Tracing Quotations
Sigmund Freud? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was famous for interpreting symbols with special emphasis on the imagery in dreams. In photos he was often shown smoking a cigar, and that is why I always found the following quotation attributed to him very amusing: Sometimes a cigar is just …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Sometimes a Cigar Is Just a Cigar”
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? Question for Quote Investigator: The Forbes magazine website previously had a fascinating searchable database called “Thoughts On The Business of Life” which contained more than 10,000 quotes. The following saying appeared in the database: There is nothing so disastrous as a rational …
Thomas Friedman? Dan Montano? Arthur M. Blank? Sue Tabor? Herb Caen? Christopher McDougall? Roger Bannister? Anonymous? Question for 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 …
Winston Churchill? Woodrow Wilson? George Curzon? Anonymous? Question for 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: Golf …
Henry Ford? Edward Menge? Lewis Mumford? Sedgewick Seti? Apocryphal? Question for 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: But I can find no good evidence that Ford ever said this. It’s a great line, and I …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: My Customers Would Have Asked For a Faster Horse”
Foster C. McClellan? Robert M. Hutchins? Anonymous? Question for 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, …
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? Question for 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: My friend is adamant that the quotation was really created by James M. Barrie, the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Heaven for the Climate, and Hell for the Company”
Charlie Chaplin? Steve Martin? Groucho Marx? Nicolas Chamfort? Question for 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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Day Without Laughter Is a Day Wasted”