Bill Gates? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I saw an advertisement on the “USA Today” website that claimed Bill Gates once spoke about a technology that was ripe for invention and would be worth 10 Microsofts. The ad did not identify the technology. Did Bill Gates really make a remark of this type? Reply from …
Monthly Archives: November 2017
Quote Origin: It Is Not Real Work Unless You Would Rather Be Doing Something Else
James Matthew Barrie? Chub De Wolfe? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When I am absorbed in performing a difficult and fascinating task I do not feel like I am working. James Matthew Barrie, the well-known creator of “Peter Pan”, addressed this phenomenon: Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else. I …
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Quote Origin: You Better Not Compromise Yourself. It’s All You Got
Janis Joplin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Janis Joplin was an American rock star of the late 1960s and early 1970s who tragically died when she was only 27. Her vocalizations and emotional delivery were distinctive. Apparently she said: Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got. Would you please help me to find a citation? …
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Quote Origin: I Don’t Get Ulcers. I Give Them
Harry Cohn? Samuel Goldwyn? David O. Selznick? Jimmie Fidler? Lyndon B. Johnson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: According to a Hollywood legend a movie mogul expressed his unhappiness by angrily upbraiding underlings. Eventually, an assistant cautioned him that delivering repeated harangues can cause stomach ulcers. The magnate snarled: I don’t get ulcers. I give them. …
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Quote Origin: Recipe To Create a Publisher: Take an Idiot Man from a Lunatic Asylum . . .
Mark Twain? Frank Nelson Doubleday? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Mark Twain apparently held a very low opinion of book publishers. He suggested that publishers could be created via a multigenerational combination of individuals from lunatic asylums. Could you please help me find a citation for this sentiment? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1897 Frank …