Tracing Quotations
George Bernard Shaw? Bertrand Russell? Oscar Wilde? John H. Gibbons? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following quotation is used by speakers who are planning to project a series of slides that are filled with statistics. The words are credited to the famous dramatist and intellectual George Bernard Shaw. Here are two versions: The sign of …
Continue reading “It Is the Mark of a Truly Intelligent Person To Be Moved By Statistics”
Abraham Lincoln? Charles G. Halpine? Anonymous? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a brilliant anecdote about President Lincoln defending General Grant from an accusation of drunkenness. I have read conflicting statements about whether this anecdote is accurate. Perhaps you could examine this tale for the next Presidents’ Day holiday? Quote Investigator: The story of Abraham …
Continue reading “I Will Send a Barrel of This Wonderful Whiskey to Every General in the Army”
Roy S. Durstine? Fred Gymer? Ed Place? Earl Landgrebe? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a funny saying that illustrates and lampoons the notion of holding an irrationally obstinate opinion: My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with the facts. Apparently a legislator actually said something like this during the period when members of …
Continue reading “My Mind Is Made Up. Don’t Confuse Me With the Facts”
Willie Sutton? Paul Perritt? Robert M. Yoder? Fred Curran? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous criminal Willie Sutton was once asked why he robbed banks, and his reported response was simple, eloquent, and humorous: Because that’s where the money is. Now, I have been told that Sutton never really said this. Instead, it was …
Continue reading “I Rob Banks Because That’s Where the Money Is”
Hillary Clinton? Eleanor Roosevelt? Rita Mae Brown? Phyllis Schlafly? Lowell Bruce Laingen? Armand J. Gariepy? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I read in the New York Times that one of the favorite adages of Hillary Clinton, former Senator and Secretary of State, is the following statement attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt: Women are like tea bags. You …
James Dean? John Derek? Willard Motley? Irene L. Luce? J. M. O’Connor? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: James Dean was a charismatic young movie star and an icon of rebellion when he died in a car crash. I have always connected him to this motto: Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse. But I …
Continue reading “Live Fast, Die Young, and Leave a Beautiful Corpse”
Dwight D. Eisenhower? Gerald Ford? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: President Dwight D. Eisenhower is commonly credited with making a comical statement that is almost a tautology. Here are a few different versions of his supposed remark: Things are more like they are right now than they ever have been. Things are more like they are …
Continue reading “Things Are More Like They Are Now Than They Have Ever Been”
Ernest Hemingway? William R. Kane? Roy K. Moulton? Avery Hopwood? Arthur C. Clarke? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Most people are familiar with short stories, but there is another class of works that might be called short-short stories. “Flash fiction” and “sudden fiction” are labels that are applied to this style of literature. One of the …
Stephen Wright? Ernst Berg? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I am trying to discover where the following maxim comes from: The second mouse gets the cheese. Sometimes this phrase appears as part of a longer saying: The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Quote …
Amish Saying? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Native American Proverb? Wendell Berry? Oscar Wilde? Chief Seattle? Moses Henry Cass? Dennis J. Hall? Helen Caldicott? Lester Brown? David R. Brower? Taghi Farvar? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: In my opinion the most thoughtful and poignant quotation about the environment is the following: We do not inherit the earth from …
Continue reading “We Do Not Inherit the Earth from Our Ancestors; We Borrow It from Our Children”