Jean-Luc Godard? Aristotle? Peter Dickinson? George W. Feinstein? Eugenia Thornton? Chris Haws? David Mamet? Question for Quote Investigator: An iconoclastic French film director once commented on the narrative structure of a story. The auteur believed that it was not necessary for a tale to be recounted using the conventional ordering for the beginning, the middle, …
Author Archives: quoteresearch
Quote Origin: An Idea Isn’t Responsible for the People Who Believe In It
Don Marquis? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: One strategy for attacking an idea is to exhibit a repugnant individual who supports the idea. This method can influence the opinions of those who are susceptible to psychological manipulation, but it is logically flawed. Here is a pertinent adage: An idea isn’t responsible for the people who …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: An Idea Isn’t Responsible for the People Who Believe In It”
Quote Origin: When Croesus Tells You He Got Rich Through Hard Work, Ask Him “Whose?”
Don Marquis? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, a wealthy acquaintance told me that hard work was their key to becoming rich. I asked, “Whose?” Would you please explore the provenance of this riposte? Reply from Quote Investigator: Don Marquis was a popular columnist and storyteller. In 1921 he published a column called “The Weather …
Quote Origin: If You Make People Think They’re Thinking, They’ll Love You. If You Really Make Them Think They’ll Hate You
Don Marquis? Christopher Morley? Roscoe B. Ellard? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: People readily accept thoughtful opinions that are close to their own, but they become unhappy when sharply different viewpoints are expressed forcefully. Here is a germane remark: If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you. If you really make them think …
Quote Origin: Let Me Tell You the Secret That Led Me To My Goal. My Sole Strength Is in My Tenacity
Louis Pasteur? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Achieving your most vital objectives in life can be quite difficult. Reportedly, the famous French scientist Louis Pasteur once highlighted the personality trait that enabled his enormous success: Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. …
Quote Origin: I Am Omnibibulous, or, More Simply, Ombibulous
H. L. Mencken? George Jean Nathan? Errol Flynn? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: During the December holiday season imbibing is commonplace. “Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words” lists ‘ombibulous’ with the following definition: someone who drinks everything (H. L. Mencken). How is the famous commentator and curmudgeon Mencken connected to this word? …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Am Omnibibulous, or, More Simply, Ombibulous”
Quote Origin: Serenity Prayer
Reinhold Niebuhr? Winnifred Wygal? Mrs. Harrie R. Chamberlin? Mrs. Lenore Stone Meffley? Edith Theodora Ames? Bram Stoker? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Here are two versions of the famous Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the …
Quote Origin: To Compare Quotation Books Is To Stroll Through a Glorious Jungle of Incestuous Mutual Plagiarism
James Gleick? Dwight Garner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Somewhere I read that quotation books display a glorious mutual plagiarism. Perhaps you would enjoy tracing this statement. What do you think? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1993 science writer James Gleick reviewed the sixteenth edition of “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations” in the pages of “The New …
Quote Origin: Famous for Being Famous
Daniel J. Boorstin? Andy Warhol? Charles Godfrey Leland? Marshall McLuhan? Raquel Welch? David Brinkley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Achieving fame required some significant accomplishment or impressive quality in the past. Now it seems that people are deemed notable for absurd reasons. Here are three phrases describing the self-referential nature of modern celebrityhood: This concept …
Quote Origin: Most of the Evil in This World Is Done by People with Good Intentions
T. S. Eliot? Ayn Rand? Reinhold Niebuhr? Isabel Paterson? Krister Stendahl? C. S. Lewis? June Bingham? Paul Simon? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Tyrannical systems are often created by people who believe that they have the highest and noblest intentions. Totalitarian countries, theocratic dictatorships, and abusive cults are typically founded and promoted by those who …