Helen Keller? Anne Sullivan? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Helen Keller was once asked about the price she would pay to gain the sense of sight. Her reported response was thoughtful and poignant: I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than walk alone in the light. What were the circumstances surrounding this …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: There Are Three Rules for the Writing of a Novel
W. Somerset Maugham? Oscar Wilde? Mark Twain? Bret Harte? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: With the rapid growth of ebooks it seems that everyone is writing a book. Here is the funniest advice I have heard on this topic: There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. Several …
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Quote Origin: Abstract Art: A Product of the Untalented, Sold by the Unprincipled to the Utterly Bewildered
Al Capp? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The cartoonist Al Capp was famous for creating the long-running comic strip Li’l Abner. During the 1960s he reportedly described abstract art with the following amusing and acerbic phrase: A product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered. Today this description could be applied …
Quote Origin: As Soon as Government Management Begins It Upsets the Natural Equilibrium of Industrial Relations
Adam Smith? Everett Dean Martin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Multiple books and websites attribute the following quotation to the influential economic thinker Adam Smith, but I think the ascription is incorrect: As soon as government management begins it upsets the natural equilibrium of industrial relations, and each interference only requires further bureaucratic control until …
Quote Origin: Beatles Rejection: We Don’t Like Their Sound. Groups of Guitars Are On Their Way Out
Hunter Davies? Mike Smith? Dick Rowe? Brian Epstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: In the early days of the Beatles a record executive evaluated the band to decide whether to offer them a contract. He supposedly said: We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. I have heard some other …
Quote Origin: I Never Forget a Face, But I’ll Make an Exception in Your Case
Groucho Marx? George Oppenheimer? John Barrymore? Alan Gale? Anonymous? Question for 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 …
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Dialogue Origin: “What Do You Think of Western Civilization?” “I Think It Would Be a Good Idea”
Mohandas Gandhi? Apocryphal? Question for 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 …
Quote Origin: But Suppose the Child Inherited My Beauty and Your Brains?
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? Question for Quote Investigator: Reportedly there was famous exchange between the prominent playwright George Bernard Shaw and the glamorous dancer Isadora Duncan on the …
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Quote Origin: The Scariest Monsters Are the Ones That Lurk Within Our Souls
Edgar Allan Poe? Rona Jaffe? Apocryphal? Question for 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. …
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Quote Origin: Life Isn’t Fair, But Government Must Be
Ann Richards? John F. Kennedy? Apocryphal? Question for 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 …
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