Tracing Quotations
Frank Lloyd Wright? John Mason Brown? Henri Peyre? Fred Allen? Dick Cavett? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The most acerbic criticism I have heard directed at TV was attributed to the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright: Television is just chewing gum for the eyes. However, I recently saw the remark credited to a drama critic …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Television Is Chewing Gum for the Eyes”
Samuel Goldwyn? Ted Robinson? Nine-Year-Old in Cleveland Heights? Jake ‘Malaprop’ Mintz? Question for Quote Investigator: It is flu season, and when a co-worker called in sick recently a friend said that he probably had the “intentional flu”. I had never heard this wordplay on “intestinal flu” before, but my knowledgeable friend stated that this quip …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Have Been Laid Up With Intentional Flu”
Yogi Berra? Desi Arnaz? Carl Brandt? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following anecdote is told about baseball great Yogi Berra. He received a telephone call very early in the morning, and the caller apologetically said, “I hope I didn’t wake you.” Yogi replied: Nah, I had to get up to answer the phone anyway. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Had to Get Up to Answer the Phone Anyway”
George Eliot? Adelaide Anne Procter? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation about untapped potential and enduring spirit is attributed to the prominent Victorian novelist George Eliot: It is never too late to be what you might have been. This popular saying has been printed on refrigerator magnets, posters, shirts, and key chains. …
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John B. Bogart? Charles A. Dana? Amos Cummings? Horace Greeley? Jesse Lynch Williams? Billy Woods? Doc Wood? Alfred Harmsworth? Lord Northcliffe? Joseph Pulitzer? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Would you please explore one of the most famous maxims in the news business? Legend states that a neophyte reporter asked a sage editor to define “news”, …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: ‘Dog Bites a Man’ Is Not News. ‘Man Bites a Dog’ Is News”
Indira Gandhi? Dwight Morrow? Harold Nicolson? Father Kemper? Motilal Nehru? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Indira Gandhi was the powerful Prime Minister of India for more than fifteen years. I have heard the following words which combine the serious and the comical attributed to her: There are two kinds of people, those who do the …
Bobby Jones? Stewart Maiden? Harvey Penick? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Sometimes a golfer who is looking down a narrow fairway becomes overly cautious when striking the ball. The resulting golf shot travels off course or is too short. There is a popular piece of advice to counter this self-defeating tentative behavior. Here are three …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Hit ‘Em Hard, They’ll Land Somewhere”
Abraham Lincoln? Alphonse Karr? B. Fay Mills? Roe Fulkerson? J. Kenfield Morley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular quotation about achieving the proper perspective on life is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln: We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses. Optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints are ingeniously contrasted …
Václav Havel? André Gide? François Truffaut? Marcel Proust? John Dingell Sr.? Luis Buñuel? Amanda Palmer? Voltaire? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a provocative saying about leadership, discipleship, and the search for truth that is commonly attributed to the Czech statesman Václav Havel who passed away in 2011. Here are two versions: Follow the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Believe Those Who Are Seeking the Truth; Doubt Those Who Find It”
Gaius Petronius Arbiter? Robert Townsend? Charlton Ogburn Jr.? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous book about management titled “Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits” contains a very funny and insightful quotation about reorganization: I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any …