Christopher Reeve? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Actor Christopher Reeve achieved enormous fame when he played the title character in the 1978 movie “Superman”. He suffered a tragic accident during an equestrian competition in 1995 which injured his spine and paralyzed part of his body. His life experiences caused him to change his perception of …
Yearly Archives: 2021
Quote Origin: Censors Tend To Do What Only Psychotics Do; They Confuse Reality With Illusion
David Cronenberg? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent Canadian director David Cronenberg is best known for filming graphic horror movies. He vehemently disagrees with any restrictions on the material he depicts in his works. Apparently, he once compared a censor to a psychotic because he believed both confused illusion and reality. Would you please …
Quote Origin: The Best Time To Plant a Tree Was 30 Years Ago, and the Second Best Time To Plant a Tree Is Now
George W. White? Confucius? Chinese Saying? Jean Chretien? Earl Ubell? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The payoff for some actions only occurs after a lengthy delay. For example, a newly planted fruit tree requires years of growth before it can generate a bumper harvest. Also, a shade tree may require decades of maturation before it …
Quote Origin: During Christmas People Will Forget the Past With a Present
Gladys Parker? Don Marquis? Walter Winchell? Uncle Ezra? Phyllis Diller? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A collection of Christmas season quips employ wordplay based on “past” and “present”. Here are two examples: What I like about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present. At Christmas time youngsters want the …
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Quote Origin: Science Can Never Solve One Problem Without Raising Ten More Problems
George Bernard Shaw? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Scientific knowledge is incomplete and tentative. Superior scientific theories regularly supersede existing theories. The knowledge provided is flawed, but the process is self-correcting and self-improving. Irish playwright and activist George Bernard Shaw bluntly stated that science was always wrong. He believed that every time science solved a …
Quote Origin: You’re Never Too Old To Become Younger
Mae West? George Christy? Barbara Rowes? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent movie star delivered a paradoxical line about aging: You are never too old to become younger. Would you please help to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1969 Hollywood columnist George Christy interviewed the famous actress Mae West in the …
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Quote Origin: It Isn’t Enough To Write So You Will Be Understood. You Have To Write So You Can’t Be Misunderstood
Quintilian? William Cobbett? John Cooke? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? W. E. Smith? Walter Winchell? Rollin D. Salisbury? William H. Taft? Question for Quote Investigator: A maxim about the goal of communication expresses an ideal that is desirable but nearly impossible to achieve. Here are three versions: (1) You must not only speak so that people can …
Quote Origin: Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
Carl Sagan? Marcello Truzzi? Pierre-Simon Laplace? David Hume? Benjamin Bayly? Elihu Palmer? William Craig Brownlee? F. B. Barton? William Denton? Ely Vaughan Zollars? Joseph Rinn? James Oberg? Arthur C. Clarke? Question for Quote Investigator: Tabloid newspapers have printed remarkable claims about alien abductions, mischievous ghosts, bigfoot sightings, and other anomalies. Skeptics have countered these reports …
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Quote Origin: There Is One Thing In This World That Money Can’t Buy, The Wag Of a Dog’s Tail
Josh Billings? Henry Wheeler Shaw? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A dog wagging its tail energetically produces joy in my heart. The dog is usually expressing genuine enthusiasm. A well-known writer once said that money could not buy a wagging tail. Would you please help me to identify the writer and find a citation? Reply …
Quote Origin: The 3D Web Will Rapidly Be the Dominant Thing and Everyone Will Have an Avatar
Philip Rosedale? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The technology needed to implement virtual reality (VR) has been under development for decades. The company Linden Lab launched a popular virtual world called “Second Life” (SL) in 2003. The avatar of each user could move though a wide variety of 3D digital environments and interact with digital …