Tracing Quotations
John Maynard Keynes? George Patton? Samuel Harries Daddow? Benjamin Bannan? Henry Smith? S. H. Monell? Thomas Brackett Reed? Thomas Alan Goldsborough? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A brilliant figure of speech has been employed to describe the performance of a futile or counter-productive task. Here are two versions: (1) You cannot push on a string.(2) …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: You Cannot Push On a String (Or a Rope)”
Mark Twain? Baltasar Gracian? John Maynard Keynes? Norman Angell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: An energetic liar can confuse, mislead, and deceive people. Yet, in many cases, that same liar is unable to reverse the deception. Hoodwinked people embrace their misperceptions. Here is a pertinent adage: It’s easier to fool people than to convince them …
John Maynard Keynes? Norman Angell? Carter Field? Lionel Robbins? Malcolm W. Bingay? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: With time and effort it is possible to bamboozle people, i.e., to fool or mislead them. Unfortunately, this process of deception can be so thorough that it is impossible to debamboozle them, i.e., to convince them of the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It Is Easier to Bamboozle People Than It Is To Unbamboozle Them”
John Maynard Keynes? Paul Bareau? John Paul Getty? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The relationship between bankers and borrowers is symbiotic and occasionally counter-intuitive. Here is a pertinent adage: If you owe the bank $100, that’s your problem; if you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem. The prominent economist John Maynard Keynes …
John Maynard Keynes? Josiah Stamp? Ernest Brown? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The most outrageous quotation about education that I have ever heard has been attributed to the famous economist John Maynard Keynes. Here are three versions: 1) Education is the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the ignorant by the incompetent. 2) Education: the inculcation …
John Maynard Keynes? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Quotations that were supposedly spoken by famous people shortly before death are notoriously unreliable. I heard that the prominent economist John Maynard Keynes on his deathbed was asked whether he had any regrets, and he said something like: I should have drunk more champagne. I only wish …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: My Only Regret Is That I Have Not Drunk More Champagne In My Life”
John Maynard Keynes? A. Gary Shilling? Harold R. Evensky? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The gyrations of financial markets can be startling. You may have unassailable information indicating that a stock is overpriced or underpriced, but you can still lose money because the market price may not accurately reflect the underlying verities for years. Here …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Market Can Remain Irrational Longer Than You Can Remain Solvent”
John Maynard Keynes? Milton Friedman? A. Gary Shilling? Albert J. Hettinger, Jr.? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The Forbes magazine website previously had a fascinating searchable database called “Thoughts On The Business of Life” which contained more than 10,000 quotes. The following saying appeared in the database: There is nothing so disastrous as a rational …
John Maynard Keynes? Paul Samuelson? Winston Churchill? Joan Robinson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: John Maynard Keynes was an enormously influential economist, but some of his detractors complained that the opinions he expressed tended to change over the years. Once during a high-profile government hearing a critic accused him of being inconsistent, and Keynes reportedly …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: When the Facts Change, I Change My Mind. What Do You Do, Sir?”
John Maynard Keynes? Austin Robinson? Fictional? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Many times I have seen the following quote attributed to John Maynard Keynes: Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. I cannot find a solid citation. Also, …