Buckminster Fuller? Thomas Fuller? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent inventor and author Buckminster Fuller has been linked to an uncharacteristic quotation: Those who play with the devil’s toys will be brought by degrees to wield his sword. Would you please determine whether he wrote and said this remark? Reply from Quote Investigator: QI …
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Quote Origin: The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery Is Not Ignorance—It Is the Illusion of Knowledge
Daniel J. Boorstin? Stephen Hawking? Henry Thomas Buckle? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Widely accepted false beliefs can hinder progress and new discoveries. For example, the mistaken belief that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible or impractical deterred requisite financing and investigation. This thought has been expressed as follows: The greatest enemy of knowledge is not …
Quote Origin: There Is Always a Well-Known Solution to Every Human Problem—Neat, Plausible, and Wrong
Mark Twain? H. L. Mencken? Peter Drucker? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular saying presents a vivid warning about apparent solutions which are too good to be true. Here are four versions: These expressions have been attributed to the famous humorist Mark Twain, the witty curmudgeon H. L. Mencken (Henry Louis Mencken), and the …
Quote Origin: Elementary, My Dear Watson
Sherlock Holmes? Arthur Conan Doyle? J. Murray Moore? Franklin P. Adams? P. G. Wodehouse? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock Holmes was explaining to his good friend John A. Watson the nature of his latest deduction he supposedly employed the well-known phrase: Elementary, my dear Watson. I was …
Quote Origin: An Archaeologist Is the Best Husband a Woman Can Have
Agatha Christie? Alec de Montmorency? Sam Farver? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Agatha Christie remains one of the most popular writers in history. She constructed engagingly clever and innovative mysteries as a novelist and playwright. Would you please research a humorous remark that has often been attributed to her? She was married to an …
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Quote Origin: Even Paranoiacs Have Real Enemies
Henry Kissinger? Delmore Schwartz? Sigmund Freud? Virginia McManus? Mark Harris? Buck Henry? Joseph Heller? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A family of sayings with a humorous edge was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Here were two versions: 1) Even a paranoid can have enemies. 2) Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after …
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Quote Origin: Self-Education Is the Only Kind of Education There Is
Robert Frost? Isaac Asimov? Kathleen Norris? Charles Swain Thomas? Robert Shafer? George Gallup? Question for Quote Investigator: The renowned poet laureate Robert Frost emphasized the importance of self-education. Also, the preternaturally productive science and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov extolled self-education. Here are two quotations on this topic: 1) The only education worth anything is …
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Quote Origin: What Is History But a Fable Agreed Upon?
Napoléon Bonaparte? Voltaire? Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle? Claude Adrien Helvétius? Wendell Phillips? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular skeptical viewpoint about history can be expressed in a few different ways: 1) What is history but a fable agreed upon?2) History is a set of lies agreed upon.3) History is a set …
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Quote Origin: Who Wait Until Circumstances Completely Favor His Undertaking Will Never Accomplish Anything
Martin Luther? J. J. Van Oosterzee? Johann Eduard Huther? Saint Timothy? Jesse Lyman Hurlbut? Confucius? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous religious reformer Martin Luther who died in 1546 has been credited with a comment about the need to take action and avoid perpetual delays: For truth and duty it is ever the fitting time; …
Quote Origin: The Trouble with Socialism Is Socialism; the Trouble with Capitalism is Capitalists
William F. Buckley Jr.? William Schlamm? Winston Churchill? Herbert Hoover? Question for Quote Investigator: I have heard a humorous saying that compares two major economic systems: The problem with socialism is socialism. The problem with capitalism is capitalists. These words have been attributed to conservative commentator William F Buckley Jr. and British statesman Winston Churchill. …