Tracing Quotations
Will Rogers? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The evaluation of art is subjective. The popular U.S. humorist Will Rogers once said something like: You can call yourself an artist because nobody can prove you ain’t. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1926 Will Rogers published “Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat …
Continue reading “Artist: The One Thing You Can Claim To Be and Nobody Can Prove You Ain’t”
James Baldwin? Jane Howard? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Reading about other lives and cultures can replace a narrow self-involved vision with a wide open vista. The pains and afflictions of one’s own life are placed into a larger perspective when one reads about the harrowing travails of others. The prominent novelist and playwright James …
Oscar Wilde? Stuart Mason? Christopher Sclater Millard? Robert Ross? Elizabeth P. O’Connor? Arthur Ransome? Frank Harris? Sylvestre Dorian? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to legend, the famous wit Oscar Wilde delivered a comically audacious line when he first entered the United States during his lecture tour. A customs official in New York asked him …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Have Nothing To Declare Except My Genius”
George Gershwin? Bennett Cerf? Edward Jablonski? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: U.S. pianist and composer George Gershwin is known for works such as “Rhapsody in Blue” and “I Got Rhythm”. He believed that music should embody the thoughts and aspirations of a people and a time. He said his people were Americans and his time was …
Pedro Calderón de la Barca? Craufurd Tait Ramage? Denis Florence MacCarthy? Stephanie Tourles? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Metaphorically, the deity has flung a bucket of green at our world which has brought forth its loveliness. The primary color of Earth is green because of its beautiful foliage. The Spanish dramatist and poet Pedro Calderón de …
Continue reading “Green Is the Prime Color of the World, and That From Which Its Loveliness Arises”
Sydney J. Harris? Beulah Schacht? Sol Margoles? Evan Esar? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A nearly paradoxical piece of advice states that the best time to relax is when you feel unable to relax because of time pressures. Would you please explore this adage. Quote Investigator: Here is a family of closely related statements with dates: …
Continue reading “The Time To Relax Is When You Don’t Have Time For It”
John Buchan? Elizabeth Murray? Graham Greene? Dorothy Parker? Thomas Carter? H. L. Mencken? Sime Silverman? Karl Braun? Gene Byrnes? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When you face a series of obstacles and successfully persevere you might employ the following saying. Here are three versions: It’s a great life if you don’t weaken. It’s a grand …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It’s a Great Life If You Don’t Weaken”
Lawrence Welk? Max Lucado? G. P. Malalasekera? James Crook? Islwyn Jeneins? Richard Wagner? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A genuine leader must be willing to ignore a popularly help opinion when it is flawed and act in the best interest of all. This thought has been conveyed via a clever analogy: When you wish to lead …
Continue reading “If You Want To Lead the Orchestra You Must Turn Your Back To the Crowd”
Alan Turing? Sara Turing? Stuart Russell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A pioneering mathematician and computer researcher in the 1950s believed that an intelligent computer system could be built, and “it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers”. Would you please tell me the name of this person and help me to find …
Irving John Good? Arthur C. Clarke? Philip J. Davis? Reuben Hersh? Vernor Vinge? Raymond Kurzweil? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A prominent computer researcher in the 1950s or 1960s predicted that humanity would create a superintelligent machine sometime during the twentieth century. The researcher believed that this machine would be humanity’s last invention. Would you please …