Warren Bennis? Fred Lamond? Jerry L. Benefield? British Post Office Engineering Union? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A humorous and cautionary prediction states that the automated factory of the future will have only two employees: one human and one dog: This notion has been attributed to Professor of Business Administration Warren Bennis and others. Would …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: It Is Classic Because of a Certain Eternal and Irrepressible Freshness
Edith Wharton? Ezra Pound? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A classic work must be timeless, and it must also exhibit an irrepressible freshness. This notion has been attributed to the prominent U.S. novelist Edith Wharton and the well-known poet and critic Ezra Pound. Would you please help me to resolve this uncertainty? Reply from Quote …
Quote Origin: We Have Only the Present Moment, Sparkling Like a Star in Our Hands — and Melting Like a Snowflake
Marie Beynon Ray? Francis Bacon? Henry David Thoreau? W. Somerset Maugham? Booth Tarkington? Question for Quote Investigator: Our life on Earth does not extend forever. A writer once used two vivid and clashing metaphors to describe this precious moment: Sparkling like a star in our hands and melting like a snowflake This figurative language has …
Quote Origin: Sliding Down a Barrister
Dorothy Parker? Mae West? Alexander Woollcott? A. E. Mortimer? Mark Barron? Meyer Levin? Billy Boner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The U.S. poet and wit Dorothy Parker has received credit for scandalous wordplay based on the following phrases: Sliding down a banisterSliding down a barrister Would you please explore this topic? Reply from Quote Investigator: …
Quote Origin: An Artist Is the One Thing You Can Claim To Be and Nobody Can Prove You Ain’t
Will Rogers? Apocryphal? Question for 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? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1926 Will Rogers published “Letters of …
Quote Origin: You Think Your Pain and Your Heartbreak Are Unprecedented in the History of the World, But Then You Read
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 …
Quote Origin: I Have Nothing To Declare Except My Genius
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 …
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Quote Origin: To Be True Music It Must Repeat the Thoughts and Aspirations of the People and the Time. My People Are Americans. My Time Is Today
George Gershwin? Bennett Cerf? Edward Jablonski? Apocryphal? Question for 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 …
Quote Origin: Green Is the Prime Color of the World, and That From Which Its Loveliness Arises
Pedro Calderón de la Barca? Craufurd Tait Ramage? Denis Florence MacCarthy? Stephanie Tourles? Apocryphal? Question for 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 …
Quote Origin: The Time To Relax Is When You Don’t Have Time For It
Sydney J. Harris? Beulah Schacht? Sol Margoles? Evan Esar? Anonymous? Question for 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. Reply from Quote Investigator: Here is a family of closely related …
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