Tracing Quotations
George Eliot? Adelaide Anne Procter? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation about untapped potential and enduring spirit is attributed to the prominent Victorian novelist George Eliot: It is never too late to be what you might have been. This popular saying has been printed on refrigerator magnets, posters, shirts, and key chains. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It’s Never Too Late To Be What You Might Have Been”
John B. Bogart? Charles A. Dana? Amos Cummings? Horace Greeley? Jesse Lynch Williams? Billy Woods? Doc Wood? Alfred Harmsworth? Lord Northcliffe? Joseph Pulitzer? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Would you please explore one of the most famous maxims in the news business? Legend states that a neophyte reporter asked a sage editor to define “news”, …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: ‘Dog Bites a Man’ Is Not News. ‘Man Bites a Dog’ Is News”
Indira Gandhi? Dwight Morrow? Harold Nicolson? Father Kemper? Motilal Nehru? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Indira Gandhi was the powerful Prime Minister of India for more than fifteen years. I have heard the following words which combine the serious and the comical attributed to her: There are two kinds of people, those who do the …
Bobby Jones? Stewart Maiden? Harvey Penick? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Sometimes a golfer who is looking down a narrow fairway becomes overly cautious when striking the ball. The resulting golf shot travels off course or is too short. There is a popular piece of advice to counter this self-defeating tentative behavior. Here are three …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Hit ‘Em Hard, They’ll Land Somewhere”
Abraham Lincoln? Alphonse Karr? B. Fay Mills? Roe Fulkerson? J. Kenfield Morley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular quotation about achieving the proper perspective on life is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln: We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses. Optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints are ingeniously contrasted …
Václav Havel? André Gide? François Truffaut? Marcel Proust? John Dingell Sr.? Luis Buñuel? Amanda Palmer? Voltaire? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a provocative saying about leadership, discipleship, and the search for truth that is commonly attributed to the Czech statesman Václav Havel who passed away in 2011. Here are two versions: Follow the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Believe Those Who Are Seeking the Truth; Doubt Those Who Find It”
Gaius Petronius Arbiter? Robert Townsend? Charlton Ogburn Jr.? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous book about management titled “Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits” contains a very funny and insightful quotation about reorganization: I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any …
Benjamin Disraeli? Prince Jérôme Napoléon? Napoleon III? French Academician? Mr. Snigger? Suffragette? Max O’Rell? Paul Blouët? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The statesman Benjamin Disraeli was famous for his witticisms and barbs. Reportedly he was once asked about the difference in meaning between the words “misfortune” and “calamity”, and he constructed a jest aimed at …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: What Is the Difference Between a Misfortune and a Calamity?”
Franz Kafka? Anne Rice? Russell Brand? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The comedian and controversial wild man Russell Brand released the bestselling autobiography “My Booky Wook” in 2007 and the sequel “Booky Wook 2: This Time It’s Personal” in 2010. The sequel had a fascinating epigraph on the first page: Don’t bend; don’t water it …
Zora Neale Hurston? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A quotation about success has been attributed to the prominent American author and pioneering folklorist Zora Neale Hurston. Here are two versions: Those who don’t got it, can’t show it. Those who got it, can’t hide it Those that don’t got it, can’t show it. Those that …