Tracing Quotations
George Eliot? Mary Ann Evans? F. O. Hamilton? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: George Eliot was a prominent English novelist of the Victorian era. The author’s real name was Mary Ann Evans. The following remark has been ascribed to her: What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other? …
Continue reading “What Do We Live For, If It Is Not To Make Life Less Difficult To Each Other?”
Abraham Lincoln? William De Britaine? Roger L’Estrange? Italian Proverb? Benjamin Franklin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Evaluating complex legal issues requires expertise. Abraham Lincoln reportedly employed the following adage. Here are two versions: If you are your own lawyer you have a fool for a client. He who represents himself has a fool for a client. …
Continue reading “A Man Who Is His Own Lawyer Has a Fool for a Client”
Roger L’Estrange? William Grant? John Bristed? William J. Flagg? William Osler? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A person with a serious malady should be very cautious about treating himself or herself. This holds true even if the person is a physician. Here are some versions of a pertinent adage: He who treats himself has a fool …
Continue reading “He Who Acts as His Own Doctor Has a Fool for a Patient”
Warren Buffett? Bruce Lee? Cindy Flores? Sylvester McNutt III? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A paragraph of advice about maintaining equanimity is popular on social media. Here is the first sentence: You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. These words have been attributed to the …
Continue reading “You Will Continue To Suffer If You Have an Emotional Reaction To Everything”
Groucho Marx? Fred Waring? Ed Gardner? Goodman Ace? Jane Ace? Fred Allen? Ernie Kovacs? Deane Binder? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The number of scripted television shows has grown dramatically in recent years and so have the plaudits. Yet, from its earliest days the medium has always attracted scorn. Here are three examples of lacerating word …
Continue reading “Television: It’s Called a Medium Because It’s Never Well Done”
Thomas Jefferson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A large number of the quotations attributed to Thomas Jefferson are apocryphal; hence, I have learned to be cautious. Do you know whether the following remark is from the pen of Jefferson? Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom. Any help would be appreciated. Quote Investigator: Thomas …
Continue reading “Honesty Is the 1st Chapter in the Book of Wisdom”
James Thurber? Jane Austen? Charles Caleb Colton? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Many are familiar with the following adage which encourages aggregation: There is safety in numbers. Yet, I recall reading a short acerbic tale that presented an inverted moral of this type: There is no safety in numbers, or anything else. Would you please help …
Continue reading “There Is No Safety In Numbers, Or In Anything Else”
William Osler? Caleb Hillier Parry? Henry George Plimmer? Woods Hutchinson? Walter Moxon? Albert Abrams? Hippocrates? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: In medicine it is crucial to identify the disease that afflicts the patient, but that is only one part of the full assessment. Determining the best treatment requires a careful examination of the history and the …
Alfred Hitchcock? George Bernard Shaw? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Enthusiastic critics treat films as elevated objects of art, but the famous director Alfred Hitchcock once insightfully remarked on the pragmatic limitations placed on commercial movies by human biology. He stated that the proper length of a film was dependent on the endurance of the human …
David Rowland? Dale Dauten? Art Weinstein? William C. Johnson? Sun Microsystems? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Attempting something new and innovative is crucial to success in many fields, but triumph is not guaranteed. An unfamiliar or unusual strategy may fail. Designers have advanced the following adage: Different isn’t always better, but better is always different. Memorability …
Continue reading “The Merely Different Is Not Always Better, But the Better Is Always Different”