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 …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: It Is a Miracle That Curiosity Survives Formal Education
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 …
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Quote Origin: It’s Not That I’m So Smart, It’s Just That I Stay With Problems Longer
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 …
Quote Origin: The First Hundred Years Are the Hardest
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 …
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Quote Origin: Humanity Will Begin To Recover the Moment It Takes Art as Seriously as Physics, Chemistry, or Money
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 …
Saying Origin: Socialize the Costs and Privatize the Profits
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 …
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Quote Origin: Thinking Is the Hardest Work Many People Ever Have To Do, and They Don’t Like To Do Any More of It Than They Can Help
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 …
Joke Origin: Frugal Me! Frugal Me!
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 …
Quote Origin: Sooner or Later We All Sit Down To the Banquet of Consequences
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, …
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Quote Origin: I Regard the Theater as the Greatest of All Art Forms
Oscar Wilde? Thornton Wilder? Frank Capra? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent playwright once said: I regard the theater as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being. This statement has been …
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