Mark Twain? Abbie Hoffman? Roy F. Nichols? George McKinnon? Aardvark Magazine? Graffito? Dear Quote Investigator: The following has often been ascribed to the famous humorist Mark Twain and the 1960s-era political activist Abbie Hoffman: Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger. Apologies for offensiveness. Would you please explore the provenance of this expression? Quote Investigator: QI …
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Give Yourself Peace of Mind. You Deserve To Be Happy. You Deserve Delight
Hannah Arendt? Mark Victor Hansen? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, I read the following upbeat message embracing egoism: Give yourself peace of mind. You deserve to be happy. You deserve delight. I was astonished when I saw it ascribed to the political theorist Hannah Arendt who wrote about the Nazi Adolf Eichmann and popularized the …
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If You Are Going To Be a Bear, Be a Grizzly
Mohandas Gandhi? George Hyde Preston? Lynda Bird Johnson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi who famously employed nonviolent strategies has implausibly been credited with the following piece of folk wisdom: If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Would you please explore this topic? Quote Investigator: QI has located …
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Quote Origin: What You Get By Reaching Your Goals Is Not Nearly So Important As What You Become By Reaching Them
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Henry David Thoreau? Zig Ziglar? Question for Quote Investigator: Many self-help and inspirational books contain this guidance: What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. These words have been ascribed to three disparate individuals: German literary titan Johann Wolfgang von …
If You Don’t Read the Newspaper You Are Uninformed, If You Do Read the Newspaper You Are Misinformed
Mark Twain? Denzel Washington? Thomas Jefferson? Thomas Fuller? Orville Hubbard? Ezra Taft Benson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A cynical attitude toward the media is widespread today, but this is not a new development. Supposedly, Mark Twain made the following remark: If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper …
We Do Not Want Now and We Never Shall Want the Human Voice with Our Films
D. W Griffith? Harry Warner? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: D. W. Griffith was the most innovative and important director during the early days of cinema. However, he was unable to foresee the momentous shift away from silent movies. Apparently, he stated that audiences would never wish to hear recorded human voices in films. Is that …
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Who the Hell Wants to Hear Actors Talk?
Harry Warner? Sam Warner? Jack L. Warner? D. W. Griffith? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Four brothers: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner founded Warner Bros. Pictures which became a powerful long-lived institution in Hollywood. Their extraordinary success did not arise from a pellucid view of the future. In fact, the development of motion pictures with …
As a Cure for Worrying, Work Is Better Than Whisky
Thomas Edison? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Using alcohol to provide solace when experiencing apprehension is often unwise. The famous inventor and businessman Thomas Edison preferred hard work and reportedly said: As a cure for worrying, work is better than whisky Oddly, the same saying has been attributed to the noteworthy thinker Ralph …
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Wagner’s Music Is Really Much Better Than It Sounds
Mark Twain? Bill Nye? Ambrose Bierce? Punch Magazine? Dear Quote Investigator: Richard Wagner was a prominent German composer who created the landmark four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). A comically incongruous remark about his efforts has been attributed to two famous American humorists Mark Twain and Bill Nye: Wagner’s music …
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You Yourself May Serve To Show It, That Every Fool Is Not a Poet
Jonathan Swift? Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Alexander Pope? Théophile de Viau? Matthew Prior? Pierre de Ronsard? Scévole de Sainte-Marthe? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: According to legend a famous literary figure was accosted by a philistine who exclaimed that all poets were fools. The adroit spontaneous response provided a humorous comeuppance: Sir, I admit your general rule, …
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