Tracing Quotations
Babe Paley? Wallis Simpson? Suzy Knickerbocker? Mrs. J. Gordon Douglas Sr.? Gregg Moran? Truman Capote? Dorothy Parker? Joan Rivers? Zenith Carburetor? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Achieving wealth and a svelte body have become idealized goals in some cultural milieus. Here are three versions of a pertinent maxim: As knowledge of the eating disorders anorexia …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: You Can Never Be Too Rich or Too Thin”
Buckminster Fuller? Helen Hayes? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The full potential of a person or an idea is not visible in a nascent state. An ingenious analogy expresses this viewpoint: There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly. This remark has been attributed to the inventor and …
Coco Chanel? Gabrielle Chanel? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When a fashionable new item or design is created it is always embedded in its time period. The item is certain to lose favor eventually and become unfashionable. Yet, some fashions transcend and endure. These items can be revived and become fashionable again and again. The …
Lewis Carroll? Charles L. Dodgson? Alice in Wonderland? White Rabbit? March Hare? Emmaleta Hicks? Gene Meihsner? Ed Sussdorff? Milton Berle? Truck Driver Named Bill? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a family of statements about the difficulty of keeping up with a heavy workload. Here are four instances: This saying has often been credited …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Hurrier I Go, the Behinder I Get”
John Updike? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Exalted activities such as composing a symphony or devising an invention clearly enable the maker to express creativity. Refreshingly, the prominent writer John Updike contended that even quotidian activities allowed for creativity if the doer cared enough to excel. Would you please help me to find a citation? …
Edsger W. Dijkstra? Alan Perlis? Jacques Arsac? George Johnson? Donald Knuth? Matthew Dennis Haines? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Computers are the fundamental tool employed within the field of computer science; however, the discipline transcends this tool. Here are three attempts to articulate this viewpoint: Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is …
Paul Tsongas? Harold Kushner? Arnold Zack? Barbara Mackoff? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When an individual is lying on a deathbed and contemplating mortality the need to ascribe a transcendent meaning and purpose to life often becomes paramount. Deep bonds of love, caring, and friendship are highlighted. The workaday world recedes in importance. Here are …
Pearl Bailey? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When you look into a mirror your self-image may be altered, but you are not forced to see yourself objectively. You do not perceive yourself through the eyes of others, and you do not really understand your effect on others. The U.S. actress and singer Pearl Bailey once …
Mark Twain? David Weber? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Achieving expert knowledge and abilities in a domain may require many years of hard work. Yet, expertise does not guarantee success. Here is a counterintuitive adage: The best swordsman does not fear the second best. He fears the worst since there’s no telling what that idiot …
Marie Curie? Pierre Curie? Ève Curie? Marie Mattingly Meloney? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Gossip about people is extraordinarily popular. A famous scientist once criticized this attitude as follows: In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons. This statement has been attributed three members of a renowned French family: Marie Curie, Pierre …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: In Science We Should Be Interested In Things, Not Persons”