Mark Twain? Jonathan Swift? Thomas Francklin? Fisher Ames? Thomas Jefferson? John Randolph? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? Winston Churchill? Terry Pratchett? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An insightful remark about the rapid transmission of lies is often attributed to Mark Twain and Winston Churchill. Here are two versions: (1) A lie travels around the globe while the truth …
Category Archives: Mark Twain
Quote Origin: I Would Challenge You To a Battle of Wits, But I See You Are Unarmed
William Shakespeare? Mark Twain? Oscar Wilde? Winston Churchill? Abby Buchanan Longstreet? Frank Fay? Pierre de Roman? Joey Adams? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There exists a collection of similar jokes based on word play and the terms: battle, armed, wit, and half-wit. Here are some examples: 1) I would challenge you to a battle of …
Quote Origin: Don’t Believe the World Owes You a Living. The World Owes You Nothing. It Was Here First
Mark Twain? Robert J. Burdette? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: During this graduation season many who are finishing school are scrambling to try and find a job. The following acerbic words are usually attributed to Mark Twain: Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing, it was …
Quote Origin: If Your Only Tool Is a Hammer Then Every Problem Looks Like a Nail
Mark Twain? Abraham Maslow? Abraham Kaplan? Silvan Tomkins? Kenneth Mark Colby? Lee Loevinger? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The tools that we are able to apply to problems alter our perceptions of the challenges we face and the solutions that are appropriate. A popular adage illustrates this idea with a compelling analogy. Here are three …
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Quote Origin: Most Conversations Are Simply Monologues Delivered in the Presence of a Witness
Mark Twain? Margaret Millar? Elizabeth P. O’Connor? Rebecca West? Leo Buscaglia? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following entertaining remark is often attributed to Mark Twain: Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of witnesses. I have also seen these words ascribed to the award-winning mystery writer Margaret Millar. Could you determine who …
Quote Origin: Dance Like Nobody’s Watching
Mark Twain? Satchel Paige? William Purkey? Susanna Clark? Richard Leigh? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following words are attributed to a variety of people including Mark Twain, Satchel Paige, and William Purkey: Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching, and live like it’s heaven on …
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Quote Origin: The Covers of This Book Are Too Far Apart
Ambrose Bierce? Alan Le May? Jack Benny? Mark Twain? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The increasing popularity of ebooks is threatening to make one of my favorite quotations obsolete. The wonderful humorist Ambrose Bierce was asked to evaluate a lengthy soporific tome and according to legend he handed in a devastating and hilarious one-line review: …
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Quote Origin: History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes
Mark Twain? Theodor Reik? John Robert Colombo? James Eayrs? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a popular humorous maxim about history that is usually attributed to Mark Twain. But there is so much uncertainty about this ascription that a top business columnist for the “New York Times” wrote the following: “History doesn’t repeat itself …
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Quote Origin: Let Us Make a Special Effort to Stop Communicating with Each Other, So We Can Have Some Conversation
Mark Twain? Miss Manners? Judith Martin? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I am considering using a quotation that is attributed to Mark Twain in the conclusion of my Master’s Thesis about social media. Unfortunately, I have been unable to verify the ascription, and the origin of the expression is uncertain: Let us make a special …
Quote Origin: Kindness Is a Language Which the Deaf Can Hear and the Blind Can See
Mark Twain? Christian Nestell Bovee? Eva Alice? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently I clicked on a link that led to a top business-oriented website and was greeted by an interstitial page that displayed a quotation attributed to Mark Twain: Kindness is a language which the deaf and the blind can read. I thought this …