Tracing Quotations
Arthur C. Clarke? Paraphrase? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The intelligence of humanity has enabled its absolute dominance of the biosphere; however, this trait has also generated frightening existential risks such as the danger of nuclear warfare. Science fiction luminary Arthur C. Clarke has received credit for the following remark: It has yet to be …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It Has Yet To Be Proved That Intelligence Has Real Survival Value”
Fred Bass? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The host of a video on YouTube mentioned a remarkably prescient quotation from a New York book dealer in the 1960s who predicted that telephones would have screens, and people would read books on those screens selected from a large electronic library. Would you please explore this topic? …
Mother Jones? Mary Harris Jones? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A rallying cry employed by protesters apparently began with labor activist Mary Harris Jones who is better known as Mother Jones: Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living. Would you please trace this expression? Reply from Quote Investigator: Mother Jones described …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Pray for the Dead and Fight Like Hell for the Living”
Leonardo da Vinci? John H. Secondari? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous Renaissance figure Leonardo da Vinci has been given credit for a remark about the experience of flight: Once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. How could Leonardo know something like this? I am skeptical …
George Bernard Shaw? Albert Schweitzer? Life Magazine? Mohandas Gandhi? Ferdinand Pecora? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Some thinkers believe that humanity has not yet achieved an advanced society worthy of the name “civilization”. This notion has been expressed with the following dialog: “What’s your idea of civilization?” “It’s a good idea. Somebody ought to start …
Bill Gates? Arthur C. Clarke? J. C. R. Licklider? Roy Amara? Alfred Mayo? George H. Heilmeier? Manfred Kochen? Raymond Kurzweil? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Predicting the technological future of mankind is enormously difficult. One recurring flaw in such projections has been identified. Here are three versions: We tend to overestimate the effect of a …
Oscar Wilde? George Bernard Shaw? Ambrose Bierce? Charles Frederick Joy? Percival Christopher Wren? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: If you are attending a soporific party, and the host asks whether you are content you might reply with the following comically self-absorbed zinger attributed to the famous Irish wit Oscar Wilde: “Are you enjoying yourself, Mr. …
Winston Churchill? Hugh Hampton Young? Bennett Cerf? John Barrymore? Jacob Potofsky? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to a bawdy anecdote, British statesman Winston Churchill once attended a ceremony during which a sculpture of his likeness was unveiled. A beautiful woman approached him, and their provocative exchange included a pun on the word “bust”. Would …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Traveled Fifty Miles To See Your Bust Unveiled. . . .”
Isaac Asimov? Alan Alda? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The assumptions we make about the world transform the way we perceive it; hence, we should periodically challenge our own assumptions. A quotation that makes this point and uses windows metaphorically was crafted by either science fiction writer Isaac Asimov or actor Alan Alda. Would you …
Arthur Eddington? J. B. S. Haldane? Werner Heisenberg? Arthur C. Clarke? Stanley Kubrick? J. B. Priestly Question for Quote Investigator: The physics of quantum mechanics, relativity theory, and string theory are mind-bending. Scientists have made remarkable strides in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; yet, some believe that the progress will stop before the completion of …