Vilfredo Pareto? John Bartlett? Charles P. Curtis Jr.? Ferris Greenslet? Stephen Jay Gould? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Scientific observations are often inexact. Yet, this inexactitude can be helpful because it facilitates the formulation of theories that generate predictions which are approximately correct. These intermediary theories are valuable because they provide a stepping stone toward …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Adage Origin: An Army of Stags Led by a Lion Is More Formidable Than an Army of Lions Led by a Stag
Plutarch? Chabrias? Julius Caesar? Philip of Macedon? Iphicrates? Napoleon Bonaparte? Daniel Defoe? Question for Quote Investigator: The quality of the members of an organization is important, but the leadership is decisive to achieving success. Here are two versions of a pertinent adage: (1) An army of sheep commanded by a lion is more formidable than …
Quote Origin: Every New Idea Is Just a Mashup or a Remix of One or More Previous Ideas
Austin Kleon? T. S. Eliot? C. E. M. Joad? Ecclesiastes? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The recent creation of artificial intelligence systems that generate text, images, and videos has caused ferocious controversy and motivated several copyright lawsuits. The current generation of popular AI systems are trained using billions of webpages and billions of images. The …
Quote Origin: People Don’t Realize How Much Time and Effort Is Required To Learn To Read. I Have Been At It for Eighty Years, and I Haven’t Reached My Goal
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Carl Sandburg? Ruth Strang? Johann Peter Eckermann? John Oxenford? Henry R. Tedder? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When the famous German intellectual Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was an octogenarian he spoke to a friend about the effort required to read a text carefully and deeply. He said something like the following: …
Quote Origin: Before We Reach Human-Level AI We Will Have To Reach Cat-Level & Dog-Level AI
Yann LeCun? Demis Hassabis? Bence Ölveczky? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Progress on artificial intelligence during the 2010s and 2020s has been remarkable. The AlphaFold computer program developed by DeepMind employed machine learning techniques with deep neural networks to successfully predict protein structures. The AlphaGo program used a tree search algorithm together with deep neural …
Quote Origin: If You Want To Be a Grocer, or a General, or a Politician, or a Judge, You Will Invariably Become It; That Is Your Punishment
Oscar Wilde? Stephen Fry? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following remark about selecting a career is comically acerbic: If you want to be a grocer, or a general, or a politician, or a judge, you will invariably become it; that is your punishment. The statement above has been attributed to the famous Irish playwright …
Quote Origin: You Have To Be Careful To Protect the Rights of People You Despise
Daniel Patrick Moynihan? Robert Lenzer? John Rhoades? Ann Landers? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A society which grants wide liberties and constitutional rights to engage in speech and action will contain people who are performing activities deemed distasteful or reprehensible by many. The following remark is pertinent: You have to be careful to protect the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: You Have To Be Careful To Protect the Rights of People You Despise”
Quote Origin: People Don’t Care How Much You Know Until They Know How Much You Care
Theodore Roosevelt? Margaret Tyson? Zig Ziglar? John C. Maxwell? James F. Hind? Beltone Hearing Aid Company? Question for Quote Investigator: Interpersonal relationships are based on trust. A knowledgeable person can be impressive, but another quality is more important when establishing a connection. Here is a pertinent adage: People don’t care how much you know until …
Quote Origin: Promise People That They Will Have a Chance of Maltreating Someone
Aldous Huxley? George Sokolsky? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Social media enables people to express righteous indignation by joining together to form electronic mobs. The chance to target and maltreat individuals while maintaining a good conscience is psychologically appealing. The opportunity to hurt and pull down others is enticing to some people. Apparently, the English …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Promise People That They Will Have a Chance of Maltreating Someone”
Quote Origin: Show Me a Good Loser and I’ll Show You a Loser
Knute Rockne? Red Auerbach? Robert Zuppke? Fred Taylor? Richard Nixon? Jimmy Carter? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Any participant in competitive sports must eventually experience defeat. The value of good sportsmanship has been emphasized by many mentors. Different terms have been employed to contrast the divergent reactions to defeat: “gracious loser”, “good loser”, “poor loser”, …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Show Me a Good Loser and I’ll Show You a Loser”