Ken Olsen? David H. Ahl? Gordon Bell? Apocryphal? Question for 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 …
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Quote Origin: To Be Glamourous Just Stand Still and Look Stupid
Hedy Lamarr? Hedda Hopper? Apocryphal? Question for 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, …
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Quote Origin: I Spent a Good Part of Last Evening Laughing at a Very Bad Play
Walter Kerr? Groucho Marx? Anonymous? Question for 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 …
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Quote Origin: You Are Never Too Old To Set Another Goal or To Dream a New Dream
C. S. Lewis? Les Brown? Anonymous? Question for 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? Reply …
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Quote Origin: Pet Canary Onan Spills Its Seed Upon the Ground
Dorothy Parker? Corey Ford? John Keats? Apocryphal? Question for 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? Reply from Quote Investigator: The biblical …
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Quote Origin: There Are Three Things Extremely Hard, Steel, a Diamond and To Know One’s Self
Benjamin Franklin? Anonymous? Question for 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? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1750 statesman Benjamin Franklin included an instance in “Poor Richard’s Almanack”. The word “extremely” …
Quote Origin: If a Cluttered Desk Is a Sign of a Cluttered Mind, We Can’t Help Wondering What an Empty Desk Indicates
Albert Einstein? Truman Twill? Lyndon B. Johnson? Laurence J. Peter? Paul A. Freund? Anonymous? Question for 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? …
Quote Origin: A Cluttered Desk Produces a Cluttered Mind
J. K. Turner? Newton A. Fuessle? Edward Earle Purinton? William C. McCraw? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Office workers whose desks are covered with a jumble of papers are criticized with the following adage. Here are three versions: World you please investigate this saying? Reply from Quote Investigator: This maxim is difficult to trace because …
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Quote Origin: The Face of Venus, the Figure of Juno, the Brains of Minerva, the Memory of Macaulay . . . Above and Beyond All, the Hide of a Rhinoceros
Ethel Barrymore? Madge Kendal? J. H. Ellis? Lilian Braithwaite? Anonymous? Question for 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. …
Quote Origin: Posterity Is As Likely To Be Wrong As Anybody Else
Heywood Broun? Anonymous? Question for 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. …
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