Tracing Quotations
Hannah Arendt? Christopher Morley? Kitty Foyle? Rosey Rittenhouse? Dear Quote Investigator: While looking through a compilation of quotations about horses I came across the following: Few girls are as well shaped as a good horse. Inexplicably, the words were ascribed to the political theorist Hannah Arendt who wrote about the Nazi Adolf Eichmann and popularized …
Continue reading “There’s Damn Few Girls as Well Shaped as a Fine Horse”
Mark Twain? Bill Nye? Ambrose Bierce? Punch Magazine? Dear Quote Investigator: Richard Wagner was a prominent German composer who created the landmark four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). A comically incongruous remark about his efforts has been attributed to two famous American humorists Mark Twain and Bill Nye: Wagner’s music …
Continue reading “Wagner’s Music Is Really Much Better Than It Sounds”
Pablo Picasso? Giovanni Papini? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Pablo Picasso reportedly admitted in a “Confession” that he did not consider himself a great artist; instead, he was an entertainer who shocked and amused the rich and indolent to gain fame and wealth. Did Picasso really say this? Quote Investigator: No. The well-known “Confession” was invented …
Continue reading “I Am Only a Public Entertainer Who Has Understood His Times”
Sherlock Holmes? Arthur Conan Doyle? J. Murray Moore? Franklin P. Adams? P. G. Wodehouse? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: When Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock Holmes was explaining to his good friend John A. Watson the nature of his latest deduction he supposedly employed the well-known phrase: Elementary, my dear Watson. I was astonished …
Benjamin Franklin? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The renowned statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin has been credited with two variant statements about alcohol: 1) Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. 2) Wine is constant proof that God loves us and likes to see us happy. I am skeptical because …
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Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A learner may accumulate a large number of miscellaneous pieces of information without achieving an integrated understanding and without acquiring an ability to use the material intelligently. Reportedly, Albert Einstein made a germane remark: Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think. …
Continue reading “Education Is Not the Learning of Facts, But the Training of the Mind To Think”
Henry Ford? Jessie Potter? Dayle K. Maloney? Cathy Bolger? Susan Jeffers? Jackie “Moms” Mabley? Tony Robbins? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Why do people repeat foolish, ineffective, or self-destructive behaviors? Self-help books contain an adage about the consequences of thoughtless repetition. Here are three versions: 1) If you do what you’ve always done you’ll get what …
Dorothy Parker? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: William Shakespeare memorably wrote that: Brevity is the soul of wit. The wordsmith Dorothy Parker famously transformed the Bard’s phrase into a humorous and erotic remark: Brevity is the soul of lingerie. Several quotation references list Parker’s statement, but the earliest citation I’ve seen is indirect; a friend named …
Tallulah Bankhead? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The funniest one-line review of a movie I have ever encountered is the following: Darling, they’ve absolutely ruined your perfectly dreadful play. According to a show-business legend, the movie star Tallulah Bankhead delivered this mortifying judgement to the famous playwright Tennessee Williams when she saw the film version of …
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Calvin Coolidge? Frank B. Noyes? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: President Calvin Coolidge was known as “Silent Cal” because of his extraordinarily laconic speech. A famous anecdote tells of a dinner party during which the person sitting adjacent to the Coolidge said: “Mr. President I’ve made a large bet that I would be able to make …
Continue reading ““I Bet I Could Get Three Words Out of You.” “You Lose.””