Tracing Quotations
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Elbert Hubbard? Napoleon Bonaparte? Dale Carnegie? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Self-help books encourage people to act with confidence and assurance because apprehension can block progress. I once read the following motivational statement: Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. These words were attributed to the famous transcendentalist …
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Dorothy L. Sayers? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Gossip mongers are obsessed with identifying and publicizing the latest carnal pairings of celebrities. The acclaimed mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers composed a short poem expressing disinterest in this subject, and I have seen two distinct versions of her humorous four lines. Would you please help me to …
Continue reading “As Years Come In and Years Go Out, I Totter Toward the Tomb”
Dorothy Parker? Susan Sontag? Alix Nelson? Ross Macdonald? Kenneth Millar? Tom Samet? Edmund Wilson? Anne Ruggles Gere? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Yesterday, while reading an acerbic episode within a stylish memoir I recalled the following adage: Writing well is the best revenge. These words are often credited to the famous wit Dorothy Parker, but I …
Speaker: George Dixon? Ann Richards? Vito Marcantonio? Oliver Herford? Target: Harold Ickes? George H. W. Bush? Newbold Morris? Jones? Dear Quote Investigator: A person who is born into a wealthy and successful family is “born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth” according to a longstanding idiom. There is a funny variant that …
Continue reading “Born with a Silver Foot in His or Her Mouth”
Mark Twain? Thomas Jefferson? Voltaire? Edward Young? George Bernard Shaw? Laird MacKenzie? Elsie McCormick? Bertrand Russell? Kurt Vonnegut? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Several thinkers have offered an anguished explanation for the dangerously disordered state of the world. Here are four versions: This notion has been credited to Mark Twain, Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, George …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: This World Is the Lunatic Asylum of the Universe”
Mark Twain? Groucho Marx? Wilson Mizner? Sydney J. Harris? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A funny man once said that he was embarrassed to discover that his behavior had always been scandalous; he had been born in bed with a lady. This line has been connected to Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, and Wilson Mizner. Would you …
Continue reading “To My Embarrassment I Was Born in Bed with a Lady”
Warren Buffett? Todd Combs? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Warren Buffett is one of the wealthiest individuals in the history of the world. His lengthy record of successful investing is remarkable. Apparently, he was once asked for guidance and offered this suggestion: Read five-hundred pages every day. I haven’t been able to find a citation. Would …
William Ralph Inge? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The number of people on planet Earth has grown to the remarkably large figure of 7.5 billion. A passage in the Book of Genesis of the King James Bible encourages fertility: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, …
William Ralph Inge? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I once heard the humorous claim that recorded history may be divided into two parts: Events that probably never happened. Events that do not matter. Would you please explore the provenance of this observation? Quote Investigator: William Ralph Inge was Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London and …
Mark Twain? Dick Nolan? Ad Schuster? Betty Carpenter? Bumper Sticker? Jake Ford? Bill Quraishi? John Wallner? Robin Williams? Barry Levinson? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The number of sayings spuriously ascribed to Mark Twain seems to grow every year. Here are two versions of a remark credited to the famous son of Hannibal, Missouri: Politicians and …
Continue reading “Politicians Are Like Diapers. They Should Be Changed Regularly”