Tracing Quotations
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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind”
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 …
Gore Vidal? Franklin P. Adams? George S. Kaufman? Mary Horan? Chico Marx? Walter Winchell? Anonymous? Question for 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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Meretricious and a Happy New Year”
Robert Benchley? Irvin Cobb? Will Rogers? Anonymous? Question for 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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: To Err is Human; To Really Foul Things Up Requires a Computer”
John F. Kennedy? Edmund Burke? R. Murray Hyslop? Charles F. Aked? John Stuart Mill? Question for Quote Investigator: Here is a challenge for you. I have been reading the wonderful book “The Quote Verifier” by Ralph Keyes, and he discusses the mixed-up quotations that President John F. Kennedy sometimes declaimed in his speeches. Here is …
Dorothy Parker? An Old Farmer? A Young Newspaper Editor? Bennett Cerf? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently when a friend delivered a clever retort I told her it was worthy of Dorothy Parker, but she did not recognize the name. I love Parker’s witticisms and am sad that her fame is going into eclipse. The prominent …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “I Simply Can’t Bear Fools” “Apparently, Your Mother Could””
Collis Huntington? Richard Ballinger? David Starr Jordan? Upton Sinclair? Question for Quote Investigator: Collis Huntington was one of the top railroad tycoons in the 1800s. His business skills helped to build the first transcontinental railroad in the United States and many other rail links. But his detractors considered him ruthless and greedy. These negative traits …
Thucydides? W. B. ‘Bill’ Hayler? Horowitz’ First Law? Question for Quote Investigator: I once served on a ship that had a brass plaque on the bridge engraved with the following: A collision at sea can ruin your whole day. This comes across as a modern sardonic saying, and I was surprised to read the name …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Collision at Sea Can Ruin Your Entire Day”
Jim Morrison? Ray Manzarek? Aldous Huxley? William Blake? Question for Quote Investigator: One of the best rock groups in history is The Doors, and its legendary front man Jim Morrison was one of the greatest rock stars ever. That is my opinion. But I am sending you this message because I want your opinion concerning …