Hannah Arendt? Mark Victor Hansen? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, I read the following upbeat message embracing egoism: Give yourself peace of mind. You deserve to be happy. You deserve delight. I was astonished when I saw it ascribed to the political theorist Hannah Arendt who wrote about the Nazi Adolf Eichmann and popularized …
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Quote Origin: If You Are Going To Be a Bear, Be a Grizzly
Mohandas Gandhi? George Hyde Preston? Lynda Bird Johnson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi who famously employed nonviolent strategies has implausibly been credited with the following piece of folk wisdom: If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Would you please explore this topic? Reply from Quote Investigator: …
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Quote Origin: What You Get By Reaching Your Goals Is Not Nearly So Important As What You Become By Reaching Them
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Henry David Thoreau? Zig Ziglar? Question for Quote Investigator: Many self-help and inspirational books contain this guidance: What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. These words have been ascribed to three disparate individuals: German literary titan Johann Wolfgang von …
Quote Origin: If You Don’t Read the Newspaper You Are Uninformed, If You Do Read the Newspaper You Are Misinformed
Mark Twain? Denzel Washington? Thomas Jefferson? Thomas Fuller? Orville Hubbard? Ezra Taft Benson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A cynical attitude toward the media is widespread today, but this is not a new development. Supposedly, Mark Twain made the following remark: If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the …
Quote Origin: We Do Not Want Now and We Never Shall Want the Human Voice with Our Films
D. W Griffith? Harry Warner? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: D. W. Griffith was the most innovative and important director during the early days of cinema. However, he was unable to foresee the momentous shift away from silent movies. Apparently, he stated that audiences would never wish to hear recorded human voices in films. Is …
Quote Origin: Who the Hell Wants to Hear Actors Talk?
Harry Warner? Sam Warner? Jack L. Warner? D. W. Griffith? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Four brothers: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner founded Warner Bros. Pictures which became a powerful long-lived institution in Hollywood. Their extraordinary success did not arise from a pellucid view of the future. In fact, the development of motion pictures …
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Quote Origin: As a Cure for Worrying, Work Is Better Than Whisky
Thomas Edison? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Using alcohol to provide solace when experiencing apprehension is often unwise. The famous inventor and businessman Thomas Edison preferred hard work and reportedly said: As a cure for worrying, work is better than whisky Oddly, the same saying has been attributed to the noteworthy thinker …
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Quote Origin: Wagner’s Music Is Really Much Better Than It Sounds
Mark Twain? Bill Nye? Ambrose Bierce? Punch Magazine? Question for Quote Investigator: Richard Wagner was a prominent German composer who created the landmark four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). A comically incongruous remark about his efforts has been attributed to two famous American humorists Mark Twain and Bill Nye: Wagner’s …
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Quote Origin: You Yourself May Serve To Show It, That Every Fool Is Not a Poet
Jonathan Swift? Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Alexander Pope? Théophile de Viau? Matthew Prior? Pierre de Ronsard? Scévole de Sainte-Marthe? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: According to legend a famous literary figure was accosted by a philistine who exclaimed that all poets were fools. The adroit spontaneous response provided a humorous comeuppance: Sir, I admit your general …
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Quote Origin: You Have Four Years To Be Irresponsible Here. Relax
Tom Petty? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a piece of controversial advice aimed at college students that I have long suspected was created by an undergraduate to sabotage his fellow students. It contains the suggestion: You have four years to be irresponsible here, relax. Work is for people with jobs. Usually the words …
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