Tracing Quotations
D. W Griffith? Harry Warner? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: D. W. Griffith was the most innovative and important director during the early days of cinema. However, he was unable to foresee the momentous shift away from silent movies. Apparently, he stated that audiences would never wish to hear recorded human voices in films. Is that …
Continue reading “We Do Not Want Now and We Never Shall Want the Human Voice with Our Films”
Harry Warner? Sam Warner? Jack L. Warner? D. W. Griffith? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Four brothers: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner founded Warner Bros. Pictures which became a powerful long-lived institution in Hollywood. Their extraordinary success did not arise from a pellucid view of the future. In fact, the development of motion pictures with …
Thomas Edison? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Using alcohol to provide solace when experiencing apprehension is often unwise. The famous inventor and businessman Thomas Edison preferred hard work and reportedly said: As a cure for worrying, work is better than whisky Oddly, the same saying has been attributed to the noteworthy thinker Ralph …
Continue reading “As a Cure for Worrying, Work Is Better Than Whisky”
Mark Twain? Bill Nye? Ambrose Bierce? Punch Magazine? Dear Quote Investigator: Richard Wagner was a prominent German composer who created the landmark four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). A comically incongruous remark about his efforts has been attributed to two famous American humorists Mark Twain and Bill Nye: Wagner’s music …
Continue reading “Wagner’s Music Is Really Much Better Than It Sounds”
Jonathan Swift? Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Alexander Pope? Théophile de Viau? Matthew Prior? Pierre de Ronsard? Scévole de Sainte-Marthe? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: According to legend a famous literary figure was accosted by a philistine who exclaimed that all poets were fools. The adroit spontaneous response provided a humorous comeuppance: Sir, I admit your general rule, …
Continue reading “You Yourself May Serve To Show It, That Every Fool Is Not a Poet”
Tom Petty? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a piece of controversial advice aimed at college students that I have long suspected was created by an undergraduate to sabotage his fellow students. It contains the suggestion: You have four years to be irresponsible here, relax. Work is for people with jobs. Usually the words are …
Continue reading “You Have Four Years To Be Irresponsible Here. Relax”
Arthur Schopenhauer? Charles Lyell? Louis Agassiz? J. Marion Sims? Alexander von Humboldt? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: True statements and ideas are often not recognized initially; instead, the process of acceptance is long and circuitous. One popular adage highlights three stages for the recognition of truth: The prominent German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer is usually credited …
Ernest Hemingway? Leonard Cohen? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Benjamin Blood? Rumi? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: It is impossible to avoid all pain and suffering during a lifetime, but I believe that our setbacks have a larger meaning and purpose. The famous author Ernest Hemingway reportedly said the following: We are all broken. That’s how the …
Continue reading “We Are All Broken. That’s How the Light Gets In”
Hermann Oberth? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Engineer Hermann Oberth was an extraordinary pioneer in the fields of rocketry and astronautics. Provocatively, he conjectured that Earth was being visited by spaceships from another solar system. I saw a fascinating quotation about the development of advanced technology that was attributed to him in a book about UFOs: …
Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: An entertaining tale states that baseball great Yogi Berra was once honored at a ceremony extolling his athletic skills. He knew of his obligation to give a speech after the receipt of the accolades and gifts, and his prepared remarks included a statement thanking everyone for making the event …
Continue reading “I Thank All of You for Making This Night Necessary”