Tracing Quotations
Bob Dylan? Bob Marley? Roger Miller? Donald Freeman? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I love the following quote, and have used it on my blog: Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet. After researching the origin of the saying, it still remains unclear. Two famous musicians named Bob have each been credited: Bob …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Some People Feel the Rain. Others Just Get Wet”
Mark Twain? W. C. Fields? Harris Dickson? Barracuda Pete? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I mentioned a joke credited to Mark Twain to a friend recently: It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it hundreds of times. She said that the jest was actually created by the famous comedian W. C. Fields and not Twain. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It’s Easy to Quit Smoking. I’ve Done It a Thousand Times”
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Eric Mark Golnik? Thomas Hitchcock, Jr.? Thomas Hitchcock, Sr.? F. Ambrose Clark? Rosalind Russell? Jock Whitney? Desi Arnaz? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a quotation about sportsmanship that I would like to learn more about: Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Lose As If You Like It, and Win As If You Are Used to It”
Albert Einstein? Nick the Greek? Nicholas Dandolos? Ted Thackrey, Jr.? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to a legend in the gambling world Albert Einstein once visited a Las Vegas casino and after observing the action around the roulette wheel he said: You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it. Any …
Hillary Clinton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I saw on Facebook recently a supposed quotation from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. While visiting some country in Central Asia she was asked by a reporter about fashion and she replied: Would you ever ask a man that question? No details were given about when or where …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Would You Ever Ask a Man that Question?”
Winston Churchill? Paul S. Nadler? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I heard this story many years ago at an economics convention. I’ve contacted the Churchill Archive and a couple of renowned Churchill scholars, and so far the answer seems to be “apocryphal,” as with so many great quotes attributed to the Great Quote Magnet. But …
Continue reading “Anecdote Origin: It Will Take Them Ten Years to Prove Me Wrong”
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Lynn H. Hough? Aerosmith? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Ralph Waldo Emerson is often credited with the following: Life is a journey, not a destination. I’ve searched a database Emerson’s works without luck, and I believe this is a misattribution. Any insight you have into the lineage of this quote would be …
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Mark Twain? William Allen White? Franklin P. Adams? Brock Pemberton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I’ve been quoting an editor-friend’s advice for years, and suddenly tonight I see it online attributed to Mark Twain: Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as …
Continue reading “Advice Origin: Substitute ‘Damn’ Every Time You’re Inclined to Write ‘Very’”
Edna St. Vincent Millay? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A recent controversial article about critics and criticism in the New York Times contained a refreshingly blunt two-part quotation: To writers, Edna St. Vincent Millay offered the wisest counsel. It rings down the decades. “A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with …
Top language columnist Ben Zimmer has written a great article for the Boston Globe about YOLO. He referenced QI (a.k.a. Garson O’Toole) and some of the research that was posted on this website. Zimmer is the executive producer of VisualThesaurus.com and Vocabulary.com. He also writes for the New York Times. Newspapers are shrinking, and the …