Tracing Quotations
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 …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: There Are Always Flowers for Those Who Want To See Them”
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? …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Have Just One Day, Today, and I’m Going To Be Happy In It”