Tracing Quotations
Noël Coward? Winston Churchill? W. Somerset Maugham? Joe Drum? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: After major news events people often start exchanging jokes related to the subject matter. The recent tragic cruise ship accident has caused two versions of a comical anecdote to enter circulation. The punch line has been attributed to the statesman Winston Churchill …
Continue reading “None of This Nonsense about Women and Children First”
Mark Twain? Chauncey Depew? Ring Lardner? William Allen White? Winston Churchill? Big Jim Watson? Joseph Hodges Choate? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: New Year’s resolutions often feature plans for more exercise. Mark Twain was once asked if he engaged in exercise, and he supposedly said: I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at the …
Continue reading “I Take My Only Exercise Acting as a Pallbearer to My Friends Who Exercise”
Julia Child? Harriet Van Horne? Sydney Smith? Margaret Grade? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: While reading a cookbook I encountered an amusing quotation about cooking: Cooking is like love — it should be entered into with abandon or not at all. But the authors apparently did not know where it came from and labeled the words: …
Continue reading “Cooking Is Like Love. It Should Be Entered Into with Abandon or Not At All”
Benjamin Franklin? Publilius Syrus? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: This is the season for New Year’s resolutions and toasts, and I have found a quotation credited to Benjamin Franklin that fits this theme: Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man (or …
W. C. Fields? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Humorous remarks about Philadelphia are often credited to the well-known actor and comic W. C. Fields. In the past the activities and nightlife in Philadelphia were limited because of strict laws. Hence, time seemed to move slowly, and someone created the following quip: I spent a week in …
Continue reading “I Spent a Week in Philadelphia One Sunday”
Saint Francis of Assisi? La Clochette magazine? Friends’ Intelligencer? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a very popular prayer that is usually credited to St. Francis of Assisi. It begins: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love; What is known about this attribution? Is it correct? …
Shirley Temple? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a funny anecdote about the young superstar Shirley Temple and her visit to Santa Claus when she was six. She began to question the story of toys distributed from the North Pole by Santa. Can you locate a version of this from Temple herself? Quote Investigator: The …
Continue reading “Shirley Temple Visits a Department Store Santa Claus”
Thomas Merton? Anonymous? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I’ve been wondering about the authenticity of a quote about happiness I came across some time ago. I’ve been unable to find a source so far. Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. It was supposedly said by Thomas Merton. Quote …
Continue reading “Happiness Is Not a Matter of Intensity But of Balance, Order, Rhythm, and Harmony”
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Did Albert Einstein say the following? Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must seem …
George Bernard Shaw? SYSTEM magazine? Stanley B. Moore? Charles F. Brannan? Jimmy Durante? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a very valuable insight in the following saying that is credited to George Bernard Shaw: If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each …
Continue reading “You Have an Idea. I Have an Idea. We Swap. Now We Each Have Two Ideas.”