William F. Buckley Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I am trying to verify a quotation from the conservative commentator and novelist William F. Buckley Jr. It goes something like this: I would rather be governed by the first 1,000 people listed in the phone book than by the faculty members from an Ivy League University. …
Monthly Archives: October 2017
I Can Hire Half the Working Class To Fight the Other Half
Jay Gould? John Livingston? Delmore Schwartz? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: In the 19th-century a class of powerful industrialists were accused of unethical business practices, and the critical epithet “robber baron” appeared in journals and newspapers. The following incendiary remark has been attributed to the wealthy railroad magnate Jay Gould: I can hire one half of …
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In the Marriage Union the Independence of the Husband and Wife Will Be Equal, Their Dependence Mutual, and Their Obligations Reciprocal
Lucretia Mott? Louis K. Anspacher? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Historically, the marriage contract has been unequal. A different vision was presented by reformers in the nineteenth century: In the true marriage relation the independence of the husband and the wife is equal, their independence mutual, and their obligations reciprocal. Would you please explore the provenance …
A Specialist Knows More and More About Less and Less
William J. Mayo? Nicholas Murray Butler? William Warde Fowler? Patrick Geddes? Mabel M. Barker? Y. Srinivasa Rao? Arthur Bugs Baer? Robert E. Swain? Distinguished Scottish person? Question for Quote Investigator: The modern explosion of knowledge has led to an age of specialization with this concomitant quip: A specialist knows more and more about less and less. …
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Be the Change You Wish To See in the World
Mohandas Gandhi? Arleen Lorrance? Ernest Troutner? Diane Kennedy Pike? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Often you cannot convince someone via speech alone to constructively alter a behavior, but you can provide a model for emulation by changing your own behavior. Here are three versions of this notion: Be the change you wish to see in the …
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A Lottery Is a Taxation Upon All the Fools in Creation
William Petty? Henry Fielding? Adam Smith? Camillo Benso? James Wolcott? Marshall McLuhan? Roger Jones? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The winners of a recent lottery jackpot split more than one billion dollars. Yet the probability of a lucky lottery strike is smaller than an unlucky lightning strike. Economists, mathematicians, and wits have made sardonic remarks like …
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Why Make the Rubble Bounce?
Winston Churchill? James Reston? Edward M. Kennedy? Clark M. Clifford? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The massive arsenals of the nuclear nations have been poised like the Sword of Damocles to fall upon the head of mankind for decades. Statesman Winston Churchill reportedly was critical of excessive weaponry and said: If you go on with this …
Advice Is Like Snow – The Softer It Falls, the Longer It Dwells Upon, and the Deeper It Sinks Into the Mind
Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Jeremiah Seed? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Advice that is shouted as a command is often ignored. A different approach is more successful: Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind. The prominent English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge has …
An Army Marches On Its Stomach
Napoleon Bonaparte? Frederick the Great? Thomas Carlyle? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Proper logistics are crucial to any successful military campaign. The importance of food supply is highlighted in a well-known aphorism. Here are four versions: An army marches on its stomach. An army marches on its belly. An army travels on its stomach. An army …
The Trouble With This Country is Too Many People Saying “The Trouble With This Country is …”
Sinclair Lewis? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Whenever I hear someone attempting to diagnose the problems of the world I am reminded of the following amusingly recursive remark: The trouble with this country is that there are too many people saying, “The trouble with this country is…” Although I roughly remember the quotation I do not …