Tracing Quotations
Calvin Coolidge? Frank B. Noyes? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: President Calvin Coolidge was known as “Silent Cal” because of his extraordinarily laconic speech. A famous anecdote tells of a dinner party during which the person sitting adjacent to the Coolidge said: “Mr. President I’ve made a large bet that I would be able to make …
Continue reading ““I Bet I Could Get Three Words Out of You.” “You Lose.””
Madison Avenue? Doctor’s Advice? Graffito? Dick Sharples? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: When I strained a muscle recently a friend told me that the injury was nature’s way of telling me to slow down. Another friend quipped: Death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down. Would you please explore this adage? Quote Investigator: The …
Continue reading “Death Is Nature’s Way of Telling You to Slow Down”
Nelson Mandela? Pliny the Elder? Daniel Wilson? Elbert Anderson Young? Robert H. Goddard? Robert Heinlein? Norton Juster? Paul Eldridge? Dear Quote Investigator: Politicians, journalists, pundits, and self-help authors are fond of the following inspirational expression: It always seems impossible, until it is done. The words are usually attributed to the activist, statesman, and Nobel Prize …
Continue reading “It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done”
H. G. Wells? Barbara Wootton? Lawrence R. Klein? Stanley Kramer? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: If you have ever experienced the manuscript editing process as an editor or an editee you should fully comprehend this quotation: No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft. The above remark is in …
Continue reading “No Passion in the World Is Equal to the Passion to Alter Someone Else’s Draft”
Robert Benchley? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The Broadway play “Abie’s Irish Rose” opened in 1922 and ran for more than five years which was a record-breaking achievement at the time. The writer and future actor Robert Benchley was the drama critic at “Life” magazine, and apparently he detested the production. Every week he crafted a …