Tracing Quotations
Mark Twain? Albert Bigelow Paine? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Mark Twain formulated a wonderful expression about the fallibility of memory as one grows older. Here is the beginning of his humorous saying: When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not. My own memory may be failing because I think …
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@AlexeSixx? @_NanooChii? @ Soumi_S? @MissMagdo? @damana? Dear Quote Investigator: I have spent hours playing the quasi-hypnotic computer game Tetris. The following astutely funny remark reveals the subversive lesson of the game: If Tetris has taught me anything, it’s that errors pile up and accomplishments disappear. I have seen this statement tweeted and retweeted many times. …
Mae West? A College Student? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The actress, screenwriter, and sex symbol Mae West was well-known for delivering double entendres. Here are two examples of clever lines with multiple meanings: I was once pure as snow, but then I drifted. I used to be Snow White but I drifted. Did Mae West …
Carol Burnett? Woody Allen? Tig Notaro? Steve Allen? Lenny Bruce? Bob Newhart? Thomas Hardy? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Some humorists are able to transform disastrous or mortifying episodes in their own lives into hilarious comedy routines. Usually some time must pass before a painful memory is distant enough that it can be transmuted into something …
Muhammad Ali? Robert W. Service? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following quotation about perseverance is attributed to the famed boxer Muhammad Ali: It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe. While I was researching this phrase I came across another version that was attributed to the …
Carl Sagan? Albert Durrant Watson? Doris Lessing? Harlow Shapley? Vincent Cronin? Ancient Serbian Proverb? William E. Barton? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The chemical elements of life such as carbon, magnesium, and calcium were originally created in the interior furnaces of stars and then released by stellar explosions. This fact can be expressed with a beautiful …
Oscar Wilde? W. Somerset Maugham? George Bernard Shaw? Voltaire? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I thought you might enjoy the following remark attributed to Oscar Wilde: Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit. I saw this on the goodreads website, but the source of the saying was not listed. Further searching led to the following similar …
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Samuel Johnson? Martin Sherlock? Johann Heinrich Voss? Gotthold Ephraim Lessing? Richard Brinsley Sheridan? Daniel Webster? Samuel Wilberforce Dear Quote Investigator: The great lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson is credited with a famously devastating remark about a book he was evaluating: Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, …
Anton Chekhov? Clifford Odets? Bing Crosby? George Seaton? Jean Webster? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Anton Chekhov, the brilliant Russian writer of stories and plays, reportedly said the following: Any idiot can face a crisis; it’s this day-to-day living that wears you out. I have been unable to locate a source for this statement. I even …
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Muhammad Ali? Satchel Paige? Cool Papa Bell? Hablarias? Moran and Mack? Abbott and Costello? Anonymous? Dear Quote investigator: Renowned heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali was famous for his witty remarks which included humorous boasts such as this: I’m so fast I hit the light switch in my room and jump into bed before my room …
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