Tracing Quotations
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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Life Isn’t Fair, But Government Must Be”
Margaret Thatcher? Ann Richards? Joel Chandler Harris? Uncle Remus? African-American folklore? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, passed away recently, and I was reminded of a pointed saying that is credited to her. Here are three versions: Did she use this expression, and did she coin …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Rooster May Crow, But It’s the Hen Who Lays the Egg”
Boy’s Life magazine? Mutt and Jeff comic strip? Mulla Nasreddin? Esar’s Joke Dictionary? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a brilliant comical allegory that depicts the biases inherent in many types of scientific research: A police officer sees a drunken man intently searching the ground near a lamppost and asks him the goal of his …
Alexander Woollcott? W. C. Fields? Frank Rand of St. Louis? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The candor of my favorite saying makes it wonderfully humorous. Here are three versions I have seen: Can you track this down? Reply from Quote Investigator: In the past, this saying has been attributed to the noted wit Alexander Woollcott …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Losing An Illusion Makes One Wiser Than Finding A Truth”
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: You Are Only Interested in Art and I Am Only Interested in Money”
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 …
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 …