Tracing Quotations
Groucho Marx? Alan Gale? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: When I am at a party I sometimes have trouble recalling the name of a person I have met before. But my recalcitrant memory has no difficulty remembering the line credited to Groucho Marx: I never forget a face, but in your case I’d be glad to …
Continue reading “I Never Forget a Face, But I’ll Make an Exception in Your Case”
Mohandas Gandhi? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Mahatma Gandhi is credited with a brilliantly acerbic remark made in response to a question from a self-satisfied journalist: Journalist: What do you think of Western civilization? Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any solid citations for this …
Continue reading ““What Do You Think of Western Civilization?” “I Think It Would Be a Good Idea””
George Bernard Shaw and Isadora Duncan? Anatole France and Isadora Duncan? Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe? Albert Einstein and a chorus girl? George Bernard Shaw and a strange lady in Zurich? Dear Quote Investigator: Reportedly there was famous exchange between the prominent playwright George Bernard Shaw and the glamorous dancer Isadora Duncan on the topic …
Continue reading “But Suppose the Child Inherited My Beauty and Your Brains?”
Edgar Allan Poe? Rona Jaffe? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following quotation has been tweeted repeatedly, and I have seen it on Facebook and several tumblrs. The words are always ascribed to the famed poet and writer of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe: The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls. I …
Continue reading “The Scariest Monsters Are the Ones That Lurk Within Our Souls”
Ann Richards? John F. Kennedy? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a new one-woman play titled “ANN” about Ann Richards who was the Governor of Texas in the 1990s. The theatrical presentation contains a memorable line about her philosophy of government. I am not sure if I remember it exactly, but the statement is similar …
Margaret Thatcher? Ann Richards? Joel Chandler Harris? Uncle Remus? African-American folklore? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, passed away recently, and I was reminded of a pointed saying that is credited to her. Here are three versions: The cock may crow, but it’s the hen who lays …
Continue reading “The Rooster May Crow, But It’s the Hen Who Lays the Egg”
Boy’s Life magazine? Mutt and Jeff comic strip? Mulla Nasreddin? Esar’s Joke Dictionary? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a brilliant comical allegory that depicts the biases inherent in many types of scientific research: A police officer sees a drunken man intently searching the ground near a lamppost and asks him the goal of his quest. …
Continue reading ““Did You Lose the Keys Here?” “No, But the Light Is Much Better Here””
Alexander Woollcott? W. C. Fields? Frank Rand of St. Louis? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The candor of my favorite saying makes it wonderfully humorous. Here are three versions I have seen: All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. Anything in life that’s any fun is either immoral, illegal …
Continue reading “It Seems As If Anything I Like Is Either Illegal, Immoral, or Fattening”
Albert Einstein? Amos Dolbear? Matthew Kelly? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following saying is popular on Facebook where it is credited to Albert Einstein. I have also seen it on numerous websites: Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life …
Ludwig Börne? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Several websites have attributed the following quote to Ludwig Börne, yet I can find no reference to its original source: Getting rid of a delusion makes one wiser than getting hold of a truth. If you can shed any light on the source of this quote, it would be …
Continue reading “Losing An Illusion Makes One Wiser Than Finding A Truth”