Mark Twain? Ossip Gabrilowitsch? Clara Clemens? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I’m conducting a research check on a television script containing a definition for the term “conspiracy” credited to Mark Twain. The definition notes that the conspiring participants “dare not admit in public” the secret agreement. Are you familiar with this quotation? Is the attribution …
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Quote Origin: There Are No Atheists in Foxholes
Plato? Michel de Montaigne? Hannah More? C. V. Hibbard? Warren J. Clear? Ruth Straub? William Thomas Cummings? Ernie Pyle? Anonymous Chaplain? Anonymous Soldier? Question for Quote Investigator: When exposed to extreme peril many people reflect on the spiritual or supernatural dimension of existence. The following sayings have been particularly popular during times of war. Here …
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Quote Origin: I Do Not Believe in Ghosts Because I Have Seen Too Many of Them
Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley? Don Marquis? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: While perusing the book “Dim Wit: The Stupidest Quotes of All Time” I came across an entertaining topic for Halloween in the following entry about a famous poet: Samuel Taylor Coleridge was asked, “Do you believe in ghosts?” “No, ma’am,” he replied, …
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Quote Origin: The Love You Give Away Is the Only Love You Keep
Elbert Hubbard? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I’m intrigued by the following counter-intuitive adage: The love we give away is the only love we keep. Would you please explore its provenance? Reply from Quote Investigator: Elbert Hubbard was the founder of a community of artisans called Roycrofters who were located in East Aurora, New …
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I Do Not Believe in Ghosts, But I Am Awfully Afraid of Them
Edgar Allan Poe? Germaine de Staël? Bert Leston Taylor? Charles A. Dana? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a family of quips that express a comically contradictory attitude toward specters. Here are three instances: I do not believe in ghosts, but I am awfully afraid of them. I don’t believe in ghosts, but I’ve …
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Quote Origin: When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression
Stephanie Herrera? Chris Boeskool? Mike Jebbett? Jesse Alan Downs? Brian Sims? Clay Shirky? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Activists have formulated an adage about privilege that has achieved wide distribution: When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression Would you please examine its provenance? Reply from Quote Investigator: This thought can be expressed in …
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Quote Origin: Leave Him With a Favorable Opinion of Himself
Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Tryon Edwards? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: My favorite poem is “Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I love the poem’s opium inspired image of a “stately pleasure dome”. Serendipitously, I came across an insightful remark ascribed to Coleridge that contrasted different types of …
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Quote Origin: When Painters Get Together They Talk About Where You Can Buy the Best Turpentine
Pablo Picasso? Jean Renoir? Garson Kanin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Critics discuss abstruse theories of creativity and engage in esoteric scrutiny of aesthetics while artists are primarily concerned with the practical. Admittedly, this is an oversimplification. Here is a statement that makes a similar point: When art critics get together they talk about form …
Quote Origin: A Woman Without a Man Is Like a Fish Without a Bicycle
Gloria Steinem? Irina Dunn? Erica Jong? Florynce Kennedy? Charles S. Harris? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous feminist slogan asserts that a woman is capable of living a complete and independent life without a man. Here are two versions: Would you please explore the origin of this saying? Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest …
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Quote Origin: Life Is Hard and Then You Die
Tony Daniels? Edmund Vance Cooke? James J. Montague? Carolyn McKane? Tom Robbins? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There are many upbeat sayings on your website, but I would like you to explore a popular motto of the disaffected. Here are four versions: Life is hard and then you die. Life is rough and then you …
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