Quotation: “What do you call ‘genius’?” “Well, seeing things others don’t see. Or rather the invisible links between things.” Creator: Vladimir Nabokov, author of “Pale Fire”, “Lolita”, and “Speak, Memory” Context: The lines excerpted above show two characters talking from the 1974 novel “Look at the Harlequins!” by Nabokov. These two lines are often compressed …
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Quote Origin: If Anything Can Go Wrong, Fix It! (To Hell With Murphy!)
Quotation: If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!) Creator: Peter H. Diamandis, founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation; bestselling author; cofounder of Singularity University Context: In 2015 Diamandis published “Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World”. He described an episode that occurred shortly after he …
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Quote Origin: What Has Posterity Ever Done for Us?
Groucho Marx? John Stuart Mill? Joseph Addison? Thomas Stafford? Boyle Roche? Adam Neale? Samuel Goldwyn? Bill Nye? Question for Quote Investigator: Making sacrifices now for the people and environment of the future is difficult. This challenge has been encapsulated with a humorous remark. Here are two versions: Groucho Marx often receives credit for this quip, …
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Quote Origin: Always Do What You Are Afraid To Do
Quotation: Always do what you are afraid to do. Popularizer: Ralph Waldo Emerson (He did not create the adage.) Context: In 1841 Emerson published the essay “Heroism”, and he recommended a simple maxim to readers for overcoming trepidation. Some fears are justified, and the guidance does not encourage foolish or self-destructive actions. Emerson disclaimed credit …
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Quote Origin: Within Thirty Years, We Will Have the Technological Means To Create Superhuman Intelligence. Shortly After, the Human Era Will Be Ended
Quotation: Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. Creator: Vernor Vinge, prize-winning science fiction author; retired professor of computer science at San Diego State University Context: In 1993 NASA sponsored a symposium titled “Vision 21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the …
Quote Origin: Part of the Inhumanity of the Computer Is That Once It Is Competently Programmed and Working Smoothly—It Is Completely Honest
Quotation: Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that once it is competently programmed and working smoothly—it is completely honest. Creator: Isaac Asimov, bestselling author of science fiction and science books Context: The book “Change! Seventy-One Glimpses of the Future” contained a series of short speculative essays detailing Isaac Asimov’s visions of the future. …
Quote Origin: It Is Not the Clear-Sighted Who Lead the World. Great Achievements Are Accomplished in a Blessed, Warm, Mental Fog
Joseph Conrad? Edgar Ansel Mowrer? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Great attainments are normally thought to require superior mental acuity, but the brilliant novelist Joseph Conrad apparently contended that a “warm mental fog” was necessary. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1915 Joseph Conrad published “Victory: An …
Quote Origin: Nothing Is More Responsible for the Good Old Days than a Bad Memory
Franklin P. Adams? Franklin P. Jones? H. B. Meyers? Sylvia Strum Bremer? Loring Smith? Mike Connolly? Steven Pinker? Question for Quote Investigator: Public intellectual Steven Pinker recently published the bestselling book “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress” which includes an entertaining quotation about nostalgia attributed to a prominent newspaper columnist: As …
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Quote Origin: I Want to Be What I Was When I Wanted To Be What I Now Am
Marlon Brando? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: We are unable to anticipate the full consequences of the changes we make to ourselves. The following wistful and convoluted expression reflects this unease: I want to be who I was when I wanted to become who I am now. While listening to the radio I heard this …
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Quote Origin: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Clare Boothe Luce? Oscar Wilde? Walter Map? Marie Belloc Lowndes? James Agate? Leo Pavia? Walter Winchell? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: For centuries moral philosophers have propounded a conventional viewpoint about the rewards and punishments delivered by a deity. Here is an example from the “Summa Theologica” by Saint Thomas Aquinas who lived during the …
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