Tracing Quotations
Albert Einstein? Advertising copywriter? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Some people think that Albert Einstein’s name is magical. If they want to convince you of something or sell you something they invoke his revered name to prove that a genius agrees with whatever proposition they are peddling. Here is a collection of statements that the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Compound Interest Is Man’s Greatest Invention”
Ann Landers? Abigail Van Buren? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Samuel Johnson? Malcolm Forbes? Paul Eldridge? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? James D. Miles? Dan Reeves? Question for Quote Investigator: I am attempting to verify the following quotation because it will appear in a forthcoming book, but I have discovered multiple attributions: You can easily judge the character …
Robert Benchley? Anonymous? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: One of the most insightful and humorous quotations about accomplishing tasks is: Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment. All the websites and reference books I could find agree that this should be …
Alanis Obomsawin? Prophecy of the Cree Indians? Osage saying? Sakokwenonkwas? Greenpeace? Anonymous? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I recently came across the following stirring proverb on the internet: When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money. After …
Anthony Burgess? Israel Zangwill? Carolyn Wells? Merry-Andrew? Abraham Rotstein? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The proverb “Every dog has his day” is familiar to many, but recently I came across an amusing twist: Every dogma has its day. These words were credited to the English author Anthony Burgess who is probably best known for the …
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.? John B. Finch? John Stuart Mill? Abraham Lincoln? Zechariah Chafee, Jr.? Question for Quote Investigator: I am writing a book on the theme of freedom and would like to include a classic quotation about the pragmatic limitations on liberty. My research has identified several versions of this popular saying: The right …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Your Liberty To Swing Your Fist Ends Just Where My Nose Begins”
Bette Davis? Leonora Corbett? Kenneth Tynan? Anonymous? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I love the following catty quotation that was said by one Hollywood actor or actress about another performer who had allegedly slept her way to success: She’s the original good time that’s been had by all. Can you tell me who said this …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: She’s the Original Good Time That’s Been Had By All”
Milton Friedman? William Aberhart? Walter Augustus Wyckoff? Unemployed Worker? Businessman in China? UK Minister of Agriculture? Question for Quote Investigator:: In 2011 an editorial in the Wall Street Journal mentioned a quotation that apparently is well-known: The famous Milton Friedman line about government ordering people to dig with spoons to employ more people comes to …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: If You Want Jobs Then Give These Workers Spoons Instead of Shovels”
Woody Hayes? Darrell Royal? Bernie Moore? Question for Quote Investigator: It’s football season and I received an email from a friend with a collection of quotations from coaches and players. One of the sayings about passing the ball is credited to Woody Hayes, but I think it should probably be attributed to Darrell Royal, coach …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Three Things Can Happen When You Pass and Two of Them Are Bad”
Mark Twain? H. Jackson Brown? Sarah Frances Brown? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The Virgin Galactic company of Richard Branson plans to offer suborbital spaceflights for tourists. The organization put together a beautiful brochure containing the following quotation credited to Mark Twain: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you …