Archibald MacLeish? Laurence J. Peter? Earl Wilson? Eleanor Hoyt? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The American poet Archibald MacLeish apparently said that learning from experience was painful, but the alternative of not learning was worse. A similar remark has been ascribed to quotation collector Laurence J. Peter. Would you please examine this topic? Quote Investigator: The …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Never Think That You’re Not Good Enough
Anthony Trollope? Isaac Asimov? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, I saw a tweet ascribing the following words to the popular Victorian era English novelist Anthony Trollope: Above all else, never think you’re not good enough. Curiously, when I searched for a citation I found that it was also ascribed to the science fiction master Isaac …
Creativity Is Contagious. Pass It On
Albert Einstein? Bernice Bede Osol? Eugene Raudsepp? François de La Rochefoucauld? Dale Carnegie? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following words are often credited to the scientific genius Albert Einstein: Creativity is contagious. Pass it on. I cannot find a good citation. What do you think? Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Einstein wrote …
We Have Done So Much with So Little for So Long, that Now We Can Do Anything with Nothing
U.S. Airforce? U.S. Navy? Marines? U.S. Coastguard? Hugh S. Johnson? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: During a retirement party I heard the following humorous encomium: She did so much, with so little, for so long that she is now able to do everything with nothing. Would you please explore the history of this statement? Quote Investigator: …
People Think They Are Thinking When They Are Merely Rearranging Their Prejudices
Edward R. Murrow? Knute Rockne? William James? William Fitzjames Oldham? Josh Billings? George Craig Stewart? Luther Burbank? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Changing deeply help opinions is very difficult. A brilliant and forceful quotation expresses this idea: Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. These words have been attributed to …
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Man Will Atrophy All His Limbs But the Push-Button Finger
Frank Lloyd Wright? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A simple finger touch can make a phone call, play music, summon a taxi, obtain a weather forecast, pay a bill, and perform countless other tasks via apps. The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright feared that in the future all of our body parts would atrophy except the …
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All Religion, My Friend, Is Simply Evolved Out of Chicanery, Fear, Greed, Imagination and Poetry
Edgar Allan Poe? William Barton? John A. Joyce? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following remark has been ascribed to the master of mystery and the macabre Edgar Allan Poe Religion evolved out of fraud, fear, and greed. Is this quotation accurate? Quote Investigator: A controversial remark of this type was included in a 1901 biography …
Once You Replace Negative Thoughts with Positive Ones, You’ll Start Having Positive Results
Willie Nelson? Dale Carnegie? Norman Vincent Peale? James K. Van Fleet? John C. Maxwell? Dear Quote Investigator: Did country music star Willie Nelson say something about replacing negative thoughts with positive ones to achieve positive results? Quote Investigator: In 2006 Willie Nelson with Turk Pipkin published “The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness …
To Be Happy at Home Is the Ultimate Result of All Ambition
Samuel Johnson? C. S. Lewis? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous English lexicographer Samuel Johnson apparently extolled domestic bliss. Did he write or say something like the following? The chief aim of all human endeavors is to be happy at home. Quote Investigator: In 1746 Samuel Johnson signed a contract to create “A Dictionary of …
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History Is the Unfolding of Miscalculations
Barbara W. Tuchman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The popular historian Barbara W. Tuchman crafted one or both of the following cautionary adages: War is the unfolding of miscalculations. History is the unfolding of miscalculations. Sometimes the final word is singular. Would you please help me unravel this mystery? Quote Investigator: In 1971 Tuchman published “Stilwell …
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