Sigmund Freud? C. G. Jung? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Apparently, a famous psychoanalyst once said that when one looks back at one’s life the periods of struggle will be considered the most beautiful. Do you know whether something like this was said by Sigmund Freud or C. G. Jung? Reply from Quote Investigator: In …
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Quote Origin: A Camel Is a Horse That Was Designed by a Committee
Charles F. Kettering? Alec Issigonis? T. R. Quaife? Norris Cotton? Paul H. Gilbert? Jimmy Durante? Ed Byron? Georg Christoph Lichtenberg? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: When the opinions of committee members diverge significantly it becomes difficult to formulate a coherent consensus. This notion has been humorously expressed with a clever adage: A camel is a …
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Quote Origin: A Donkey Is a Horse Translated Into Dutch
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg? Stendhal? Marie-Henri Beyle? W. H. Auden? Bayard Taylor? Question for Quote Investigator: A German humorist who lived in the 18th century thought the Dutch language sounded ridiculous as indicated by the following quip: A donkey appears to me like a horse translated into Dutch. Would you please help me to find the …
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Quote Origin: The Kiss is a Wordless Articulation of Desires Whose Object Lies in the Future, and Somewhat To the South
Lance Morrow? Tomima Edmark? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A kiss has been described as a “wordless articulation of desires whose object lies in the future.” Would you please help me to determine who made this statement? Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1986 U.S. essayist and “Time” magazine journalist Lance Morrow published a piece about …
Quote Origin: You Don’t Have To Be Crazy To Work Here, But It Helps
Walt Disney? Carolyn Kay Shafer? Douglas Adams? John Lloyd? Adam Breede? Ralph Spence? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I first encountered the following quip many years ago. Here are two versions: (1) You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps.(2) You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it …
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Quote Origin: When People Cease To Believe in God, They Do Not Then Believe in Nothing, But in Anything
G. K. Chesterton? Malcolm Muggeridge? Émile Cammaerts? Umberto Eco? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: An individual who becomes skeptical about traditional belief systems does not automatically embrace careful thought and rationality. Instead, the individual may embrace more eccentric belief systems and superstitions. Consider the following related remark: When people cease to believe in God, they …
Quote Origin: Imagination Is Everything. It Is the Preview of Life’s Coming Attractions
Albert Einstein? Henry Miller? Gerald W. Marshall? Bill Glass? Epcot Slogan? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A dynamic imagination is vital because it helps us to envision future possibilities. This notion has been expressed as follows: Imagination is everything. It is the preview of coming attractions. This statement has been attributed to the famous physicist …
Quote Origin: Don’t Join the Book Burners. Don’t Think You Are Going To Conceal Faults by Concealing Evidence That They Ever Existed
Dwight D. Eisenhower? William Safire? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Historically, the censorship impulse has been enormously powerful and nearly universal. Interestingly, the nature of the repressed material has been highly variable. It has included sexual, ideological, religious, cultural, and military topics. The opposition to censorship has also been forcefully expressed. Apparently, a U.S. President …
Quote Origin: Not Every Kind of Problem Someone Has with a Girlfriend or Boyfriend Is Necessarily Due To the Capitalist Mode of Production
Herbert Marcuse? Bryan Magee? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: It is tempting to view the world through the prism of an all-encompassing sociocultural stance, e.g., Marxism, Freudianism, or existentialism. However, this distorted vision reduces one’s life to a didactic parable. Here is a humorous remark about this obsessive reductionism: Not every problem someone has with …
Quote Origin: Kennedy Didn’t Beat Nixon. Satire Beat Nixon
Chris Rock? Michael Cavna? Garry Trudeau? David Frost? Aaron McGruder? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Satire can puncture pomposity and direct laughter at the powerful. The results of U.S. presidential elections have been swayed by satire. The 1960 contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon was close. The barbs directed at Nixon were effective …
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