Tracing Quotations
Philip Sheridan? H. L. Mencken? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Texas is a beloved state to many, but it also has detractors. One comical remark compares the state unfavorably to Hades: If I owned Hell and Texas, I’d rent out Texas and live in Hell. Would you please explore the provenance of this joke? Quote Investigator: …
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George Orwell? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The naïve extrapolation of current events leads to faulty predictions. Apparently, the influential English novelist and essayist George Orwell made a point of this type regarding the overestimation of victors in recent battles. Too often people view ruthless contemporary winners as invincible and are unable to recognize flaws. Would …
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Woody Allen? Ken Kelley? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Philosophers, religious figures, and spiritual gurus have been making claims about the meaning of life for millennia. The comedian Woody Allen apparently offered his own quixotic analysis. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: On July 1, 1976 “Rolling Stone” magazine printed an …
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George Santayana? W. H. Auden? Cyril Connolly? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Fortunate people experience life as an overflowing banquet coupled with a remarkable series of sights and sounds. But most people have more complicated ordeals. Here are two pertinent expressions: Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament. Life is neither …
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Robert Louis Stevenson? William Arthur Ward? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An eloquent agricultural metaphor occurs within an astute proverb about the value of preparation and investment: Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. The prominent Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson has received credit for this saying, …
Carolyn G. Heilbrun? Amanda Cross? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Nostalgia is a sentimental emotion that does not seem to be dangerous. Yet, wistful feelings for a bygone era can become a source of hatred and resentment. The mystery author Carolyn G. Heilbrun expressed something similar. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote …
Carolyn G. Heilbrun? Amanda Cross? Kate Fansler? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: By employing a quotation from a well-known individual it is possible to firmly express a viewpoint without directly endorsing it. I vaguely recall the following similar statement: Often the point of quotations is to use somebody else’s words to deliver an insult. Would you …
Eric Sevareid? Ernest Thompson? Paul Dickson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Every solution to a problem inevitably creates a new problem. This ruefully defeatist viewpoint has inspired a logically twisted adage. Here are two versions: The real cause of problems is solutions. The chief cause of problems is solutions. This notion has been attributed to …
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H. L. Mencken? Martin Luther King Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The U.S. satirist and curmudgeon H. L. Mencken apparently employed the following saying. Here are two versions: The trouble with communism are the communists. The trouble with communism is the communists. If this remark is authentic would you please help me to find a …
Edgar Allan Poe? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A hyperbolic statement about poetry has been credited to the major literary figure Edgar Allan Poe: If a poem hasn’t ripped apart your soul, you haven’t experienced poetry. Could this possibly be a genuine remark from Poe? Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Edgar Allan …
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