Tracing Quotations
Branch Rickey? John Milton? Alexander Pope? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Confident people believe that luck is really controlled by human action. Religious people believe that luck is actually controlled by divine action. Here is a pertinent adage: Luck is the residue of design. This statement has been credited to prominent U.S. sports executive Branch …
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Susan Ohanian? Thomas Sowell? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Social media is rife with conflict. Comments about sensitive topics produce incendiary responses. I am reminded of this mordant insight: There are only two ways of telling the complete truth—anonymously and posthumously. U.S. economist Thomas Sowell and U.S. teacher Susan Ohanian have received credit for this …
Albert Einstein? Paul Arthur Schilpp? Marilyn Ferguson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: An overly rigid approach to education is counter-productive because it extinguishes natural inquisitiveness. This viewpoint has been expressed as follows: It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. The famous physicist Albert Einstein has received credit for this remark, but I have …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It Is a Miracle That Curiosity Survives Formal Education”
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Solving a difficult problem requires hard work for an extended period. To reinforce this viewpoint people enjoy sharing the following humble remark which has been attributed to Albert Einstein: It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. I have been unable …
Wilson Mizner? Thomas Aloysius Dorgan? Tad Dorgan? Bill Downing? Wilton Lackaye? Clare Briggs? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The initial stages of activities can be quite challenging. This hardship is reflected in following saying: the first year is the hardest. When the required period of endurance is extended to multiple years the saying becomes more …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The First Hundred Years Are the Hardest”
Ernst Levy? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent musicologist once said that humankind should take art as seriously as physics, chemistry, and money. If this happens then humankind will begin the road to recovery. I do not recall the precise phrasing. Would you please help me to locate this quotation and the name of …
W. H. Wakinshaw? Erma Angevine? Karl Brandt? Harold Davies? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Critics of politicians and regulators complain about the preferential treatment given to some companies which act irresponsibly. A company that makes a risky bet or sells a dubious product is protected from the negative consequences by governmental intervention. Yet the same …
Continue reading “Saying Origin: Socialize the Costs and Privatize the Profits”
Henry Ford? G. K. Chesterton? Robert R. Updegraff? Charles Zueblin? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Thinking carefully and rigorously about an issue requires major effort. That helps to explain why shallow, lazy, and self-justifying thought is so common. Here is a pertinent quotation: Thinking is the hardest work many people ever have to do, and …
Milton Berle? Russell Kay? Young Student? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Teachers enjoy sharing an anecdote about a student who was taught that the word “frugal” meant “to save”. Afterwards the student generated the following story: The beautiful damsel was held prisoner in a tower. When she saw a prince nearby she cried out: “Frugal …
Robert Louis Stevenson? Robert W. Frank? Frederick B. Harris? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: If you engage in a beneficial or a harmful activity you may not immediately experience the result. The effect might be significantly delayed, but eventually you will experience the full repercussions. Here are three versions of a pertinent adage: (1) Everybody, …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Sooner or Later We All Sit Down To the Banquet of Consequences”