Tracing Quotations
Englishman? Frenchman? Lord Byron? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The quotidian activities of life induce lassitude and even despondency in some people. I have heard that an eighteenth century suicide note placed blame upon the following perpetual exercise: I weary of all this buttoning and unbuttoning. Is this tale genuine or apocryphal? Reply from Quote …
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Lord Byron? William Drummond? Marguerite Gardiner? Andrew Carnegie? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation is a brilliant tripartite observation about rationality. Here are two versions: (1) Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves. (2) He, who will not reason, is a …
Roald Dahl? Willy Wonka? Gene Wilder? Horace? Lord Byron? Horace Walpole? Hudibras? Samuel Butler? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The 1971 film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was an extraordinary confection. The candy-maker Wonka played by Gene Wilder used numerous literary quotations while leading a tour of his factory. One scene took place in …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Little Nonsense Now and Then is Relished by the Wisest Men”
Lord Byron? Jacques Barzun? Robert Halsband? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: On a Pinterest pin-board I saw a picture of the famous British poet Lord Byron accompanying the following quotation: Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company. I would like to use this expression in an article, but I have not …
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Mark Twain? Lord Byron? G. K. Chesterton? Edward Bellamy? Humphrey Bogart? Leo Rosten? Tom Clancy? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a wonderful quotation by Mark Twain about the implausibility of truth versus fiction. Here are four versions: 1) Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. 2) It’s …
Maya Angelou? Nathaniel Hawthorne? Thomas Hood? Richard Brinsley Sheridan? Charles Allston Collins? Anthony Trollope? Lord Byron? William Makepeace Thackeray? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Writers should strive to create texts that are informative, interesting, stimulating, and readable. But one of my favorite sayings reveals that this can be a remarkably difficult task: Easy reading is …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Easy Reading Is Hard Writing”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan? Lord Byron? Ernest Hemingway? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There are two complementary and intertwined statements about reading and writing that I would like you to investigate: 1) Easy writing results in hard reading. 2) Easy reading requires hard writing. Many different phrases have been used to express these two thoughts, and …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Easy Writing’s Vile Hard Reading”