Gautama Buddha? Buddhaghosa? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Feelings and actions driven by anger and resentment are self-destructive. This notion can be metaphorically illustrated by a red-hot coal which one grabs with the goal of striking another person. The poorly conceived plan causes one’s hand to suffer burns and pain. This figurative framework has been attributed …
Yearly Archives: 2018
The Most Fun You Can Have Without Laughing
H. L. Mencken? Woody Allen? Walter Winchell? Alfred Lunt? Sarah Bernhardt? E. V. Durling? Jim Bishop? Colonel Stoopnagle? Frederick Chase Taylor? Leo Rosten? Humphrey Bogart? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following declaration of high praise has been applied to love making: The most fun you can have without laughing. Influential commentator H. L. Mencken and …
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Forgiveness Is Giving Up All Hope of a Better Past
Anne Lamott? Don Felt? John A. MacDougall? Gerald G. Jampolsky? Gina Berriault? Dorothy Bullitt? Lily Tomlin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: It is not possible to change the past. Yet, enduring grievances are often emotionally rooted in an irrational hope that somehow past actions can be altered, and a disheartening event can be excised. Here is …
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Get Your Happiness Out of Your Work, or You’ll Never Know What Happiness Is
Elbert Hubbard? Thomas Carlyle? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Working for a living consumes enormous amounts of time and energy. If you wish to be happy in life then it is essential to try and obtain happiness from your work. Would you please determine who created an adage expressing this idea? Quote Investigator: Elbert Hubbard was …
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Blessed Is He Who Has Found His Work; Let Him Ask No Other Blessedness
Creator: Thomas Carlyle, Scottish philosopher, historian, and satirist Context: The book “Past and Present” by Carlyle contains the following passage which metaphorically contrasts a swamp and a meadow. Emphasis added:[1] 1843, Past and Present by Thomas Carlyle, Chapter 11: Labour, Quote Page 169 and 170, Chapman and Hall, London, England. (HathiTrust Full View) link Blessed …
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If You Stop Telling Lies About Us We Will Stop Telling the Truth About You
Adlai Stevenson? William Randolph Hearst? Chauncey Depew? Asa W. Tenney? Harold Wilson? Michael Douglas? Gordon Gekko? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Several politicians have attacked the prevarications of opponents by employing a quip from a family of humorous sayings. Here are two examples: If they will not lie about our past, we will not tell the …
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We Turn Not Older With Years, But Newer Every Day
Creator: Emily Dickinson, prominent U.S. poet Context: The quotation occurred within a letter from Dickinson dated 1874 that appeared in a collection of missives published posthumously in 1894. The letter was sent to a cousin who was not named. Emphasis added to this excerpt:[1]1894, Letters of Emily Dickinson, Edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, Volume 2 …
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Everything Is About Sex Except Sex. Sex Is About Power
Oscar Wilde? Michael Cunningham? Robert Klitzman? Robert Michels? Frank Underwood? Kevin Spacey? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: While reading about the precipitous downfall of an influential literary tastemaker and powerbroker at “The Paris Review” I encountered once again a remark attributed to Oscar Wilde. Here are three versions: Everything is about sex except sex. Sex …
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Scratch an Actor and Underneath You’ll Find Another Actor
Laurence Olivier? Homer Fickett? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The acclaimed actor Laurence Olivier performed many different roles during his long career. He said something like: Scratch an actor, and you’ll find an actor. Would you please help me to find a citation? Did he originate this statement? Quote Investigator: Laurence Olivier did help to popularize …
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Scratch an Actor and You’ll Find an Actress
Dorothy Parker? Walter Winchell? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Dorothy Parker was well known for her sometimes controversial witticisms. Apparently, one of her remarks was based on clichés about the vanity, mannerisms, and/or sexuality of actors. Would you please examine this topic? Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in the widely-syndicated column of …
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