Albert Einstein? Amos Dolbear? Matthew Kelly? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following saying is popular on Facebook where it is credited to Albert Einstein. I have also seen it on numerous websites: Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: Losing An Illusion Makes One Wiser Than Finding A Truth
Ludwig Börne? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Several websites have attributed the following quote to Ludwig Börne, yet I can find no reference to its original source: Getting rid of a delusion makes one wiser than getting hold of a truth. If you can shed any light on the source of this quote, it would …
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Quote Origin: Eat a Live Frog Every Morning, and Nothing Worse Will Happen to You the Rest of the Day
Mark Twain? Nicolas Chamfort? Émile Zola? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a best-selling self-help book called “Eat That Frog!” that presents strategies to stop procrastination. The author discusses the meaning of the curious title in his introduction: Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat …
Quote Origin: You Are Only Interested in Art and I Am Only Interested in Money
George Bernard Shaw? Howard Dietz? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a wonderful anecdote about a meeting between the famous movie studio chief Samuel Goldwyn and the renowned playwright George Bernard Shaw. Goldwyn flew to England to convince Shaw to write material for him to use in films. Goldwyn emphasized the high quality and …
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Quote Origin: The Mind Is Not a Vessel That Needs Filling, But Wood That Needs Igniting
William Butler Yeats? Plutarch? Socrates? Plato? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a superb quotation about education that I have encountered many times. Here is a collection of examples with attributions that I have been accumulating. None of the examples came with citations: What do you think? Who should properly be given credit, and …
Quote Origin: Not a Book To Be Lightly Thrown Aside. Should Be Thrown with Great Force
Dorothy Parker? Bill Miller? Frank Dolan? Sid Ziff? Bennett Cerf? Groucho Marx? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The most scathingly hilarious quip about a novel is usually credited to the famous wit Dorothy Parker who purportedly included it in a book review: This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be …
Quote Origin: Keep Away from People Who Try to Belittle Your Ambitions
Mark Twain? Gay Zenola MacLaren? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following compelling advice is credited to Mark Twain in self-help books and on websites. It is valuable guidance in my opinion: Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that …
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Quote Origin: When I Read About the Evils of Smoking, I Gave Up Reading
Groucho Marx? Henry G. Strauss? Phil Harris? Joe E. Lewis? Anonymous? Topic: Smoking? Drinking? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a family of jokes about smoking, drinking, and reading. The quips certainly do not reflect the actions of role models, but they are funny: When did this family originate? Were the initial gags about smoking …
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Quote Origin: The Only Unnatural Sex Act Is That Which One Cannot Perform
Alfred Kinsey? Richard Brinsley Sheridan? Xaviera Hollander? William Burroughs? Sigmund Freud? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Years ago I read a statement credited to the researcher Alfred Kinsey who was famous for producing the Kinsey Reports on sexual behavior. I do not remember the exact phrasing but the expression was similar to this: The only …
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Quote Origin: I Fear the Day That Technology Will Surpass Our Human Interaction
Albert Einstein? Cell Phone Critics? Pranksters? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A friend sent me a link to a message on a website with the title: “The day that Albert Einstein feared may have finally arrived”. The message showed eight pictures of groups of people looking intently at cell phone screens. The people were ignoring …
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