Émile Zola? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent French novelist and journalist Émile Zola has been credited with an inflammatory anti-clerical statement. Here are three versions in English: Would you please explore the provenance of this remark? Reply from Quote Investigator: Émile Zola’s 1901 novel “Travail” contains a scene during which the last church …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: A Dollar Saved Is a Quarter Earned
Creator: John Ciardi, U.S. poet, translator, and critic Context: For many years Ciardi was an editor and columnist at “The Saturday Review”. For the May 26, 1962 issue he composed a set of humorously altered versions of well-known adages. Here are three examples: The original adages were: The statement under examination suggests that economic inflation …
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Quote Origin: Universities Are Full of Knowledge; the Freshmen Bring a Little In and the Seniors Take None Away
Abbott Lawrence Lowell? Jonathan Swift? James Pycroft? University of Michigan Students? George Edgar Vincent? Arthur MacMurray? J. Brooks Atkinson? Charles William Eliot? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The people, laboratories, and libraries of a university embody a vast storehouse of knowledge. How did this knowledge accumulate? A humorous response to this question has often been …
Quote Origin: There Is Nothing Wrong With Sobriety In Moderation
Creator: John Ciardi, U.S. poet, translator, and critic Context: For many years Ciardi was an editor and columnist at “The Saturday Review”. He crafted several adages for the piece he published on September 24, 1966. Here is a sampling with emphasis added: What we need most to know about public servants is the identity of …
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Quote Origin: Master Books, But Do Not Let Them Master You. Read To Live, Not Live To Read
Creator: Edward Bulwer-Lytton, popular and prolific English writer Context: Bulwer-Lytton wrote on this theme in 1848 within his novel “The Caxtons” which was serialized in “Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine”. A character in the story employed antimetabole cleverly when imparting guidance. Emphasis added to excerpt: My father no longer sought to curb my intellectual aspirings. He had …
Quote Origin: It’s Easier To Ask Forgiveness Than To Get Permission
Grace Hopper? Cardinal Barberini? Earl of Peterborough? David Hernandez? Helen Pajama? St. Benedict? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: People who are eager to initiate a task often cite the following guidance. Here are two versions: This notion has been credited to Grace Murray Hopper who was a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and pioneering computer scientist. …
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Quote Origin: Anger Is Like Grasping a Hot Coal To Strike Another; You Are the One Who Is Burned
Gautama Buddha? Buddhaghosa? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Feelings and actions driven by anger and resentment are self-destructive. This notion can be metaphorically illustrated by a red-hot coal which one grabs with the goal of striking another person. The poorly conceived plan causes one’s hand to suffer burns and pain. This figurative framework has been …
Quote Origin: The Most Fun You Can Have Without Laughing
H. L. Mencken? Woody Allen? Walter Winchell? Alfred Lunt? Sarah Bernhardt? E. V. Durling? Jim Bishop? Colonel Stoopnagle? Frederick Chase Taylor? Leo Rosten? Humphrey Bogart? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following declaration of high praise has been applied to love making: The most fun you can have without laughing. Influential commentator H. L. Mencken …
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Quote Origin: Forgiveness Is Giving Up All Hope of a Better Past
Anne Lamott? Don Felt? John A. MacDougall? Gerald G. Jampolsky? Gina Berriault? Dorothy Bullitt? Lily Tomlin? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: It is not possible to change the past. Yet, enduring grievances are often emotionally rooted in an irrational hope that somehow past actions can be altered, and a disheartening event can be excised. Here …
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Quote Origin: Get Your Happiness Out of Your Work, or You’ll Never Know What Happiness Is
Elbert Hubbard? Thomas Carlyle? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Working for a living consumes enormous amounts of time and energy. If you wish to be happy in life then it is essential to try and obtain happiness from your work. Would you please determine who created an adage expressing this idea? Reply from Quote Investigator: …