Tracing Quotations
Lorraine Hansberry? Stephen King? Helene Keyssar? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I am trying to find the source of the following dialogue. The setting was a breakfast table. One person enthusiastically described a grand plan and said, “I have a dream” or “I want to fly”. The other person attenuated the emotional intensity by simply …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “I Got Me a Dream” “Eat Your Eggs””
Thomas Robert Dewar? Grafton Grabb? A Ragged Tramp? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Everyone faces trials, i.e., adversity. A humorous remark uses wordplay to tie together these hardships with the legal system: Life is full of trials with an occasional conviction. This quip has been attributed to Scottish whisky distiller Thomas Robert Dewar, but I …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Life Is Full of Trials With an Occasional Conviction”
Samuel Goldwyn? Bill Keisler? Bobby Wayne? Vladimir Semyonov? Sam Levenson? Laurence J. Peter? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following astringent remark perfectly embodies the attitude of a high-handed boss who ignores feedback: When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you. This line has been ascribed to movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn. The statement …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: When I Want Your Opinion, I’ll Give It To You”
Samuel Goldwyn? Mrs. Jones? Cy Rigler? Margaret Grant? George Bernard Shaw? Harry Rapf? William Brown Meloney? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Samuel Goldwyn was a powerful Hollywood movie mogul who was famous for humorous gaffes. His malapropisms and paradoxes became known as Goldwynisms. For example, while discussing the accuracy of his predictions Goldwyn reportedly said: …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I May Not Always Be Right, But I Am Never Wrong”
Christopher Hitchens? Brian Crane? Susie Blair? Brian K. Lebowitz? P. G. Wodehouse? Pickles? Muffin the Cat? Roscoe the Dog? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The attitudes of dogs and cats differ substantially according to a popular humorous analysis. A dog which receives food, water, care, and affection concludes: “My benefactor is a god”. A cat …
Continue reading “Quip Origin: Dogs Believe You Are a God. Cats Believe They Are Gods”
Samuel Butler? Eliza Mary Ann Savage? Ogden Nash? Mandell Creighton? Charles Bowen? George Ferguson Bowen? William Burns? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A well-known bible verse, Matthew 5:45, discusses God and the weather: Your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and raineth upon the …
Continue reading “Joke Origin: The Unjust Steals the Just’s Umbrella”
Tom Sims? Edgar Allan Poe? Mary Margaret McBride? Sidney K. Bennett? Clayton Rawson? George Stracke? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A commonplace warning states that you should not believe everything you hear. But the following extreme version of this caution embodies even greater skepticism: Don’t believe everything you think. I once saw this statement on …
Continue reading “Proverb Origin: Don’t Believe Everything You Think”
Friedrich Nietzsche? Claudia Crawford? Walter Kaufmann? Karl Jaspers? Roland Barthes? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: In Greek mythology, the Cretan princess Ariadne helped the hero Theseus slay the Minotaur and escape from the labyrinth. Ariadne gave Daedalus a ball of thread so he could successfully navigate through the deadly maze. While contemplating this myth, the …
Robert Blatchford? Arthur Bugs Baer? Roy K. Moulton? Robert de Saint-Jean? Ford Madox Ford? Georges Clemenceau? P. L. Garvin? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The nature of modern warfare is changing rapidly with new weaponry based on drones and machine learning. Yet, military planners are immersed in studying past battles. Here are two versions of …
Continue reading “Proverb Origin: Generals Always Prepare to Fight the Last War”
Mel Brooks? Carl Reiner? Betty Brainerd? Joey Bishop? Kenneth Tynan? S. Sylvan Simon? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: What makes something funny? Why do so many people find pratfalls humorous? The difference between comedy and tragedy has been described in a comically cynical remark with a tincture of cruelty: Tragedy is when I get a …