Tracing Quotations
Elon Musk? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Controversial and path-breaking entrepreneur Elon Musk started the rocket company SpaceX because he is passionate about traveling to Mars. He said something like: If mankind does not get off of this mud ball then it will go extinct. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: We Must Expand Life Beyond Our Little Blue Mud Ball—or Go Extinct”
Mark Twain? Hugh Elmer Brown? Joseph Fort Newton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following quotation is often attributed to Mark Twain, but I do not know whether it is accurate: It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand. Would you …
Frank Lloyd Wright? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright was critical of the new buildings he saw in cities. Apparently, he said: Novelty is mistaken for Progress. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1955 Frank Lloyd Wright published an essay titled “The …
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Peter Drucker? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous management guru Peter Drucker apparently made a provocative prediction about education: Universities won’t survive. Is this quotation accurate? Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1997 “Forbes” published an interview with Peter F. Drucker under the title “Seeing things …
Ken Olsen? David H. Ahl? Gordon Bell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I was looking through a collection of woefully inaccurate pronouncements delivered by experts, and I saw a remark attributed to Ken Olsen, a prominent computer industry pioneer who founded the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) which built minicomputers. DEC was perfectly positioned to create …
Hedy Lamarr? Hedda Hopper? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr was famous for her beauty and intelligence. In the 1940s she and a co-author were granted a patent for a futuristic frequency-hopping communication system whose importance emerged two decades later. Her attitude towards glamor was summarized with a hilarious quotation: Why, …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: To Be Glamourous Just Stand Still and Look Stupid”
Walter Kerr? Groucho Marx? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Comedies rarely win prestigious awards. Critics are unaccountably hostile to works that make them guffaw. Groucho Marx once described a critic who laughed heartily and repeatedly during the performance of a play, yet crafted and published an excoriating newspaper review the next day using the barbed …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Spent a Good Part of Last Evening Laughing at a Very Bad Play”
C. S. Lewis? Les Brown? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous fantasy author C. S. Lewis has been credited with an encouraging statement aimed at seniors: You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. I haven’t been able to find a citation. Is this ascription accurate? Reply …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: You Are Never Too Old To Set Another Goal or To Dream a New Dream”
Dorothy Parker? Corey Ford? John Keats? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Apparently, the famous wit Dorothy Parker was once asked why she had selected the curious name Onan for her pet canary. She replied: Because he spills his seed on the ground. What is the veracity of this tale? Reply from Quote Investigator: The biblical …
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Benjamin Franklin? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, I came across an insightful saying about psychology: Three of the hardest entities are steel, a diamond, and self-knowledge. Would you please help me to determine the originator? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1750 statesman Benjamin Franklin included an instance in “Poor Richard’s Almanack”. The word “extremely” …