Jean-Paul Sartre? Alan Sheridan-Smith? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The presence of an adversary makes planning more complex because the achievement of goals requires the anticipation of counter-measures. A famous philosopher once said something like the following: In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team. The term “football” corresponds to “soccer” …
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Quote Origin: Words Make You Think a Thought. Music Makes You Feel a Feeling. A Song Makes You Feel a Thought
Yip Harburg? Jay Gorney? Caryl Brahms? Ned Sherrin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent songwriter once stated that words are used to make a person think a thought, and music is used to make a person feel a feeling, but the goal of a song is different and more powerful: A song makes you …
Quote Origin: All of Bach, Streamed Out Into Space, Over and Over Again. We Would Be Bragging
Carl Sagan? Lewis Thomas? Douglas Adams? Stephen Fry? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Suppose humanity decided to deliberately send a message out into space. What should be included in that message which might someday be read by a hypothetical alien civilization? In fact, the U.S. launched two robotic interstellar probes in 1977, Voyager 1 …
Quote Origin: People Do Not Stop Playing Because They Grow Old; They Grow Old Because They Stop Playing
Herbert Spencer? G. Stanley Hall? Karl Groos? George L. Knapp? George Bernard Shaw? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Children enjoy playing, yet this rambunctious and exploratory spirit often fades with age. The following adage encourages the retention of a youthful temperament. Here are four versions: (1) People do not cease playing because they grow old, …
Quote Origin: I Am Not Innarested In Your Horrible Disease
William S. Burroughs? Kenneth Turan? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The transgressive Beat Generation author William Burroughs once wrote something like the following: I am not innarested in your horrible disease. I recall reading this many years ago. The word “interested” was deliberately written with the nonstandard spelling “innarested”. Maybe my memory is flawed because …
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Quote Origin: We Learn From History That We Do Not Learn From History
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel? Aldous Huxley? George Bernard Shaw? Henry Tizard? Caroline Thomas Harnsberger? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The historical record displays clear patterns, yet there is enormous resistance to learning from these patterns. Here are two versions of a humorously contradictory adage: (1) We learn from history that we do not learn from …
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Quote Origin: Those Who Cannot Remember the Past Are Condemned To Repeat It
George Santayana? Edmund Burke? Winston Churchill? Question for Quote Investigator: The study of history teaches vital lessons; however, those lessons are often unheeded. Here are five versions of a popular adage: (1) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (2) Those who do not learn from the experience of history are …
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Quote Origin: One Has To Belong To the Intelligentsia To Believe Things Like That: No Ordinary Man Could Be Such a Fool
George Orwell? Bertrand Russell? Thomas Sowell? Nicholas Kisburg? George Will? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Intelligent individuals sometimes embrace remarkably foolish ideas. Here are four versions of an acerbic remark: (1) One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool. (2) This is one …
Quote Origin: Through Love, Through Friendship, a Heart Lives More Than One Life
Anais Nin? Rosalie Maggio? Katherine Young? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A deep emotional rapport with another person allows one to live vicariously. A famous diarist apparently said the following: Through love, through friendship, a heart lives more than one life. This statement has been ascribed to French-born U.S. author Anaïs Nin. Would you please …
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Quote Origin: Fascist Movement – To Fascinate Fools and Muzzle the Intelligent
Bertrand Russell? Ruth Nanda Anshen? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent thinker said something like the following: the success of fascism is based on fascinating the fools and muzzling the intelligent. Would you please help me to determine the name of the author and the correct phrasing? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1940 U.S. …
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