John Wanamaker? William Hesketh Lever? William Hulme Lever? Lord Leverhulme? William Wrigley Jr.? John T. Dorrance? Robert C. Ogden? George Washington Hill? Roy L. Smith? David Ogilvy? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Readers often ignore advertisements, but sometimes ads decisively influence purchasing decisions. A business mogul once humorously commented on this hit-or-miss quality. Here are …
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Joke Origin: Optimist: The Glass Is Half Full. Pessimist: The Glass Is Half Empty. Comedian: The Glass Is the Wrong Size
Steve Martin? George Carlin? Terry Pratchett? O. J. Anderson? Davis Merritt Jr.? Tom Page? Allen Klein? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Different attitudes towards life are vividly illustrated by divergent reactions to a partially filled glass: Optimist: The glass half fullPessimist: The glass is half empty A third humorous category is sometimes added to the …
Maxim Origin: Optimist: The Glass Is Half Full. Pessimist: The Glass Is Half Empty
Josiah Stamp? Vivian F. Rausch? David Dodge? Hugh Overman? Ted Healy? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Life impressions differ dramatically between people with sunny dispositions versus morose temperaments. This point is cleverly illustrated via the disparate reactions elicited by a container partially filled with liquid: The optimist says the container is half full. The pessimist …
Quote Origin: For Reasons I Have Never Understood, People Like To Hear That the World Is Going To Hell
Deirdre N. McCloskey? Eduardo Porter? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Their are always powerful reasons to be pessimistic. News headlines about brutal warfare, callous crime, and environmental degradation predominate on a continuous electronic scroll of doom. Yet, there are also reasons to be optimistic. The global rate of extreme poverty has declined and longevity has …
Quote Origin: Everything Is Connected To Everything Else
Barry Commoner? Gotthold Ephraim Lessing? Leonardo da Vinci? Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.? John Muir? Jean Piaget? Daniel Patrick Moynihan? Solomon Short? David Gerrold? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The universe reflects a pervasive interconnectedness. Here are two versions of a pertinent adage: Everything is connected to everything else.Everything connects to everything else. Ecological thinkers have …
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Quote Origin: If My Mind Can Conceive It and My Heart Can Believe It, Then I Know I Can Achieve It
Jesse Jackson? Napoleon Hill? Muhammad Ali? Armand J. Gariepy? Ralph L. Berry? Tennyson Guyer? Orlando K. Fitzsimmons? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular collection of affirmations have been constructed with these three rhyming words: conceive, believe, and achieve. Here are three examples: (1) Achieve anything you can conceive and believe.(2) Whatever the mind can …
Quote Origin: What Man Can Conceive, Man Can Achieve
Robert Owen? Elbert Hubbard? Orlando K. Fitzsimmons? Sidney Abram Weltmer? O. A. Hawkins? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An optimistic rhyming maxim highlights the enormous potential for positive accomplishments. Here are three versions: (1) What humanity can conceive, humanity can achieve.(2) What man can conceive, man can achieve(3) Man can achieve what man can conceive …
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Quote Origin: You Have Enemies? Good. That Means You’ve Stood Up For Something, Sometime In Your Life
Winston Churchill? Victor Hugo? Thomas Jefferson? Jules Sandeau? Charles Mackay? Elminster of Shadowdale? Ed Greenwood? William J. Robinson? Jim Bunning? Eminem? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: If you become prominent and influential then you will inevitably face detractors. If you take tough stances on major issues then you will encounter adversaries. The British statesman Winston …
Quote Origin: Never Blame the Booster for What the Sucker Does
Damon Runyon? W. C. Fields? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous Broadway show “Guys and Dolls” was based on stories and characters from the pen of journalist Damon Runyon. Apparently, he was once asked about his favorite motto, and he presented the following: Never blame the booster for what the sucker does. Would you …
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Quote Origin: Programming Is a Skill Best Acquired by Practice and Example Rather Than From Books
Alan Turing? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The best way to learn computer programming is by seeing examples, writing code, and executing programs. Trying to learn solely through a book is quite difficult. This viewpoint has been credited to the pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing. I am uncertain about this attribution because Turing died in …