Henry Fielding? Charles Grandison? Samuel Richardson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: To avoid a major hardship an individual will sometimes abandon an ethical principle or a close friend. Experiencing a setback reveals a person’s inner strengths and weaknesses. Here are three versions of a pertinent saying: (1) Adversity is the trial of principle; without it, …
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Adage Origin: Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Slowly
Mae West? Gypsy Rose Lee? Ann Richards? Emma Bullet? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Activities such as growing a garden, consuming a savory dish, and dancing a striptease are best when performed slowly. An adage embodies this idea: If it is worth doing then it is worth doing slowly. This saying has been attributed to …
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Quote Origin: Real Success Is Finding Your Lifework in the Work That You Love
David McCullough? Mark Twain? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough has received credit for an insightful expression about career choice: Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love. I am having difficulty finding a citation. Would you please help? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1996 David McCullough …
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Quote Origin: There Are Moments When Time and Space Are More Profound, and the Sensation of Existence Is Immensely Heightened
Charles Baudelaire? Christopher Isherwood? Sonya Stephens? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The French poet, essayist, and art critic Charles Baudelaire wrote provocatively about his experiences in life including erotic feelings, drug-induced states, and cosmic perceptions. Apparently, he once said: There are moments in one’s existence when time and space are deepened, and the feeling of …
Quote Origin: Ten Percent Should Not Even Be Here. Eighty Percent Are Targets. One Is a Warrior
Heraclitus? John DiFusco? Tracers? Paul Whitesell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus has received credit for the following statement which is popular in the military domain: Out of every one-hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky …
Quote Origin: Fauvism Is a Sort of Exasperated Form of Impressionism
Guillaume Apollinaire? John Golding? Ian Crofton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Les fauves means the wild beasts in French, and Fauvism was a style of painting that developed near the start of the 20th century. Apparently, a contemporary critic stated the following: Fauvism is a sort of exasperated form of Impressionism. This remark has been …
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Quote Origin: Satire Is Meant To Ridicule Power
Terry Pratchett? Vrabia? J. M. Frey? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Satire has been used to attack a wide variety of targets. Cruel or mean-spirited mockery is often controversial. Here is a pertinent quotation: Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it’s not satire, it’s bullying. These …
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Quote Origin: There Are Three Things a Person Can Make Out of Almost Nothing — a Salad, a Hat, and a Quarrel
Mark Twain? Coco Chanel? John Barrymore? Marlene Dietrich? Jackie Kannon? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A creative person can fashion a hat out of almost any scrap of fabric. An imaginative person can combine a wide variety of ingredients to create a salad. An irascible person can generate a quarrel from a mild disagreement. These …
Headline Origin: Foot Heads Arms Body
Roger Bacon? Mike Ramsden? David C. Allan? Alex Berlyne? Martyn Cornell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to a popular journalistic legend a newspaper in London once published the following difficult to decipher headline: Foot Heads Arms Body This headline was purportedly about British politician Michael Foot who had become the leader of an organization …
Quote Origin: You Never Change Anything By Fighting It; You Change Things By Making Them Obsolete Through Superior Technology
Buckminster Fuller? Mike Vance? Diane Deacon? Daniel Quinn? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Inventor and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller once spoke about the best way to accomplish positive changes. He said that one rarely changes something by fighting it directly. Instead, one should build a new system or model that makes the existing model obsolete. …