Edna St. Vincent Millay? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A recent controversial article about critics and criticism in the New York Times contained a refreshingly blunt two-part quotation [DGNY]: To writers, Edna St. Vincent Millay offered the wisest counsel. It rings down the decades. “A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
YOLO in the Boston Globe
Top language columnist Ben Zimmer has written a great article for the Boston Globe about YOLO. He referenced QI (a.k.a. Garson O’Toole) and some of the research that was posted on this website. Zimmer is the executive producer of VisualThesaurus.com and Vocabulary.com. He also writes for the New York Times. Newspapers are shrinking, and the …
Kiss: A Trick of Nature to Stop Speech When Words Are Superfluous
Ingrid Bergman? Evan Esar? Paul H. Gilbert? Hal Boyle? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: One of my favorite websites recently presented a collection of “Ten Favorite Quotations about Words”. Number one was about osculation: A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop speech when words become superfluous. These words were attributed to the …
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Character Is Most Evident by How One Treats Those Who Can Neither Retaliate nor Reciprocate
Paul Eldridge? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I noticed that the QI website has an entry for the following expression: You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. I believe a similar statement containing the phrase “to retaliate or to reciprocate” was printed in …
Fathers: Give the Gift that Only You Can to Your Child
Ann Landers? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Many years ago I read a poem I greatly enjoyed in a newspaper column by Ann Landers. Unfortunately, I only remember a few fragments: What will you give one small boy? … a tinker toy? No, give him a day he can call his own. Can you find the …
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Good Girls Go to Heaven. Bad Girls Go Everywhere
Helen Gurley Brown? Lawrence Johnstone? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Helen Gurley Brown was a pioneering and controversial editor at Cosmopolitan magazine. One of her most famous lines was: Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere. I saw this quote in two of her recent obituary notices, but I have not seen a solid …
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The Professor’s Lecture Notes Go Straight to the Students’ Lecture Notes
Mark Twain? Edwin E. Slosson? Harry Lloyd Miller? Professor Rathburn? Mortimer J. Adler? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Mark Twain is credited with a very funny description of college lectures. For some teachers and students I think this quotation is accurate: College is a place where a professor’s lecture notes go straight to the students’ lecture …
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Opportunity Is Missed Because It Is Dressed in Overalls and Looks Like Work
Thomas Edison? Henry Dodd? Isaiah Hale? Paul Larmer? Lila Kroppmann? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following quote is credited to Thomas Edison: Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Do you know when he said this and to whom? Quote Investigator: Both QI and top researcher …
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I’d Rather Be Dead than Sing Satisfaction When I’m 45
Mick Jagger? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” is one of their most popular songs. Today lead singer Mick Jagger is almost seventy years old. When he was much younger he supposedly said something like this: (1) I’d rather be dead than singing Satisfaction when I’m forty-five. (2) I’d …
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Once You Are Dead, You Are Made for Life
Jimi Hendrix? Bob Dawbarn? Chris Welch? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix died tragically when he was only 27 years old. Shortly before his death he supposedly said this: It’s funny how most people love the dead. Once you’re dead, you’re made for life. Was this quote created by mythmakers, or did Hendrix …