Révolté” (“The Rebel”), but Camus commented that Nietzsche attributed the statement to Stendhal.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Joke Origin: “Do You Serve Lobsters Here?” “Yes, We Serve Anyone”

Life Magazine? Milton College? Joan Kochanowski? Norman Brinkmeier? Anonymous?

**Illustration of Lobster (Homarus Americanus) from N.Y. Public Library**

Question for Quote Investigator: There is a family of wordplay jokes in which a customer asks a waiter about the availability of seafood. Here are three examples:

“Waiter, do you serve shrimps here?” “Sure. We don’t care how tall you are. Sit down.”

“Do you serve crabs?” “Yes, we treat all customers alike.”

“Do you serve lobsters here? ” “Oh, yes sir, we serve anyone. Sit right down.”

In each of these jokes, the seafood term is not interpreted as a menu item; instead, the term is applied to the customer. Would you please trace the history of this family of jokes?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in “The Scioto Gazette” of Chillicothe, Ohio in March 1901. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“Do you serve lobsters here?” asked the new arrival.

“Well,” replied the waiter, “we ’as our instructions to discriminate as much as possible among them as comes in to eat.”

This joke can be understood as an absurdist misunderstanding. Further, circa 1901 there were several different slang interpretations for “lobster”. Here are five senses listed in “Green’s Dictionary of Slang”:²

1. (a) a soldier, a marine (who also wears scarlet).

1. (b) (also blue lobster) a policeman.

2. (a) (US) a slow-witted, awkward, or gullible person; a general term of abuse; esp. of a socially inept or foolish person.

2. (b) an older man who gives a younger woman presents and/or money in return for sexual favours.

3 (US) in the context of obtaining money, one who is a waste of effort.

The joke above appeared in several newspapers in 1901 including “The Omaha Daily News” in Nebraska,³ “The Washington Reporter” in Pennsylvania,⁴ and “The Wilsonton Journal” in Kansas.⁵

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Proverb Origin: It Is Better to Die on Our Feet Than to Live on Our Knees

Emiliano Zapata? Dolores Ibarruri? Franklin D. Roosevelt? Ernest Hemingway? Aeschylus? François-Noël Babeuf? Joseph Heller? Luciano J. Rivas? Rafael Tellez Giron? Anonymous?

**Wooden figures depicting one person helping another**

Question for Quote Investigator: A popular saying extolls courage and condemns subservience even when conditions are challenging:

It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees.

This motto has been attributed to Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata, Spanish politician Dolores Ibárruri, French revolutionary leader François-Noël Babeuf, ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. literary figure Ernest Hemingway, U.S. novelist Joseph Heller, and others. This situation is confusing. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in the Mexican periodical “El Mundo Ilustrado” (“The Illustrated World”) in September 1906 within an article about Mexican leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla written by Luciano J. Rivas. Here is a Spanish excerpt followed by an English translation. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Mexicanos imitémoslo, recordando que “vale más morir de pie que vivir de rodillas.”

Mexicans, let us emulate him, remembering that “it is better to die standing than to live on one’s knees.”

The saying above was enclosed within quotation marks which signaled that the statement was already an existing proverb.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: If We Knew What We Were Doing, It Would Not Be Called Research

Albert Einstein? Charles F. Kettering? Wernher von Braun? Luis de Florez? Charles Erwin Wilson? David C. Hazen?

**Laboratory picture from CDC at Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: There are no guaranteed outcomes when research is conducted. The results might be valuable or worthless. The following saying reflects this uncertainty. Here are two versions:

(1) If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?

(2) If we knew what it was we would learn, it just wouldn’t be research, would it?

This saying has been attributed to the famous physicist Albert Einstein, but I am skeptical because there are so many fake Einstein quotations. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Albert Einstein wrote or spoke this statement. It is not listed in the comprehensive reference “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press.¹

This notion can be expressed in many ways; hence, it is difficult to trace. Here is an evolutionary overview with dates and attributions:

1923: Research wouldn’t be research if we didn’t try everything but the right thing. The only time it’s disgraceful to fail on a research is the last time. (Charles F. Kettering, President of the General Motors Research Corporation)

1946: If I knew in advance what the results will be, the work wouldn’t be research. (Luis de Florez, Rear Admiral in the United States Navy)

1954: If you knew for sure you were going to get the answer you wanted to get it would not be research. You would have passed that stage. It would be in the engineering application stage. (Charles Erwin Wilson, U.S. Secretary of Defense)

1958: If everything you started was bound to be successful, it wouldn’t be research and it wouldn’t be development. It would be just straight engineering. (Charles Erwin Wilson, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense)

1959: We don’t know really for sure what is going to come out of these programs—they wouldn’t be research programs, of course if we knew ahead of time what we were going to do. (Harold W. Ritchey, Vice President, Rocket Divisions, Thiokol Chemical Corp.)

1965: If research and development didn’t have its failures as well as its successes, it wouldn’t be called research and development. (Remark in anonymous editorial in “Army” magazine)

1967: If we knew what it was we would learn, it just wouldn’t be research, would it? (Attributed to David C. Hazen, Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University)

1986: If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research. (Anonymous epigraph in PhD thesis by John Stewart Denker)

1989: If we knew how it worked, it wouldn’t be called research. (No attribution given in a message posted to Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.mac)

1991: If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research. (Attributed to Argonne ATLAS in a message posted to Usenet newsgroup comp.os.vms)

1992: If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research. (Attributed to Wernher von Braun in a message posted to Usenet newsgroup rec.music.makers)

1994: If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? (Attributed to Albert Einstein in a message posted to Usenet newsgroup alt.usage.english)

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Good News Is, We’ve Discovered the Secret of Immortality. The Bad News Is, It’s Not for Us

Geoffrey Hinton? Will Douglas Heaven? Alex Hern? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A modern AI system is implemented with an intricate hardware device, but the crucial distinguishing characteristic of the device is a collection of parameters called weights. It is possible to store a copy of these weights in a separate location.

If the hardware device is damaged or destroyed, then a new comparable device can be constructed. The previously stored weights can be placed into the new device, and the original AI system can be resurrected. A prominent AI researcher once said the following when comparing the longevity of humans to the longevity of these digital neural network systems:

So, the good news is, we’ve discovered the secret of immortality. The bad news is, it’s not for us.

This statement has been attributed to Turing Award winner Geoffrey Hinton. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In May 2023 Geoffrey Hinton appeared at the EmTech conference, and he was interviewed by journalist Will Douglas Heaven. A transcript was published in the trade publication Computerworld. Hinton spoke about the future of humanity and immortality:¹

“I think it’s quite conceivable that humanity is just a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence. You couldn’t directly evolve digital intelligence. It would require too much energy and too much careful fabrication. You need biological intelligence to evolve so that it can create digital intelligence, but digital intelligence can then absorb everything people ever wrote in a fairly slow way, which is what ChatGPT is doing, but then it can get direct access experience from the world and run much faster. It may keep us around for a while to keep the power stations running, but after that, maybe not.

“So the good news is we figured out how to build beings that are immortal. When a piece of hardware dies, they don’t die. If you’ve got the weights stored in some medium and you can find another piece of hardware that can run the same instructions, then you can bring it to life again.

“So, we’ve got immortality but it’s not for us.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: I’m Sick and Tired of These Old Cliches. Let’s Have Some New Cliches

Samuel Goldwyn? Louella Parsons? Sylvia Porter? Leonard Hall? Apocryphal?

**Clichés illustrated by cartoonist J. Priestman Atkinson of Punch**

Question for Quote Investigator: A famous producer from the Golden Age of Hollywood once complained to his scriptwriters that their stories were uninspired. The producer made an inadvertently comical request:

Let’s have some new cliches.

This saying has been attributed to Samuel Goldwyn, but I am skeptical. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest ascription to Samuel Goldwyn found by QI appeared in an article by prominent gossip columnist Louella Parsons published in the September 1948 issue of “Cosmopolitan” magazine. Parsons used the initials S. G. when referring to Goldwyn. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

I wouldn’t, naturally, want to mention any names. But one of Hollywood’s most alert producers, whose initials are S. G. and who, a little more than a year ago, got an Oscar for a particularly fine picture, has lately been belaboring his writers “to come up with some new cliches.”

The notion of “new cliches” began to appear many years earlier, but usually the intention was not humorous. For example, in 1913 the book “Harry the Cockney” by Edwin Pugh discussed the influence of working-class Londoners:²

Every day he is enriching the English tongue with new forms of speech, new cliches, new slang, new catchwords.

In 1921 “The State” newspaper of South Carolina printed the following:³

The American position in regard to Hungarian affairs is said to be one of “interested observation.” This deserves to rank alongside “view with alarm,” and “point with pride.” Some brand-new cliches, to use a paradox, are getting themselves made every day.

In 1927, theater critic Harold E. Clurman wrote about the emergence of “new cliches” in plays, but this usage was also not intended to be humorous:⁴

So today many “unconventional” plays dealing with various types of Americans: the puritan, the repressed, the straitlaced, and hard-headed, the emancipated and the simple, are more or less conventional hokum cut after the latest pattern—the new cliches. So too, for example, the majority of plays, however intelligently maneuvered, dramatizing a “sex problem” on a psychoanalytic basis or plays about plain people with very plain speech.

The notion of deliberately creating and employing “new cliches” was discussed by journalist Leonard Hall in 1936:⁵

… we are busily trying to age some new cliches to fit these matters.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.