Quote Origin: A Writer Is One To Whom Writing Comes Harder Than To Anybody Else

Thomas Mann? H. T. Lowe-Porter? Franz Leppmann? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Writing is an agonizing process requiring multiple drafts for some of its most skilled practitioners. Here are three versions of a pertinent quip: (1) The writer is a person who has a hard time writing. (2) A writer is a one who finds …

Quote Origin: There Is a Plague on Man: His Opinion That He Knows Something

Michel de Montaigne? Charles Cotton? M. A. Screech? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Overconfidence is one of the great faults of humankind. Gaining mastery of a topic is often quite difficult. Here is a pertinent remark: There is a plague on Man: his opinion that he knows something. The prominent French philosopher Michel de Montaigne …

Quote Origin: Truth Is the First Casualty in War

Aeschylus? Philip Snowden? Ethel Annakin? Samuel Johnson? Anne MacVicar Grant? E. D. Morel? W. T. Foster? Agnes Maude Royden? Hiram Johnson? Arthur Ponsonby? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The participants in a violent conflict often engage in crude propaganda and advocacy. Here are four versions of a pertinent saying: This adage has been credited to …

Quote Origin: Tell Me What Company You Keep, and I Will Tell You What You Are

Miguel de Cervantes? Don Quixote? Sancho Panza? Euripides? Lord Chesterfield? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Joseph Hordern? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: If you are attempting to assess the character of an individual you can do it indirectly by identifying his or her friends and assessing their proclivities. Here are three versions of a pertinent saying: …

Quote Origin: He Can Compress the Most Words In the Fewest Ideas of Anyone I Ever Knew

Abraham Lincoln? Henry Clay Whitney? Elliott Anthony? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A verbose speaker employing overblown rhetoric reportedly inspired a humorous observation from U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Here are two versions: Is there any substantive evidence that Lincoln actually made this quip? Reply from Quote Investigator: There are two distinct anecdotes supporting the attribution …

Quote Origin: Sorrow Is the Mere Rust of the Soul. Activity Will Cleanse and Brighten It

Samuel Johnson? Frances Burney? Hester Lynch Piozzi? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The superlative English lexicographer Samuel Johnson once defined sorrow as the rust of the soul which could be scoured away by engaging with life and becoming active. Would you please help me to find a citation. Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1750 Samuel …

Quote Origin: People Are Entitled To Their Own Opinions But Not To Their Own Facts

Bernard Baruch? Daniel Patrick Moynihan? Rayburn H. Carrell? James R. Schlesinger? Alan Greenspan? Question for Quote Investigator: A family of popular sayings highlights the difference between opinions and facts. Here are three thematically related expressions: (1) Everybody has a right to their opinion, but nobody has a right to be wrong in their facts. (2) …

Quote Origin: Hope Is the Feeling We Have That the Feeling We Have Is Not Permanent

Mignon McLaughlin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Feeling discouraged is a natural reaction to the state of the world sometimes. Currently, there is a pandemic curtailing social and economic activity almost everywhere. Yet, these pessimistic feelings will not last forever. My favorite witty person, Mignon McLaughlin, once presented a clever definition of “hope” that is …

Quote Origin: A Bottle of Wine Contains More Philosophy Than All the Books in the World

Louis Pasteur? René Vallery-Radot? Jacques Orhon? Malcolm Kushner? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous French scientist Louis Pasteur has received credit for the following remark: A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world. I have been unable to find a good citation. Would you please help? Reply from …

Quote Origin: Few Souls Are Saved After the First Twenty Minutes of a Sermon

Mark Twain? John Wesley? John M. Bartholomew? Arthur Twining Hadley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Lengthy orations on spiritual topics are unlikely to change the views of resistant audience members. Here are three versions of a pertinent adage: This saying has been credited to humorist Mark Twain and 18th-century English evangelist John Wesley. Would you …