Vladimir Lenin? Winston Churchill? George Riddell? H. L. Mencken? Fictional? Question for Quote Investigator: I was thumbing through The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations to try and find a good saying about freedom of the press and I was stunned to see this hostile sentence: As to freedom of the press, why should any man …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: Capitalism: The Nastiest of Men for the Nastiest of Motives Will Somehow Work for the Benefit of All
John Maynard Keynes? Austin Robinson? Fictional? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Many times I have seen the following quote attributed to John Maynard Keynes: Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. I cannot find a solid citation. Also, …
Quote Origin: A Gift Book Is an Item Which You Wouldn’t Take on Any Other Terms
Dorothy Parker? Walter Winchell? Fictional? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, I gave a close friend a book as a gift, and on the accompanying card I included a quotation that Dorothy Parker once used in a book review: This must be a gift book. That is to say, a book which you wouldn’t take …
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Dialogue Origin: “Do You Prefer Grass or Astroturf” “I Don’t Know. I Never Smoked Astroturf”
Tug McGraw? Joe Namath? Charles Edward Greene? Bill Lee? Fictional? Question for Quote Investigator: I laughed out loud when I read the answer given by Major League Baseball star Tug McGraw when he was asked whether he preferred grass or Astroturf: I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf. This quote appeared in a newspaper article …
Quote Origin: Let Us Hope Darwinism is Not True, But If It is, Let Us Pray It Does Not Become Widely Known
Wife of the Bishop of Worcester? Wife of the Bishop of Birmingham? Wife of Samuel Wilberforce? Robert Forman Horton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a remarkable quotation that dramatically highlights the controversial intersection between science and religion in the nineteenth century. The words were attributed to a Bishop’s wife in an anecdote in …
Quote Origin: You Have Reached the Pinnacle of Success as Soon as You Become Uninterested in Money, Compliments, or Publicity
Thomas Wolfe? Orlando Aloysius Battista? Eddie Rickenbacker? Anonymous? Question for 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 …
Quote Origin: What You Do Speaks So Loudly that I Cannot Hear What You Say
John F. Kennedy? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Anonymous? Question for 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: 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 …
Quote Origin: An Epigram is Only a Wisecrack That’s Played Carnegie Hall
Oscar Levant? Edmund Fuller? Anonymous? Question for 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 …
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