Edgar Allan Poe? Alfred Smee? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The number of new books has increased vertiginously in recent years, but even in the nineteenth century critics lamented an oversupply. Did the major literary figure Edgar Allan Poe complain that the proliferation of books was “one of the greatest evils” of his age? Reply …
Monthly Archives: July 2017
Quote Origin: Never Attempt To Teach a Pig To Sing; It Wastes Your Time and Annoys the Pig
Mark Twain? Robert Heinlein? Paul Dickson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Teaching a pig to sing is a futile task that aggravates the porcine student according to a popular saying. Luminary Mark Twain and science fiction author Robert Heinlein have received credit for this adage. Would you please determine the accurate ascription and the original …
Quote Origin: Never Wrestle with a Pig. You Both Get Dirty and the Pig Likes It
George Bernard Shaw? Mark Twain? Abraham Lincoln? Cyrus Stuart Ching? J. Frank Condon? Richard P. Calhoon? N. H. Eagle? Cale Yarborough? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular metaphorical adage warns individuals not to engage with disreputable critics. Here are two versions: This saying has been credited to a triumvirate of quotation superstars: Mark Twain, …
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Quote Origin: Don’t Wrestle with a Chimney Sweep or You Will Get Covered with Grime
William Adams? James Boswell? Walter Scott? Jonah Barrington? Viscount Bolingbroke? Henry Van Dyke? John Bright? John J. Keane? William Wedgwood Benn? Tony Benn? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When you are attacked with falsehoods and invective it is natural to respond with abusive language; however, viewers of the interaction may feel revulsion for both the …
Quote Origin: I’ve Been Poor, and I’ve Been Rich. Rich Is Better!
Fanny Brice? Beatrice Kaufman? Joe E. Lewis? Sophie Tucker? Johnny Hyde? Jack Herbert? Harold Gray? Bernice Fitz-Gibbon? Bob Mankoff? Question for Quote Investigator: A newly wealthy person sometimes feels sentimental about an earlier period of poverty. Yet, one well-heeled individual unapologetically proclaimed: I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. And, believe me, rich is better. …
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