Tracing Quotations
John Maynard Keynes? A. Gary Shilling? Harold R. Evensky? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The gyrations of financial markets can be startling. You may have unassailable information indicating that a stock is overpriced or underpriced, but you can still lose money because the market price may not accurately reflect the underlying verities for years. Here …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Market Can Remain Irrational Longer Than You Can Remain Solvent”
John Maynard Keynes? Milton Friedman? A. Gary Shilling? Albert J. Hettinger, Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Forbes magazine has a fascinating searchable database called “Thoughts On The Business of Life” that contains “more than 10,000 quotes.” The following saying interests me, but the database doesn’t appear to include citations so I am not sure if …
Thomas Friedman? Dan Montano? Arthur M. Blank? Sue Tabor? Herb Caen? Christopher McDougall? Roger Bannister? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Last year I saw a motivational poster with a portrait of a lion. The text was a fable about lions and gazelles, and the title was something like the “The Key to Survival.” Paraphrasing: To survive …
Winston Churchill? Woodrow Wilson? George Curzon? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Friends know I am an avid golfer and recently a book of quotations about the sport was given to me as a present. This quote from Winston Churchill captures the exasperation I feel when attempting to chip my ball near to the pin [GBGQ]: Golf …
Henry Ford? Edward Menge? Lewis Mumford? Sedgewick Seti? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The preeminent automotive industrialist Henry Ford is credited with a saying that has become very popular in the business literature. Here are two versions: If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. If I had asked my …
Continue reading “My Customers Would Have Asked For a Faster Horse”
Foster C. McClellan? Robert M. Hutchins? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Since you are a sleuth for origin histories I’m wondering if you’ve ever come across this quote or any references to its origins: Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen …
John Maynard Keynes? Paul Samuelson? Winston Churchill? Joan Robinson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: John Maynard Keynes was an enormously influential economist, but some of his detractors complained that the opinions he expressed tended to change over the years. Once during a high-profile government hearing a critic accused him of being inconsistent, and Keynes reportedly …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: When the Facts Change, I Change My Mind. What Do You Do, Sir?”
Mark Twain? Ben Wade? Emery A. Storrs? James Matthew Barrie? Robert Burton? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a well-known quotation about heaven and hell that is usually credited to Mark Twain. I have found it phrased in different ways: Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. I would choose Heaven for climate …
Continue reading “Heaven for the Climate, and Hell for the Company”
Charlie Chaplin? Steve Martin? Groucho Marx? Nicolas Chamfort? Dear Quote Investigator: The following guideline for living makes sense to me, so I try to find humor in something every day: A day without laughter is a day wasted When I read this maxim originally it was credited to Charlie Chaplin, but I once heard it …
Yogi Berra? Bucky Harris? Eddie Froelich? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The New York Times magazine recently highlighted a quotation from a Hall of Fame baseball player:[ref] 2011 June 26, New York Times, For Derek Jeter, on His 37th Birthday by Michael Sokolove, Page MM28, Section: Sunday Magazine, New York. (Published online 2011 June 23; Accessed …