Tracing Quotations
Marston Bates? Barstow Bates? Plutarch? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A path-breaking researcher must pursue many leads that do not work out. Sometimes he or she must exhaustively test a set of possibilities with the foreknowledge that only a handful will yield positive results. That is why I embrace the following insightful saying: Research is the …
Continue reading “Research Is the Process of Going Up Alleys to See If They’re Blind”
Ninon de Lenclos? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Ninon de Lenclos (also L’enclos) was a famous French author and courtesan who died in 1705. Her friends valued her perceptiveness, and one man asked her for guidance because he was infatuated with his paramour. Lenclos warned that his ardor would cool if he spent too much time …
Continue reading “Love Never Dies of Starvation, But Often of Indigestion”
Gelett Burgess? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Anyone who wishes to remain intellectually vital must be willing to challenge his or her own opinions. Viewpoints should evolve and flawed notions should be replaced. I came across the following cogent expression: If in the last few years you haven’t discarded a major opinion or acquired a …
George Bernard Shaw? Oscar Wilde? Cecile Starr? Billy Wilder? Richard Pryor? James L. Brooks? Dustin Hoffman? Charles Ludlam? Dear Quote Investigator: Dramatists have discovered that challenging material often elicits hostility or boredom. This is dangerous for creators because jobs in the entertainment industry are precarious. Yet, a provocative production leavened with humor is often embraced …
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? William D. Smith? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe has been credited with the following group of expressions called: The Nine Requisites for Contented Living: (1) Health enough to make work a pleasure. (2) Wealth enough to support your needs. (3) Strength to battle with …
Carl Sagan? P. C. Hodgell? Kirien? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There exists a family of sayings that is popular in the community of skeptics. Here are four examples: 1) That which can be destroyed by the truth should be. 2) Anything that can be destroyed by the truth should be. 3) Anything that can be …
Continue reading “That Which Can Be Destroyed By the Truth Should Be”
Lyndon B. Johnson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Lyndon B. Johnson was the President of the U.S. during the 1960s. I am having a difficult time trying to verify the following uplifting quotation which has been attributed to him: The noblest search is the search for excellence. What do you think? Quote Investigator: In April 1964 …
Continue reading “The Noblest Search of Today Is the Search for Excellence”
Bertrand Russell? Ayn Rand? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, while reading my Facebook feed I saw a graphic from a major media organization (The Economist) that displayed a picture of the influential philosopher Bertrand Russell coupled with the following quotation: I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong. Are these really …
Continue reading “I Would Never Die for My Beliefs Because I Might Be Wrong”
Lyall Watson? George Edgin Pugh? Emerson M. Pugh? Ken Hill? Dear Quote Investigator: The European Union has launched a ten year scientific venture called the Human Brain Project to build a large-scale neural simulation of the brain. Google has hired the top computer scientist and inventor Ray Kurzweil who has espoused a strategy of reverse-engineering …
H. L. Mencken? Raymond Chandler? Woodrow Wilson? Richard Le Gallienne? George Horace Lorimer? Dear Quote Investigator: Successful scribblers believe that all writing should be engaging. A popular adage places the onus squarely on the shoulders of the author: There are no dull subjects, just dull writers. This expression has been attributed to the curmudgeon essayist …
Continue reading “There Are Really No Dull Subjects, Only Dull Writers”