Warren Buffett? Frank Fellinger? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The funniest and most perceptive comment about the precious metal gold is attributed to the super-investor Warren Buffett: Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or some place. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand …
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It Seems As If Anything I Like Is Either Illegal, Immoral, or Fattening
Alexander Woollcott? W. C. Fields? Frank Rand of St. Louis? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The candor of my favorite saying makes it wonderfully humorous. Here are three versions I have seen: All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. Anything in life that’s any fun is either immoral, illegal …
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It Is the Mark of a Truly Intelligent Person To Be Moved By Statistics
George Bernard Shaw? Bertrand Russell? Oscar Wilde? John H. Gibbons? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following quotation is used by speakers who are planning to project a series of slides that are filled with statistics. The words are credited to the famous dramatist and intellectual George Bernard Shaw. Here are two versions: The sign of …
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We Do Not Inherit the Earth from Our Ancestors; We Borrow It from Our Children
Amish Saying? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Native American Proverb? Wendell Berry? Oscar Wilde? Chief Seattle? Moses Henry Cass? Dennis J. Hall? Helen Caldicott? Lester Brown? David R. Brower? Taghi Farvar? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: In my opinion the most thoughtful and poignant quotation about the environment is the following: We do not inherit the earth from …
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News Is What Somebody Does Not Want You To Print. All the Rest Is Advertising
George Orwell? Alfred Harmsworth? William Randolph Hearst? L. E. Edwardson? Robert W. Sawyer? Mark Rhea Byers? Brian R. Roberts? Malcolm Muggeridge? Katharine Graham? Lord Rothermere? Lord Northcliffe? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I have been trying to trace a popular saying about journalism which can be expressed in several ways. Here are four examples to show …
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Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do The Day After Tomorrow Just As Well
Mark Twain? Oscar Wilde? Josh Billings? Spanish Proverb? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Everyone is guilty of some procrastination. Even the industrious humorist Mark Twain was credited with a quotation sympathetic to the indolent: Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow. Puzzlingly, this same quip has been ascribed to the …
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Watch Your Thoughts, They Become Words; Watch Your Words, They Become Actions
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Lao Tzu? Frank Outlaw? Gautama Buddha? Bishop Beckwaith? Father of Margaret Thatcher? Dear Quote Investigator: What do the following people have in common: Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, supermarket magnate Frank Outlaw, spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha, and the father of Margaret Thatcher? Each one of these individuals has been …
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Genius Is One Percent Inspiration, Ninety-Nine Percent Perspiration
Thomas Edison? Kate Sanborn? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Thomas Edison is credited with a famous adage about creativity and innovation: Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. I found another quotation that specified a slightly different ratio of 2 percent to 98 percent. What did Edison actually say? Quote Investigator: Edison did discuss …
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“You Look Nice and Cool.” “Thanks! You Don’t Look So Hot Yourself.”
Yogi Berra? Babe Herman? Department Store Sales Woman? Young Student? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation from Yogi Berra was said when he was introduced to a beautiful model after a baseball game. She complimented him, and his fumbling reply was unintentionally funny: She said, “You look so nice and cool in that white …
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Folks Are Usually About as Happy as They Make Up Their Minds To Be
Abraham Lincoln? Frank Crane? Orison Swett Marden? Dale Carnegie? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: On twitter recently there was an exchange about a deeply insightful quotation credited to Abraham Lincoln: Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. I love this saying, and it helps me to reflect constructively on …
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