Tracing Quotations
John F. Kennedy? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: In 1960 President John F. Kennedy spoke at that Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah and used a quotation that he attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson [JKU]: What we are speaks louder than what we say, as Emerson said. I was surprised when I …
Continue reading “What You Do Speaks So Loudly that I Cannot Hear What You Say”
Virginia Woolf? Molière? Ferenc Molnár? Philippe Halsman? Ad Reinhardt? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently I was invited to conduct a workshop about writing and creativity. While reviewing materials on this topic I repeatedly came across a humorous quotation that pertains to commercialism. Here is one version: Writing is like sex. First you do it for love, …
Continue reading “I Did It For My Own Pleasure. Then I Did It For My Friends. Now I Do It For Money”
Albert Jay Nock? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Oliver Wendell Holmes? Henry David Thoreau? Henry Stanley Haskins? William Morrow? Expelled Wall Street Stock Trader? Dear Quote Investigator: I attended a graduation ceremony last year and was genuinely impressed by a quotation used in the keynote address: What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are …