Frank Zappa? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The most outrageously funny quotation that I know of was spoken by the musician Frank Zappa: Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read. The perfect place to say this would have been during an interview with Rolling Stone …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: If Your Actions Inspire Others To Dream More, Learn More, Do More and Become More, You Are a Leader
John Quincy Adams? Dolly Parton? Peyton Manning? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following quote about leadership appears on my son’s T-Shirt and all over the web, attributed to John Quincy Adams: If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. That can’t possibly be …
Dialogue Origin: “Age Before Beauty” “Pearls Before Swine”
Dorothy Parker? Clare Boothe Luce? Sheilah Graham? Snooty debutante? Little chorus girl? Question for Quote Investigator: I think Dorothy Parker should be credited with the wittiest comeback ever spoken. She was attempting to go through a doorway at the same time as another person and words were exchanged. According to the story I heard the …
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Quote Origin: As I Wend My Way to Heaven I’ll Be Full of Cherry Pie
Edgar Guest? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When I was a child I found a book at my public library, a collection of poetry. My favorite poem in it was entitled “Cherry Pie” and was (I thought) by Edgar Guest. Since those days I have tried to relocate the work but with no luck. I …
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Quote Origin: The Play Was a Great Success, But the Audience Was a Total Failure
Oscar Wilde? William Collier? Daniel Frohman? George Bernard Shaw? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I have been involved in several theatrical productions and sometimes the response of an audience to a show is mystifying. A colleague told me that Oscar Wilde watched an early performance of Lady Windermere’s Fan, and the reception was unenthusiastic. Later …
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Quote Origin: Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, But Not Simpler
Albert Einstein? Louis Zukofsky? Roger Sessions? William of Ockham? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The credibility of a quotation is increased substantially if it can be ascribed to a widely-recognized genius such as Albert Einstein. Hence a large number of spurious quotes are attributed to him. I would like to know if the following is …
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Quote Origin: I Did Not Attend the Funeral, But I Sent a Nice Letter Saying I Approved of It
Mark Twain? James Wayle? Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar? Walter Winchell? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: In the past few days several phony quotations were widely disseminated on the internet; in other words, they went viral. My question is about a saying that might be genuine. A CNN article contains the following expression attributed to Mark Twain: …
Quote Origin: I Have Never Killed Any One, But I Have Read Some Obituary Notices with Great Satisfaction
Mark Twain? Clarence Darrow? Overland Monthly? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I saw the quotation below when it was tweeted a few days ago. It was credited to Mark Twain, but apparently he never said it: I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure. Later I read news …
Quote Origin: The Architect Can Only Advise His Client to Plant Vines
Frank Lloyd Wright? Herbert Hoover? Arch Oboler? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When I was a child I saw a gallery of images showing a house built at the top of a waterfall. I fell in love with that house, called Fallingwater, and later learned that it was built by the extraordinary American architect Frank …
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Quote Origin: See the Happy Moron
Dorothy Parker? James Webb Young? Owen H. Hott? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A friend and I recently wondered about the origin of the following poem. We did not have much luck tracking it: See the happy moron, He doesn’t give a damn, I wish I were a moron, My God! perhaps I am! There …