John Greenleaf Whittier? Edgar Guest? Labor? Nellie Maxwell? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A popular poem about perseverance includes these lines: When all is pressing you down a bit— Rest if you must, but don’t you quit. The poets John Greenleaf Whittier and Edgar A. Guest have both been credited. Would you please determine the actual …
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Every Word Has Consequences. Every Silence, Too
Jean-Paul Sartre? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Did the famous existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre say the following: Every word has consequences. Every silence, too. I am trying to find a citation for the original French version. Would you please help? Quote Investigator: Jean-Paul Sartre believed that writers should be politically engaged. He was a founder of …
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The Pleasure Is Momentary, the Position Is Ridiculous, the Expense Is Damnable
Lord Chesterfield? Hilaire Belloc? D. H. Lawrence? George Bernard Shaw? Alexander Duffield? W. Somerset Maugham? Elliot Paul? Samuel Hopkins Adams? Benjamin Franklin? P. D. James? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Lord Chesterfield reportedly crafted an outrageously humorous description of intimate relations. I’ve seen different versions that each comment on pleasure, position, and expense. Yet, I …
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Good Ideology; Wrong Species
Edward O. Wilson? Bert Hölldobler? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Social insects are famous for exhibiting a division of labor and a willingness to act for the overall good of the colony. The preeminent biologist Edward O. Wilson whose specialty is the study of ants was once asked about human politics, and he replied with a …
It’s Nice To Be Important, But More Important To Be Nice
Roger Federer? John Templeton? Walter Winchell? Kay Dangerfield? James H. Lane? Tony Curtis? Bob Olin? Sidney Blackmer? Joe Franklin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Antimetabole is a clever literary technique in which a phrase is repeated, but key words are reversed. For example: It is nice to be important, but more important to be nice. This …
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We Are Confronted by an Insurmountable Opportunity
Walt Kelly? Don Mitchell? Fred W. Bewley? Leon Shimkin? A. C. Monteith? W. Willard Wirtz? Hubert Humphrey? Howard J. Samuels? George H. W. Bush? W. C. Fields? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Walt Kelly authored the magnificent comic strip “Pogo” featuring hilarious wordplay. He has been credited with the following oxymoronic phrase: Our problem is an …
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If a Book Is Well Written, I Always Find It Too Short
Jane Austen? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous novelist Jane Austen wrote that when she was reading an enjoyable book she always found that it was too short. Would you please help me to locate this quotation? Quote Investigator: Jane Austen was born in 1775, and she began to work on a novel called “Catharine …
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He Got His Good Looks from His Mother. She’s a Plastic Surgeon
Groucho Marx? Frank Parker? Marty Allen? Steve Rossi? Dorothy Shay? Ed Reed? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The comedian Groucho Marx apparently crafted a witty twist on beauty and inheritance. Here are two versions: He got his good looks from his mother. She’s a plastic surgeon. She got her good looks from her father. He’s a …
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The Young Sow Wild Oats. The Old Grow Sage
Winston Churchill? Stephen Fry? Henry James Byron? W. Davenport Adams? Aubrey Stewart? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The recent memoir by English comedian and actor Stephen Fry contains the following intriguing remark:[1] 2015 (Copyright 2014), More Fool Me: A Memoir by Stephen Fry, Chapter: The Early Days, Section: Waiting for My Man, The Overlook Press: Peter …
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There Is in This World No Such Force as the Force of a Man Determined To Rise. The Human Soul Cannot Be Permanently Chained
W. E. B. Du Bois? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: W. E. B. Du Bois was a prominent sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist. He spoke about the unstoppable force of a person resolved to rise, and he said: The human soul cannot be permanently chained. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote …