Tracing Quotations
Cora L. V. Hatch? Thomas Sheridan? George Whyte-Melville? A. B. Kendig? Ella Wheeler Wilcox? Bertha Calloway? Jimmy Dean? Dolly Parton? Thomas S. Monson? Question for Quote Investigator: We are buffeted by events that are beyond our control, but we can still react constructively. A popular adage highlights this flexibility: We cannot direct the wind, but …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: We Cannot Direct the Wind, But We Can Adjust the Sails”
Edgar Allan Poe? Samuel Johnson? William Johnson Neale? Dinah Craik? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following hyperbolic proverb encouraging skepticism has been credited to the master of mystery and the macabre Edgar Allan Poe: Believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear. Did Poe craft this saying? Reply from Quote …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Believe Nothing You Hear, and Only One Half That You See”
Isaac Asimov? Marvin Minsky? Paul Saffo? Edward Fredkin? Bruce Sterling? Question for Quote Investigator: Reportedly, a top researcher in artificial intelligence once said something like: Humans will be lucky if superintelligent robots treat them as pets. At some point a grim elaboration was appended: If humans are unlucky, they will be treated as food. Would …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: If We’re Lucky, Robots Might Decide To Keep Us as Pets”
Phyllis Diller? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Newlyweds are sometimes given the following thoughtful relationship advice: Never go to bed while angry with your partner. The prominent comedian Phyllis Diller twisted this expression to yield a very funny line. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: The quip appeared …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Never Go to Bed Mad—Stay Up and Fight”
Theodore Roosevelt? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a spirited disagreement on Facebook about whether the following statement can be ascribed to Theodore Roosevelt: Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President. Would you please help? Reply from Quote Investigator: Several U.S. presidential administrations have been …
Oscar Wilde? Sign in Leadville? Minister in Pooleville, Arkansas? Question for Quote Investigator: When Oscar Wilde was touring the United States he apparently saw a sign in a saloon requesting goodwill for the keyboardist. Here are three versions: Would you please explore the provenance of this appeal? Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest instance of …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Please Do Not Shoot the Pianist. He Is Doing His Best”
Thomas Henry Huxley? George Bernard Shaw? Garrett Hardin? Caryl P. Haskins? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: An influential idea passes through three stages: 1) Begins as heresy2) Turns into orthodoxy,3) Ends up as superstition. I cannot remember who said this. Can you help? Reply from Quote Investigator: There are several different quotations that describe the …
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 …
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 …
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 …