Tracing Quotations
Jonathan Swift? Benjamin Franklin? Shirley Chisholm? Thomas Moffett? John Ward? King James I of England? Thomas Fuller? John Gay? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: During a commencement address I heard the following vivid advice offered to students: Be as bold as the first man or woman to eat an oyster. Apparently, the famous Irish literary …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Whoever First Ate an Oyster Was a Brave Soul”
Benjamin Graham? Warren Buffett? Ronald A. McEachern? Ben Bidwell? John C. Bogle? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A brilliant metaphorical framework for understanding the stock market can be summarized with the following cogent remark: In the short-run, the stock market is a voting machine. Yet, in the long-run, it is a weighing machine. Each purchase …
Fannie Hurst? Charlotte Whitton? Joan Lowell? Jack Lewis? Lewis Browne? Myrtelle L. Gunsul? Lilias F. Evans? Anna Judge Vetters Levy? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Fannie Hurst was a popular novelist who was born in 1885. She believed that women faced greater obstacles to professional success than men. Apparently, she employed the following expression: A …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Woman Has To Be Twice as Good as a Man To Go Half as Far”
F. Scott Fitzgerald? Lionel Trilling? Katherine A. Powers? H. Maynard Smith? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Our experiences in the world are often complex, ambiguous, and ill-defined. We must be able to accommodate conflicting hypotheses. Here is a pertinent adage: The truest sign of intelligence is the ability to entertain two contradictory ideas simultaneously. A …
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, …
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”
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 …
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 …
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. …
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”