Quote Origin: In the Sublime War of Humanity Against Reality, Humanity Has But One Weapon, The Imagination

Lewis Carroll? Cheshire Cat? C. S. Lewis? Jules de Gaultier? Benjamin de Casseres? Percy Bysshe Shelley? Herbert Kaufman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Reality can be cold and disheartening. Yet, humans have the extraordinary facility to imagine a different and more entertaining universe. Here are two versions of a pertinent saying: (1) Imagination is the …

I Have Seen So Many Extraordinary Things, That There Is Nothing Extraordinary To Me Now

Voltaire? Lewis Carroll? George Sand? François-Marie Arouet? C. L. Dodgson? Aurore Dupin Dudevant? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following remark perfectly encapsulates a world-weary perspective: I have seen so many extraordinary things, nothing seems extraordinary any more. This expression has been attributed to three people who employed pseudonyms: witty philosopher Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), fantasy author …

The Hurrier I Go, the Behinder I Get

Lewis Carroll? Charles L. Dodgson? Alice in Wonderland? White Rabbit? March Hare? Emmaleta Hicks? Gene Meihsner? Ed Sussdorff? Milton Berle? Truck Driver Named Bill? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a family of statements about the difficulty of keeping up with a heavy workload. Here are four instances: The harder I work, the behinder I …

Quote Origin: Even a Stopped Clock Is Right Twice a Day

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach? Lewis Carroll? Charles L. Dodgson? Joseph Addison? Richard Steele? Diedrich Knickerbocker? Washington Irving? Albany de Grenier Fonblanque? Paulo Coelho? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An obtuse, unreliable, or incompetent person occasionally performs properly. Here are three versions of a proverb reflecting this observation: This saying has been attributed to the prominent Austrian …