Francis Petrarch? Plutarch? Henry Theodore Tuckerman? Frederick Saunders? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following ornate passage about love has been attributed to Francis Petrarch, a prominent poet of the Italian Renaissance: Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which binds us to duty and truth. …
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Quote Origin: Being Powerful Is Like Being a Lady. If You Have To Tell People You Are, You Aren’t
Jesse Carr? Margaret Thatcher? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Positive self-descriptions are sometimes inaccurate. Here are three versions of a saying which illustrates this insight: (1) Power is like being a lady—if you have to tell them you are, you ain’t. (2) Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people …
Quote Origin: Sure, He Was Great, But Don’t Forget That Ginger Rogers Did Everything He Did Backwards and in High Heels
Ginger Rogers? Ann Richards? Bob Thaves? Ronald Reagan? Faith Whittlesey? Liz Carpenter? Question for Quote Investigator: The U.S. entertainer Fred Astaire won high praise as a magnificent dancer. Astaire’s partner Ginger Rogers also achieved acclaim, but she did not achieve the same level of celebrity. A humorous feminist line compares the capabilities of the two: …
Quip Origin: Nothing Is Impossible for the Person Who Doesn’t Have To Do It Himself
A. H. Weiler? Earl Wilson? Mitch Miller? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Grandiose managers brag of the monumental tasks they can accomplish. This unrealistic attitude is reflected in a quip: Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself. Newspaper editor A. H. Weiler has received credit for this joke, but …
Quote Origin: It Is Questionable If All the Mechanical Inventions Yet Made Have Lightened the Day’s Toil of Any Human Being
John Stuart Mill? Henry George? Herbert Vincent Mills? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Numerous labor-saving machines were designed and built in the nineteenth century, but a prominent political economist was unimpressed. He doubted whether these inventions had lessened the toil of anyone by even a single day. This notion has been attributed to John Stuart …
Saying Origin: Labor-Saving Devices Don’t Save Labor. They Increase It
John Stuart Mill? Henry George? H. L. Mencken? C. Palfrey? J. E. Jennings? Adam Coaldigger? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recent progress in artificial intelligence and robotics has led some to believe that work hours will shrink and leisure will grow. However, history suggests a different possibility. Brilliant inventors have created a series of remarkable …
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Saying Origin: Good Science Fiction Can Predict the Automobile; Better SF Can Predict the Drive-In Theater; The Best SF Can Predict the Resultant Sexual Revolution
Gardner Dozois? Isaac Asimov? Robert Heinlein? Cory Doctorow? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A competent science-fiction (SF) author can use the knowledge of automobiles and movie theaters to predict the creation of drive-in movie theaters. But an ingenious SF author can predict the dramatic shift in sexual behavior caused by these changes in mobility and …
Quote Origin: Go Often To the House of Thy Friend, for Weeds Choke the Unused Path
Ralph Waldo Emerson? W. Taylor? Karl Blind? Carolyne Larrington? Poetic Edda? Hávamál? Scandinavian Proverb? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A friendship endures when it is nurtured and periodically renewed. Silence and distance cause a friendship to decay. The following adage expresses this viewpoint: Go often to the house of thy friend, for weeds soon choke …
Quote Origin: If You Wish to Achieve Some Kind of Intellectual Immortality, Writing for the AIs Is Probably Your Best Chance
Tyler Cowen? Joshua Rothman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Currently, the training of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems requires vast quantities of text, pictures, and videos. Most of this data is unlicensed. Hence, this training has become controversial, and the backlash against such systems has been growing. Numerous creators wish to exclude their creative output …
Quote Origin: If All Those Present Were Laid End to End, I Wouldn’t Be at All Surprised
Dorothy Parker? Lillian Day? Alexander Woollcott? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: U.S. poet, critic, and fiction writer Dorothy Parker was famous for her witticisms. When discussing a prom, she said something like the following: If all the young women who attended were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be at all surprised. Would you please …