Tracing Quotations
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”
Gary Player? Arnold Palmer? Jerry Barber? Jack Youngblood? Lee Trevino? Ethel Merman? L. Frank Baum? Question for 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. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Harder I Practice, the Luckier I Get”
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 …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Confused on a Higher Level and About More Important Things”
Otto von Bismarck? John Godfrey Saxe? Claudius O. Johnson? Nicolas Chamfort? Question for 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. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Laws are Like Sausages. Better Not to See Them Being Made”
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 …