Ideas, Like Ghosts . . . Must Be Spoken To a Little Before They Will Explain Themselves

Charles Dickens? Henry Southgate? Frank J. Wilstach? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The popular writer Charles Dickens vividly depicted the neighborhoods, lives, and habits of the disparate social classes of Victorian England. His rich language employed clever similes such as: An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself. …

There Are Hopes the Bloom of Whose Beauty Would Be Spoiled by the Trammels of Description

Charles Dickens? Ellen Pickering? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous English writer Charles Dickens has received credit for a high-flown expression that compares a person’s hopes to a beautiful bloom that should not be spoiled. I have been unable to find this saying in any of his novels, and I have begun to doubt that …

Life Is Just One Damn Thing After Another

Mark Twain? Lilian Bell? Elbert Hubbard? Frank Ward O’Malley? Bruce Calvert? H. L. Mencken? Charles Dickens? Edna St. Vincent Millay? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following statement of exasperation and resignation has been attributed to the luminary Mark Twain, the aphorist Elbert Hubbard, and the journalist Frank Ward O’Malley: Life is just one damn thing …

Electric Communication Will Never Be a Substitute for the Face of Someone Who with Their Soul Encourages

Charles Dickens? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: In a book on corporate communications I read a quote that supposedly was said by Dickens:[1] 2007, Essentials of Corporate Communication by C. B. M. van Riel and Charles J. Fombrun, Page 181, Routledge. (Google Books limited view) link Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face …