Carolyn G. Heilbrun? Amanda Cross? Kate Fansler? Apocryphal? Question for 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 …
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Quote Origin: The Real Cause of Problems Is Solutions
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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Quote Origin: The Trouble with Communism is the Communists, Just as the Trouble with Christianity is the Christians
H. L. Mencken? Martin Luther King Jr.? Apocryphal? Question for 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 …
Quote Origin: If a Poem Hasn’t Ripped Apart Your Soul, You Haven’t Experienced Poetry
Edgar Allan Poe? Apocryphal? Question for 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? Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence …
Quote Origin: Always Forgive Your Enemies; Nothing Annoys Them So Much
Oscar Wilde? Felix Grendon? Percy Colson? Walter Winchell? Reader’s Digest? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A well-known moral injunction states that one should forgive one’s enemies. A humorous twist suggests that one should grant forgiveness because it produces annoyance in one’s adversaries. This notion has been attributed to the famous wit Oscar Wilde. Would you …
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Quote Origin: Education Is What You Get from Reading the Small Print in a Contract. Experience Is What You Get from Not Reading It
Pete Seeger? Vesta M. Kelly? Mr. Minnick the Cynic? Old Timer? Bill Gold? Evan Esar? Saul Lavisky? Laurence J. Peter? Sydney J. Harris? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Comprehending the details of a complex legal contract is a daunting task. Yet, entrapment by an unnoticed provision of an agreement is a terrible experience. Here is …
Quote Origin: Experience Is the Best of Schoolmasters; Only the School-Fees Are Heavy
Thomas Carlyle? Benjamin Franklin? Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Johann P. F. Richter? Minna Antrim? Heinrich Heine? William Ralph Inge? Question for Quote Investigator: The most memorable and painful lessons are usually learned via direct experience, but the cost can be very high. A family of adages depict this point of view. Here are two instances: This …
Quote Origin: A Boy of Fifteen Who Is Not a Democrat is Good for Nothing, and He Is No Better Who Is a Democrat at Twenty
John Adams? Thomas Jefferson? John Ewing? John Hurt? Question for Quote Investigator: Surprisingly, one of the founding fathers of the United States was skeptical about the long-term viability of democracy. The statesman believed that the proponents of democracy were philosophically immature. He was sympathetic to a young person of fifteen who found the system attractive, …
Quote Origin: The Optimist Invents the Airplane and the Pessimist the Parachute
George Bernard Shaw? Gladys Bronwyn Stern? W. H. H. MacKellar? Gil Stern? Mack McGinnis? Question for Quote Investigator: An entertaining quip contrasts the attitudes of the dreamer and the worrier: Optimists invent airplanes; pessimists invent parachutes. This saying has been attributed to Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and English author Gladys Bronwyn Stern. Would you …
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Quote Origin: The People Who Say They Like Poetry and Never Buy Any Are Cheap SOB’s
Kenneth Patchen? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: In the 1980s I was browsing in the poetry section of a bookshop, and I saw a sign designed to encourage purchasers. Here are two versions: People who say they love poetry but never buy any are cheap SOB’s. People who say they like poetry and don’t buy …