Tracing Quotations
Maya Angelou? Joan Walsh Anglund? William Hazlitt? Alfred Lord Tennyson? Jimmie Allison? Lou Holtz? Dear Quote Investigator: In 2015 the U.S. Postal Service released a controversial commemorative stamp featuring the prominent author Maya Angelou which displayed the following words: A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. …
Continue reading “A Bird Doesn’t Sing Because It Has an Answer, It Sings Because It Has a Song”
Oscar Wilde? CosmoGIRL? L. G. McVean? William J. Locke? Elizabeth Cooper? Holiday Mathis? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a popular saying about the intimate connection between people who are in love that has been attributed to the famous wit Oscar Wilde. The closeness is expressed using an auditory metaphor: You don’t love someone …
Continue reading “Lovers: They Sing a Song Only You Can Hear”
Mark Twain? Eleanor Roosevelt? Mary Schmich? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Mark Twain said something about doing at least one thing each day that you should do despite the fact that it makes you feel uncomfortable. I do not remember precisely how the expression was phrased. Here are two pertinent statements: Do something …
Continue reading “Make It a Point To Do Something Every Day That You Don’t Want To Do”
Leon Shamroy? Alfred Hitchcock? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: According to Hollywood legend a vain actor or actress was deeply concerned about being photographed in a flattering manner. The following words were exchanged with a famous director: “You’re not photographing me with my best side to the camera.” “But how can I when you’re sitting on …
Continue reading ““Which Is My Best Side, Do You Think?” “You’re Sitting On It””
Leo Tolstoy? A. B. Goldenveizer? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: November is National Novel Writing Month; a participant is supposed to commit to writing 50,000 words during the 30 days of the month. Sustaining that pace would be difficult for me because I am irresistibly drawn to rewriting. The brilliant Russian writer Leo Tolstoy once said …
Dorothy Parker? The Virginia Spectator? The Daily Standard of Sikeston, Missouri? Alexander Woollcott? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Dorothy Parker was famous for her coruscating wit, and she once employed a notoriously bawdy pun based on the word horticulture. Was she responsible for originating this pun? Quote Investigator: There is substantive evidence that Dorothy Parker created …
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Jacob M. Braude? Robert Byrne? Sally’s Sallies? Mary Pettibone Poole? Bob Burns? Jimmie Fidler? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I love terrible puns and the following is a great example:[ref] 2012, The 2,548 Wittiest Things Anybody Ever Said by Robert Byrne, No Page Number, Quote Number 283, Touchstone: A Division of Simon & Schuster, New York. …
Continue reading “Love Triangles Generally Turn Out To Be Wrecktangles”
Abraham Lincoln? John W. Hulbert? Pious Clergyman? George Bradburn? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a famous riddle about the difference between a supposition and a fact: How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg. There are different …
Continue reading “Suppose You Call a Sheep’s Tail a Leg, How Many Legs Will the Sheep Have?”
Mark Twain? Will Rogers? Frank Scully? Arthur F. Lenehan? H. Jackson Brown? Mother of H. Jackson Brown? Shirley MacLaine? Dear Quote Investigator: To succeed one must be willing to take risks and to enter the precarious realm of punishments and accolades. Here are four versions of an expression that appears in many self-help books: 1) …
Continue reading “Why Not Go Out On a Limb? Isn’t That Where the Fruit Is?”
Abraham Lincoln? Traveler? John Randolph of Roanoke? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: According to legend when Abraham Lincoln was served a cup of unpalatable brew he made the following hilarious remark: If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee. I have not been able to …
Continue reading “If What You Gave Me Last Was Tea, I Want Coffee. If It Was Coffee, I Want Tea”