W. Somerset Maugham? John Colton? Clemence Randolph? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: As a high school student I came across a wonderful zinger spoken to a self-important individual. I cannot recall the exact wording, but it was something like this: I perceive, Sir, you have a sufficiently good opinion of yourself that you can bear …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: How Can Any Deny Themselves the Pleasure of My Company! It’s Beyond Me
Zora Neale Hurston? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Author Zora Neale Hurston was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Her robust self-confidence provided resilience when facing prejudice. Apparently, she wrote or said the following: How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company! Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply …
Quote Origin: If I Had Known I Was Going To Live So Long, I’d Have Taken Better Care of Myself
Eubie Blake? Erma Bombeck? Mickey Mantle? Adolph Zukor? Billy Noonan? Robert Henley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Looking back on one’s younger years it is natural to experience some regrets. The following comment has a humorous edge: If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. …
Quote Origin: All Wars Are Planned by Older Men in Council Rooms Apart
Grantland Rice? Herman Melville? Herbert Hoover? Reverend E. W. Elstron? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A mournful anti-war poem contains this line: All wars are planned by older men in council rooms apart. The poem has been attributed to Grantland Rice who was a popular sports journalist. I have seen a version of the verse …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: All Wars Are Planned by Older Men in Council Rooms Apart”
Quote Origin: It Is the Greatest of All Mistakes, To Do Nothing Because You Can Only Do Little
Edmund Burke? Sydney Smith? Bob Geldof? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Trying to solve an enormous problem can be demoralizing. Each action can only achieve a small amount of progress. The following saying is designed to help maintain morale: Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a …
Quote Origin: To the Hungry, God Can Only Appear as Bread and Butter
Mohandas Gandhi? Corita Kent? Nirmal Kumar Bose? David Guy Powers? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The experience of hunger causes one’s motivations to focus on the need to acquire food. The following saying reflects this single-mindedness: God himself dare not appear to a hungry person except in the form of bread. This remark has been …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: To the Hungry, God Can Only Appear as Bread and Butter”
Quote Origin: May You All Live Forever. May I Live Forever Less A Day
A. A. Milne? Winnie the Pooh? Tom Phillips? Walter Kerr? Jack Valenti? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following poignant and memorable quotation about love and companionship appears on many websites: If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: May You All Live Forever. May I Live Forever Less A Day”
Quote Origin: A Quotation Is a Handy Thing To Have About, Saving One the Trouble of Thinking for Oneself, Always a Laborious Business
A. A. Milne? Lord Peter Wimsey? Dorothy L. Sayers? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A. A. Milne is famous for authoring children’s books that bring to life anthropomorphic characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. Milne also composed essays aimed at adults, and he once criticized thinkers who recited quotations instead of …
Quote Origin: Hard Work Never Killed Anyone But Some of Us Don’t Like To Take Chances
Edgar Bergen? Charlie McCarthy? Florian ZaBach? Walter Winchell? Earl Wilson? George Gobel? Sam Levenson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: During my younger years when I was slow to perform a boring task my parents sometimes scolded me by proclaiming a cliché about hard work. Eventually, I came across a funny riposte: It might be true …
Quote Origin: I Have Never Thrown an Illegal Pitch. The Trouble Is Some of My Pitches Were Never Seen By This Generation
Satchel Paige? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The U.S. baseball pitcher Leroy Satchel Paige was proud of his inventive style and expert control. When accused of breaking rules he replied with a marvelous remark about throwing pitches that had not been seen in a generation. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply …