Quote Investigator® – Page 147

Quote Origin: If You’ve Told a Child a Thousand Times, and the Child Still Has Not Learned, Then It Is Not the Child Who Is the Slow Learner

Walter Barbee? Walter Barbie? Walter Barbe? Robert Alcorn? Nancy Reese?

Question for Quote Investigator: A cogent adage aimed at teachers begins with the following phrase:

If you’ve told a child a thousand times and he still does not understand…

The full expression concludes with a reversal of the traditional supposition and indicates that the teacher is the slow learner instead of the student. Do you know who should be credited with this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The 1978 book “Inviting School Success: A Self-Concept Approach to Teaching and Learning” by William Watson Purkey contained the following passage. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

As Walter Barbe commented in an in-service workshop address (Marshall University, 1977): “If you’ve told a child a thousand times, and the child still has not learned, then it is not the child who is the slow learner.” The role of the teacher is to extend consistently the invitations most likely to result in students feeling better about themselves and working to learn more in school.

In 1986 “The Orlando Sentinel” newspaper of Orlando, Florida stated that Walter Barbe was the editor-in-chief of “Highlights for Children” magazine, and the paper recounted some of his comments made before a group of teachers in Seminole County, Florida:²

“If a child does not grasp a lesson when it is first presented, do not just repeat the lesson and increase the volume,” he said. “Try another way, another modality.”

“After all,” Barbe said, “if you have to tell a child something a thousand times, perhaps it is not the child who is the slow learner.”

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Chains Do Not Hold a Marriage Together. It Is Thread, Hundreds of Tiny Threads which Sew People Together Through the Years

Simone Signoret? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: I am trying to find a citation for a statement attributed to the wonderful French movie actress Simone Signoret. Here is a paraphrase from my memory: marriages are not held together by chains; they are held together by hundreds of threads. Are you familiar with this saying? Would you please help me to find its origin?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1978 Simone Signoret was interviewed by David Lewin in the pages of the UK newspaper the “Daily Mail”. She was asked about her husband, the actor Yves Montand, who had co-starred with the Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe in “Let’s Make Love” back in 1960. Gossip mongers suggested that Montand and Monroe may have taken the title of the movie literally, and Lewin inquired about what held Signoret’s marriage together. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

‘Chains do not hold a marriage together,’ she replied. ‘It is thread, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. That is what makes a marriage last—more than passion or even sex.’
‘But those threads should never become chains.’

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: First Forget Inspiration. Habit Is More Dependable. Habit Will Sustain You Whether You’re Inspired or Not

Octavia Butler? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, a publisher in Silicon Valley tweeted an illustration of the prominent science fiction author Octavia Butler together with a quotation that offered intriguing advice about writing. The quote began:

First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable.

When were these words written or said by Butler?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Octavia Butler penned an essay addressed to aspiring writers titled “Furor Scribendi” that appeared in the ninth anthology of the series “L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future”. The piece was reprinted in the 1995 collection “Bloodchild: And Other Stories”. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.

Butler also presented a refreshingly provocative viewpoint about talent:

Forget talent. If you have it, fine. Use it. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter. As habit is more dependable than inspiration, continued learning is more dependable than talent.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: We Are an Impossibility in an Impossible Universe

Ray Bradbury? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: On Facebook I saw the following quotation displayed on a star-filled picture:

We are an impossibility in an impossible universe

The words were attributed to the prominent science fiction author Ray Bradbury, but I haven’t been able to find a citation. Would you please help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In January 1975 “The Oregonian” newspaper of Portland, Oregon published a column that reviewed television and radio programs. The public television station KOAP-TV had recently broadcast a program called “Assignment America” hosted by the well-known poet Maya Angelou with Ray Bradbury as guest. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

Bradbury told her, “We are on the moon today because of one man and only one man and that’s Edgar Rice Burroughs. His John Carter, ‘Warlord of Mars,’ romanced a whole generation of boys into going out and building the equipment to go to the moon.” Bradbury was fittingly interviewed in Hollywood’s Magic Castle. “We’re an impossibility in an impossible universe,” he said. “There’s really no split between science and religion. When facts stop, faith has to take over.”

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Many Persons Have a Wrong Idea of What Constitutes True Happiness. It Is Not Attained Through Self-Gratification but Through Fidelity to a Worthy Purpose

Helen Keller? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A wise statement about true happiness and its connection to the pursuit of a worthwhile objective has been attributed to the blind social activist Helen Keller. Are you familiar with this saying and is the ascription accurate?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Hellen Keller maintained a journal during the years 1936 and 1937 which was published in 1938. The entry dated December 10, 1936 contained the following passage about true happiness.¹ Boldface has been added to excerpts:²

Certainly I believe that God gave us life for happiness, not misery. Humanity, I am sure, will never be made lazy or indifferent by an excess of happiness. The order of nature will always necessitate pain, failure, separation, death; and these will probably become more menacing as the complexities and dangerous experiments of a vast world civilization increase. The delicate task will remain ours to ensure God’s gift—joy—to His children. Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. Happiness should be a means of accomplishment, like health, not an end in itself.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: When the Politicians Complain That Television Turns Their Proceedings into a Circus, It Should Be Made Plain That the Circus Was Already There

Edward R. Murrow? David Horsey? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: In March 2016 the political cartoonist and commentator David Horsey of the “Los Angeles Times” published a cartoon showing the prominent journalist Edward R. Murrow seated in front of a television screen that displayed a group of angry clowns. The quotation accompanying the illustration compared political gatherings to circuses. Was the ascription to Murrow accurate? When did Murrow deliver this quotation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In October 1959 Granada Television sponsored a set of lectures in London’s Guildhall on the subject of communication in the modern world.¹ Edward R. Murrow delivered a speech titled “Television and Politics” which included a passage that strongly matched the words in Horsey’s cartoon. Boldface has been added to excerpts:²

The relationship between television and the politician should be at arm’s length; the eye of the camera should pursue the politician to the very limits of privacy and decency. When the politicians complain, as they have in several countries, that television turns their proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that television has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.

Murrow’s words were remembered, and in December 1959 “The Des Moines Register” of Des Moines, Iowa included the statement in a column titled “Worth Repeating” that contained fourteen other miscellaneous quotations. The passage was streamlined with the omission of the phrase “as they have in several countries”. Also, “television” was converted to “TV”:³

EDWARD MURROW, CBS news commentator:

“When the politicians complain that TV turns their proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.”

The version in Horsey’s cartoon closely matched the shortened text given above. There was only one difference: the word “clear” was changed to “plain”.

Here are additional selected citations.

Quote Origin: Education Is Not the Learning of Facts, But the Training of the Mind To Think

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.

I have not been able to find a solid citation for this insight. Are these really the words of Albert Einstein? What was the context?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1921 Albert Einstein visited Boston, Massachusetts. At that time, a questionnaire constructed by the inventor and research laboratory pioneer Thomas A. Edison was circulating. Edison used his controversial questionnaire to screen job applicants, but Einstein was unimpressed by some of the queries. For example, “The New York Times” reported on Einstein’s reaction to one question about a fact that was readily available in reference books:¹

He was asked through his secretary, “What is the speed of sound?” He could not say off-hand, he replied. He did not carry such information in his mind but it was readily available in text books.

Einstein’s response printed in 1921 fit the theme of the quotation because he deemphasized the value of simply memorizing facts. A longer description of this episode was presented in the biography “Einstein: His Life and Times” by Philipp Frank. A strong match for the quotation was included in the following passage. Boldface has been added to excerpts:²

While Einstein was in Boston, staying at the Hotel Copley Plaza, he was given a copy of Edison’s questionnaire to see whether he could answer the questions. As soon as he read the question: “What is the speed of sound?” he said: “I don’t know. I don’t burden my memory with such facts that I can easily find in any textbook.”

Nor did he agree with Edison’s opinion on the uselessness of college education. He remarked: “It is not so very important for a person to learn facts. For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.”

Frank’s biography was originally written in German, and the English translation was released in 1947. QI does not know what source material was used by Frank to report on words of Einstein in 1921, but the reliability of Frank’s biography is largely viewed favorably.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: I’m Looking for Loopholes

W. C. Fields? Ben Hecht? Gene Fowler? Thomas Mitchell? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The brilliant comedian and movie actor W. C. Fields led an unrestrained showbiz life displaying a fondness for alcohol and mistresses. He was not known as a religious man, but as his death approached he began to peruse the Bible. When a friend asked him about this behavior he humorously explained that he was:

Looking for loopholes.

Would you please explore this anecdote and quotation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: W. C. Fields died in 1946, and the earliest evidence located by QI appeared many years later in November 1960 in “Playboy” magazine. The prominent screenwriter and director Ben Hecht wrote a nostalgic piece reflecting on his experiences in Hollywood. Hecht recounted a story about the journalist Gene Fowler and his friend Fields that included an instance of the quotation. The nickname “Bill” was used for W. C. Fields. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

Fields was Fowler’s favorite self-destroyer. No man ever worked so patiently at wrecking his soul and body as did this prince of comedians. A Mississippi of gin sluiced through him in his declining years.

Fowler visited his ailing crony shortly before his death. He found Fields sitting in the garden reading the Holy Bible. “I’m looking for loopholes,” Bill explained, shyly.

Another version of the tale was published in 1966; the person visiting Fields was identified as the actor Thomas Mitchell instead of Fowler. Of course, it was possible that Fields used the quip more than once, and therefore both versions might be accurate. The 1966 citation is given further below.

Here are additional selected citations in a primarily chronological order.

Quote Origin: Literature Is of No Practical Value Whatsoever

Vladimir Nabokov? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov was a consummate prose stylist. When he was a professor teaching his students about literature he apparently shared the following candid opinion:

Literature is of no practical value whatsoever.

Is this quotation accurate?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1980 the posthumous book “Lectures on Literature” by Vladimir Nabokov was released; the volume contained a collection of college lectures assembled from the pages of Nabokov’s handwritten and typed notes. The discourse on Gustave Flaubert’s novel “Madame Bovary” included the following commentary about fiction. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

A child to whom you read a story may ask you, is the story true? And if not, the child demands a true one. Let us not persevere in this juvenile attitude towards the books we read. Of course, if somebody tells you that Mr. Smith has seen a blue saucer with a green operator whiz by, you do ask, is it true? because in one way or another the fact of its being true would affect your whole life, would be of infinite practical consequence to you. But do not ask whether a poem or a novel is true. Let us not kid ourselves; let us remember that literature is of no practical value whatsoever, except in the very special case of somebody’s wishing to become, of all things, a professor of literature.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: He Was Prepared To Lay Down His Life for Eight Cousins or Two Brothers

J. B. S. Haldane? John Maynard Smith? W. D. Hamilton? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Kin selection is an important and sometimes controversial idea in genetics. The prominent biologist J. B. S. Haldane reportedly said:

I would gladly give up my life for two brothers or eight cousins.

I have been unable to find a citation for this remark. Would you please help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In August 1975 the influential evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith published a book review in the periodical “New Scientist”. Within the review Maynard Smith described encountering his mentor J. B. S. Haldane at a public house called the Orange Tree. The time was not specified in the article, but Haldane died in 1964. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

I first heard the idea in the now-demolished Orange Tree off the Euston Road; J. B. S. Haldane who had been calculating on the back of an envelope for some minutes, announced that he was prepared to lay down his life for eight cousins or two brothers. This remark contained the essence of an idea which W. D. Hamilton, a lecturer in zoology at Imperial College, London, was later to generalise. Unfortunately, Haldane, although he referred to the idea in an article in Penguin New Biology, did not follow it up, and may not have appreciated its importance.

QI believes that the quotation under examination was based on Maynard Smith’s testimony. The common version in circulation has been grammatically altered so that it fits the form of a direct statement by Haldane.

Maynard Smith referred to a 1955 article by Haldane in the journal “New Biology” titled “Population Genetics”. The kernel of the idea of kin selection was presented by Haldane at this early date, but the quotation was quite different:² ³

What is more interesting, it is only in such small populations that natural selection would favour the spread of genes making for certain kinds of altruistic behaviour. Let us suppose that you carry a rare gene which affects your behaviour so that you jump into a river and save a child, but you have one chance in ten of being drowned, while I do not possess the gene, and stand on the bank and watch the child drown.

If the child is your own child or your brother or sister, there is an even chance that the child will also have the gene, so five such genes will be saved in children for one lost in an adult. If you save a grandchild or nephew the advantage is only two and a half to one. If you only save a first cousin, the effect is very slight. If you try to save your first cousin once removed the population is more likely to lose this valuable gene than to gain it. But on the two occasions when I have pulled possibly drowning people out of the water (at an infinitesimal risk to myself) I had no time to make such calculations.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.