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, …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: When the Facts Change, I Change My Mind. What Do You Do, Sir?
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 …
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Quote Origin: Heaven for the Climate, and Hell for the Company
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 …
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Quote Origin: A Day Without Laughter Is a Day Wasted
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 …
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Quote Origin: You Can’t Think and Hit at the Same Time
Yogi Berra? Bucky Harris? Eddie Froelich? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The New York Times magazine recently highlighted a quotation from a Hall of Fame baseball player: “How can you think and hit at the same time?” Yogi Berra once said, which like many of the quotes attributed to the former Yankees catcher, even the …
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Quote Origin: Look Around the Poker Table; If You Can’t See the Sucker, You’re It
Warren Buffett? Michael Wolff? Amarillo Slim? Poker Proverb? Whispering Saul? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a quotation I have seen in several books and periodicals aimed at investors. Here is one version: If you have been in a poker game for a while, and you still don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the …
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Quote Origin: Rock Journalism is People Who Can’t Write Interviewing People Who Can’t Talk for People Who Can’t Read
Frank Zappa? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The most outrageously funny quotation that I know of was spoken by the musician Frank Zappa: Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read. The perfect place to say this would have been during an interview with Rolling Stone …
Quote Origin: If Your Actions Inspire Others To Dream More, Learn More, Do More and Become More, You Are a Leader
John Quincy Adams? Dolly Parton? Peyton Manning? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following quote about leadership appears on my son’s T-Shirt and all over the web, attributed to John Quincy Adams: If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. That can’t possibly be …
Dialogue Origin: “Age Before Beauty” “Pearls Before Swine”
Dorothy Parker? Clare Boothe Luce? Sheilah Graham? Snooty debutante? Little chorus girl? Question for Quote Investigator: I think Dorothy Parker should be credited with the wittiest comeback ever spoken. She was attempting to go through a doorway at the same time as another person and words were exchanged. According to the story I heard the …
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Quote Origin: As I Wend My Way to Heaven I’ll Be Full of Cherry Pie
Edgar Guest? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When I was a child I found a book at my public library, a collection of poetry. My favorite poem in it was entitled “Cherry Pie” and was (I thought) by Edgar Guest. Since those days I have tried to relocate the work but with no luck. I …
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