Tracing Quotations
Humphrey Bogart? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Maintaining a private personal life is nearly impossible for individuals who become famous. Gossip shows revel in presenting an endless stream of sensitive and embarrassing incidents. Apparently, the Hollywood superstar Humphrey Bogart once said in exasperation something like the following: Would you please help me to find a …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Don’t Owe My Public Anything Except a Good Performance”
Tallulah Bankhead? Dorothy Parker? Robert Benchley? James Boswell? Richard Burke? William Hazlitt? Question for Quote Investigator: The actress Tallulah Bankhead was watching an ostentatious play, and she whispered to her companion a hilarious line based on an inverted cliché: There is less in this than meets the eye. This quip has also been attributed to …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: There Is Less in This Than Meets the Eye”
C. P. Snow? Carrie Snow? Barrington Moore Jr.? Question for Quote Investigator: Scientific theories should be constructed from carefully gathered facts and data. The empirical process requires the subordination of credulous wishes and desires. Succinctly stated: Science is the refusal to believe on the basis of hope. This statement has been ascribed to C. P. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Science Is the Refusal To Believe on the Basis of Hope”
Albert Einstein? Enrico Fermi? Leon M. Lederman? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: During the twentieth century the field of physics advanced astonishingly quickly. Researchers discovered a large number of elementary particles. A prominent physicist quipped: If I could remember the names of all those particles, I’d be a botanist. Did Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, or …
Richard Serra? Carlota Fay Schoolman? Steve Atkins? Tom Johnson? Claire Wolfe? Andrew Lewis? blue_beetle? Tim O’Reilly? Question for Quote Investigator: For decades the most powerful mass medium has been television. The internet has dramatically shifted our access to information. Nowadays, society reflects upon itself by using internet search engines. Yet, both of these fundamental channels …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: You’re Not the Customer; You’re the Product”
John Godfrey Saxe? Frederick Locker-Lampson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: “The early bird catches the worm” has become an irritating cliché. I love this entertaining comical response: But the worm was punished for getting up early. Do you know who crafted this rejoinder? Reply from Quote Investigator: The work “Early Rising” appeared in the 1876 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Worm Was Punished for Early Rising”
William Camden? Thomas Fuller? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: People who enjoy waking up early in the morning and going to work cite the following adage: The early bird gets the worm. Would you please explore the history of this expression? Reply from Quote Investigator: English historian William Camden published “Remaines Concerning Britaine” in the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Early Bird Catcheth the Worme”
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 …
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 …
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, …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Never Wrestle with a Pig. You Both Get Dirty and the Pig Likes It”