Helen Keller? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A wise statement about true happiness and its connection to the pursuit of a worthwhile objective has been attributed to the blind social activist Helen Keller. Are you familiar with this saying and is the ascription accurate? Quote Investigator: Hellen Keller maintained a journal during the years 1936 and …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
When the Politicians Complain That Television Turns Their Proceedings into a Circus, It Should Be Made Plain That the Circus Was Already There
Edward R. Murrow? David Horsey? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: In March 2016 the political cartoonist and commentator David Horsey of the “Los Angeles Times” published a cartoon showing the prominent journalist Edward R. Murrow seated in front of a television screen that displayed a group of angry clowns. The quotation accompanying the illustration compared political …
Education Is Not the Learning of Facts, But the Training of the Mind To Think
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A learner may accumulate a large number of miscellaneous pieces of information without achieving an integrated understanding and without acquiring an ability to use the material intelligently. Reportedly, Albert Einstein made a germane remark: Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think. …
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I’m Looking for Loopholes
W. C. Fields? Ben Hecht? Gene Fowler? Thomas Mitchell? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The brilliant comedian and movie actor W. C. Fields led an unrestrained showbiz life displaying a fondness for alcohol and mistresses. He was not known as a religious man, but as his death approached he began to peruse the Bible. When a …
Literature Is of No Practical Value Whatsoever
Vladimir Nabokov? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov was a consummate prose stylist. When he was a professor teaching his students about literature he apparently shared the following candid opinion: Literature is of no practical value whatsoever. Is this quotation accurate? Quote Investigator: In 1980 the posthumous book “Lectures on Literature” by …
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He Was Prepared To Lay Down His Life for Eight Cousins or Two Brothers
J. B. S. Haldane? John Maynard Smith? W. D. Hamilton? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Kin selection is an important and sometimes controversial idea in genetics. The prominent biologist J. B. S. Haldane reportedly said: I would gladly give up my life for two brothers or eight cousins. I have been unable to find a citation …
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If You Think Education Is Expensive, Try Ignorance
Derek Bok? Ann Landers? Char Meyers? Robert Orben? John Lubbock? P. B. de La Bruère? Rev. S. C. Morris? Charles Duncan Mclver? Albert Einstein? Barack Obama? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The cost of attending college has been increasing more rapidly than the rate of inflation for decades in the U.S. Students and parents have been …
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Clear Your Mind of Cant / Clear Your Mind of Can’t
Samuel Johnson? James Boswell? Thomas Carlyle? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Two statements that sound the same but have very different meanings have been attributed to the esteemed dictionary maker and man of letters Samuel Johnson: 1) Clear your mind of cant. 2) Clear your mind of can’t. In the first statement the noun “cant” referred …
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Music Itself Is Going To Become Like Running Water or Electricity
David Bowie? Alan B. Krueger? David Kusek? Gerd Leonhard? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Music streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music have grown greatly in popularity and power in recent times. Some pundits assert that music in the future will be viewed as a utility like water, gas, or electricity. But this insight …
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Either Write Things Worth Reading or Do Things Worth the Writing
Benjamin Franklin? Thomas Fuller? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: If you wish to be remembered by posterity in a literate culture you have two options: 1) Write something that people wish to read. 2) Do something grand that inspires people to write. The famous statesman Benjamin Franklin has a secure place in history for both of …
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