Tracing Quotations
Field Marshal Douglas Haig? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Horses were used effectively in warfare for thousands of years. On many occasions horse-mounted cavalry units were decisive on the battlefield. But the development of machine guns, barbed wire, and armored tanks dramatically changed military tactics. The quotation I am interested in has been ascribed to …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Aeroplanes and Tanks Are Only Accessories to the Man and the Horse”
William James? Ralph Barton Perry? Henry James? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I have been working to confirm the source and accuracy of a quotation that is attributed to the famous philosopher and educator William James. Here are three versions: A version of this saying was listed in the Wikipedia entry for James, but more …
Pablo Casals? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I am hoping you will be interested in researching the following quote: Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what the world needs most. It is not complicated but takes …
Shake? William Shakespeare? Mulleary? Goethe? Henry Cuyler Bunner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: While studying English in school I heard the following humorous rhyme about The Bard of Avon: Shakespeare was a dramatist of note who lived by writing things to quote. These words are from a longer poem, but I have not been able …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Shake Was a Dramatist of Note; He Lived by Writing Things to Quote”
Yogi Berra? Babe Herman? Department Store Sales Woman? Young Student? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation from Yogi Berra was said when he was introduced to a beautiful model after a baseball game. She complimented him, and his fumbling reply was unintentionally funny: She said, “You look so nice and cool in that …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: “You Look Nice and Cool.” “Thanks! You Don’t Look So Hot Yourself.””
Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: While looking through a book of baseball’s greatest quotations I came across this hilarious reply from Yogi Berra to someone who criticized his appearance: So I’m ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face. Some of the sayings credited to Yogi are bogus, but I …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: So I’m Ugly. So What? I Never Saw Anyone Hit with His Face”
P. T. Barnum? Britney Spears? George Herbert? Jane Russell? W. Clement Stone? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Norman Vincent Peale? Les Brown? John McEnroe? Question for Quote Investigator: There exists a collection of sayings that uses celestial bodies to illustrate advice about setting goals. Here are three examples: The moon and sun are impressive objects in the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: If I Shoot at the Sun, I May Hit a Star”
Martin Luther King? Barack Obama? Theodore Parker? Freemason Commander? Seth Brooks? Jacob Kohn? Question for Quote Investigator: Civil rights champion Martin Luther King, Jr. once delivered a powerful speech with this resonant line: The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. I was told that this metaphorical framework has a …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, But It Bends Toward Justice”
Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: One of the cleverest jokes credited to Yogi Berra is meta-logical. Apparently, some people were following Yogi around and expecting him to utter one of his famous Yogi-isms. Finally, in exasperation he said: If I could just make ’em up on the spot, I’d be famous. This response …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: If I Could Just Make Them Up On the Spot, I’d Be Famous”
Winston Churchill? Abba Eban? An Irishman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: While watching a cable news channel I heard a commentator present a quotation that he credited to Winston Churchill. When I searched the web I found many different versions: (1) Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted …