Tracing Quotations
Herbert Beerbohm Tree? Frederick Henry Townsend? George du Maurier? Yogi Berra? Mutt and Jeff? An inebriate? A woman carrying packages? Question for Quote Investigator: I have read several instances of a popular comical anecdote. Two different versions featured baseball Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra. One night he was presented with a grandfather clock at a banquet dinner. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Why Don’t You Carry a Wrist Watch Like Everyone Else?”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: On a website dedicated to travel I saw a quotation credited to the famous Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag. Is this attribution accurate? A travel tip from Solzhenitsyn …
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Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Many websites credit Albert Einstein with this statement: Imagination is more important than knowledge. I am skeptical. Are these the words of Einstein? Reply from Quote Investigator: This remark apparently was made by Einstein during an interview that was published in “The Saturday Evening Post” in 1929. Here …
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Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Thanks for working to help clear up so many incorrect quotations and attributions. I have a question about a quote that might be suitable as the motto of your website. Yogi Berra supposedly said one the following Yogi-isms: 1. I really didn’t say everything I said. 2. I …
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Benjamin Disraeli? William Gladstone? William Makepeace Thackeray? Moses Hadas? A celebrated botanist? A Scotchman? Thomas Bailey Aldrich? Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.? Samuel Wilberforce? Max O’Rell? Question for Quote Investigator: Aspiring authors sent numerous manuscripts to the statesman and novelist Benjamin Disraeli. Reportedly, he would send back a wittily ambiguous response: Many thanks; I shall lose …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Thank You for the Gift Book. I Shall Lose No Time In Reading It”
Josh Billings? Josh Weathersby? Cal Stewart? Ring Lardner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Individuals who complain often receive the most attention. There is a popular analogy about squeaky wheels that I think has been incorrectly attributed to the humorist Josh Billings who was a famous lecturer in the 1800s. (Billings was the pseudonym of Henry …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease”
Taylor Caldwell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Taylor Caldwell wrote several best-selling books. Two of her novels were made into popular television mini-series: “Testimony of Two Men” and “Captains and the Kings”. I found a quotation attributed to her that fits with this holiday season: I am not alone at all, I thought. I was …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: We Are Never Alone. Not When the Night Is Darkest, the Wind Coldest”
Mark Twain? Albert Bigelow Paine? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: While watching a television show recently I heard the following saying credited to Mark Twain: The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up. The writers of television series sometimes sacrifice accuracy to enable more colorful story-telling. Is this quotation really …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Best Way to Cheer Yourself Is to Try to Cheer Somebody Else Up”
Mark Twain? Jack Benny? Satchel Paige? Muhammad Ali? Unknown gerontology researcher? Question for Quote Investigator: On a popular website recently I saw a slide show of quotations ascribed to Mark Twain that included the following: Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. I thought this was said …
Thomas Edison? Kate Sanborn? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Thomas Edison is credited with a famous adage about creativity and innovation: Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. I found another quotation that specified a slightly different ratio of 2 percent to 98 percent. What did Edison actually say? Reply from Quote Investigator: …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Genius Is One Percent Inspiration, Ninety-Nine Percent Perspiration”