John Wayne? Peter McWilliams? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous actor John Wayne apparently spoke about the sense of renewal we experience with each new day. Metaphorically, tomorrow arrives clean and perfect. It puts itself into our hands, and hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday. Would you please help me to find a citation …
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Quote Origin: Everything Negative—Pressure, Challenges—Is All An Opportunity For Me To Rise
Kobe Bryant? Hasheem Thabeet? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Facing challenges and pressures in life can be disheartening, but psychologically reframing these experiences as a catalyst for positive growth and change is useful. Confronting and overcoming negative situations provides an opportunity to rise. Prominent U.S. basketball player Kobe Bryant said something like this. Would you please …
Quote Origin: The Pun Is the Lowest Form of Humor When You Don’t Think of It First
Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? John Dryden? Jonathan Swift? Edgar Allan Poe? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The utterance of a pun is sometimes greeted with the assertion that puns are the lowest form of humor, but a humorist once explained the true reason behind this criticism. The complainer was unable to think of the pun …
Quote Origin: Success Is a Great Deodorant
Elizabeth Taylor? John Madden? Jason Kidd? Richard Meryman? Derek Donald? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A person who has been ostracized can achieve rehabilitation over time. The key to this re-acceptance is the attainment of success in some endeavor. An athlete who wins a big game, an actor who stars in a popular show, an …
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Quote Origin: Without a Little Falsehood Life Would Be Impossible
Hilaire Belloc? Solomon Cohen? John Butler Yeats? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Absolute candor leads to social friction, alienation, and hostility. People tell lies to avoid hurting the feelings of others. Also, people embellish the truth to construct entertaining anecdotes from humdrum events. Further, people alter the truth to avoid harsh certainties. The following controversial …
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Quote Origin: One of the Deep Secrets of Life Is That All That Is Really Worth the Doing Is What We Do For Others
Lewis Carroll? Charles L. Dodgson? Ellen Terry? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Altruists believe that the following is a deep insight about life: What is truly worth doing is what we do for others. Lewis Carroll, the famous creator of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” apparently said something like this. Would you please help me to …
Proverb Origin: There May Be Snow On the Roof, But There’s Fire In the Furnace
Groucho Marx? Caroline Newnes? Louise Manning Hodgkins? Bert Lahr? Ted Ray? John Diefenbaker? Milton Berle? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The emergence of grey hair is inevitable as a person ages. Yet, most senior citizens are able to maintain their energy and vitality. A family of sayings uses figurative language to reflect this viewpoint. Here …
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Quote Origin: Those Who Most Dislike Puns Are Least Able To Utter Them
Edgar Allan Poe? Jonathan Swift? Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Creating humorous puns is difficult which may help to explain why detractors are so harsh. A wit once said: Those who most dislike puns are least able to utter them The master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe …
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Quote Origin: Punning Is a Talent Which No Man Affects To Despise, But He That Is Without It
Jonathan Swift? Edgar Allan Poe? Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The dislike of puns is rooted in jealousy. A wit once said something like the following: Punning is a talent which no one despises except those without it. This notion has been attributed to Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, U.S. horror writer …
Quote Origin: “The Pun Is the Lowest Form of Wit” “Yes, That Means It Is the Foundation of All Wit”
Henry Erskine? John Dryden? Tom Sheridan? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An irritated critic stated that puns were the lowest form of wit. A wordsmith responded to this attack with the following clever conclusion which twisted the remark using word play. Since puns occupy the lowest position they must be the foundation of all humor. …