Tracing Quotations
T. S. Eliot? Ogden Nash? Kate Upson Clark? William Lyon Phelps? O. M. Gregor? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Some pets are constantly signaling a desire to enter or leave a domicile. Here are two pertinent expressions: This notion has been attributed to the poets T. S. Eliot and Ogden Nash. Would you please help …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Cat / Dog Is Always On the Wrong Side of the Door”
H. L. Mencken? George Jean Nathan? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous curmudgeon H. L. Mencken asserted that the most daring liars were rewarded with public admiration. I do not recall the precise phrasing Mencken employed. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1922 “The Smart Set” magazine published a …
Continue reading “The Men the American People Admire Most Extravagantly Are the Most Daring Liars”
James Baldwin? Norman Mailer? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Individuals who consider themselves to be pure in heart are unable to recognize their own flaws. This can lead to wrong-headed and disastrous actions. The prominent novelist and essayist James Baldwin once made a comparable point about benighted self-assessment. Would you please help me to find a …
John Bent? Navy Sailor? Drunken Fellow? Winston Churchill? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The state of inebriation is temporary, but the state of stupidity is durable. A clever dialog hinges on this fundamental difference: “You are drunk.” “Yes, and you are a fool. But I will be sober in the morning, and you will remain a …
H. L. Mencken? George Jean Nathan? Nellie McClung? Beverly Gray? John Cleese? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Here are four versions of a mordant definition of puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. The lurking fear that someone somewhere is happy. The gnawing worry that someone somewhere might be happy. The haunting fear …
Continue reading “Puritanism — The Haunting Fear That Someone, Somewhere, May Be Happy”
Ellen Page? Lisa O’Kelly? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I once heard an insightful remark about growing up from the prize-winning Canadian actress Ellen Page. I do not remember the exact phrasing. Roughly, she said that young people are often told what to do when they should be given space to decide what to become. Would …
Continue reading “When We’re Growing Up There Are All Sorts of People Telling Us What To Do . . .”
Norman Mailer? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: U.S. journalist and best-selling novelist Norman Mailer once sardonically stated that when newspapers focus on a story the facts are lost forever; inevitably, even the participants lose track of the facts. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In June 1960 “Esquire” magazine published comments …
Toni Morrison? Claudia Brodsky Lacour? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The theme of beauty is pivotal within the novels written by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. She once stated that beauty was an absolute necessity. Would you please help me to find a citation. Quote Investigator: In 2019 “The Paris Review” published a podcast that included an …
Continue reading “I Think of Beauty as an Absolute Necessity”
C. M. Marshton? Dixon Lanier Merritt? Ogden Nash? Jeff McLemore? Bennett Cerf? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A comical poem about the pelican uses a creative rhyming scheme with the word “pelican” matched to the invented words “belican” (belly can) and “helican” (hell he can). Would you please explore the provenance of this work? Quote Investigator: …
Continue reading “A Gorgeous Bird is the Pelican, Whose Beak Will Hold More Than His Bellican”
Coco Chanel? Marcel Haedrich? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Did the famous fashion designer and style arbiter Coco Chanel say that “fashion Is architecture”? Would you please help me to find a citation showing the context? Quote Investigator: Coco Chanel died in 1971, and in that same year Marcel Haedrich authored a biography in French titled …
Continue reading “Fashion Is Architecture: It Is a Matter of Proportions”