Quote Origin: Freedom Lies In Being Bold

Robert Frost? Anita Brookner? Thucydides? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous poet Robert Frost enjoyed socializing with people who had strong personalities. He highlighted a connection between freedom and boldness. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: In December 1952 “The New Yorker” magazine published a piece by …

Quote Origin: If You Take the ‘I’ Out of Illness, and Add ‘We’, You End Up With Wellness

Malcolm X? Charles Roppel? Mariel Hemingway? William Crosbie Hunter? Shannon L. Adler? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Some health problems can be ameliorated via collaborative action such as installing a water treatment facility, controlling a mosquito population, or reducing the transmission of a contagious disease. This notion can be expressed by using wordplay. When the …

Quote Origin: Life Is Nothing But a Competition To Be the Criminal Rather Than the Victim

Bertrand Russell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent intellectual Bertrand Russell apparently expressed in a private letter a deeply cynical viewpoint about humanity. He suggested that the oppressed simply wished to become the oppressors, and the populace competed to become criminals instead of victims. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply …

Quote Origin: The Lunatics Have Taken Charge of the Asylum

Edgar Allan Poe? Richard Rowland? Terry Ramsaye? Laurence Stallings? H. L. Mencken? William Gibbs McAdoo? Jack Oakie? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The leaders of a group often face a variety of criticisms. Harsh detractors employ a vivid metaphor from the domain of mental health. Here are two examples: This barb has often been aimed …

Quote Origin: Put It Before Them Briefly So That They Will Read It, Clearly So That They Will Understand It

Joseph Pulitzer? Alleyne Ireland? Lloyd Cory? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer once described the writing style he required from his journalists. He demanded brief, clear, forceful, picturesque, and accurate prose. Would you please help me to find citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: Joseph Pulitzer was the publisher of “The …

Quote Origin: Blessed Are Those Who Plant Trees Under Whose Shade They Will Never Sit

Greek Proverb? Indian Proverb? Marcus Tullius Cicero? Joycelyn Elders? Warren Buffett? Hyacinthe Loyson? M. Trottier? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular adage praises people whose selfless actions are designed to benefit future generations. Here are two versions: Would you please explore the provenance of this saying? Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match known to …

Dialogue Origin: “I Am My Own Worst Enemy” “Not While I’m Alive”

Groucho Marx? Ernest Bevin? George S. Kaufman? Cotton Ed Smith? Franklin P. Adams? Alan Hale? Walter F. George? Oscar Levant? Question for Quote Investigator: A comment which acknowledges criticism has been coupled with a harshly comical riposte. Here are three examples: Would you please explore the provenance of this type of exchange? Reply from Quote …

Quote Origin: The Surest Way to Make a Monkey of a Man Is to Quote Him

Robert Benchley? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When you hear your own words from the past recited to you as a quotation the result is sometimes profound embarrassment. The humorist Robert Benchley apparently said that you could make a monkey out of a person by simply employing their own quotations. Would you please help me …

Quote Origin: May the Sun in His Course Visit No Land More Free, More Happy, More Lovely, Than This Our Own Country

Daniel Webster? Herbert Hoover? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Extraordinary care should be taken whenever one plans to etch a quotation into a granite monument. That is why I am asking you about the accuracy of the following patriotic statement attributed to U.S. statesman and orator Daniel Webster: May the sun in his course visit …

Quote Origin: Everything I’ve Ever Said Will Be Credited To Dorothy Parker

George S. Kaufman? Scott Meredith? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Bright remarks are often misattributed to famously witty individuals such as Dorothy Parker. An exasperated fellow humorist once said: Everything I’ve ever said will be credited to Dorothy Parker. Would you please help me to locate a citation and tell me who said this? Reply …