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 …
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Quote Origin: False Notion — My Ignorance Is Just as Good as Your Knowledge
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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Quote Origin: It Is the Supreme Art of the Teacher to Awaken Joy in Creative Expression and 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 …
Quote Origin: Life Is Like a Roll of Toilet Paper. The Closer It Gets to the End, the Faster It Goes
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 …
Quote Origin: Freedom — No Price That Is Ever Asked for It Is Half the Cost of Doing Without It
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 …
Quote Origin: Life Without Love Is Like a Sunless Garden When the Flowers Are Dead
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 …
Quote Origin: There Will Never Be a Robot, a Tireless Mechanism Performing All the Functions of a Man
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 …
Quote Origin: Heaven Help America When She Loses Faith in Slogans
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 …
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Quote Origin: The Day Came When the Risk to Remain Tight in a Bud Was More Painful Than the Risk It Took to Blossom
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 …
Quote Origin: Art Is Born of Constraint, Thrives on Struggle, and Dies of Freedom
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 …
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