Tracing Quotations
Isaac Asimov? Robert Burnham Jr.? Thomas M. Nichols? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A science fiction luminary said: There is a cult of ignorance in the United States … nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” These words have been credited to Isaac Asimov. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: False Notion — My Ignorance Is Just as Good as Your Knowledge”
Albert Einstein? Anatole France? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous scientist has received credit for an eloquent statement about the goals of teaching. Here are two versions: (1) It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. (2) The most important art of the teacher is to …
Andy Rooney? Vic Smith? Sam Patterson? Eve Watson? Jim Harvey? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Every year of childhood feels like an eon. Every year of middle age feels like six months. Every year of old age feels like a month. A folksy simile expresses this idea: Life is like a roll of toilet paper …
H. L. Mencken? Jo Petty? Max L. Forman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Freedom is precious. Without continual vigilance, it disappears. Safeguarding it requires unrelenting commitment. A popular political commentator said something like the following about freedom: No price that is ever asked for it is half the cost of doing without it. This statement …
Oscar Wilde? Harold Mellor? Francis Douglas? Percy Colson? Beverley Baxter? Question for Quote Investigator: When you are filled with love you nurture other people. The absence of love is bleak and discouraging. Here is a pertinent saying: Life without love is like a sunless garden with dead flowers. Apparently, the brilliant Irish wit Oscar Wilde …
Waldemar Kaempffert? G. K. Chesterton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The ongoing progress in robotics reminds me of skeptical remarks such as the following: (1) There will never be a robot, a tireless mechanism performing all the functions of a man. (2) A robot would be brainless because even an ingenious technologist cannot make a …
Josiah Stamp? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: An influential banker once commented on the growing skepticism of U.S. citizens: Heaven help America when she loses faith in slogans Would you please tell me what prompted this remark and who delivered it? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1929 the United States experienced the stock market crash …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Heaven Help America When She Loses Faith in Slogans”
Anaïs Nin? Lassie Benton? Elizabeth Appell? Jean Paul Richter? Orison Swett Marden? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Growth and transformation are frightening. Yet, maintaining stasis is stultifying. Here are two versions of a popular metaphorical expression about accepting change: (1) And the day came when the risk to remain closed in a bud, became more …
André Gide? Leonardo da Vinci? Albert Camus? Carol Shields? Igor Stravinsky? Orson Welles? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A scrappy independent movie director who was given a massive budget created a pretentious flop. A poet who wrote brilliant iambic pentameter could only compose pedestrian free verse. A musician who spent countless hours in the studio …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Art Is Born of Constraint, Thrives on Struggle, and Dies of Freedom”
Groucho Marx? Spike Milligan? Lydia Augusta Arsens? Tramp Starr? Dr. Parr? John Conolly? John Stuart Blackie? Tom Chalmers? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The word “cracked” has several slang meanings. The traditional slang meaning is crazy, foolish, or eccentric. Here are three versions of a comical saying which uses wordplay: (1) You’ve got to be …
Continue reading “Quip Origin: Blessed Are the Cracked for They Shall Let in the Light”