Sarah Churchill? James Agate? A. L. Rowse? Theodor Reik? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A legend asserts that Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough wrote a passionate remark in her diary. Here are three versions: Are any of these statements genuine? What evidence is available? Reply from Quote Investigator: Several researchers have attempted to explore this …
Monthly Archives: October 2019
This Is Only a Foretaste of What Is To Come, and Only the Shadow of What Is Going To Be
Alan Turing? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Code breaker Alan Turing was a major figure in computer science and a pioneer in artificial intelligence. In 2021 Turing’s portrait will appear on newly issued £50 notes from the Bank of England. Would you please explore the quotation that reportedly will be printed on the notes? Quote Investigator: …
One Starts To Get Young at the Age of 60 and Then It’s Too Late
Pablo Picasso? Jean Cocteau? Derek Prouse? Dear Quote Investigator: The proficiency, creativity, and potency of an artist can grow for decades. Yet, painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso apparently said the following about his change in mentality as he became older. Here are two versions: One starts to get young at 60 and then it is …
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If We Have Our Own ‘Why’ of Life, We Shall Get Along With Almost Any ‘How’
Friedrich Nietzsche? Viktor E. Frankl? Thomas Common? Anthony M. Ludovici? Walter Kaufmann? R. J. Hollingdale? Ilse Lasch? Dear Quote Investigator: Life can be aggravating and even agonizing. Yet, a steady internal purpose helps to make difficulties endurable together with the thought that happiness and pleasure will someday return. Here is an apposite adage: One who …
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I Really Don’t Mind What People Do, So Long As They Don’t Do It In the Street and Frighten the Horses
Mrs. Patrick Campbell? Beatrice Stella Tanner? Helen Maud Tree? Oscar Wilde? Linkum Fidelius? Washington Irving? Alice Roosevelt Longworth? Eric Erskine Wood? Mrs. Claude Beddington? Frances Ethel Beddington? John Moore? King Edward VII? Ronald Reagan? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Enforcing societal norms and taboos is an important activity for some people. Others hesitate to proscribe conduct. …
The Worst Sin Towards Our Fellow Creatures Is Not To Hate Them, But To Be Indifferent To Them
George Bernard Shaw? Anthony Anderson? Wilhelm Stekel? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The playwright George Bernard Shaw apparently contended that indifference to another person was a greater transgression than hatred. He called this indifference a sin. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: George Bernard Shaw’s play “The Devil’s Disciple” was first …
We Should Utilize Natural Forces and Thus Get All of Our Power. Sunshine Is a Form of Energy, and the Winds and the Tides Are Manifestations of Energy
Thomas Edison? Elbert Hubbard? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous inventor Thomas Edison supposedly foresaw the potential of solar energy more than one hundred years ago. He wanted to replace the burning of fuels with the collection of natural energy from the sun, wind, and tides. Did Edison really express this viewpoint? Would you please …
“Is Your New Baby a Boy Or a Girl?” “Yes”
Bertrand Russell? Leo Rosten? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent British philosopher and essayist Bertrand Russell co-wrote an important book of classical logic titled “Principia Mathematica”. An anecdote about Russell is based on a humorously rigorous logical interpretation of a question. A colleague spoke to Russell shortly after his wife had a baby: “Congratulations. …
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