Tracing Quotations
Fred Allen? Charlie Rice? Red Skelton? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Puns are regularly lambasted, but the complaints are often comical as in the following slyly self-reflexive joke: A person who makes puns should be drawn and quoted. This statement has been attributed to comedian Fred Allen, newspaper columnist Charlie Rice, and entertainer Red Skelton. …
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Albert Einstein? Basil Wilberforce? Gilbert Fowler White? Robert E. Hinshaw? Question for Quote Investigator: Some skeptical individuals doubt the existence of anything miraculous or supernatural. Yet, some spiritual individuals believe that everything is miraculous. Here is a pertinent saying about this dichotomy: There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though …
Arthur Conan Doyle? Edgar Allan Poe? Dorothy L. Sayers? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous fictional detective once explained the methodology for solving mysteries. The sleuth should gather facts and systematically eliminate hypotheses that are impossible. When a single hypothesis remains, however improbable, it must be the truth. The description of this approach has …
George R. R. Martin? Gloria Swanson? C. S. Lewis? A. A. Pape? Vada B. Reese? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A best-selling author once stated: I have lived a thousand lives. I have loved a thousand loves. This extraordinary achievement had been accomplished vicariously via reading. Fantasy and science fiction author George R. R. Martin …
John Bunyan? Paul Bunyan? Jacob Morton Braude? Frank Look? Eugene P. Bertin? Frank Ney? Titus? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Altruism has been championed with the following saying: You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. This statement has been credited to the 17th-century Puritan preacher …
Robert Mitchum? Gloria Pitzer? Lloyd Robson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A movie star was once asked about the impressive longevity of his marriage, and he replied that the two partners displayed mutual forbearance. Each partner believed that the other would do better tomorrow. This statement has been attributed to Golden-Age Hollywood actor Robert Mitchum, …
George Carlin? Elsie Robinson? Eddie Schwartz? Jan M. Carroll? Gordie Spear? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When foolish people group together the results are often terrible. Here are two versions of a cautionary adage: (1) Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.(2) Never underestimate the power of stupid people in a large …
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Hubert Dreyfus? Stuart Dreyfus? Gary Marcus? Dave Akin? Ernest Davis? Aesop? Question for Quote Investigator: Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have been remarkable, but detractors contend that current approaches are inadequate and progress will soon reach a plateau. Critics of AI research have used the following vivid analogy: You cannot reach the moon by …
Herbert A. Simon? Allen Newell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: In the 1950s a pair of prominent researchers made several provocative predictions about artificial intelligence. The researchers believed that a computer program would become the world chess champion within a decade. They also believed that most psychological theories in the future would take the form …
H. L. Mencken? Alistair Cooke? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent journalist once celebrated the display of competence in any discipline from A to Z by saying something like the following: I admire and crave competence, just simple competence, in any field from adultery to zoology. The statement has been attributed to the famous …
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