Tracing Quotations
Italian Proverb? John Boys? Thomas Adams? John Spencer? Thomas-Simon Gueullette? Omar Khayyam? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Some people live lives of opulence and celebrity while others remain mired in poverty and anonymity. On a chessboard there is a king and a queen, but there are also eight lowly pawns. A metaphorical adage highlights the uniform …
Continue reading “When the Chess Game Is Over, the King and the Pawn Go Back in the Same Box”
Elon Musk? Lex Fridman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A longstanding philosophical hypothesis suggests that our experiences are simply an illusion or a dream. A modern technological version of this hypothesis suggests that our experiences are part of a computer simulation. Anyone who has worn a virtual reality headset has felt the sensation of being immersed …
Marvin Zuckerman? Kelvin L. Seifert? David T. Lykken? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A child’s development is influenced by both nature and nurture, but there are deep disagreements about the relative importance of these two influences. In addition, there are different viewpoints concerning the interactions of nature and nurture. Consider the following saying: The parents of …
Continue reading “All Parents Are Environmentalists Until They Have Their Second Child”
The Quarterly Review? Samuel Shaen? Wyndham Harding? Samuel Smiles? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: While reading a humorous book containing a collection of terribly inaccurate predictions I encountered the following: What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives traveling twice as fast as stagecoaches? The book asserted that this claim was …
Oprah Winfrey? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Famous talk show host and entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey has suggested that you should have grand visions because you become what you believe. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: Oprah Winfrey delivered the commencement address at Wellesley College in Massachusetts on May 30, 1997. Boldface …
William James? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The U.S. philosopher and psychologist William James argued that one should believe that life is worth living because that belief would catalyze its own truth. Would you please help me to find the essay he wrote expressing this idea? Quote Investigator: In May 1895 William James delivered a speech …
Continue reading “Believe That Life Is Worth Living, and Your Belief Will Help Create the Fact”
Vladimir Lenin? Joseph Stalin? Bogdan Raditsa? Ludwig Von Mises? Mario Scelba? Edward Derwinski? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Historically, the term “useful idiot” has referred to a naive or unwitting ally of a ruthless political movement especially a communist movement. Supposedly, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin used this expression contemptuously of non-communists who aligned themselves with …
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow? Ann Landers? Mary A. McIver? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Feeling empathy for an adversary is difficult to achieve when one’s mind is filled with indignation. The following intriguing statement claims that comprehensive knowledge of the past of one’s foe would yield a startling insight: If we could read the secret history of …
Victor Hugo? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous French novelist Victor Hugo penned a vignette about a mother who selflessly gave food to her hungry children even though she was emaciated. An observer asked why she did this, and another observer replied: “Because she is a mother”. Would you please help me to find this …
Anaïs Nin? Orville Clark? Barbara Rowes? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent literary figure and acclaimed modern diarist Anaïs Nin stated something like the following: When we become familiar with people and scenes we cease to see them; therefore, the true artist must shake up the commonplace. The resultant novelty will enable a renewal of …