Tracing Quotations
Jean-Paul Sartre? Apocryphal? Question for 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? Reply from Quote Investigator: Jean-Paul Sartre believed that writers should be politically engaged. He was …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Every Word Has Consequences. Every Silence, Too”
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? Question for 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, …
Edward O. Wilson? Bert Hölldobler? Apocryphal? Question for 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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Good Ideology; Wrong Species”
Roger Federer? John Templeton? Walter Winchell? Kay Dangerfield? James H. Lane? Tony Curtis? Bob Olin? Sidney Blackmer? Joe Franklin? Anonymous? Question for 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. …
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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? Question for 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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: We Are Confronted by an Insurmountable Opportunity”
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”
W. E. B. Du Bois? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: W. E. B. Du Bois was a prominent sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist. He spoke about the unstoppable force of a person resolved to rise, and he said: The human soul cannot be permanently chained. Would you please help me to find a citation? …
Charles F. Kettering? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Charles F. Kettering was a prolific inventor and the head of research for General Motors for many years. During an interview he apparently uttered a line about the future that was simultaneously humorous and insightful: We should all be concerned about the future because we will have …