Wayne Dyer? Max Planck? Benjamin Wheeler? Gilda Wheeler? Wendy Church? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When you change your viewpoint on life the entire world can be altered. Carefully deciding where to focus your attention and your efforts is crucial to leading a successful life. Here is a pertinent adage: Change the way you look …
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Quote Origin: Every Writer Has a Lifetime Ration of Three Exclamation Points
William Maxwell? Annabel Davis-Goff? Elmore Leonard? Helen Dudar? Benjamin Dreyer? William Safire? F. Scott Fitzgerald? Sheilah Graham? Christopher Morley? Terry Hersom? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The stylistically appropriate use of exclamation points is a contentious topic. One writer proposed the following comically extreme self-contradictory rule: Kill all exclamation points!!! Style guides have presented the …
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Quote Origin: God’s Only Excuse Is That He Does Not Exist
Stendhal? Marie-Henri Beyle? Friedrich Nietzsche? Albert Camus? Prosper Mérimée? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: An atheist who was angry about the state of the world crafted the following comically paradoxical saying: The only excuse for God is that he does not exist. This remark has been attributed to the French Romantic novelist Marie-Henri Beyle (known …
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Joke Origin: “Do You Serve Lobsters Here?” “Yes, We Serve Anyone”
Life Magazine? Milton College? Joan Kochanowski? Norman Brinkmeier? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a family of wordplay jokes in which a customer asks a waiter about the availability of seafood. Here are three examples: “Waiter, do you serve shrimps here?” “Sure. We don’t care how tall you are. Sit down.” “Do you serve …
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Proverb Origin: It Is Better to Die on Our Feet Than to Live on Our Knees
Emiliano Zapata? Dolores Ibarruri? Franklin D. Roosevelt? Ernest Hemingway? Aeschylus? François-Noël Babeuf? Joseph Heller? Luciano J. Rivas? Rafael Tellez Giron? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A popular saying extolls courage and condemns subservience even when conditions are challenging: It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees. This motto has been attributed …
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Quote Origin: If We Knew What We Were Doing, It Would Not Be Called Research
Albert Einstein? Charles F. Kettering? Wernher von Braun? Luis de Florez? Charles Erwin Wilson? David C. Hazen? Question for Quote Investigator: There are no guaranteed outcomes when research is conducted. The results might be valuable or worthless. The following saying reflects this uncertainty. Here are two versions: (1) If we knew what it was we …
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Quote Origin: The Good News Is, We’ve Discovered the Secret of Immortality. The Bad News Is, It’s Not for Us
Geoffrey Hinton? Will Douglas Heaven? Alex Hern? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A modern AI system is implemented with an intricate hardware device, but the crucial distinguishing characteristic of the device is a collection of parameters called weights. It is possible to store a copy of these weights in a separate location. If the hardware …
Quote Origin: I’m Sick and Tired of These Old Cliches. Let’s Have Some New Cliches
Samuel Goldwyn? Louella Parsons? Sylvia Porter? Leonard Hall? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous producer from the Golden Age of Hollywood once complained to his scriptwriters that their stories were uninspired. The producer made an inadvertently comical request: Let’s have some new cliches. This saying has been attributed to Samuel Goldwyn, but I am …
Quote Origin: Nothing Needs To Be Exposed Since It Is Already Barefaced
Toni Morrison? Karl Shapiro? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent literary figure once said: Nothing needs to be exposed since it is already barefaced. I am having trouble finding a solid citation. Would you please help me to trace this expression? Reply from Quote Investigator: U.S. author Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize in …
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Quote Origin: Genius Is Hard Work, Stick-To-It-Iveness, and Common Sense
Thomas Edison? Julia Marlowe? Samuel Smiles? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous entrepreneur once spoke about the ingredients needed for success. Here are two versions: (1) I tell you genius is hard work, stick-to-it-iveness, and common sense. (2) The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common …
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