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? Question for Quote Investigator: In my opinion the most thoughtful and poignant quotation about the environment is the following: We do not inherit the earth …
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Quote Origin: News Is What Somebody Does Not Want You To Print. All the Rest Is Advertising
George Orwell? Alfred Harmsworth? William Randolph Hearst? L. E. Edwardson? Robert W. Sawyer? Mark Rhea Byers? Brian R. Roberts? Malcolm Muggeridge? Katharine Graham? Lord Rothermere? Lord Northcliffe? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I have been trying to trace a popular saying about journalism which can be expressed in several ways. Here are four examples to …
Quote Origin: Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do The Day After Tomorrow Just As Well
Mark Twain? Oscar Wilde? Josh Billings? Spanish Proverb? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Everyone is guilty of some procrastination. Even the industrious humorist Mark Twain was credited with a quotation sympathetic to the indolent: Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow. Puzzlingly, this same quip has been ascribed to …
Quote Origin: I Hope He Will Bite My Other Generals and Make Them Mad, Too
King George II? Duke of Newcastle? Joe Miller? James Wolfe? Question for Quote Investigator: When George II of Great Britain was planning to send General James Wolfe on a military expedition to Canada his close advisor told him that Wolfe was a poor selection for such an important assignment because he was a madman. The …
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Quote Origin: The ‘t’ Is Silent, as in Harlow
Margot Asquith? Margot Grahame? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to a Hollywood legend there was a pointed verbal encounter between the movie siren Jean Harlow and the sharp-tongued English aristocrat Margot Asquith. When Harlow attended a party given by Asquith, the movie star presumptuously referred to the hostess by her first name, and she …
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Quote Origin: Watch Your Thoughts, They Become Words; Watch Your Words, They Become Actions
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Lao Tzu? Frank Outlaw? Gautama Buddha? Bishop Beckwaith? Father of Margaret Thatcher? Question for Quote Investigator: What do the following people have in common: Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, supermarket magnate Frank Outlaw, spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha, and the father of Margaret Thatcher? Each one of these individuals has …
Quote Origin: Why Don’t You Carry a Wrist Watch Like Everyone Else?
Herbert Beerbohm Tree? Frederick Henry Townsend? George du Maurier? Yogi Berra? Mutt and Jeff? An inebriate? A woman carrying packages? Question for Quote Investigator: I have read several instances of a popular comical anecdote. Two different versions featured baseball Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra. One night he was presented with a grandfather clock at a banquet dinner. …
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Quote Origin: Let Your Memory Be Your Travel Bag
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: On a website dedicated to travel I saw a quotation credited to the famous Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag. Is this attribution accurate? A travel tip from Solzhenitsyn …
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Quote Origin: Imagination Is More Important Than Knowledge
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Many websites credit Albert Einstein with this statement: Imagination is more important than knowledge. I am skeptical. Are these the words of Einstein? Reply from Quote Investigator: This remark apparently was made by Einstein during an interview that was published in “The Saturday Evening Post” in 1929. Here …
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Quote Origin: I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said
Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Thanks for working to help clear up so many incorrect quotations and attributions. I have a question about a quote that might be suitable as the motto of your website. Yogi Berra supposedly said one the following Yogi-isms: 1. I really didn’t say everything I said.2. I didn’t …
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