Tracing Quotations
Carl Sagan? P. C. Hodgell? Kirien? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There exists a family of sayings that is popular in the community of skeptics. Here are four examples: 1) That which can be destroyed by the truth should be. 2) Anything that can be destroyed by the truth should be. 3) Anything that can …
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Lyndon B. Johnson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Lyndon B. Johnson was the President of the U.S. during the 1960s. I am having a difficult time trying to verify the following uplifting quotation which has been attributed to him: The noblest search is the search for excellence. What do you think? Reply from Quote Investigator: …
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Bertrand Russell? Ayn Rand? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, while reading my Facebook feed I saw a graphic from a major media organization (The Economist) that displayed a picture of the influential philosopher Bertrand Russell coupled with the following quotation: I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong. Are these …
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Lyall Watson? George Edgin Pugh? Emerson M. Pugh? Ken Hill? Question for Quote Investigator: The European Union has launched a ten year scientific venture called the Human Brain Project to build a large-scale neural simulation of the brain. Google has hired the top computer scientist and inventor Ray Kurzweil who has espoused a strategy of …
H. L. Mencken? Raymond Chandler? Woodrow Wilson? Richard Le Gallienne? George Horace Lorimer? Question for Quote Investigator: Successful scribblers believe that all writing should be engaging. A popular adage places the onus squarely on the shoulders of the author: There are no dull subjects, just dull writers. This expression has been attributed to the curmudgeon …
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Brian Eno? Lou Reed? Sylvain Sylvain? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The most influential rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s was The Velvet Underground, but their path breaking sound did not achieve great commercial success. A popular quip has emerged depicting their importance: The Velvet Underground didn’t sell many records, but everyone who …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Everyone Who Bought One of Those 30,000 Copies Started a Band”
A. J. Liebling? Shirley Povich? Red Smith? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The journalist A. J. Liebling was well-known for his productivity at the typewriter. Yet, high speed in composition and high quality in prose are sometimes antithetical goals. Liebling crafted a statement about his skills that was simultaneously egotistical and self-deprecating: I can write …
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, the dress sense of a leading British politician was criticized, and his sharp rejoinder was based on a quotation attributed to Albert Einstein contrasting the relative importance of shabby clothes versus shabby ideas. Would you please examine the provenance of this statement? Reply from Quote Investigator: The …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Let Us Be More Ashamed of Shabby Ideas and Shoddy Philosophies”
Dorothy Parker? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: William Shakespeare memorably wrote that: Brevity is the soul of wit. The wordsmith Dorothy Parker famously transformed the Bard’s phrase into a humorous and erotic remark: Brevity is the soul of lingerie. Several quotation references list Parker’s statement, but the earliest citation I’ve seen is indirect; a friend …
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Pablo Picasso? Jacques Lassaigne? Mary Chamot? Playboy? Question for Quote Investigator: I came across the following statement attributed to the prominent artist Pablo Picasso: A painter cannot paint what does not exist. He can only rediscover what has been lost, forgotten or misunderstood. This is certainly a curious ontological outlook, but I have not been …