Quote Investigator® – Page 16

Quote Origin: Social Media Gives the Right To Speak To Legions of Imbeciles Who Previously Only Spoke in Bars After Drinking

Umberto Eco? Dery Dyer? Apocryphal?

**Illustration of a jester’s hat from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent intellectual once denounced social media because it amplified the voices of imbeciles who in the past only propounded their opinions at local bars after drinking.

This notion has been attributed to the Italian semiotician and novelist Umberto Eco who wrote “Il Nome Della Rosa” (“The Name of the Rose”) and “Il Pendolo di Foucault” (“Foucault’s Pendulum”). Would you please help me to find a citation and determine the correct phrasing of Eco’s remark?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 2015 Umberto Eco received an honorary degree in “Comunicazione e Cultura dei media” (“Communication and Media Culture”) from the University of Turin. The Italian newspaper “La Stampa” (“The Press”) reported that Eco spoke to journalists after the conferral, and he delivered the following harsh judgment in Italian. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

«I social media danno diritto di parola a legioni di imbecilli che prima parlavano solo al bar dopo un bicchiere di vino, senza danneggiare la collettività. Venivano subito messi a tacere, mentre ora hanno lo stesso diritto di parola di un Premio Nobel. È l’invasione degli imbecilli».

Here is one possible translation into English:

“Social media gives the right to speak to legions of imbeciles who previously only spoke at the bar after a glass of wine, without damaging the community. They were immediately silenced, but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It’s the invasion of imbeciles.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: There Are Years That Ask Questions and Years That Answer

Zora Neale Hurston? Apocryphal?

**Multi-colored question marks from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: A new year brings uncertainties and choices. The uncertainties will be resolved in a future year. A prominent literary figure once wrote:

There are years that ask questions and years that answer.

This statement has been attributed to U.S. writer Zora Neale Hurston. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1937 Zora Neale Hurston published the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” which included the following passage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

There are years that ask questions and years that answer. Janie had had no chance to know things, so she had to ask. Did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmated? Did marriage compel love like the sun the day?

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Distinction Between Past, Present, and Future Is Only a Stubbornly Persistent Illusion

Albert Einstein? Freeman Dyson? H. Dieter Zeh? Apocryphal?

Silhouette of a person standing before a starfield

Question for Quote Investigator: The universe can be modeled as a vast four-dimensional spacetime manifold. From this viewpoint, time does not change; instead, the universe is static and timeless. Here are four versions of a statement attributed to the famous physicist Albert Einstein:

(1) The separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one.

(2) This separation between past, present, and future has the value of mere illusion, however tenacious.

(3) The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

(4) Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

I have not been able to find a citation. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In March 1972 “The New York Times” published an article titled “Some of Einstein’s Reflections, Aphorisms and Observations” which included a version of the quotation. The article printed an excerpt from a letter dated March 21, 1955 from Albert Einstein to family members of Michele Angelo Besso who had died recently. Besso had been Einstein’s lifelong friend. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

With the departure from this strange world, he now has gone a little ahead of me. This is of no significance. For us believing physicists, the separation between past, present and future has only the meaning of an illusion, albeit a tenacious one.

The original German version of Einstein’s quotation can be seen in a book by physicist H. Dieter Zeh titled “The Physical Basis of the Direction of Time”:²

Four weeks before his death Albert Einstein wrote in a letter of condolence to the family of his life-long friend Michael Besso . . . “Für uns gläubige Physiker hat die Scheidung zwischen Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft nur die Bedeutung einer wenn auch hartnäckigen Illusion.”

There is no doubt that Einstein meant this remark very seriously. It obviously refers to the four-dimensional (‘static’ or ‘objective’) representation of all events in a spacetime frame which his theory of relativity uses so efficiently.

A scan of Einstein’s 1955 letter is viewable on the website of Christie’s auction house where it is accompanied with an article discussing the quotation.³

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: In a Football Match, Everything Is Complicated by the Presence of the Opposite Team

Jean-Paul Sartre? Alan Sheridan-Smith? Apocryphal?

**Picture of a football (soccer ball) from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: The presence of an adversary makes planning more complex because the achievement of goals requires the anticipation of counter-measures. A famous philosopher once said something like the following:

In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.

The term “football” corresponds to “soccer” in North America. The above statement has been attributed to French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1960 Jean-Paul Sartre published “Critique de la Raison Dialectique” (“Critique of Dialectical Reason”) which included the following text within a footnote. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

En fait, dans un match de football, tout se complique du fait de la présence de l’équipe adverse. Il y a réciprocité positive entre les coéquipiers dans une rigoureuse liaison avec une réciprocité négative et antagonistique. Mais cette complexité ne change rien à notre problème.

Sartre’s work was translated into English by Alan Sheridan-Smith and published in 1976. The passage above was rendered as follows:²

In fact, in a football match, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team. The positive reciprocity between members of a team is closely connected with a negative and antagonistic reciprocity. But this complication does not alter our problem in any way.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Words Make You Think a Thought. Music Makes You Feel a Feeling. A Song Makes You Feel a Thought

Yip Harburg? Jay Gorney? Caryl Brahms? Ned Sherrin? Apocryphal?

**Members of a music band playing and singing from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent songwriter once stated that words are used to make a person think a thought, and music is used to make a person feel a feeling, but the goal of a song is different and more powerful:

A song makes you feel a thought.

This notion has been attributed to U.S. lyricist Yip Harburg who wrote the words for several famous songs including “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (with Jay Gorney), “April in Paris”, and “Over the Rainbow”. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1984 Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin published “Song by Song: The Lives and Work of 14 Great Lyric Writers” which included a section about Yip Harburg. The authors printed an excerpt from a speech delivered by Harburg in 1970 during which he emphasized the potency of combining words and music. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Together they go places … words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought. Together they stand ready to soothe not only the savage breast, but the stubborn mind . . . a new idea can find a soft spot — even under a hard hat.

The greatest romance in the life of the lyricist is when the right word meets the right note; often however, a Park Avenue phrase elopes with a Blecker Street chord resulting in a shotgun wedding and a quickie divorce.

QI believes that this evidence is substantive, and it indicates that Yip Harburg deserves credit for the statement under investigation. Brahms and Sherrin stated that they accessed a tape of Harburg’s 1970 lecture supplied by Maurice Levine² who organized the lecture series which was titled “Lyrics and Lyricists”.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: All of Bach, Streamed Out Into Space, Over and Over Again. We Would Be Bragging

Carl Sagan? Lewis Thomas? Douglas Adams? Stephen Fry? Anonymous?

Cover of the Voyager Golden Record (Public domain NASA/JPL)

Question for Quote Investigator: Suppose humanity decided to deliberately send a message out into space. What should be included in that message which might someday be read by a hypothetical alien civilization?

In fact, the U.S. launched two robotic interstellar probes in 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Mission planners decided to include a golden phonograph record containing pictures and sounds of Earth. Apparently, one person contemplating this topic said something like the following. Here are two versions:

(1) We should send recordings of Bach, but we would just be showing off.
(2) I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach, but that would be boasting.

This notion has been attributed to astronomer Carl Sagan, essayist Lewis Thomas, science fiction author Douglas Adams, and comedian Stephen Fry. Would you please help me to determine the correct phrasing and the identity of the commentator?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1974 physician Lewis Thomas published a collection of essays titled “The Lives of a Cell”. One piece discussed the “First International Conference on Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence” which had been held in 1972. Astronomers who attended considered the use of electromagnetic signals for communicating with possible civilizations throughout space. Lewis believed that other lifeforms would probably be more than a hundred light years away. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Whatever information we provide must still make sense to us two centuries later, and must still seem important, or the conversation will be an embarrassment to all concerned. In two hundred years it is, as we have found, easy to lose the thread.

Perhaps the safest thing to do at the outset, if technology permits, is to send music. This language may be the best we have for explaining what we are like to others in space, with least ambiguity. I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging, of course, but it is surely excusable for us to put the best possible face on at the beginning of such an acquaintance. We can tell the harder truths later.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: People Do Not Stop Playing Because They Grow Old; They Grow Old Because They Stop Playing

Herbert Spencer? G. Stanley Hall? Karl Groos? George L. Knapp? George Bernard Shaw? Anonymous?

Illustration of young people playing from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: Children enjoy playing, yet this rambunctious and exploratory spirit often fades with age. The following adage encourages the retention of a youthful temperament. Here are four versions:

(1) People do not cease playing because they grow old, but they grow old because they cease playing.
(2) We do not so much quit playing because we grow old, as grow old because we quit playing.
(3) We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.
(4) People grow old because they stop playing, and not conversely.

The first three sayings above employ a rhetorical device called antimetabole. Words in the first half of the statement are reordered in the second half.

This notion has been attributed to English polymath Herbert Spencer, U.S. psychologist G. Stanley Hall, German philosopher Karl Groos, and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI believes that this family of sayings evolved over time. The earliest strong match found by QI appeared in the 1904 book “Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education” by G. Stanley Hall. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

. . . men grow old because they stop playing, and not conversely . . .

QI has not found any substantive evidence that Herbert Spencer employed this saying. He died in 1903, and he received credit by 1915.

QI has not found any substantive evidence that George Bernard Shaw employed this saying. He died in 1950, and he received credit by 1983.

Karl Groos penned a closely related remark which inspired Hall to craft his remark. Details are presented below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: I Am Not Innarested In Your Horrible Disease

William S. Burroughs? Kenneth Turan? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The transgressive Beat Generation author William Burroughs once wrote something like the following:

I am not innarested in your horrible disease.

I recall reading this many years ago. The word “interested” was deliberately written with the nonstandard spelling “innarested”. Maybe my memory is flawed because I have been unable to trace this statement. Would you please help me to find a precise citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1959 William S. Burroughs published “Naked Lunch” which included the following pertinent passage spoken by a character in the novel. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“Sick people disgust me already. When some citizen start telling me about his cancer of the prostate or his rotting septum make with that purulent discharge I tell him: ‘You think I am innarested to hear about your horrible old condition? I am not innarested at all.’”

QI believes that the statement in the inquiry was derived from the two highlighted sentences in “Naked Lunch” via an imperfect memory.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: We Learn From History That We Do Not Learn From History

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel? Aldous Huxley? George Bernard Shaw? Henry Tizard? Caroline Thomas Harnsberger? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The historical record displays clear patterns, yet there is enormous resistance to learning from these patterns. Here are two versions of a humorously contradictory adage:

(1) We learn from history that we do not learn from history.

(2) We learn from experience that people never learn anything from experience.

This notion has been attributed to German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, English writer Aldous Huxley, and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Would you please help me to find solid citations?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In the early decades of the 1800s Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel delivered a series of lectures which were collected and published posthumously under the title “Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte” (“Lectures on the Philosophy of History”). The 1837 edition contained the following passage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Man verweist Regenten, Staatsmänner, Völker vornehmlich an die Belehrung durch die Erfahrung der Geschichte. Was die Erfahrung aber und die Geschichte lehren ist dieses daß Völker und Regierungen niemals etwas aus der Geschichte gelernt und nach Lehren, die aus derselben zu ziehen gewesen wären, gehandelt hätten.

Here is one possible translation into English:

Rulers, statesmen and peoples are primarily referred to the lessons of historical experience. But what experience and history teach is that nations and governments have never learned anything from history and have never acted in accordance with the lessons that could have been drawn from it.

The popular modern saying under examination is a condensed and simplified version of the statement crafted by Hegel before his death in 1831.

Aldous Huxley and George Bernard Shaw both penned statements in this family of sayings which are presented further below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Those Who Cannot Remember the Past Are Condemned To Repeat It

George Santayana? Edmund Burke? Winston Churchill?

Metaphorical representation of the transience of historical knowledge from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: The study of history teaches vital lessons; however, those lessons are often unheeded. Here are five versions of a popular adage:

(1) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

(2) Those who do not learn from the experience of history are doomed to repeat it.

(3) Those who cannot learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them.

(4) Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

(5) Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

This notion has been attributed to Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, Anglo-Irish philosopher Edmund Burke, and British statesman Winston Churchill. Would you please help me to determine the correct phrasing together with a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1905 George Santayana published “The Life of Reason, or The Phases of Human Progress”. The twelfth chapter titled “Flux and Constancy In Human Nature” contained the following passage. Boldface added to excepts by QI:¹

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted; it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in whom instinct has learned nothing from experience.

QI has found no closely matching statement in the writings of Edmund Burke. He did pen a thematically related remark in his 1790 book titled “Reflections on the Revolution in France”:²

People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.

QI has found no match in the writings or speeches of Winston Churchill who died in 1965. The saying was linked to Churchill by 1985.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.