Oscar Levant? Zsa Zsa Gabor? John Dryden? Colin Wilson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A self-deprecating comedian once delivered an acerbic remark about insanity. Here are two versions: (1) There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased that line.(2) There is a fine line between sanity and insanity. I’ve managed to …
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Quote Origin: Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results
Albert Einstein? Al-Anon? Narcotics Anonymous? Max Nordau? George Bernard Shaw? Samuel Beckett? George A. Kelly? Rita Mae Brown? John Larroquette? Jessie Potter? Werner Erhard? Question for Quote Investigator: It’s foolish to repeat ineffective actions. One popular formulation presents this point harshly: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and …
Quote Origin: I Don’t Suffer from Insanity; I Enjoy Every Minute of It!
Edgar Allan Poe? Edward Hastings Ford? Lloyd Biggle Jr.? Pat Williams? Joss Whedon? Bumper Sticker? T-Shirt Slogan? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following statement has been attributed to Edgar Allan Poe, the influential writer of detective fiction and the macabre: I don’t suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it! Poe died in …
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Quote Origin: Insanity Is Hereditary. You Can Get It from Your Children
Sam Levenson? Oscar Levant? W. C. Fields? Helen Gorn Sutin? Dave Berg? Ann Landers? Erma Bombeck? Grace Kelly? Question for Quote Investigator: Many parents concur with a very funny quip that reverses the traditional notion of inheritance: Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your kids. This joke has been attributed to the newspaper columnist …
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Quote Origin: When People Cease To Believe in God, They Do Not Then Believe in Nothing, But in Anything
G. K. Chesterton? Malcolm Muggeridge? Émile Cammaerts? Umberto Eco? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: An individual who becomes skeptical about traditional belief systems does not automatically embrace careful thought and rationality. Instead, the individual may embrace more eccentric belief systems and superstitions. Consider the following related remark: When people cease to believe in God, they …
Maxim Origin: Nothing Succeeds Like Success
Alexandre Dumas? Ralph Waldo Emerson? William J. Snelling? Jacques-François Ancelot? Jules Janin? William Pulling? Alphonse de Lamartine? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: One success often leads to another success in a chain of achievement, opportunity, and good fortune. A popular adage expresses this idea: Nothing succeeds like success. This phrase has been attributed to several …
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Quote Origin: A Man Wrapped Up in Himself Makes a Very Small Bundle
Benjamin Franklin? John Ruskin? Harry Emerson Fosdick? Mae A. Byrnes? Dan Crawford? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An individual who is self-absorbed typically experiences a diminished life and does not achieve great renown. Here are four versions of a figurative saying on this theme: This expression has been attributed to U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin, English …
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When Is a Mouse If It Spins? Because the Higher It Gets the Fewer
Robert Overton? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The question and answer of the following exasperating riddle appear to be nonsensical: Question: Why is a mouse when it spins? Answer: The higher, the fewer. Would you please examine the provenance of this conundrum? Quote Investigator: Robert Overton published “Ten Minutes: Holiday Yarns and Recitations” as a Christmas …
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The Most Fun You Can Have Without Laughing
H. L. Mencken? Woody Allen? Walter Winchell? Alfred Lunt? Sarah Bernhardt? E. V. Durling? Jim Bishop? Colonel Stoopnagle? Frederick Chase Taylor? Leo Rosten? Humphrey Bogart? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following declaration of high praise has been applied to love making: The most fun you can have without laughing. Influential commentator H. L. Mencken and …
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Quote Origin: A Blind Man in a Dark Room Looking for a Black Cat That Is Not There
Charles Darwin? Lord Bowen? Confucius? E. R. Pearce? William James? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A vivid and comical metaphor has been applied to professions that require abstract and recondite reasoning abilities: A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black hat which isn’t there. A metaphysician …