J. B. S. Haldane? Louis Agassiz? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane stated that interesting new truths were resisted, and acceptance required traversal through a series of four stages. During the first stage the new fact or theory was rejected as nonsense. Are you familiar with Haldane’s quotation on …
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Quote Origin: The Best Minds of My Generation Are Thinking About How To Make People Click Ads
Jeff Hammerbacher? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous poem “Howl” by Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg begins with a despairing cri de cœur: I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked… A very different mordant message was delivered by a Millennial who worried that his cohort was enmeshed …
Quote Origin: Gray Is the Color of Truth
André Gide? Stuart Henry? McGeorge Bundy? Jacques de Biez? W. C. Brownell? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Many demand simple answers to tangled questions. Yet, some topics never yield straightforward black or white answers. The French Nobel prize winner André Gide supposedly made one of the following comments: The color of truth is grey. Gray …
Quote Origin: The Space Elevator Will Be Built About 50 Years After Everyone Stops Laughing
Arthur C. Clarke? Arthur Kantrowitz? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Science fiction luminary Arthur C. Clarke described the audacious idea of building an elevator from the surface of the Earth straight up into space and beyond geostationary orbit in his 1979 novel “The Fountains of Paradise”. The megaproject would require extremely strong lightweight material, and …
Quote Origin: There Are Always Flowers for Those Who Want To See Them
Henri Matisse? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The innovative French artist Henri Matisse reportedly wrote: There are always flowers for those who want to see them. This statement appears on countless pictures of floral arrangements, but I have been unable to find the source, and I am beginning to question its authenticity. Would you please …
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Quote Origin: I Have Just One Day, Today, and I’m Going To Be Happy In It
Groucho Marx? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Reportedly, Groucho Marx once described his philosophy of life. He stated that each day he had the power to choose to be happy or unhappy, and he would select happiness. Are you familiar with his statement on this topic? Would you please help me to find a citation? …
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Dialogue Origin: “The Peasants Are Revolting” “You Can Say That Again”
Brant Parker? Johnny Hart? L. Frank Baum? Walt Kelly? Allan Sherman? Mel Brooks? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I vaguely recall seeing a comic strip with a clever joke based on two different senses of the word “revolting”. An advisor warned a monarch about an uprising, and he replied acerbically: Advisor: The peasants are revolting. …
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Quote Origin: Do Not Wait To Strike Till the Iron Is Hot; But Make It Hot By Striking
William Butler Yeats? William B. Sprague? Benjamin Franklin? Richard Sharp? Charles Lamb? Charles Caleb Colton? Oliver Cromwell? Peleg Sprague? Ernest Hemingway? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular proverb highlights the limited duration of an opportunity: Strike while the iron is hot. This metaphor has been astutely extended with advice for greater challenges: Make the …
Quote Origin: If He Found that Flower in His Hand When He Awoke — Ay! And What Then?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A fascinating fragment describes the tangible intrusion of a dream into the prosaic world: What if you sleptAnd what if in your sleep you dreamedAnd what if in your dream you went to heavenAnd there plucked a strange and beautiful flowerAnd what if when you awoke you …
Quote Origin: Culture Does Not Consist in Acquiring Opinions, But in Getting Rid of Them
William Butler Yeats? Leonard A. G. Strong? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Too often classes in literature and the arts simply provide an encyclopedic recitation of previous opinions on a topic. The Nobel-Prize-winning Irish poet William Butler Yeats made a provocative remark about the desirability of getting rid of opinions. Would you please help me …