Tracing Quotations
Yogi Berra? Ken Thompson? Bobby Bragan? Muriel Vernick? Danny Osinski? Andy Wimpfheimer? George Carlin? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a comical tale about whether a pizza should be cut into six or eight slices. The punchline is typically attributed to an athlete such as Yogi Berra. Are you familiar with this joke? Would …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Do You Want Six or Eight Slices of Pizza?”
Oscar Wilde? G. K. Chesterton? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I saw the following remark on the webpage of an educator: Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. The phrase was attributed to Oscar Wilde, but I have not been able to find it in his oeuvre. It was listed on websites like Goodreads …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Art, Like Morality, Consists of Drawing the Line Somewhere”
Robert H. Schuller? Regina Dugan? Sebastian Thrun? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a saying in self-help books that presents encouragement in the form of a question with a trace of wistfulness: What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? This statement was highlighted in a TED talk by …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: What Would You Attempt If You Knew You Could Not Fail?”
Erica Jong? Oscar Wilde? Robert Webster Jones? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: As a single person I enjoy the following joke about bigamy. Here are two versions: (1) Bigamy is having one husband too many. Monogamy is the same. (2) Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same. The …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Bigamy Is Having One Spouse Too Many. Monogamy Is the Same”
Mark Twain? Jonathan Swift? Thomas Francklin? Fisher Ames? Thomas Jefferson? John Randolph? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? Winston Churchill? Terry Pratchett? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An insightful remark about the rapid transmission of lies is often attributed to Mark Twain and Winston Churchill. Here are two versions: (1) A lie travels around the globe while the truth …
Maurice Chevalier? Harry Oliver? Louis Calhern? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following piece of humorous proverbial wisdom has been attributed to the film star Maurice Chevalier. Here are three versions: (1) Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative. (2) Growing old isn’t so terrible — when you consider the alternative. (3) …
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Winston Churchill? Leo C. Rosten? Walter Winchell? Herman J. Mankiewicz? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Winston Churchill had an unhappy experience negotiating with a politician who held a very high opinion of himself. Afterward Churchill reportedly concocted the perfect remark for deflating the pretensions of an egomaniac: There, but for the grace of God, goes …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: There But for the Grace of God, Goes God”
John Bradford? George Whitfield? John Newton? Sherlock Holmes? Philip Neri? Dwight Moody? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A deeply religious individual once saw a man being led to the gallows and said: There but for the grace of God, go I. In modern times, this proverbial phrase is used to express empathetic compassion and a sense of …
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Dorothy Parker? Wilson Mizner? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Calvin Coolidge was the 30th President of the United States, and his highly reserved character in social settings led to the nickname “Silent Cal”. A few years after his death in 1933 two similar anecdotes began to circulate about the spoken reaction to the news …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “He Is Dead.” “How Can They Tell?””
Henry Kissinger? M. Z. Remsburg? James Thurber? Ann Landers? Robert Orben? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a joke about the uneasy relationship between the sexes that has been told for decades: Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There’s too much fraternizing with the enemy. In the 1970s this statement was …