Thomas Wolfe? Orlando Aloysius Battista? Eddie Rickenbacker? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: While searching for quotations about success I found the following: You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity. Several web pages credit this saying to the famous writer Thomas Wolfe, but I’ve read “Look …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
What You Do Speaks So Loudly that I Cannot Hear What You Say
John F. Kennedy? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: In 1960 President John F. Kennedy spoke at that Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah and used a quotation that he attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson [JKU]: What we are speaks louder than what we say, as Emerson said. I was surprised when I …
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Quote Origin: I Did It For My Own Pleasure. Then I Did It For My Friends. Now I Do It For Money
Virginia Woolf? Molière? Ferenc Molnár? Philippe Halsman? Ad Reinhardt? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently I was invited to conduct a workshop about writing and creativity. While reviewing materials on this topic I repeatedly came across a humorous quotation that pertains to commercialism. Here is one version: Writing is like sex. First you do it for …
Quote Origin: What Lies Behind Us and What Lies Before Us are Tiny Matters Compared to What Lies Within Us
Albert Jay Nock? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Oliver Wendell Holmes? Henry David Thoreau? Henry Stanley Haskins? William Morrow? Expelled Wall Street Stock Trader? Question for Quote Investigator: I attended a graduation ceremony last year and was genuinely impressed by a quotation used in the keynote address: What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us …
An Epigram is Only a Wisecrack That’s Played Carnegie Hall
Oscar Levant? Edmund Fuller? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I see on the website that you looked into a quotation credited to the pianist, actor, and wit Oscar Levant and showed that someone else probably said it first. But I am confident that the following quote was originally said by Levant, and it fits the theme …
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Quote Origin: An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind
Mohandas Gandhi? George Perry Graham? Louis Fischer? Henry Powell Spring? Martin Luther King? Question for Quote Investigator: Mohandas Gandhi’s policy of non-violence was famously used during the campaign for independence in India. There is a well-known quotation that helps to express the rationale for this non-retaliatory philosophy: An eye for an eye will leave everyone …
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Quote Origin: A Man May Do an Immense Deal of Good, If He Does Not Care Who Gets the Credit
Benjamin Jowett? Father Strickland? William T. Arnold? Harry Truman? Ronald Reagan? Charles Edward Montague? Edward Everett Hale? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a quotation I love that presents an insightful guideline for the most effective way to achieve a goal by accenting humility: The way to get things done is not to mind who …
Meretricious and a Happy New Year
Gore Vidal? Franklin P. Adams? George S. Kaufman? Mary Horan? Chico Marx? Walter Winchell? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The holiday season is here, and I have a question about a pun. A critic once told Gore Vidal that one of his novels was meretricious and Gore pointedly replied: Really? Well, meretricious and a happy New …
Epitaph: At Last She Sleeps Alone
Robert Benchley? Irvin Cobb? Will Rogers? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A variety of quips have been credited to the great wit and stylish film actor Robert Benchley, but I don’t see his name very often on this website. Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes contains a story that illustrates his sharp humor. Benchley was attending a Hollywood …
To Err is Human; To Really Foul Things Up Requires a Computer
Paul Ehrlich? Alexander Pope? Senator Soaper? Bill Vaughan? Agatha Christie? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I am reading your blog and that shows I am not a Luddite, but computers can be very exasperating. One of my favorite quotations on this topic is the following: To err is human, but to really foul things up you …
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