Tracing Quotations
Edward H. Eulenberg? Arnold A. Dornfeld? Rolfe Neill? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Journalism is a difficult profession. Major stories are often complex and ill-defined. Witnesses and experts may be self-interested and unreliable. The following motto for reporters highlights the need to double-check every bit of information: If your mother tells you she loves you, …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: If Your Mother Says She Loves You, Check On It”
Béla Bartók? Joseph Szigeti? Nick Cave? A. M. Rosenthal? Joe Eszterhas? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Competitions are commonplace in the world of athletics, academics, arts, and business. The acclaimed Hungarian composer Béla Bartók apparently expressed opposition to high-stakes contests in the domain of music. Here are four English versions of his remark: (1) Competitions …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Competitions Are for Horses, Not for Artists”
Oscar Wilde? Robert Ross? Frank Harris? Hesketh Pearson? Josiah Flynt? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to legend, Oscar Wilde was resting with his eyes closed on his deathbed when two physicians began discussing the necessity of a very expensive operation to extend his life. Wilde opened his eyes and said: I suppose that I …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Am Dying, As I Have Lived, Beyond My Means”
Friedrich Nietzsche? Josh Billings? Thomas Common? Alexander Tille? Walter Kaufmann? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular humorist or a famous philosopher said something like the following: It is better to know nothing than to half-know many topics. Would you please help me to find the correct statement of this adage and the name of …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Better Know Nothing Than Half-Know Many Things”
Oscar Wilde? Claire de Pratz? Léon Guillot de Saix? Lady Gregory? William Butler Yeats? Hesketh Pearson? Philippe Jullian? Violet Wyndham? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Near the end of Oscar Wilde’s life he was debt-ridden and ill. His shabby accommodations in Paris did not meet his aesthetic standards. According to legend he said something similar …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: This Wallpaper Is Killing Me; One of Us Must Go”
William Shakespeare? Henry van Dyke? Alice Morse Earle? Katrina Trask? H. L. Mencken? Lady Jane Fellowes? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following lines have been credited to the famous English playwright and poet William Shakespeare: Time is very slow for those who waitVery fast for those who are scaredVery long for those who lamentVery …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Time Is Too Slow for Those Who Wait; Too Swift for Those Who Fear”
Will Rogers? Robert Muldoon? Herbert L. Carver? Anthony S. Rogers? Harry Woodhead? Lynn T. White? Robert Ruark? Dewey F. Bartlett? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a humorous remark about migration that initially seems a bit paradoxical. Here are two versions: When the Okies left Oklahoma and moved to California, they raised the average …
Ernest Hemingway? Mandy Hale? The Single Woman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: I recently encountered a quotation using evocative language about the rain stopping and the night ending. The quotation emphasized that one should feel hopeful. Oddly, the famous author Ernest Hemingway received credit for the remark, but I do not think it sounds anything …
John von Neumann? R.L. Duffus? Albert Wohlstetter? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The remarkable recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence have produced feelings of excitement and foreboding. Power, hope, and danger are intertwined with technological discoveries. A famous scientist emphasized the inevitability of challenges: For progress there is no cure. Would you please …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: For Progress There Is No Cure”
John S. White? F. J. Finch? Glenn Franc? E. Stanley Jones? Orval Hobart Mowrer? Harry Emerson Fosdick? J. P. Allen? Zig Ziglar? Bruce Norman? Susan Glaser? John C. Maxwell? Jerry Sternin? Millard Fuller? Question for Quote Investigator: In self-help and motivation books I’ve encountered the following saying: It is easier to act yourself into a …