Tracing Quotations
Gloria Steinem? Joe King? Anonymous Black Feminist? Dear Quote Investigator: Being placed on a pedestal has a serious drawback according to the following astute metaphorical amplification: A pedestal is a prison, like any other small space. Would you please explore the provenance of this expression which is often attributed to the prominent feminist Gloria Steinem? …
Continue reading “A Pedestal Is as Much a Prison as Any Small Space”
Peter Drucker? Giga Information Group? Mark Fields? Eli Halliwell? Richard Clark? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Business leaders have found that the pre-existing culture of a company can thwart indispensable changes. A popular cautionary aphorism encapsulates this viewpoint. Here are two versions: Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Culture eats strategy for lunch. The famous management guru …
Joseph Campbell? E. M. Forster? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Life often presents us with unexpected obstacles and challenges that require us to rethink our assumptions. The following pertinent statement has been attributed to the expert in mythology Joseph Campbell and popular English novelist E. M. Forster: We must let go of the life we have …
Archibald MacLeish? Laurence J. Peter? Earl Wilson? Eleanor Hoyt? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The American poet Archibald MacLeish apparently said that learning from experience was painful, but the alternative of not learning was worse. A similar remark has been ascribed to quotation collector Laurence J. Peter. Would you please examine this topic? Quote Investigator: The …
Anthony Trollope? Isaac Asimov? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, I saw a tweet ascribing the following words to the popular Victorian era English novelist Anthony Trollope: Above all else, never think you’re not good enough. Curiously, when I searched for a citation I found that it was also ascribed to the science fiction master Isaac …
Albert Einstein? Bernice Bede Osol? Eugene Raudsepp? François de La Rochefoucauld? Dale Carnegie? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following words are often credited to the scientific genius Albert Einstein: Creativity is contagious. Pass it on. I cannot find a good citation. What do you think? Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Einstein wrote …
U.S. Airforce? U.S. Navy? Marines? U.S. Coastguard? Hugh S. Johnson? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: During a retirement party I heard the following humorous encomium: She did so much, with so little, for so long that she is now able to do everything with nothing. Would you please explore the history of this statement? Quote Investigator: …
Edward R. Murrow? Knute Rockne? William James? William Fitzjames Oldham? Josh Billings? George Craig Stewart? Luther Burbank? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Changing deeply help opinions is very difficult. A brilliant and forceful quotation expresses this idea: Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. These words have been attributed to …
Continue reading “People Think They Are Thinking When They Are Merely Rearranging Their Prejudices”
Frank Lloyd Wright? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A simple finger touch can make a phone call, play music, summon a taxi, obtain a weather forecast, pay a bill, and perform countless other tasks via apps. The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright feared that in the future all of our body parts would atrophy except the …
Continue reading “Man Will Atrophy All His Limbs But the Push-Button Finger”
Edgar Allan Poe? William Barton? John A. Joyce? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following remark has been ascribed to the master of mystery and the macabre Edgar Allan Poe Religion evolved out of fraud, fear, and greed. Is this quotation accurate? Quote Investigator: A controversial remark of this type was included in a 1901 biography …