Winston Churchill? Jack Fishman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Here is a mystifying question for you. Winston Churchill has been credited with crafting two nearly identical quotations beginning as follows: 1) Do not let specious plans … 2) Do not let spacious plans … The two expressions differed by a single word: specious/spacious. Did Churchill utter …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
If You’ve Told a Child a Thousand Times, and the Child Still Has Not Learned, Then It Is Not the Child Who Is the Slow Learner
Walter Barbee? Walter Barbie? Walter Barbe? Robert Alcorn? Nancy Reese? Dear Quote Investigator: A cogent adage aimed at teachers begins with the following phrase: If you’ve told a child a thousand times and he still does not understand… The full expression concludes with a reversal of the traditional supposition and indicates that the teacher is …
Chains Do Not Hold a Marriage Together. It Is Thread, Hundreds of Tiny Threads which Sew People Together Through the Years
Simone Signoret? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I am trying to find a citation for a statement attributed to the wonderful French movie actress Simone Signoret. Here is a paraphrase from my memory: marriages are not held together by chains; they are held together by hundreds of threads. Are you familiar with this saying? Would you …
First Forget Inspiration. Habit Is More Dependable. Habit Will Sustain You Whether You’re Inspired or Not
Octavia Butler? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, a publisher in Silicon Valley tweeted an illustration of the prominent science fiction author Octavia Butler together with a quotation that offered intriguing advice about writing. The quote began: First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. When were these words written or said by Butler? Quote Investigator: Octavia …
We Are an Impossibility in an Impossible Universe
Ray Bradbury? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: On Facebook I saw the following quotation displayed on a star-filled picture: We are an impossibility in an impossible universe The words were attributed to the prominent science fiction author Ray Bradbury, but I haven’t been able to find a citation. Would you please help? Quote Investigator: In January …
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Many Persons Have a Wrong Idea of What Constitutes True Happiness. It Is Not Attained Through Self-Gratification but Through Fidelity to a Worthy Purpose
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 …
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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