Tracing Quotations
Henry Ward Beecher? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Are you familiar with the amusing anecdote about an “April Fool” letter sent to the famous orator Henry Ward Beecher. Would you please examine the tale’s provenance? Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest evidence known to QI was published on April 27, 1870 in the “Daily Evening …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Signed His Name With April Fool and Forgot to Write the Letter”
Marston Bates? Barstow Bates? Plutarch? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A path-breaking researcher must pursue many leads that do not work out. Sometimes he or she must exhaustively test a set of possibilities with the foreknowledge that only a handful will yield positive results. That is why I embrace the following insightful saying: Research is …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Research Is the Process of Going Up Alleys to See If They’re Blind”
Ninon de Lenclos? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Ninon de Lenclos (also L’enclos) was a famous French author and courtesan who died in 1705. Her friends valued her perceptiveness, and one man asked her for guidance because he was infatuated with his paramour. Lenclos warned that his ardor would cool if he spent too much …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Love Never Dies of Starvation, But Often of Indigestion”
Gelett Burgess? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Anyone who wishes to remain intellectually vital must be willing to challenge his or her own opinions. Viewpoints should evolve and flawed notions should be replaced. I came across the following cogent expression: If in the last few years you haven’t discarded a major opinion or acquired …
George Bernard Shaw? Oscar Wilde? Cecile Starr? Billy Wilder? Richard Pryor? James L. Brooks? Dustin Hoffman? Charles Ludlam? Question for Quote Investigator: Dramatists have discovered that challenging material often elicits hostility or boredom. This is dangerous for creators because jobs in the entertainment industry are precarious. Yet, a provocative production leavened with humor is often …
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? William D. Smith? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe has been credited with the following group of expressions called: The Nine Requisites for Contented Living: (1) Health enough to make work a pleasure.(2) Wealth enough to support your needs.(3) Strength to battle with difficulties …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Nine Requisites for Contented Living”
Carl Sagan? P. C. Hodgell? Kirien? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There exists a family of sayings that is popular in the community of skeptics. Here are four examples: 1) That which can be destroyed by the truth should be. 2) Anything that can be destroyed by the truth should be. 3) Anything that can …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: That Which Can Be Destroyed By the Truth Should Be”
Lyndon B. Johnson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Lyndon B. Johnson was the President of the U.S. during the 1960s. I am having a difficult time trying to verify the following uplifting quotation which has been attributed to him: The noblest search is the search for excellence. What do you think? Reply from Quote Investigator: …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Noblest Search of Today Is the Search for Excellence”
Bertrand Russell? Ayn Rand? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, while reading my Facebook feed I saw a graphic from a major media organization (The Economist) that displayed a picture of the influential philosopher Bertrand Russell coupled with the following quotation: I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong. Are these …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Would Never Die for My Beliefs Because I Might Be Wrong”
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 …