Tracing Quotations
William J. Mayo? Nicholas Murray Butler? William Warde Fowler? Patrick Geddes? Mabel M. Barker? Y. Srinivasa Rao? Arthur Bugs Baer? Robert E. Swain? Distinguished Scottish person? Question for Quote Investigator: The modern explosion of knowledge has led to an age of specialization with this concomitant quip: A specialist knows more and more about less and less. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Specialist Knows More and More About Less and Less”
Mohandas Gandhi? Arleen Lorrance? Ernest Troutner? Diane Kennedy Pike? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Often you cannot convince someone via speech alone to constructively alter a behavior, but you can provide a model for emulation by changing your own behavior. Here are three versions of this notion: This saying has been attributed to the famous …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Be the Change You Wish To See in the World”
William Petty? Henry Fielding? Adam Smith? Camillo Benso? James Wolcott? Marshall McLuhan? Roger Jones? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The winners of a recent lottery jackpot split more than one billion dollars. Yet the probability of a lucky lottery strike is smaller than an unlucky lightning strike. Economists, mathematicians, and wits have made sardonic remarks …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Lottery Is a Taxation Upon All the Fools in Creation”
Winston Churchill? James Reston? Edward M. Kennedy? Clark M. Clifford? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The massive arsenals of the nuclear nations have been poised like the Sword of Damocles to fall upon the head of mankind for decades. Statesman Winston Churchill reportedly was critical of excessive weaponry and said: If you go on with …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Why Make the Rubble Bounce?”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Jeremiah Seed? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Advice that is shouted as a command is often ignored. A different approach is more successful: Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind. The prominent English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge …
Napoleon Bonaparte? Frederick the Great? Thomas Carlyle? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Proper logistics are crucial to any successful military campaign. The importance of food supply is highlighted in a well-known aphorism. Here are four versions: This saying has been ascribed to the famous leaders Napoleon Bonaparte and Frederick the Great. Would you please explore …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: An Army Marches On Its Stomach”
Sinclair Lewis? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Whenever I hear someone attempting to diagnose the problems of the world I am reminded of the following amusingly recursive remark: The trouble with this country is that there are too many people saying, “The trouble with this country is…” Although I roughly remember the quotation I do …
Carolyn Wells? Bruce Porter? Gelett Burgess? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following well-known adage concisely states a controversial moral principle: Of two evils, choose the lesser. I’ve heard these cynical variants: Would you please explore the history of the last statement? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1904 the popular and prolific writer and poet …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Of Two Evils, Choose the Prettier”
Clarence Darrow? George Sand? Charles Paul de Kock? Henry Monnier? Eddie Drake? Heywood Broun? Irvin S. Cobb? Steven Pinker? Anonymous? Disliked Food: Spinach? Carp Head? Eels? Oysters? Lobster? Lettuce? Green Peas? Beets? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous defense lawyer Clarence Darrow apparently had a very low opinion of the vegetable favored by the cartoon …
Art Buchwald? Henry James Lee? Mrs. Kenneth Clarke? Linda Godeau? Laurence J. Peter? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular modern adage de-emphasizes materialism: The best things in life aren’t things. This phrase has been attributed to the humorist Art Buchwald and the quotation collector Laurence J. Peter. What do you think? Reply from Quote …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Best Things in Life Are Not Things”