Tracing Quotations
Lucille Ball? Benjamin Franklin? Elbert Hubbard? W. J. Kennedy? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A popular proverb suggests that when you are faced with a large task you should call upon someone with an ongoing track record of accomplishment. Here are three versions: If you want something done, ask a busy person. If you want anything …
Continue reading “If You Want Something Done, Ask a Busy Person To Do It”
Bill Joy? George Gilder? Bill Gates? Dan Gillmor? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Bill Joy is a top computer scientist who helped to develop the UNIX operating system and co-founded Sun Microsystems. He formulated an important insight now called “Joy’s Law” about the distribution of expertise in organizations. Here are three versions: No matter who you …
Mark Twain? Albert Bigelow Paine? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There are a set of statements attributed to the famous humorist Mark Twain about allowable behaviors in heaven: If I cannot swear in heaven I shall not stay there. If I cannot drink bourbon in heaven, then I shall not go. If I can’t smoke cigars …
Continue reading “If I Cannot Swear in Heaven I Shall Not Stay There”
Marc Andreessen? Ben Horowitz? Dear Quote Investigator: The companies Uber and Lyft are worth billions of dollars and are juggernauts in the transportation sector. Yet, neither company owns a fleet of vehicles. The multibillion dollar company Airbnb has revolutionized the hospitality sector, yet it owns no hotels or motels. These companies control pivotal software systems …
Saul Steinberg? Harold Rosenberg? Robert Motherwell? Dear Quote Investigator: A cartoonist once spoke eloquently about the product of absentminded scribbling. Here are three versions: The doodle is the brooding of the hand. Doodling is the brooding of the hand. Doodling is the brooding of the mind. Would you please explore the provenance of this expression? …
Johnny Carson? Kenneth Tynan? David Letterman? Ed McMahon? Dear Quote Investigator: A prominent show business personality was once asked how he or she became a star. The reply was a very funny absurdist remark about astrophysical star formation. Do you know who made this response? Quote Investigator: In 1968 English theatre critic Kenneth Tynan wrote …
Continue reading ““What Made You a Star?” “I Started Out in a Gaseous State, and Then I Cooled””
Flannery O’Connor? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Flannery O’Connor, the novelist and famous crafter of short stories, was once asked whether she believed that college courses discouraged or stifled budding writers. She gave an answer I found found acerbically entertaining. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1960 “The Atlanta Journal …
John Wayne? Redd Foxx? Robert Mitchum? George V. Higgins? Steven Keats? Eddie Coyle? Jackie Brown? Dear Quote Investigator: When someone performs a witless or laughably irritating act there is a barbed response that reflects exasperation. Here are three versions: Life is hard. It’s harder when you’re stupid. Life’s hard. It’s harder if you’re stupid. Life …
Continue reading “This Life’s Hard, But It’s Harder If You’re Stupid”
Pablo Picasso? Mark H. McCormack? James McNeill Whistler? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A rapidly created artwork may still be quite valuable. An anecdote illustrating this point features Pablo Picasso and a pestering art lover. Would you please explore whether this tale is authentic or apocryphal? Quote Investigator: The earliest instance of the Pablo Picasso vignette …
James McNeill Whistler? Pablo Picasso? John Ruskin? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: According to legend a famous painter once created a work of art in a very rapid and seemingly slipshod fashion. Yet the price assigned to the piece was exorbitant. The artist was asked why the price of the painting was so large when the …