Variety? Abel Green? Lin Bonner? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous headline appeared in the U.S. show business periodical “Variety” in 1935: STICKS NIX HICK PIX STICKS referred to rural audiences. NIX meant reject. HICK referred to a rural theme. PIX meant a motion picture. Thus, the headline was stating that rural audiences were …
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Quote Origin: Anger Is an Acid That Can Do More Harm To the Vessel In Which It’s Stored Than To Anything On Which It’s Poured
Mark Twain? Ann Landers? Turkish Proverb? Mohandas Gandhi? Seneca the Younger? Frederica Mathewes-Green? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Intense feelings of anger affect the body and mind negatively. This notion can be expressed metaphorically: Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on …
Quote Origin: There’s No Point in Having Sharp Images If You’ve Got Fuzzy Ideas
Jean-Luc Godard? Ansel Adams? Richard Roud? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When you create a photograph or film your intentions should be well defined. Here are three pertinent statements which may be grouped together: (1) There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. (2) There’s no point in having a sharp …
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Quote Origin: I Have Been Misquoted Everywhere, and the Inaccuracies Are Chasing Me Round the World
George Bernard Shaw? Ritchie Calder? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Prominent Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw is a misquotation magnet. Numerous remarks have been ascribed to him that he never said. Apparently, he once grumbled about being “misquoted everywhere”. He believed that the inaccuracies were chasing him around the world. Would you please help me …
Quote Origin: You May Encounter Many Defeats, But You Must Not Be Defeated
Maya Angelou? Claudia Tate? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: You will experience many setbacks and reversals in life, but you should never feel defeated. Encountering difficulties will help you to strengthen your power to endure and succeed. The prominent poet and memoirist Maya Angelou said something like this. Would you please help me to find …
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Quote Origin: The Word ‘No’ Is a Complete Sentence
Shonda Rhimes? Carol Burnett? Jane Fonda? Anne Lamott? Megan LeBoutillier? Bil Keane? Earl Wilson? Si Cornell? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A negative response to a request often causes dissatisfaction. Hence the request is repeated many times. Some people do not wish to accept “No” for an answer. The following adage is favored by adamant …
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Quote Origin: Not a Day’s Work in All My Life. What I Have Done I Have Done, Because It Has Been Play
Mark Twain? Lawrence Pearsall Jacks? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous author Mark Twain once surprisingly proclaimed that he had done “not a day’s work in all my life”. He stated that his efforts in life had “been play”. Would you please help me to find a citation for his fascinating comments? Reply from …
Quote Origin: Life Is Not a Journey To the Grave With the Intention of Arriving Safely
Hunter S. Thompson? Bill McKenna? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson has received credit for a remark about living an exuberant life and sliding broadside amid a cloud of smoke into the grave. I am skeptical of this ascription because I have been unable to find a solid citation. Would you …
Anecdote Origin: Everything That Can Be Invented Has Been Invented
Henry L. Ellsworth? Charles H. Duell? Roswell Park? Royal S. Copeland? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to a popular legend the Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office wanted to shut down the organization in the nineteenth century. He supposedly proclaimed: Everything that can be invented has been invented. The two primary candidates for the …
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Quote Origin: It Is More From Carelessness About Truth Than From Intentional Lying That There Is So Much Falsehood in the World
Samuel Johnson? James Boswell? Robert J. Hanlon? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Misquotations and misattributions are prevalent online, but people who are presenting this faulty information are rarely lying deliberately. Instead, they are naively repeating misinformation they have encountered in the past. The famous English lexicographer Samuel Johnson once said something pertinent which contrasted “carelessness …