Tracing Quotations
A. H. Reginald Buller? Resident of Brighton? E. V. Lucas? Carolyn Wells? Walter Winchell? Robert Conquest? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a comical limerick about a “family” named Stein. The three referents were prominent writer Gertrude Stein, influential sculpture Jacob Epstein, and famous scientist Albert Einstein. Wordplay was used to split “Stein” from “Gertrude”, …
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Carolyn Wells? Bruce Porter? Gelett Burgess? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following well-known adage concisely states a controversial moral principle: Of two evils, choose the lesser. I’ve heard these cynical variants: Of two evils, choose the one you haven’t tried before. Of two evils, a journalist will write about the one that gets the most …
Anthony Burgess? Israel Zangwill? Carolyn Wells? Merry-Andrew? Abraham Rotstein? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The proverb “Every dog has his day” is familiar to many, but recently I came across an amusing twist: Every dogma has its day. These words were credited to the English author Anthony Burgess who is probably best known for the novel …