Tracing Quotations
Groucho Marx? Chico Marx? Popular Song? Peggy Hopkins Joyce? Dorothy Dix? Ace Reid? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to legend when the wife of a famous comedian caught him in bed with another person the entertainer was unperturbed and denied that anything improper was occurring: Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes? …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Who Ya Gonna Believe Me or Your Own Eyes?”
Robert Frost? David Frost? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: While listening to a TEDx talk I heard an interesting motivational quotation attributed to the popular American poet Robert Frost: Don’t aim for success if that’s what you want. Do what you love and believe in, and it will follow. I doubt that the versifier of rural …
Creator: Mary Elizabeth Lease, suffrage advocate, populist, author, and orator Context: Long before the Occupy Wall Street movement the metonymic location of the stock market has been treated with hostility. In 1891 the political activist Mary Elizabeth Lease delivered a speech containing words reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address which she transformed into a condemnation …
Continue reading “A Government of Wall Street, for Wall Street, by Wall Street”
Oscar Wilde? Louise Jopling? Hesketh Pearson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: After the enormously successful debut of a comedy by Oscar Wilde the audience demanded that the playwright deliver a few words. His speech included a comically self-congratulatory line that was similar to the following: You think almost as highly of the play as I do …
Continue reading “I Am Pleased To Believe That You Like the Piece Almost as Much as I Do Myself”
George Bernard Shaw? Voltaire? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Influential intellectuals have experienced cosmic despair while observing the behavior of humankind. Here are some statements I have heard attributed to Voltaire, George Bernard Shaw and others: This planet is being used as an insane asylum by other planets. Beings from other planets are using the Earth …
Continue reading “This Earth Is Used By Other Planets as a Lunatic Asylum”
Creator: Robert G. Ingersoll, prominent orator and exponent of agnosticism Context: In 1899 Ingersoll was asked to record his thoughts using an early phonograph device. According to a newspaper account his remarks included the following combination of hedonism and altruism. Emphasis added to excerpts:[1]1899 February 3, The Junction City Republican, His Idea of Immortality: Col. …
Continue reading “The Time To Be Happy Is Now; The Place To Be Happy Is Here”
Creator: Robert Downey Jr., Hollywood star known for playing comic book hero Iron Man and famous sleuth Sherlock Holmes Context: While living in Los Angles the photographer Karen Hardy Bystedt met with young performers who were launching their movie careers:[1]1996 Copyright, Before They Were Famous: In Their Own Words by Karen Hardy Bystedt, (Collection of …
Isaac Newton? Howard W. Newton? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The brilliant physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton supposedly coined the following expression: Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy. A variant of this statement uses “knack” instead of “art”. Interestingly, Isaac Newton made some powerful enemies during his lifetime. Do you …
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Toni Morrison? Benjamin Disraeli? Mickey Spillane? C. S. Lewis? J. R. R. Tolkien? Janet Fitch? Ann Patchett? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent American editor, writer, and educator Toni Morrison who authored the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” has been credited with an exhilarating remark about the creative process: If there’s a book you really want …
Simon Newcomb? John Casey? George McC. Robson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The number π is a fundamental mathematical constant which equals the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Trillions of digits of the decimal expansion of π have been calculated using electronic computers and innovative algorithms. Yet, this precision is not needed in …