Tracing Quotations
Jane Austen? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous novelist Jane Austen wrote that when she was reading an enjoyable book she always found that it was too short. Would you please help me to locate this quotation? Reply from Quote Investigator: Jane Austen was born in 1775, and she began to work on a …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: If a Book Is Well Written, I Always Find It Too Short”
Groucho Marx? Frank Parker? Marty Allen? Steve Rossi? Dorothy Shay? Ed Reed? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The comedian Groucho Marx apparently crafted a witty twist on beauty and inheritance. Here are two versions: Would you please explore the provenance of this quip? Reply from Quote Investigator: Groucho Marx who died in 1977 received credit …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: He Got His Good Looks from His Mother. She’s a Plastic Surgeon”
Winston Churchill? Stephen Fry? Henry James Byron? W. Davenport Adams? Aubrey Stewart? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The recent memoir by English comedian and actor Stephen Fry contains the following intriguing remark: ‘Young men sow wild oats, old men grow sage,’ Churchill is reputed to have said. It almost never is Churchill. In fact collectors …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Young Sow Wild Oats. The Old Grow Sage”