Tracing Quotations
Dorothy Parker? Margaret Irwin? Kingsley Martin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The writers, artists, and intellectuals of the Bloomsbury Group formed complex and shifting intimate relationships. A wit once said: They lived in squares and loved in triangles. The geometric wordplay referred to the residences of the group. For example, Leonard and Virginia Woolf lived in …
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Creator: George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and critic Context: Shaw’s play “The Doctor’s Dilemma” was first staged in London in 1906. In 1911 Shaw published the text of drama together with a lengthy preface which included the following passage. Emphasis added:[1] 1911, The Doctor’s Dilemma, with Preface on Doctors by Bernard Shaw, Section: Preface on …
Giovanni Ruffini? Mustafa Kemal Atatürk? Charles Wiseman? Edward Bulwer-Lytton? Emir Abdelkader? Henry Ward Beecher? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Being a teacher is wonderfully fulfilling, but it is also exhausting. The following astute simile reflects this tension: A teacher is like a candle that consumes itself to light the way for others. This saying has been …
Quotation: “What do you call ‘genius’?” “Well, seeing things others don’t see. Or rather the invisible links between things.” Creator: Vladimir Nabokov, author of “Pale Fire”, “Lolita”, and “Speak, Memory” Context: The lines excerpted above show two characters talking from the 1974 novel “Look at the Harlequins!” by Nabokov. [1]1990 (1974 Copyright), Look at the …
Quotation: If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!) Creator: Peter H. Diamandis, founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation; bestselling author; cofounder of Singularity University Context: In 2015 Diamandis published “Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World”. He described an episode that occurred shortly after he …
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Groucho Marx? John Stuart Mill? Joseph Addison? Thomas Stafford? Boyle Roche? Adam Neale? Samuel Goldwyn? Bill Nye? Dear Quote Investigator: Making sacrifices now for the people and environment of the future is difficult. This challenge has been encapsulated with a humorous remark. Here are two versions: Why should I care about posterity? What’s posterity ever …
Quotation: Always do what you are afraid to do. Popularizer: Ralph Waldo Emerson (He did not create the adage.) Context: In 1841 Emerson published the essay “Heroism”, and he recommended a simple maxim to readers for overcoming trepidation. Some fears are justified, and the guidance does not encourage foolish or self-destructive actions. Emerson disclaimed credit …
Quotation: Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. Creator: Vernor Vinge, prize-winning science fiction author; retired professor of computer science at San Diego State University Context: In 1993 NASA sponsored a symposium titled “Vision 21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the …
Quotation: Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that once it is competently programmed and working smoothly—it is completely honest. Creator: Isaac Asimov, bestselling author of science fiction and science books Context: The book “Change! Seventy-One Glimpses of the Future” contained a series of short speculative essays detailing Isaac Asimov’s visions of the future. …
Joseph Conrad? Edgar Ansel Mowrer? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Great attainments are normally thought to require superior mental acuity, but the brilliant novelist Joseph Conrad apparently contended that a “warm mental fog” was necessary. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1915 Joseph Conrad published “Victory: An Island Story” in …