Evan Esar? Jan Harold Brunvand? Bennett Cerf? Question for Quote Investigator: I was speaking with a friend about all the misinformation and misattributions in the world of quotations, and he said that he was familiar with this phenomenon of unreliability because he enjoys reading about urban-legends. He also gave his own quotation on this theme …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: If You Steal From One Author, It’s Plagiarism; If You Steal From Many, It’s Research
Wilson Mizner? Steven Wright? Wallace Notestein? Ralph Foss? Joseph Cummings Chase? Asa George Baker? Leslie Henson? Tom Lehrer? Bob Oliver? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Some of the websites I come across seem to produce their content by using cut and paste. They do not even bother to collect information from multiple sources. I am …
Dialogue Origin: “Our Host Certainly Is Outspoken” “Outspoken By Whom?”
Dorothy Parker? Punch Humor Magazine? Sally’s Sallies Comic Strip? Ann Landers? Question for Quote Investigator: Previously you discussed a quote of Dorothy Parker’s which was self-critical, but she also directed her barbs at others. Here is an example: When a garrulous old battle-ax was praised as “outspoken,” Mrs. Parker raised an eyebrow to take dead …
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Quote Origin: I Would Rather Go To Bed With That Woman Stark Naked Than With Ulysses S. Grant in Full Military Regalia
Mark Twain? James Montgomery Flagg? William Dean Howells? Question for Quote Investigator: When I discovered your blog I knew just the right word to describe it: Quotesmanship. That word was used in the New York Times in 1980 to describe the desire to determine and use correct attributions for quotations. The author of the Quotesmanship …
Legend Origin: The Vanishing Lady and the Vanishing Hotel Room
Alexander Woollcott? Karl Harriman? Marie Belloc-Lowndes? Nancy Vincent McClelland? Kenneth Herford? Question for Quote Investigator: I recently watched an excellent British film from the 1950s called “So Long at the Fair” and was fascinated by the plot. When I searched the net I discovered that I was not the only person intrigued by the story. …
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Quote Origin: Beneath the Phony Tinsel of Hollywood You’ll Find the Real Tinsel
Oscar Levant? Ed Gardner? Henry Morgan? Question for Quote Investigator: Every time I hear Hollywood referred to as Tinseltown it reminds me of the following quote: Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you find the real tinsel underneath. I have read this phrase in several places but was unsure who first created it. …
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Quote Origin: When I Want to Read a Book, I Write One
Benjamin Disraeli? Washington Irving? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, I was reading the top-selling book “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” and encountered this sentence: Nero did not read novels—”Novels are fun to write, not read,” he claimed. I was certain that I had read something similar before. After thinking a few …
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Quote Origin: Outside of a Dog, a Book is Man’s Best Friend. Inside of a Dog, It’s Too Dark to Read
Groucho Marx? Ted Atkinson? Jimmy Husson? Jim Brewer ? Mary Stuart? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: You have researched some quotes credited to Groucho Marx, so I am hoping that you will be able to look into a saying that interests me. I work in a library and have long enjoyed the following quip: Outside …
Quote Origin: And the Sea Will Grant Each Man New Hope, As Sleep Brings Dreams of Home
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 …
Quote Origin: 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? Question for 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 …