Tracing Quotations
Jimi Hendrix? Bob Dawbarn? Chris Welch? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix died tragically when he was only 27 years old. Shortly before his death he supposedly said this: It’s funny how most people love the dead. Once you’re dead, you’re made for life. Was this quote created by mythmakers, or did …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Once You Are Dead, You Are Made for Life”
Earl Wilson? Cy N. Peace? Earl Nelson? Whitt N. Schultz? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I am trying to unearth the source of a quote credited to the columnist Earl Wilson which seems to be everywhere on the web but without a source: Modern man drives a mortgaged car over a bond-financed highway on credit-card …
Gore Vidal? La Rochefoucauld? W. Somerset Maugham? Wilfrid Sheed? Iris Murdoch? David Merrick? Genghis Khan? Larry Ellison? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Competition and jealousy are reflected in a family of closely related cynical sayings: I have heard different versions of these quotations credited to the epigrammatist La Rochefoucauld, the writer Gore Vidal, and the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It Is Not Enough to Succeed; One’s Best Friend Must Fail”
Speaker: Gore Vidal? Peter Bogdanovich? Sue Mengers? Jason Epstein? Anonymous? Subject: Truman Capote? Elvis Presley? Michael Jackson? Gore Vidal? Question for Quote Investigator: Pop star Michael Jackson died in 2009 when he was only fifty years old. One memorably caustic remark I heard at that time was: His death was a good career move. Apparently, …
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Mohandas Gandhi? L. L. Bean? Kenneth B. Elliott? Great Western Fuel Company? Ray Noyes? Paul T. Babson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a popular business motto that is used by corporate departments of Customer Relations and Human Resources: A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on …
Thomas Edison? Walter S. Mallory? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There are many versions of a popular story about the inventor Thomas Edison. He was working on the creation of a practical light bulb or a new battery. He and his team of researchers conducted a series of unsuccessful experiments. The number of negative laboratory …
Kenneth Holmes? Frank Crane? Hugh Barrett Dobbs? Sister Mary Xavier? Sybil F. Partridge? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is an inspirational essay called “Just for Today” that I have seen on many websites. It consists of a series of suggestions or guidelines. There are many versions, but one common example begins with the following …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Just for Today, I Will Try to Live Through This Day Only”
Winston Churchill? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: My question is about a quotation spotlighted in a recent news story. Two massive power companies merged and this caused a boardroom battle. The CEO, Bill Johnson, of the combined enterprise was abruptly ousted. Johnson reportedly alienated his new board members by using a saying attributed to Winston …
Thomas Jefferson? Coleman Cox? Stephen Leacock? Samuel Goldwyn? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a humorously insightful quotation about luck that is often credited to the American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson: I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. The class notes of a …
Helen Keller? Anne Sullivan? John Macy? Margaret Davidson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The remarkable story of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan has been told in books, television programs, and movies. Keller who was deaf and blind learned to communicate, obtained a college degree, and became a notable speaker and author. The following …