Christopher Columbus? Larry Ferguson? John McTiernan? Question for Quote Investigator: “The Hunt for Red October” was a popular action-adventure movie featuring submarine warfare released in 1990. The movie ends with a poignant quotation attributed to Christopher Columbus that was delivered by the movie star Sean Connery. Captain Marko Ramius played by Connery was about to …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
How Could I Feel Like a Hero When Only Five Men in My Platoon of 45 Survived?
Ira Hayes? James Bradley? John Bradley? Rene Gagnon? Fictionalized? Dear Quote Investigator: One of the men who appeared in the famous flag-raising photograph taken on Iwo Jima during WWII was invited to the White House when he returned to the United States. The following 2005 news article describes a heart-rending comment that was supposedly said …
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A Master in the Art of Living Makes Little Distinction Between His Work and His Play
James Michener? Zen Buddhist saying? L.P. Jacks? Dear Quote Investigator: I have been deeply moved by an inspirational passage that I thought was written by a Zen Buddhist master: The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, …
I was the Toast of Two Continents: Greenland and Australia
Dorothy Parker? Robert Benchley? Frank Sullivan? Dear Quote Investigator: The writer Dorothy Parker was famous for her clever and barbed witticisms. Her remarks were often aimed at others, but sometimes she laughed at herself with a self-deprecating comment. I particularly enjoy the statement she made when asked about her fame: Yes, I once was the …
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The Harder I Practice, the Luckier I Get
Gary Player? Arnold Palmer? Jerry Barber? Jack Youngblood? Lee Trevino? Ethel Merman? L. Frank Baum? Dear Quote Investigator: I am a fan of the golfing legend Gary Player, and the Wikipedia article about him says he: “Coined one of the most quoted aphorisms of post-War sport”: The harder you practice, the luckier you get. Is …
Quote Origin: Confused on a Higher Level and About More Important Things
Enrico Fermi? Bernt Øksendal? Earl C. Kelley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation should resonate with anyone who has tried to master a difficult subject: We have not succeeded in answering all our problems. The answers we have found only serve to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we …
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Laws are Like Sausages. Better Not to See Them Being Made
Otto von Bismarck? John Godfrey Saxe? Claudius O. Johnson? Dear Quote Investigator: The quotation of Otto von Bismarck about laws and sausages has been a favorite of mine for years. I found several versions using Google, and here are two: Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made. To retain respect …
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Quote Origin: Never Interfere With an Enemy While He’s in the Process of Destroying Himself
Napoleon Bonaparte? Haley Barbour? Woodrow Wilson? Question for Quote Investigator: I saw Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi on television recently and he recited a quotation that he attributed to Napoleon: You know, Napoleon said ‘Never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself.’ Is this an accurate quote? Could you investigate …
Quote Origin: Legal Advice: Pound the Facts, Pound the Law, Pound the Table
Carl Sandburg? Alan Dershowitz? Jerome Michael? Jacob J. Rosenblum? Oliver Wendell Holmes? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A few years ago I saw a famous quotation about legal strategy attributed to a celebrity professor: Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz shares with his students a strategy for successfully defending cases. If the facts are on …
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Quote Origin: Be Kind; Everyone You Meet is Fighting a Hard Battle
Plato? Philo of Alexandria? Ian MacLaren? John Watson? This blog post is based on a question that was posed at the wonderful blog used by the quotation expert Fred Shapiro who is the editor of one of the best reference works in this area: The Yale Book of Quotations. Fred Shapiro’s posts appear on the …
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