Tracing Quotations
Henry Ford? Virgil? John Dryden? John Herbert Phillips? Del Howard? Harlowe B. Andrews? Norman Vincent Peale? Mary Kay Ash? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: An aphorism highlighting the power of positive thinking and warning about the danger of negative thinking has often been attributed to automotive titan Henry Ford. Here are four versions: Whether you think …
Continue reading “Whether You Believe You Can Do a Thing or Not, You Are Right”
Beatrice Lillie? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The story of a snobbish person experiencing a comeuppance has been the template of many entertaining and satisfying anecdotes. Are you familiar with the tale of the actress Beatrice Lillie and the imperious wife of a wealthy Chicago meat-packer? Was this incident genuine or apocryphal? Quote Investigator: Beatrice Lillie …
Continue reading “You May Tell the Butcher’s Wife that Lady Peel Has Finished”
Victor Hugo? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Melancholy is a complex and sometimes puzzling emotion. The composite nature of the sensation is expressed by the following: Melancholia is the joy of feeling sad. Melancholy is the happiness of being sad. Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad. I believe that this statement was …
Groucho Marx? S. J. Perelman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Groucho Marx was once asked to write a blurb for a book written by a friend. The result was this hilarious evaluation: From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it. …
Continue reading “Book Blurb: I Was Convulsed with Laughter”
George Bernard Shaw? Puck? Saxby’s Magazine? Elbert Hubbard? Confucius? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following adage is the perfect antidote to excessive negativity and obstructionism: People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it. These words are often attributed to Asian sage Confucius and to the acclaimed playwright George …
Continue reading “People Who Say It Cannot Be Done Should Not Interrupt Those Who Are Doing It”
Henry David Thoreau? George S. Boutwell? Taylor Caldwell? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: George S. Boutwell was a U.S. politician who campaigned to end slavery and later became president of the Anti-Imperialist League. He objected to the annexation of the Philippines. The following statement has been attributed to him: Every ambitious would-be empire clarions it abroad …
Oscar Wilde? Margaret Butler? Geraldine Grove? Lord Chesterfield? John Wayne? Christopher Hitchens? John Cleese? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Books of etiquette once provided a definition of a gentleman that included the following assertion: A gentleman never insults anyone intentionally. The clever addition of a two-letter prefix humorously spun the definition: A gentleman never insults anyone …
Continue reading “A Gentleman Is a Man Who Never Gives Offense Unintentionally”
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Martin Luther King Jr.? Emily Faithfull? Amelia Edith Barr? Charles A. Beard? Thomas Carlyle? Norman Vincent Peale? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a popular metaphorical expression that encourages people to maintain hope and optimism during times of unhappiness and trouble. Here are three versions: 1) Only when it is dark enough, …
Continue reading “The Eternal Stars Shine Out Again, So Soon As It Is Dark Enough”
Benjamin Franklin? Dorothy Canfield Fisher? Arthur Wing Pinero? Abigail Van Buren? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I recently saw an illustration of two people embracing above the following caption: Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young. At least three different people have been credited with …
Dante Alighieri? John F. Kennedy? John A. Hutton? Theodore Roosevelt? W. M. Vines? Henry Powell Spring? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Dante Alighieri composed the famous tripartite epic poem “The Divine Comedy”. The following statement was supposedly included in the first part called “Inferno”: The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time …