Tracing Quotations
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 …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “Our Host Certainly Is Outspoken” “Outspoken By Whom?””
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 …
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. …
Continue reading “Legend Origin: The Vanishing Lady and the Vanishing Hotel Room”
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. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Beneath the Phony Tinsel of Hollywood You’ll Find the Real Tinsel”
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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: When I Want to Read a Book, I Write One”
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 …
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 …
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 …
James Michener? Zen Buddhist Saying? L. P. Jacks? Question for 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 …
Dorothy Parker? Robert Benchley? Frank Sullivan? Question for 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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Was the Toast of Two Continents: Greenland and Australia”