Lyall Watson? George Edgin Pugh? Emerson M. Pugh? Ken Hill? Question for Quote Investigator: The European Union has launched a ten year scientific venture called the Human Brain Project to build a large-scale neural simulation of the brain. Google has hired the top computer scientist and inventor Ray Kurzweil who has espoused a strategy of …
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Quote Origin: There Are Really No Dull Subjects, Only Dull Writers
H. L. Mencken? Raymond Chandler? Woodrow Wilson? Richard Le Gallienne? George Horace Lorimer? Question for Quote Investigator: Successful scribblers believe that all writing should be engaging. A popular adage places the onus squarely on the shoulders of the author: There are no dull subjects, just dull writers. This expression has been attributed to the curmudgeon …
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Quote Origin: Everyone Who Bought One of Those 30,000 Copies Started a Band
Brian Eno? Lou Reed? Sylvain Sylvain? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The most influential rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s was The Velvet Underground, but their path breaking sound did not achieve great commercial success. A popular quip has emerged depicting their importance: The Velvet Underground didn’t sell many records, but everyone who …
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Quote Origin: I Can Write Faster than Anyone Who Can Write Better, and I Can Write Better than Anyone Who Can Write Faster
A. J. Liebling? Shirley Povich? Red Smith? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The journalist A. J. Liebling was well-known for his productivity at the typewriter. Yet, high speed in composition and high quality in prose are sometimes antithetical goals. Liebling crafted a statement about his skills that was simultaneously egotistical and self-deprecating: I can write …
Quote Origin: Let Us Be More Ashamed of Shabby Ideas and Shoddy Philosophies
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 …
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Quote Origin: Brevity Is the Soul of Lingerie
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 …
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Quote Origin: One Cannot Invent What Does Not Exist. The Genius of Invention Lies in Rediscovering What Has Been Lost, Forgotten, or Misunderstood
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 …
Quote Origin: It Doesn’t Matter Who You Love or How You Love, But That You Love
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 …
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Quote Origin: No One Owns Life, But Anyone Who Can Pick Up a Frying Pan Owns Death
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 …
Quote Origin: Music Washes Away from the Soul the Dust of Everyday Life
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 …
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