Tom Waits? Steve Allen? John Prine? Dorothy Parker? Fred Allen? Carlton W. Berenda? Herb Caen? Lew London? Joshua Baer? Dr. Rock? Randy Hanzlick? Graffito? Question for Quote Investigator: The following wordplay is popular with drinking enthusiasts. Here are two versions: (1) I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. (2) …
Category Archives: Graffito
Quote Origin: Death Is Nature’s Way of Telling You to Slow Down
Madison Avenue? Doctor’s Advice? Graffito? Dick Sharples? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When I strained a muscle recently a friend told me that the injury was nature’s way of telling me to slow down. Another friend quipped: Death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down. Would you please explore this adage? Reply from …
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Quote Origin: Even If You Win the Rat Race, You’re Still a Rat
Lily Tomlin? Jackie Gleason? Bill Cunningham? William Sloane Coffin? Russell Baker? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a popular quip about the competitive daily grind of the working world. Here are two versions: 1) Even if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat 2) So you’ve won the rat race. You’re still …
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Quote Origin: “To Be Is To Do” “To Do Is To Be” “Do Be Do Be Do”
Kurt Vonnegut? Frank Sinatra? Jean-Paul Sartre? Dale Carnegie? Bud Crew? Socrates? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The 1982 novel “Deadeye Dick” by the popular author Kurt Vonnegut mentioned the following piece of graffiti: “To be is to do”—Socrates.“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra. I think this tripartite list first appeared …
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Quote Origin: Nostalgia Is Not What It Used To Be
Yogi Berra? Simone Signoret? Peter De Vries? Tommy Handley & Ronald Frankau? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Holidays sometimes make me nostalgic. They also remind me of the following clever quip: Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. These words are often attributed to the famed baseball quotemaster Yogi Berra, but recently I learned of …
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Dialogue Origin: “What Do You Think of Western Civilization?” “I Think It Would Be a Good Idea”
Mohandas Gandhi? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Mahatma Gandhi is credited with a brilliantly acerbic remark made in response to a question from a self-satisfied journalist: Journalist: What do you think of Western civilization? Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any solid citations for …
Quote Origin: Denial Is Not a River in Egypt
Florence Kerns? Ray Hallinan? Herb Caen? Pauline Tymon? Larry Pickard? David Crosby? Joe Bob Briggs? Al Franken? Stuart Smalley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The Saturday Night Live television program once featured skits with a character named Stuart Smalley who was played by the comedian and former senator Al Franken. Smalley was enamored with self-help …
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Quote Origin: To Err is Human; To Really Foul Things Up Requires a Computer
Paul Ehrlich? Alexander Pope? Senator Soaper? Bill Vaughan? Agatha Christie? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I am reading your blog and that shows I am not a Luddite, but computers can be very exasperating. One of my favorite quotations on this topic is the following: To err is human, but to really foul things up …
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