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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

Quote Origin: The Only Trouble with Capitalism Is Capitalists. They’re Too Damned Greedy

Herbert Hoover? Mark Sullivan Jr.? Harold G. Moulton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: U.S. President Herbert Hoover perceived the dangers of stock market speculation in the late 1920s and tried unsuccessfully to convince the Governor of New York to introduce regulations. After the Wall Street Crash in October 1929 he supposedly reacted bitterly: The only …

Quote Origin: We Shape Our Tools, and Thereafter Our Tools Shape Us

Marshall McLuhan? Winston Churchill? Henry David Thoreau? Robert Flaherty? Emerson Brown? John Culkin? William J. Mitchell? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous media theorist Marshall McLuhan has been credited with a brilliant adage about the co-evolution of humans and tools. Here are two versions: I have not been able to find a good citation. …

Quote Origin: Beer/Wine Is Proof that God Loves Us and Wants Us To Be Happy

Benjamin Franklin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The renowned statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin has been credited with two variant statements about alcohol: 1) Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. 2) Wine is constant proof that God loves us and likes to see us happy. I am skeptical …

Quote Origin: Two Most Important Days in Your Life: The Day You Were Born and the Day You Discover Why

Mark Twain? Ernest T. Campbell? Anita Canfield? William Barclay? William McCartney? Tim Elmore? David Wood? Dave Martin? Helen Burns? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The number of fake Mark Twain quotations grows significantly every year. I fear that a civilization of the distant future will credit Twain with authorship of every extant text. Here are …

Quote Origin: I Have Forgotten the Books I Have Read and the Dinners I Have Eaten, But They Both Helped Make Me

Ralph Waldo Emerson? G. B. Emerson? Charles Gordon Ames? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The well-known lecturer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson has been credited with a provocative remark about reading and memory: I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me. I …