Tracing Quotations
William Wrigley Jr.? Ezra Pound? Henry Ford? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Constructive debate about future plans is essential in a responsive and vibrant company. Here are three versions of a popular business adage: When two men in a business always agree, one of them is unnecessary. When two men in business always agree, one …
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Leonardo da Vinci? Clare Boothe Luce? Leonard Thiessen? Elizabeth Hillyer? William Gaddis? Eleanor All? Apple Computer Company? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following aphorism has often been attributed to the brilliant Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Strangely, I have been unable to find any solid source for this ascription. …
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Plotinus? Herodotus? Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Many are familiar with the ancient Latin injunction of the poet Horace: “Carpe diem” or “Seize the day”. The following thematically similar statement has been attributed to other figures of the ancient world: the philosopher Plotinus and the historian Herodotus: Not to be involved …
Marc Connelly? Nicholas Longworth? S. H. Hale? Franklin P. Adams? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently I saw a list of the funniest ripostes, but it did not include the squelcher that I believe is the best. An unhappy card player wished to embarrass a bald man who was excelling. The disgruntled man placed …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Your Bald Head Feels as Smooth as My Wife’s Cheek”
Ernest Hemingway? Apocryphal Question for Quote Investigator: Questions about creative influence and artistic appropriation are often fraught with rivalry and controversy. I recall an extreme remark from the prominent writer Ernest Hemingway in which he asserted that the entire purpose of one artist might be to provide a single phrase or sentence to another artist. …
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Elbert Hubbard? Sarah S. B. Yule? John R. Paxton? Orison Swett Marden? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A remarkably popular adage about innovation highlights mousetraps and celebrity: Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. The origin of this saying was complex, and the topic has …
Edgar Allan Poe? Poe? Anne D. Danielewski? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Edgar Allan Poe authored groundbreaking tales in three different genres: horror, mystery, and science fiction. Numerous websites attribute the following emotion-laden passage to the literary master: Sometimes I’m terrified of my heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it is it wants; the …
Dwight Morrow? Harold Nicolson? Harold Nicholson? William Nevins? Tryon Edwards? Edward Wigglesworth? Stephen R. Covey? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a pervasive problem in human psychology of a self-serving double-standard that can be stated as follows: We judge ourselves by our ideals, but we judge others by their actions. This remark has been attributed …
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow? William Nevins? Stephen M. R. Covey? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The way we judge ourselves often differs markedly from the way others judge us. We tend to evaluate ourselves based on what we are capable of doing, or what we intend to do, or what we say we will do. However, …
Mary Pettibone Poole? W. E. Nesom? George F. Worts? H. L. Mencken? Joe Laurie Jr.? Franklin P. Adams? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a famous proverb that asserts the last person to laugh is the person who laughs the best or the longest. I am interested in a cleverly modified statement emphasizing the …