Thomas Friedman? Dan Montano? Arthur M. Blank? Sue Tabor? Herb Caen? Christopher McDougall? Roger Bannister? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Last year I saw a motivational poster with a portrait of a lion. The text was a fable about lions and gazelles, and the title was something like the “The Key to Survival.” Paraphrasing: To survive …
Yearly Archives: 2011
Golf: Hit a Very Small Ball into an Even Smaller Hole, with Weapons Singularly Ill-Designed for the Purpose
Winston Churchill? Woodrow Wilson? George Curzon? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Friends know I am an avid golfer and recently a book of quotations about the sport was given to me as a present. This quote from Winston Churchill captures the exasperation I feel when attempting to chip my ball near to the pin [GBGQ]: Golf …
My Customers Would Have Asked For a Faster Horse
Henry Ford? Edward Menge? Lewis Mumford? Sedgewick Seti? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The preeminent automotive industrialist Henry Ford is credited with a saying that has become very popular in the business literature. Here are two versions: If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. If I had asked my …
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University Training is to Unsettle the Minds of Young Students, to Widen their Horizons, to Inflame Their Intellects
Foster C. McClellan? Robert M. Hutchins? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Since you are a sleuth for origin histories I’m wondering if you’ve ever come across this quote or any references to its origins: Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen …
When the Facts Change, I Change My Mind. What Do You Do, Sir?
John Maynard Keynes? Paul Samuelson? Winston Churchill? Joan Robinson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: John Maynard Keynes was an enormously influential economist, but some of his detractors complained that the opinions he expressed tended to change over the years. Once during a high-profile government hearing a critic accused him of being inconsistent, and Keynes reportedly answered …
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Heaven for the Climate, and Hell for the Company
Mark Twain? Ben Wade? Emery A. Storrs? James Matthew Barrie? Robert Burton? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a well-known quotation about heaven and hell that is usually credited to Mark Twain. I have found it phrased in different ways: Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. I would choose Heaven for climate …
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A Day Without Laughter is a Day Wasted
Charlie Chaplin? Steve Martin? Groucho Marx? Nicolas Chamfort? Dear Quote Investigator: The following guideline for living makes sense to me, so I try to find humor in something every day: A day without laughter is a day wasted When I read this maxim originally it was credited to Charlie Chaplin, but I once heard it …
You Can’t Think and Hit at the Same Time
Yogi Berra? Bucky Harris? Eddie Froelich? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The New York Times magazine recently highlighted a quotation from a Hall of Fame baseball player:[1]2011 June 26, New York Times, For Derek Jeter, on His 37th Birthday by Michael Sokolove, Page MM28, Section: Sunday Magazine, New York. (Published online 2011 June 23; Accessed online …
Look Around the Poker Table; If You Can’t See the Sucker, You’re It
Warren Buffett? Michael Wolff? Amarillo Slim? Poker Proverb? Whispering Saul? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a quotation I have seen in several books and periodicals aimed at investors. Here is one version: If you have been in a poker game for a while, and you still don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy. …
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Rock Journalism is People Who Can’t Write Interviewing People Who Can’t Talk for People Who Can’t Read
Frank Zappa? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The most outrageously funny quotation that I know of was spoken by the musician Frank Zappa: Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read. The perfect place to say this would have been during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. …