Jane Fonda? Lee Winfrey? David Bassett? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: U.S. actress and activist Jane Fonda spoke on college campuses during the 1970s about the Vietnam War. I have seen claims that Fonda said something like the following: If you understood what communism was … you would pray on your knees that we would …
Search results for: Hope
Anecdote Origin: I Hope Your Honor Will Have Mercy on a Poor Orphan
Artemus Ward? Charles Farrar Browne? Leo Rosten? Punch Magazine? Malakoff? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A grotesque comical tale illustrates the notion of chutzpah. A young person was found guilty of murdering his father and mother. The judge asked, “Have you anything to say before I pass sentence?” The defendant replied, “I hope your Honor …
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Quote Origin: When Hopes Seem Hardly Worth Having, Just Mount a Bicycle and Go For a Good Spin Down the Road
Arthur Conan Doyle? Sherlock Holmes? Diane Ackerman? Jeremy Withers? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was a bicycle enthusiast. He suggested that taking a spin down the road on a bicycle would dispel feelings of discouragement and unhappiness. I do not know the precise phrasing Conan Doyle used. …
Quote Origin: Important Things in the World Have Been Accomplished by People Who Have Kept On Trying When There Seemed To Be No Hope At All
Dale Carnegie? Lee de Forest? Dorothy Carnegie? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Dale Carnegie was a popular author of self-improvement books. He once argued against premature discouragement by asserting that most remarkable achievements had been attained by people who continued to try even when no hope seemed possible. Would you please help me to find …
Quote Origin: The Rain Will Stop; The Night Will End; The Hurt Will Fade. Hope Is Never So Lost That It Can’t Be Found
Ernest Hemingway? Mandy Hale? The Single Woman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I recently encountered a quotation using evocative language about the rain stopping and the night ending. The quotation emphasized that one should feel hopeful. Oddly, the famous author Ernest Hemingway received credit for the remark, but I do not think it sounds anything …
Quote Origin: Plenty of Hope; Infinite Hope; Just Not for Us
Franz Kafka? Max Brod? Jonathan Franzen? Josef Paul Hodin? Georg Lukács? Harold Bloom? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: In 2019 acclaimed author Jonathan Franzen wrote an essay in “The New Yorker” that began with the following remark of despair attributed to the influential Prague-born writer Franz Kafka. There is infinite hope; only not for us. …
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Quote Origin: There Is a Hopeful Symbolism in the Fact That Flags Will Not Wave in a Vacuum
Arthur C. Clarke? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous science fiction (SF) author was fearful that nationalistic and jingoistic impulses were driving conflict on Earth and endangering the future of humankind. The author hoped that space exploration would redirect and lessen those passions. A flag flapping in the breeze is a traditional signifier of …
Quote Origin: Hope Is the Feeling We Have That the Feeling We Have Is Not Permanent
Mignon McLaughlin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Feeling discouraged is a natural reaction to the state of the world sometimes. Currently, there is a pandemic curtailing social and economic activity almost everywhere. Yet, these pessimistic feelings will not last forever. My favorite witty person, Mignon McLaughlin, once presented a clever definition of “hope” that is …
Quote Origin: The Very Existence of Libraries Affords the Best Evidence That We May Yet Have Hope for the Future of Man
T. S. Eliot? Jayne Ann Krentz? Alan Bennett? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot apparently stated that the establishment of libraries provided compelling evidence that humanity had a future. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: The renowned poet T. S. Eliot died …
Quote Origin: There Are Hopes the Bloom of Whose Beauty Would Be Spoiled by the Trammels of Description
Charles Dickens? Ellen Pickering? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous English writer Charles Dickens has received credit for a high-flown expression that compares a person’s hopes to a beautiful bloom that should not be spoiled. I have been unable to find this saying in any of his novels, and I have begun to doubt …