Tracing Quotations
Winston Churchill? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Critics of U.K. Prime Minister Clement Attlee viewed him as an insubstantial and dull figure. The following quip apparently circulated during the 1940s: An empty taxi arrived at 10 Downing Street and Clement Attlee got out of it. These words are often attributed to Winston Churchill. What do you …
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Target: Sarah Bernhardt? Alexander H. Stephens? Dear Quote Investigator: Complaints about the body shapes of people in the public eye have a very long history. Small and thin individuals have sometimes been targeted with the following type of quip: An empty vehicle rolled up to the hotel and so-and-so got out of it. Would you …
Dorothy Parker? Ben Hecht? Corey Ford? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous wit Dorothy Parker apparently constructed a risqué quip when she observed people ducking for apples at a party. Would you please explore this topic? Dear Quote Investigator: The earliest evidence of Parker’s jest located by QI appeared in the 1957 book “Charlie: The …
Continue reading “Change One Letter in That Phrase and You Have My Life Story”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel? Heinrich Heine? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel had a major influence on later schools of thought including Marxism and existentialism. Yet, critics have complained of his unintelligibility. One colorful anecdote claims that Hegel made the following pronouncement on his deathbed: Only one man ever understood …
Continue reading “Only One Man Ever Understood Me, and He Did Not Understand Me Either”
John Greenleaf Whittier? Edgar Guest? Labor? Nellie Maxwell? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A popular poem about perseverance includes these lines: When all is pressing you down a bit— Rest if you must, but don’t you quit. The poets John Greenleaf Whittier and Edgar A. Guest have both been credited. Would you please determine the actual …
Jean-Paul Sartre? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Did the famous existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre say the following: Every word has consequences. Every silence, too. I am trying to find a citation for the original French version. Would you please help? Quote Investigator: Jean-Paul Sartre believed that writers should be politically engaged. He was a founder of …
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Lord Chesterfield? Hilaire Belloc? D. H. Lawrence? George Bernard Shaw? Alexander Duffield? W. Somerset Maugham? Elliot Paul? Samuel Hopkins Adams? Benjamin Franklin? P. D. James? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Lord Chesterfield reportedly crafted an outrageously humorous description of intimate relations. I’ve seen different versions that each comment on pleasure, position, and expense. Yet, I …
Continue reading “The Pleasure Is Momentary, the Position Is Ridiculous, the Expense Is Damnable”
Edward O. Wilson? Bert Hölldobler? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Social insects are famous for exhibiting a division of labor and a willingness to act for the overall good of the colony. The preeminent biologist Edward O. Wilson whose specialty is the study of ants was once asked about human politics, and he replied with a …
Roger Federer? John Templeton? Walter Winchell? Kay Dangerfield? James H. Lane? Tony Curtis? Bob Olin? Sidney Blackmer? Joe Franklin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Antimetabole is a clever literary technique in which a phrase is repeated, but key words are reversed. For example: It is nice to be important, but more important to be nice. This …
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Walt Kelly? Don Mitchell? Fred W. Bewley? Leon Shimkin? A. C. Monteith? W. Willard Wirtz? Hubert Humphrey? Howard J. Samuels? George H. W. Bush? W. C. Fields? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Walt Kelly authored the magnificent comic strip “Pogo” featuring hilarious wordplay. He has been credited with the following oxymoronic phrase: Our problem is an …
Continue reading “We Are Confronted by an Insurmountable Opportunity”