Pablo Picasso? Gertrude Stein? Alice B. Toklas? Salvador Dali? Glenn Ligon? Arianna Huffington? David Mamet? Clifford Gessler? Michael Schulman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Depictions of people in paintings, photographs, books, and movies can dramatically change cultural perceptions. Powerful images cause accuracy to be superseded, and stylized portrayals to become reified. Near the beginning of the …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Dictionary: The Only Place Where Divorce Comes Before Marriage
Evan Esar? Jacob M. Braude? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: You have already explored a quip about success and work that cleverly referred to their alphabetical order. I’ve seen a similar joke about divorce and marriage: The dictionary is the only place where divorce comes before marriage. Which of these two jests emerged first? Would you …
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His Mother Should Have Thrown Him Away and Kept the Stork
Mae West? Jack Wagner? Joe E. Lewis? Charley Weaver? Cliff Arquette? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The Hollywood screen siren Mae West once verbally lacerated the villain of a movie by saying that when he was born his mother should have kept the stork and disposed of him. Would you please help me to determine the …
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Other People’s Interruptions of Your Work Are Relatively Insignificant Compared With the Countless Times You Interrupt Yourself
Brendan Francis? Edward F. Murphy? Jonathon Green? Sherwin D. Smith? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I came across the following quotation in the 1978 reference “The Crown Treasury of Relevant Quotations” compiled by Edward F. Murphy:[1] 1978 Copyright, The Crown Treasury of Relevant Quotations, Compiled by Edward F. Murphy, Topic: Quotation, Quote Page 500, Crown Publishers, …
Be Moderate In Everything Including Moderation
Mark Twain? Oscar Wilde? Socrates? Nancy Weber? Judy Tillinger? Horace Porter? J. F. Carter? Gaius Petronius Arbiter? James Ogilvy? Thomas Paine? Voltaire? Richard A. Posner? Benjamin Franklin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The ancient Greek poet Hesiod stated:[1] 2008, Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, Fifth Edition, Edited by Jennifer Speake, Entry: Moderation in all things, Quote Page …
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If I Ever Find Myself in Heaven, It Will Be From Backing Away From Hell
Carrie Fisher? Courtney Love? Edward Dowling? Mariette Hartley? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Terrible experiences often cause an individual to seek a superior pathway through life. Here is a pertinent adage: Some of us can’t find heaven without backing away from hell. This saying has been attributed to actress and writer Carrie Fisher and to singer …
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There Are Only Nine Meals Between Mankind and Anarchy
Alfred Henry Lewis? Larry Niven? Jerry Pournelle? Eric Sevareid? George Allan England? Donald Lowrie? John J. Fitzgerald? Hiram Motherwell? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: When the food supplies of a society are disrupted it takes only a few days before extreme behaviors emerge, e.g., chaos, mayhem, and rebellion. An adage states that: There are only a …
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Quote Origin: One Half of What I Have Told You May Be Proved Untrue. Unfortunately, I Cannot Tell You Which Half
Charles Sidney Burwell? Charles F. Kettering? Helen Clapesattle? Carl Sandburg? Camille Pierre Dadant? Josh Billings? William Osler? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator Educators and researchers know that knowledge in fields like science and medicine is continuously growing and changing. Thus, today’s verities become tomorrow’s fallacies. A lecturer once candidly admitted these weaknesses by saying something …
No Snowflake in an Avalanche Ever Feels Responsible
Voltaire? George Burns? Paul Harvey? Stanisław Jerzy Lec? Percy Bysshe Shelley? Etaislaw Lee? Stanisław Leszczyński? Stanisław Lem? Jacek Galazka? Dear Quote Investigator: A mob or a mass movement can cause enormous destruction. Also, the inaction of a large apathetic group in a perilous time can lead to ruination. Yet, individuals disavow liability. Here are three …
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A Little More Persistence, Courage, Vim!
Henry Austin? Henry Austen? Robert Burns Wilson? C. C. Cameron? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A poem about tenacity begins with the following four lines: Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes, Is oft but perseverance in disguise. Continuous effort, of itself, implies, In spite of countless falls, the power to rise. This verse has been …