Napoleon Bonaparte? G. M. Young? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The years of early adulthood are crucial to the formation of an entire outlook toward life. You have to know what was happening in the world when a person was twenty to understand that person. This notion has been ascribed to the French military leader …
Category Archives: Napoleon Bonaparte
Quote Origin: As Long As I Count the Votes, What Are You Going To Do About It?
William Marcy Tweed? Boss Tweed? Thomas Nast? Zack Chandler? Napoleon Bonaparte? Joseph Stalin? Boris Bazhanov? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Remarks about the manipulation of vote tabulations have a long history. Apparently, a corrupt leader made a cynical pronouncement about voting. Here are three versions: Would you please explore this family of sayings? Reply from …
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Imagination Rules the World
Napoleon Bonaparte? Blaise Pascal? Emmanuel Comte de Las Cases? Hugh Henry Brackenridge? Irving Babbitt? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The French military and political leader Napoléon Bonaparte has received credit for a statement about vision. Here are two versions in English: Imagination rules the world. Imagination governs the world. Is this attribution genuine? Would you please …
The Eighth Wonder of the World Is Compound Interest
Albert Einstein? Napoleon Bonaparte? Baron Rothschild? Paul Samuelson? John D. Rockefeller? Advertising Copy Writer? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Salespeople and advertisers invoke the name of the scientific genius Albert Einstein when they wish to impress gullible individuals. The following grandiose statement has been attributed to Einstein: Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. …
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Fear Defeats More People than Any Other One Thing in the World
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Elbert Hubbard? Napoleon Bonaparte? Dale Carnegie? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Self-help books encourage people to act with confidence and assurance because apprehension can block progress. I once read the following motivational statement: Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. These words were attributed to the famous transcendentalist …
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An Army Marches On Its Stomach
Napoleon Bonaparte? Frederick the Great? Thomas Carlyle? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Proper logistics are crucial to any successful military campaign. The importance of food supply is highlighted in a well-known aphorism. Here are four versions: An army marches on its stomach. An army marches on its belly. An army travels on its stomach. An army …
Never Attribute to Malice That Which Is Adequately Explained by Stupidity
Robert Heinlein? Napoleon Bonaparte? Ayn Rand? David Hume? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Robert J. Hanlon? Arthur Cushman McGiffert? William James Laidlay? Ernst Haeckel? Thomas F. Woodlock? Nick Diamos? Dear Quote Investigator: It is easy to impute hostility to the actions of others when a situation is actually unclear. A popular insightful adage attempts to constrain …
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What Is History But a Fable Agreed Upon?
Napoléon Bonaparte? Voltaire? Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle? Claude Adrien Helvétius? Wendell Phillips? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Dear Quote Investigator: A popular skeptical viewpoint about history can be expressed in a few different ways: 1) What is history but a fable agreed upon? 2) History is a set of lies agreed upon. 3) History is a …
From the Sublime to the Ridiculous There Is But One Step
Napoleon Bonaparte? Thomas Paine? Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle? Thomas Warton? Pierre-Jacques Changeux? James Joyce? Mark Twain? Dear Quote Investigator: Aesthetic evaluations are sometimes complex and contradictory. A well-known saying reflects this unstable nature. Here are two versions: 1) The sublime is only a step removed from the ridiculous. 2) From the sublime to the …
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Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba
Napoleon Bonaparte? J.T.R. of Baltimore? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A famous palindrome is attributed to the renowned French leader Napoleon Bonaparte who was once exiled to the island of Elba: Able was I ere I saw Elba. Supposedly Napoleon said this reversible phrase to Barry Edward O’Meara who was his physician during his captivity on …