Tracing Quotations
Mark Twain? Oscar Wilde? Socrates? Nancy Weber? Judy Tillinger? Horace Porter? J. F. Carter? Gaius Petronius Arbiter? James Ogilvy? Thomas Paine? Voltaire? Richard A. Posner? Benjamin Franklin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The ancient Greek poet Hesiod stated:[1] 2008, Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, Fifth Edition, Edited by Jennifer Speake, Entry: Moderation in all things, Quote Page …
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Helen Keller? Socrates? Plato? Seneca the Younger? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A person has two genetic parents, four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents. The number of ancestors in a generation roughly doubles when going backwards in time, and this exponential growth implies that each individual has an enormous number of ancestors. This line of reasoning …
Socrates? Sophocles? Plato? Cephalus? Russell Brand? David Niven? Kingsley Amis? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is an ancient and provocative simile that helps to explicate the irrational actions of infatuated males: The male libido is like being chained to a madman. To have a penis is to be chained to a madman. These words have …
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Kurt Vonnegut? Frank Sinatra? Jean-Paul Sartre? Dale Carnegie? Bud Crew? Socrates? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The 1982 novel “Deadeye Dick” by the popular author Kurt Vonnegut mentioned the following piece of graffiti: “To be is to do”—Socrates. “To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre. “Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra. I think this tripartite list first …
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Socrates? Dan Millman? All-Night Gas-Station Attendant? Nick Nolte? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A friend recently offered me a piece of advice that he thought reflected ancient wisdom: The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. These words were attributed to Socrates, but …
William Butler Yeats? Plutarch? Socrates? Plato? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a superb quotation about education that I have encountered many times. Here is a collection of examples with attributions that I have been accumulating. None of the examples came with citations: Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a …
Continue reading “The Mind Is Not a Vessel That Needs Filling, But Wood That Needs Igniting”
Dear Quote Investigator: There is a great quote by Plato or Socrates about the misbehavior of children in antiquity that I read in the New York Times. The quote shows that the problems between generations are not just a recent occurrence. Instead, the conflicts between parents and offspring are timeless [NY8]: The children now love …