Tracing Quotations
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Sam Elliott? Ethan Coen? Joel Coen? Bertrand W. Sinclair? Carl O. Sauer? Roger Penske? Jim Croce? Preacher Roe? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a family of ursine sayings about the topsy-turvy vicissitudes of life: 1) Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.2) Sometimes you hunt the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Sometimes You Eat the Bear, and Sometimes the Bear Eats You”
Tallulah Bankhead? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The movie star Tallulah Bankhead apparently grew tired of seeing misquotations, and she proclaimed that any quotation ascribed to her was inaccurate: …except if it is funny, in which case I definitely said it. I thought you might enjoy this topic. What do you think? Reply from Quote …
P. G. Wodehouse? John Gardner? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The popular and prolific humorist P. G. Wodehouse created indelible characters such as Bertie Wooster and Reginald Jeeves. Wodehouse apparently claimed that he was a remarkably precocious author: I know I was writing stories when I was five. I haven’t been able to find a …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Know I Was Writing Stories When I Was Five”
Mark Twain? Ossip Gabrilowitsch? Clara Clemens? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I’m conducting a research check on a television script containing a definition for the term “conspiracy” credited to Mark Twain. The definition notes that the conspiring participants “dare not admit in public” the secret agreement. Are you familiar with this quotation? Is the attribution …
Plato? Michel de Montaigne? Hannah More? C. V. Hibbard? Warren J. Clear? Ruth Straub? William Thomas Cummings? Ernie Pyle? Anonymous Chaplain? Anonymous Soldier? Question for Quote Investigator: When exposed to extreme peril many people reflect on the spiritual or supernatural dimension of existence. The following sayings have been particularly popular during times of war. Here …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: There Are No Atheists in Foxholes”