Tracing Quotations
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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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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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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Walter Winchell? Robert Hill? C. R. Durrant? William T. Ellis? Milton Berle? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When you encounter difficulties some nominal friends will walk away from you, but your genuine friends will offer help and support. Here are two versions of an apposite adage: (1) The true friend walks in when others walk …
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George Bernard Shaw? Alexander Pope? H. W. James? Thomas Henry Huxley? Paul Janet? George Pellew? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently I saw a tweet with a quotation attributed to the famous playwright and intellectual George Bernard Shaw: Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. I haven’t been able to find a …
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Thomas Clement Douglas? Beto O’Rourke? Jay Inslee? Barack Obama? Mike McGinn? W. R. Barnhart? Lee Loevinger? Billy Graham? Jay D. Hair? Brian Fisher? Question for Quote Investigator: Humanity faces a severe danger according to similar statements from two presidential candidates: (1) We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change and we …