Tracing Quotations
Edward Albee? Jessamyn West? Pablo Picasso? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A gifted creator of fiction deliberately contorts the truth. Crucial aspects of reality are exaggerated while other aspects are minimized. Yet the aim is to convey deeper truths. An influential artist said: Fiction is fact distorted into truth. This statement has been attributed to …
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Jessamyn West? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Pablo Picasso? Edward Albee? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Eloquent fiction depicts a heightened form of reality and presents a deeper version of the truth. The U.S. writer Jessamyn West has received credit for the following remark: Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures. This statement has also been credited to …
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Otto von Bismarck? Abbé Correa? José Correia da Serra? French Proverb? Jean Gracieux? Marguerite de Valois? Wilhelm II? Gulian Crommelin Verplanck? Josiah Strong? Sherwood Anderson? Question for Quote Investigator: A family of sayings asserts that specific groups benefit from supernatural protection. Here are three examples: (1) There is a special providence for fools, children, and …
Frederick Douglass? J. H. Robinson? Joseph Stolz? Hortense Beck Hinton? George Hastings McNair? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Every advancement for humankind has faced opposition. One must work hard to achieve improvements. A famous activist wrote the following: If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet …
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Charles Darwin? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Incorrect scientific hypotheses may temporarily mislead fellow scientists, but the research inspired by flawed conjectures enables further progress, and superior theories emerge over time. Faulty experimental data is more dangerous because it may persist without challenge. Here is a pertinent remark: False facts are highly injurious to the …
Theodore Roosevelt? Napoleon Bonaparte? Karen Grant? Ken Harris? George Grant? Karen Grant? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent leader has received credit for a definition of courage using chiasmus which emphasizes tenacity: Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength. These words have …
Mandell Creighton? James Payn? Helen Ricker Beebe? William Ralph Inge? Jack Hulbert? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Oxford and Cambridge rank among Europe’s oldest and most prestigious centers of higher learning. An oft-repeated comical statement contrasts the attitudes of the students of the two schools: Oxford people think they own the world. Cambridge people do …
Helen Keller? Ellen Bilofsky? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Being an attentive listener is crucial to developing successful relationships. Yet, few people are willing to provide this courtesy. The activist and lecturer Helen Keller has received credit for the following remark: Everybody talks, nobody listens. Good listeners are as rare as white crows. I have …
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. …
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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 …