Tracing Quotations
Hedy Lamarr? Hedda Hopper? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr was famous for her beauty and intelligence. In the 1940s she and a co-author were granted a patent for a futuristic frequency-hopping communication system whose importance emerged two decades later. Her attitude towards glamor was summarized with a hilarious quotation: Why, any …
Continue reading “Glamour: Just Stand Still and Look Stupid”
Walter Kerr? Groucho Marx? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Comedies rarely win prestigious awards. Critics are unaccountably hostile to works that make them guffaw. Groucho Marx once described a critic who laughed heartily and repeatedly during the performance of a play, yet crafted and published an excoriating newspaper review the next day using the barbed phrases …
Continue reading “I Spent a Good Part of Last Evening Laughing at a Very Bad Play”
C. S. Lewis? Les Brown? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous fantasy author C. S. Lewis has been credited with an encouraging statement aimed at seniors: You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. I haven’t been able to find a citation. Is this ascription accurate? Quote Investigator: …
Continue reading “You Are Never Too Old To Set Another Goal or To Dream a New Dream”
Dorothy Parker? Corey Ford? John Keats? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Apparently, the famous wit Dorothy Parker was once asked why she had selected the curious name Onan for her pet canary. She replied: Because he spills his seed on the ground. What is the veracity of this tale? Quote Investigator: The biblical figure Onan appeared …
Benjamin Franklin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, I came across an insightful saying about psychology: Three of the hardest entities are steel, a diamond, and self-knowledge. Would you please help me to determine the originator? Quote Investigator: In 1750 statesman Benjamin Franklin included an instance in “Poor Richard’s Almanack”. The word “extremely” was spelled “extreamly”. …
Continue reading “There Are Three Things Extreamly Hard, Steel, a Diamond and To Know One’s Self”
Albert Einstein? Truman Twill? Lyndon B. Johnson? Laurence J. Peter? Paul A. Freund? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Many sayings attributed to the scientific genius Albert Einstein concern the mind. Here is a funny example: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign? I …
J. K. Turner? Newton A. Fuessle? Edward Earle Purinton? William C. McCraw? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Office workers whose desks are covered with a jumble of papers are criticized with the following adage. Here are three versions: A cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind. A messy desk is evidence of a messy …
Continue reading “A Cluttered Desk Produces a Cluttered Mind”
Ethel Barrymore? Madge Kendal? J. H. Ellis? Lilian Braithwaite? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous actress Ethel Barrymore was asked to list the requirements for success in the theater. She specified remarkable qualities such as the beauty of Venus and the intelligence of Minerva. The final crucial precondition was an ability to ignore criticism. Would …
Heywood Broun? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The popular embrace or condemnation of an artwork is often transitory. Artists and critics speculate about the judgement of posterity, but that future evaluation may be just as flawed as the current viewpoint. I love this insightful remark: Posterity is as likely to be wrong as anybody else. Do …
Continue reading “Posterity Is As Likely To Be Wrong As Anybody Else”
Asylum Inmate? Lester Ridenhour? Leo Aikman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: According to legend an automobile driver noticed that a tire was going flat, and pulled over to the side of a lonely road adjacent to a tall metal fence. While replacing the tire with a spare the apprehensive driver removed the four lug nuts and …
Continue reading “Lug Nuts: I’m Here Because I’m Crazy; Not Stupid”