Tracing Quotations
Sinclair Lewis? Bennett Cerf? Storm Jameson? Leon Uris? Abraham Cady? Truman Capote? James Michener? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Classes which attempt to teach writing have proliferated in recent decades. Yet, an undercurrent of skepticism regarding the value of this pedagogical endeavor persists. According to a sardonic anecdote a successful author was once badgered into conducting …
Continue reading “What Are You Doing Here? Why the Devil Aren’t You Home Writing?”
Sinclair Lewis? Max Herzberg? Bennett Cerf? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The American writer, social activist, and noble laureate Sinclair Lewis wondered why big audiences came to hear lectures given by authors. He humorously suggested that attendees might be hoping to see funny looking authors. Is Lewis’s self-deprecating observation genuine? Quote Investigator: In 1938 Sinclair Lewis …
Sinclair Lewis? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Whenever I hear someone attempting to diagnose the problems of the world I am reminded of the following amusingly recursive remark: The trouble with this country is that there are too many people saying, “The trouble with this country is…” Although I roughly remember the quotation I do not …
Sinclair Lewis? Huey Long? Eugene V. Debs? Lonnie Jackson? A. L. Sachar? James Waterman Wise? Robert H. Jackson? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The impulses of nationalism and authoritarianism sometimes combine to produce devastating results. The following saying has been attributed to the prominent writer Sinclair Lewis and the populist politician Huey Long: When Fascism comes …
Continue reading “When Fascism Comes To America, It Will Be Wrapped in the Flag”
Sinclair Lewis? Mary Heaton Vorse? Felicia Gizycka? Robert Benchley? Douglas Fairbanks Jr.? Marianne Gingher? Stevie Cameron? Andrew Hudgins? Nora Roberts? Stephen King? Oliver Stone? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: An astonishingly simple stratagem has been recommended to anyone who wishes to become a famous author, playwright, screenwriter, or composer. The secret to success and productivity is …
Continue reading “Writing Is the Art of Applying the Seat of the Pants to the Seat of the Chair”