Bill Gates? Muriel Strode? Ella Wheeler Wilcox? Joey Adams? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is one of the richest people in the world. A provocative remark about poverty has been ascribed to him: If you are born poor it’s not your mistake but if you die poor it’s …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: Who Ya Gonna Believe Me or Your Own Eyes?
Groucho Marx? Chico Marx? Popular Song? Peggy Hopkins Joyce? Dorothy Dix? Ace Reid? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to legend when the wife of a famous comedian caught him in bed with another person the entertainer was unperturbed and denied that anything improper was occurring: Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes? …
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Quote Origin: Don’t Aim for Success If You Want It. Just Do What You Love Doing, and It Will Come Naturally
Robert Frost? David Frost? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: While listening to a TEDx talk I heard an interesting motivational quotation attributed to the popular American poet Robert Frost: Don’t aim for success if that’s what you want. Do what you love and believe in, and it will follow. I doubt that the versifier of …
Quote Origin: A Government of Wall Street, for Wall Street, by Wall Street
Creator: Mary Elizabeth Lease, suffrage advocate, populist, author, and orator Context: Long before the Occupy Wall Street movement the metonymic location of the stock market has been treated with hostility. In 1891 the political activist Mary Elizabeth Lease delivered a speech containing words reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address which she transformed into a condemnation …
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Quote Origin: I Am Pleased To Believe That You Like the Piece Almost as Much as I Do Myself
Oscar Wilde? Louise Jopling? Hesketh Pearson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: After the enormously successful debut of a comedy by Oscar Wilde the audience demanded that the playwright deliver a few words. His speech included a comically self-congratulatory line that was similar to the following: You think almost as highly of the play as I …
Quote Origin: This Earth Is Used By Other Planets as a Lunatic Asylum
George Bernard Shaw? Voltaire? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Influential intellectuals have experienced cosmic despair while observing the behavior of humankind. Here are some statements I have heard attributed to Voltaire, George Bernard Shaw and others: Would you please explore this topic? Reply from Quote Investigator: This is a complex topic; hence, QI will split …
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Quote Origin: The Time To Be Happy Is Now; The Place To Be Happy Is Here
Creator: Robert G. Ingersoll, prominent orator and exponent of agnosticism Context: In 1899 Ingersoll was asked to record his thoughts using an early phonograph device. According to a newspaper account his remarks included the following combination of hedonism and altruism. Emphasis added to excerpts: I, too, have my religion. It is this: Happiness is the …
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Quote Origin: Mediocrity is My Biggest Fear
Creator: Robert Downey Jr., Hollywood star known for playing comic book hero Iron Man and famous sleuth Sherlock Holmes Context: While living in Los Angles the photographer Karen Hardy Bystedt met with young performers who were launching their movie careers: Amazingly, more than half the actors and actresses I interviewed and photographed between 1987 and …
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Quote Origin: Tact Is the Knack of Making a Point Without Making an Enemy
Isaac Newton? Howard W. Newton? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The brilliant physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton supposedly coined the following expression: Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy. A variant of this statement uses “knack” instead of “art”. Interestingly, Isaac Newton made some powerful enemies during his lifetime. Do …
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Quote Origin: If You Find a Book You Really Want To Read But It Hasn’t Been Written Yet, Then You Must Write It
Toni Morrison? Benjamin Disraeli? Mickey Spillane? C. S. Lewis? J. R. R. Tolkien? Janet Fitch? Ann Patchett? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent American editor, writer, and educator Toni Morrison who authored the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” has been credited with an exhilarating remark about the creative process: If there’s a book you really …