Don Marquis? Christopher Morley? Roscoe B. Ellard? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: People readily accept thoughtful opinions that are close to their own, but they become unhappy when sharply different viewpoints are expressed forcefully. Here is a germane remark: If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you. If you really make them think …
Monthly Archives: December 2019
Quote Origin: Let Me Tell You the Secret That Led Me To My Goal. My Sole Strength Is in My Tenacity
Louis Pasteur? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Achieving your most vital objectives in life can be quite difficult. Reportedly, the famous French scientist Louis Pasteur once highlighted the personality trait that enabled his enormous success: Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. …
Quote Origin: I Am Omnibibulous, or, More Simply, Ombibulous
H. L. Mencken? George Jean Nathan? Errol Flynn? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: During the December holiday season imbibing is commonplace. “Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words” lists ‘ombibulous’ with the following definition: someone who drinks everything (H. L. Mencken). How is the famous commentator and curmudgeon Mencken connected to this word? …
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Quote Origin: Serenity Prayer
Reinhold Niebuhr? Winnifred Wygal? Mrs. Harrie R. Chamberlin? Mrs. Lenore Stone Meffley? Edith Theodora Ames? Bram Stoker? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Here are two versions of the famous Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the …
Quote Origin: To Compare Quotation Books Is To Stroll Through a Glorious Jungle of Incestuous Mutual Plagiarism
James Gleick? Dwight Garner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Somewhere I read that quotation books display a glorious mutual plagiarism. Perhaps you would enjoy tracing this statement. What do you think? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1993 science writer James Gleick reviewed the sixteenth edition of “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations” in the pages of “The New …
Quote Origin: Famous for Being Famous
Daniel J. Boorstin? Andy Warhol? Charles Godfrey Leland? Marshall McLuhan? Raquel Welch? David Brinkley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Achieving fame required some significant accomplishment or impressive quality in the past. Now it seems that people are deemed notable for absurd reasons. Here are three phrases describing the self-referential nature of modern celebrityhood: This concept …
Quote Origin: Most of the Evil in This World Is Done by People with Good Intentions
T. S. Eliot? Ayn Rand? Reinhold Niebuhr? Isabel Paterson? Krister Stendahl? C. S. Lewis? June Bingham? Paul Simon? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Tyrannical systems are often created by people who believe that they have the highest and noblest intentions. Totalitarian countries, theocratic dictatorships, and abusive cults are typically founded and promoted by those who …
Quote Origin: From 40 to 60, She Needs Personality; And From Then on She Needs Cash
Sophie Tucker? Kathleen Norris? Mary Kay Ash? Mrs. Price Smith? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is an old-fashioned saying about the stages of a woman’s life. It begins with a young child who needs good parents and health. It continues with a young adult who needs good looks followed by a middle-aged person who …
Quote Origin: A Friend Is a Present You Give Yourself
Robert Louis Stevenson? Betsy Patterson? Harry B. Brockett? Walter Winchell? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Living a full and happy life is facilitated by maintaining a network of steadfast friendships. Here are three versions of a germane adage: This saying has been attributed to the famous adventure and horror novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, but …
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Quote Origin: Go Out There and Do Something Remarkable. Don’t Live Down To Expectations
Wendy Wasserstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: We are told that people should live up to expectations. Yet, the chronically underestimated are implicitly told to live down to expectations. A graduation speaker once told an audience to do something remarkable and to refuse to live down to expectations. Would you please help me to trace …