Simone Signoret? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I am trying to find a citation for a statement attributed to the wonderful French movie actress Simone Signoret. Here is a paraphrase from my memory: marriages are not held together by chains; they are held together by hundreds of threads. Are you familiar with this saying? Would …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: First Forget Inspiration. Habit Is More Dependable. Habit Will Sustain You Whether You’re Inspired or Not
Octavia Butler? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, a publisher in Silicon Valley tweeted an illustration of the prominent science fiction author Octavia Butler together with a quotation that offered intriguing advice about writing. The quote began: First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. When were these words written or said by Butler? Reply from …
Quote Origin: We Are an Impossibility in an Impossible Universe
Ray Bradbury? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: On Facebook I saw the following quotation displayed on a star-filled picture: We are an impossibility in an impossible universe The words were attributed to the prominent science fiction author Ray Bradbury, but I haven’t been able to find a citation. Would you please help? Reply from Quote …
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Quote Origin: Many Persons Have a Wrong Idea of What Constitutes True Happiness. It Is Not Attained Through Self-Gratification but Through Fidelity to a Worthy Purpose
Helen Keller? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A wise statement about true happiness and its connection to the pursuit of a worthwhile objective has been attributed to the blind social activist Helen Keller. Are you familiar with this saying and is the ascription accurate? Reply from Quote Investigator: Hellen Keller maintained a journal during the …
Quote Origin: When the Politicians Complain That Television Turns Their Proceedings into a Circus, It Should Be Made Plain That the Circus Was Already There
Edward R. Murrow? David Horsey? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: In March 2016 the political cartoonist and commentator David Horsey of the “Los Angeles Times” published a cartoon showing the prominent journalist Edward R. Murrow seated in front of a television screen that displayed a group of angry clowns. The quotation accompanying the illustration compared …
Quote Origin: Education Is Not the Learning of Facts, But the Training of the Mind To Think
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A learner may accumulate a large number of miscellaneous pieces of information without achieving an integrated understanding and without acquiring an ability to use the material intelligently. Reportedly, Albert Einstein made a germane remark: Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think. …
Quote Origin: I’m Looking for Loopholes
W. C. Fields? Ben Hecht? Gene Fowler? Thomas Mitchell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The brilliant comedian and movie actor W. C. Fields led an unrestrained showbiz life displaying a fondness for alcohol and mistresses. He was not known as a religious man, but as his death approached he began to peruse the Bible. When …
Quote Origin: Literature Is of No Practical Value Whatsoever
Vladimir Nabokov? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov was a consummate prose stylist. When he was a professor teaching his students about literature he apparently shared the following candid opinion: Literature is of no practical value whatsoever. Is this quotation accurate? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1980 the posthumous book “Lectures …
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Quote Origin: He Was Prepared To Lay Down His Life for Eight Cousins or Two Brothers
J. B. S. Haldane? John Maynard Smith? W. D. Hamilton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Kin selection is an important and sometimes controversial idea in genetics. The prominent biologist J. B. S. Haldane reportedly said: I would gladly give up my life for two brothers or eight cousins. I have been unable to find a …
Quote Origin: If You Think Education Is Expensive, Try Ignorance
Derek Bok? Ann Landers? Char Meyers? Robert Orben? John Lubbock? P. B. de La Bruère? Rev. S. C. Morris? Charles Duncan Mclver? Albert Einstein? Barack Obama? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The cost of attending college has been increasing more rapidly than the rate of inflation for decades in the U.S. Students and parents have …
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