Stephen Hawking? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is an argument against the existence of time travel that can be stated as follows: If time travel were possible, we would have been overrun by tourists from the future by now. Did the famous physicist Stephen Hawking say something like this? Alternatively, was it said by …
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Quote Origin: Youth Is When You’re Allowed to Stay Up Late on New Year’s Eve. Middle Age Is When You’re Forced To
Bill Vaughan? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I once read a humorous comment about New Year’s Eve that contrasted the experiences of the young and the middle aged. The young were joyful because they were “allowed to stay up late” while the older people held a different opinion. Are you familiar with this joke and …
Quote Origin: The Final Test of a Gentleman: His Respect for Those Who Can Be of No Possible Service to Him
William Lyon Phelps? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I noticed that you have quotations from J. K. Rowling, Malcolm Forbes, and Paul Eldridge about how to evaluate the character of an individual. Here is another saying of this type that is credited to a charismatic Yale professor named William Lyon Phelps: It is the …
Quote Origin: I Know Only Two Tunes: One of Them Is Yankee Doodle, and the Other Isn’t
Ulysses S. Grant? Abraham Lincoln? W. S. Gilbert? William Tecumseh Sherman? Victor Borge? Richie Havens? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The holiday season is filled with singing, but my talent in this domain can be accurately summarized with the following quotation: I know only two tunes: one of them is “Yankee Doodle,” and the other …
Quote Origin: We Don’t Know Who Discovered Water, But We Know It Wasn’t a Fish
Marshall McLuhan? Albert Einstein? Clyde Kluckhohn? Pierce Butler? James C. Coleman? John H. Fisher? John Culkin? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Sometimes an individual embedded in a particular culture or environment can become blind to the prevailing norms within his or her domain. I have heard a figurative expression that illustrates this predicament. Here are …
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Quote Origin: What You Are Comes To You
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Norman Vincent Peale? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following statement is often attributed to the famous philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson: What you are comes to you. Some adherents of “New Thought” and “New Age” belief systems view this as a spiritual law. This saying reminded me of the quasi-mystical …
Quote Origin: There Was a Young Lady Named Bright Whose Speed Was Far Faster Than Light
Bishop of Chelmsford? A. H. Reginald Buller? Albert Einstein? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a popular comical limerick about a young woman named White or Bright that highlights the counterintuitive nature of time measurements in Einstein’s theory of relativity. Do you know this poem? Do you know who composed it? Reply from Quote …
Quote Origin: Life Is Not Measured By the Number of Breaths We Take, But By the Moments That Take Our Breath Away
George Carlin? Maya Angelou? Vicki Corona? Hilary Cooper? Kevin Bisch? Will Smith? Philip James Bailey? Question for Quote Investigator: The following inspirational quotation has been attributed to a wide variety of people: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. I doubt that …
Quote Origin: The More Sand Has Escaped from the Hourglass of Our Life, the Clearer We Should See Through It
Niccolò Machiavelli? Jean-Paul Sartre? Jean Paul? Johann Paul Friedrich Richter? Question for Quote Investigator: A student would like to use the following quotation about perspicacity gained through experience in a yearbook, but she has been unable to determine an appropriate ascription: The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we …
Quote Origin: There Must Be a Pony Somewhere
James Kirkwood Jr.? Ronald Reagan? Ken Kesey? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a famous joke about a child who wakes up on Christmas morning and is surprised to find a heap of horse manure under the tree instead of a collection of presents. Yet, the child is not discouraged because he has an …
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