Tracing Quotations
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, the dress sense of a leading British politician was criticized, and his sharp rejoinder was based on a quotation attributed to Albert Einstein contrasting the relative importance of shabby clothes versus shabby ideas. Would you please examine the provenance of this statement? Reply from Quote Investigator: The …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Let Us Be More Ashamed of Shabby Ideas and Shoddy Philosophies”
Dorothy Parker? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: William Shakespeare memorably wrote that: Brevity is the soul of wit. The wordsmith Dorothy Parker famously transformed the Bard’s phrase into a humorous and erotic remark: Brevity is the soul of lingerie. Several quotation references list Parker’s statement, but the earliest citation I’ve seen is indirect; a friend …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Brevity Is the Soul of Lingerie”
Pablo Picasso? Jacques Lassaigne? Mary Chamot? Playboy? Question for Quote Investigator: I came across the following statement attributed to the prominent artist Pablo Picasso: A painter cannot paint what does not exist. He can only rediscover what has been lost, forgotten or misunderstood. This is certainly a curious ontological outlook, but I have not been …
John Lennon? Rod McKuen? Sally Jessy Raphael? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a popular meme/quotation on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr: It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love, or how you love, it matters only that you love. This saying is attributed …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It Doesn’t Matter Who You Love or How You Love, But That You Love”
William S. Burroughs? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Pronouncements about the dichotomy of life and death are often somber, serious, and banal. However, William S. Burroughs, the postmodernist author of “Naked Lunch” and “Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict”, apparently crafted the following eccentric statement: No one owns life, but anyone who can pick …
Pablo Picasso? Berthold Auerbach? Playboy? Aline Saarinen? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following adage has been attributed to the famous painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso. Here are two versions: 1) Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.2) The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Music Washes Away from the Soul the Dust of Everyday Life”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon? Pablo Picasso? Samuel Rogers? Question for Quote Investigator: The following statement has been attributed to the major artist Pablo Picasso: Art! I love it for the buried hopes, the garnered memories, the tender feelings it can summon at a touch. Curiously, a similar remark about music has been attributed to the Victorian …
Pablo Picasso? Françoise Gilot? Carlton Lake? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Pablo Picasso was one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. He was also open to the ideas and approaches of other creators. The following remark has been attributed to the master painter: When there’s anything to steal, I steal. Is this …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: When There’s Anything To Steal, I Steal”
John Nalson? Oliver Cromwell? Tom Quick? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Historically, non-combatants have sometimes been deliberately attacked during warfare. A cruel motto has been employed to rationalize the targeting of young people. Here are three versions: Nits make lice. Nits will become lice. Nits will be lice. A “nit” refers to the egg of …
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? John Anster? William Hutchison Murray? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a wonderful quotation about the pivotal step of making a commitment to an enterprise: Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it;Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. These two lines are often attributed to the …