George S. Kaufman? Eddie Fisher? Clifton Fadiman? Dick Cavett? Question for Quote Investigator: Many, many years ago I saw an old clip on TV of George S. Kaufman and he was replying to a question submitted by an audience member who was complaining. Kaufman was uninterested, and he replied with a lengthy comical remark. I …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is Named Sam
Samuel Goldwyn? Roger Miller? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I noticed that the Wikiquote website lists one of my favorite funny sayings attributed to Samuel Goldwyn, the famous film producer. In the version of the story I heard, a friend told Goldwyn that he wanted to honor the studio head by naming his son after …
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Quote Origin: The Hardest Thing in the World to Understand Is Income Taxes
Albert Einstein? Leo Mattersdorf? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I have been struggling trying to figure out how much I owe to the Internal Revenue Service this year. The quote I would like you to explore does not sound very extraordinary. What makes it funny and outrageous is the identity of the person who supposedly …
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Quote Origin: Why Should Any Man Be Allowed to Buy a Printing Press and Disseminate Pernicious Opinions?
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 …
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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