Author Archives: quoteresearch

Quote Origin: Dear Sir, I Have Read Your Play. Oh, My Dear Sir. Yours Faithfully

Herbert Beerbohm Tree? Albert Chevalier? John Clayton? Johnston Forbes-Robertson? John Golden? James Wallen? John Alfred Calthrop? Charles Dillingham? Anonymous? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Successful producers and directors are regularly sent screenplays and scripts by individuals with high aspirations. Unfortunately, these products of creativity are often terrible. One theater manager in the 1800s responded with …

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Quote Origin: God Is Really Only Another Artist. He Invented the Giraffe, the Elephant, and the Cat. He Has No Real Style

Pablo Picasso? Françoise Gilot? Carlton Lake? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso contemplated the dissimilarity of the animals created by God, e.g., the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He concluded that God had no consistent style. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from …

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Quote Origin: Self-Trust Is the First Secret of Success

Ralph Waldo Emerson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Anxiety and self-doubt can sabotage one’s attempts to achieve success. The transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said: Self-trust is the first secret of success. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1870 Ralph Waldo Emerson collected a set of his …

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Quote Origin: Like Two Bald Men Fighting Over a Comb

Jorge Luis Borges? Phaedrus? Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian? Clarke Jervoise? Leo Tolstoy? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following trenchant simile is the best description of a futile conflict that I have ever heard: The clash was like two bald men fighting over a comb. The prominent Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges …

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Quote Origin: The Opposite of Love Is Not Hate, But Indifference

Elie Wiesel? Wilhelm Stekel? Rosalie Gabler? John Le Carré? Rollo May? August Strindberg? William Hale White? Otto M. Spangler? David Cornwell? Question for Quote Investigator: Love and hate are intense emotions that are sometimes mingled together. The following statement makes a fascinating point: The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference. This adage has …

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Quote Origin: Make War a Mere Contest of Machines Without Men and Without Loss of Life

Nikola Tesla? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous inventor Nikola Tesla envisioned a future in which human lives would be spared during warfare because advanced technology would allow the construction of fighting automatons. This would transform “battle into a mere spectacle” of machines in combat. Tesla hoped that the end of bloodshed would lead …

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Quote Origin: Immense Power Is Acquired by Assuring Yourself in Your Secret Reveries That You Were Born To Control Affairs

Andrew Carnegie? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: U.S. business titan and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie apparently placed great value on psychological techniques such as envisioning success and using affirmations. He believed that one could obtain “immense power” via “secret reveries”. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1885 Andrew …

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Quote Origin: If Your Experiment Needs Statistics, You Ought To Have Done a Better Experiment

Ernest Rutherford? John M. Hammersley? Judy Campisi? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The raw data collected in some scientific experiments is extensively processed via statistical operations. The tentative conclusions of this research may be accompanied with complex discussions of confidence levels. The prominent physicist Ernest Rutherford preferred decisive experiments that did not require sophisticated statistical …

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Quote Origin: A Ph.D. Thesis Consists of Transferring Bones from One Graveyard to Another

J. Frank Dobie? Susan Riley? Joseph B. Mohr? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Performing scholarly research requires scrutinizing bibliographies carefully, retrieving tomes conscientiously, and examining text closely. Afterwards the researcher must construct a thorough bibliography for their own creative work. A wit crafted the following humorous description of the process: Doctoral research is similar to …

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Quote Origin: All I Want Is a Story. If You Have a Message, Send It by Western Union

Samuel Goldwyn? Humphrey Bogart? Ed Sullivan? Moss Hart? John Ford? Brendan Behan? Harry Warner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Storytellers often wish to do more than simply entertain. They wish to instruct their audiences via a didactic narrative. Yet, the primary concern of the producers of films and plays is financial success. This tension is …

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