Tracing Quotations
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Einstein famously constructed a foundational equation about energy: E = mc². Apparently, he also fashioned a less-well-known humorous formula about success in life using the terms A, X, Y, and Z. Did Einstein actually craft this quasi-mathematical joke? Quote Investigator: In 1929 Albert Einstein was interviewed by Samuel J. …
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Dorothy Parker? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The well-known wit Dorothy Parker brought forth laughter from others, but personally she experienced episodes of depression. Apparently, when her doorbell rang she would sometimes proclaim: What fresh hell is this? Is this an accurate claim? Reply from Quote Investigator: Dorothy Parker died in 1967, and her earliest …
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Wendell Berry? Wallace Stegner? Ralph Ellison? Dorothy Noyes? Dear Quote Investigator: The nature writer and activist Wendell Berry has been credited with a statement about knowing one’s place in the world: If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are. Yet, this saying has also been ascribed to the novelist and …
Continue reading “If You Don’t Know Where You Are, You Probably Don’t Know Who You Are”
Oscar Wilde? Alfred Hitchcock? Joseph Wood Krutch? Margo Coleman? Bennett Cerf? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Anyone who has grown tired of reading idealized and overly sentimental visions of nature will enjoy the following skewed definition: Nature is where the birds fly around uncooked. These words are credited to Oscar Wilde, but I haven’t found any …
Continue reading “The Country: A Damp Sort of Place Where All Sorts of Birds Fly About Uncooked”
Paul A. Samuelson? Max Planck? Thomas S. Kuhn? Henri Poincaré? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Resistance to revolutionary scientific theories is intransigent. Progress only occurs when the prestigious detractors from a previous generation die out. Here are four versions of a maxim eloquently stating this viewpoint: Science advances funeral by funeral. Science advances one funeral at …
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Elon Musk? Apocryphal? Dear Quote investigator: Controversial and path-breaking entrepreneur Elon Musk started the rocket company SpaceX because he is passionate about traveling to Mars. He said something like: If mankind does not get off of this mud ball then it will go extinct. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote investigator: …
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Mark Twain? Hugh Elmer Brown? Joseph Fort Newton? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following quotation is often attributed to Mark Twain, but I do not know whether it is accurate: It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand. Would you please …
Frank Lloyd Wright? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright was critical of the new buildings he saw in cities. Apparently, he said: Novelty is mistaken for Progress. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1955 Frank Lloyd Wright published an essay titled “The Future of the …
Peter Drucker? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous management guru Peter Drucker apparently made a provocative prediction about education: Universities won’t survive. Is this quotation accurate? Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1997 “Forbes” published an interview with Peter F. Drucker under the title “Seeing things as they really …
Ken Olsen? David H. Ahl? Gordon Bell? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I was looking through a collection of woefully inaccurate pronouncements delivered by experts, and I saw a remark attributed to Ken Olsen, a prominent computer industry pioneer who founded the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) which built minicomputers. DEC was perfectly positioned to create a …
Continue reading “There is No Reason for Any Individual To Have a Computer in Their Home”