William Ralph Inge? John Brunner? Bishop of Ripon? Anonymous? Quote Investigator: There are two different types of fools. One naively embraces and extolls everything that is old; the other credulously praises everything that is new. This insight has been ascribed to William Ralph Inge who was a professor at Cambridge and Dean of St Paul’s …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
It’s Easy Enough, My Friend, to Dream of Utopian Worlds Afar…
Edgar Allan Poe? Ted Olson? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a verse stating that only one person out of one-hundred is actively working toward making bold dreams come true. This notion has been ascribed to the horror master Edgar Allan Poe. Are you familiar with this verse? Would you please examine this topic? Quote …
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Life Is a Sexually Transmitted Terminal Disease
Margaret Atwood? Posy Simmonds? Guy Bellamy? Marilyn Duckworth? R. D. Laing? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following quotation may be morbid, but I still consider it cleverly humorous: Life is a sexually transmitted terminal disease. Would you please explore its provenance? Quote Investigator: Tracing this statement is difficult because it emerged from a family of …
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The Three Most Famous Names in History Are Jesus Christ, Sherlock Holmes, and Harry Houdini
George Bernard Shaw? Otto Penzler? James Thurber? Harold Ross? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Reportedly, George Bernard Shaw once presented an idiosyncratic list of the three most famous individuals: Jesus Christ, Sherlock Holmes, and Harry Houdini. Did Shaw really put forward this triptych? Quote Investigator: The earliest evidence known to QI appeared in the 1976 biography …
Do Not Allow Idleness to Deceive You, for While You Give Him Today He Steals Tomorrow from You
H. Croccoquill? Alfred Crowquill? Alfred Henry Forrester? Dear Quote Investigator: I recently encountered an insightful quotation that begins: Don’t allow idleness to deceive you. . . Someone with the unusual name “H. Croccoquill” was credited, but I have been unable to learn anything about him or her. Is this ascription accurate? Quote Investigator: No. The …
Planet “Earth”: We Should Have Called It “Sea”
Arthur C. Clarke? Carleton Ray? Ann Henderson-Sellers? James E. Lovelock? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The water covering our planet makes it look like a blue marble in pictures taken from outer space. Roughly three-quarters of the surface is enveloped in H₂O in liquid or frozen form. The science fiction luminary Arthur C. Clarke suggested that …
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We Shall Escape the Absurdity of Growing a Whole Chicken in Order To Eat the Breast or Wing
Winston Churchill? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Scientists have successfully produced meat in culture without the need to grow an entire animal. Apparently, long ago Winston Churchill envisioned this possibility, and he predicted that chicken wings would be created without growing a full chicken. Would you please locate Churchill’s remarks on this topic? Quote Investigator: The …
There Is No God, and Harriet Martineau Is His Prophet
Prophet: Harriet Martineau? William Tweed? John Tyndall? Auguste Comte? Robert G. Ingersoll? Karl Marx? Charles Darwin? Herbert Spencer? Henry George Atkinson? Paul Dirac? Felix Adler? Critic: Mark Twain? Douglas William Jerrold? George Grote? J. P. Jacobsen? Isaac M. Wise? Wolfgang Pauli? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent physicist Paul Dirac was hostile toward religion, and sometimes …
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Men Marry Women with the Hope They Will Never Change. Women Marry Men with the Hope They Will Change
Albert Einstein? H. M. Harwood? R. Gore-Browne? John Conwell? Estelle Getty? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Did Albert Einstein’s genius extend from physics to psychology? The following remark has been ascribed to him: Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both …
On Some Great and Glorious Day the Plain Folks of the Land Will Reach Their Heart’s Desire at Last . . .
H. L. Mencken? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: For many years H. L. Mencken was an influential and acerbic commentator with a national reputation in the U.S. His sharp witted and ferocious columns appeared in either “The Evening Sun” or “The Sun” of Baltimore, Maryland. Mencken’s low opinion of the general populace led him to predict …