Quote Investigator® – Page 17

Quote Origin: The Pun Is the Lowest Form of Humor When You Don’t Think of It First

Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? John Dryden? Jonathan Swift? Edgar Allan Poe? Anonymous?

Pun: Deer to be different! Picture from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: The utterance of a pun is sometimes greeted with the assertion that puns are the lowest form of humor, but a humorist once explained the true reason behind this criticism. The complainer was unable to think of the pun first. This notion has been attributed to radio comedian Mary Livingstone and concert pianist Oscar Levant? Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest close match located by QI appeared in “Liberty” magazine in 1942 within an article titled “How To Live With a Comic” by Mary Livingstone. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

This makes me realize there must be one in every family—a husband, a son, an uncle, or the handy man around the house . . . who thinks a pun is the lowest form of wit because he didn’t think of it first. That’s why I’m writing this piece—to relate my own experiences with a professional funny man so that you’ll better know how to handle your amateur funny man.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Success Is a Great Deodorant

Elizabeth Taylor? John Madden? Jason Kidd? Richard Meryman? Derek Donald? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A person who has been ostracized can achieve rehabilitation over time. The key to this re-acceptance is the attainment of success in some endeavor. An athlete who wins a big game, an actor who stars in a popular show, an entrepreneur who builds a prosperous company are all candidates for social recovery. An adage expresses this notion. Here are five versions:

(1) There’s no deodorant like success.
(2) Success is a great deodorant
(3) Winning is a great deodorant.
(4) Winning is the best deodorant.
(5) Winning is the greatest deodorant.

This saying has been attributed to U.S. actress Elizabeth Taylor, U.S. sports commentator John Madden, and U.S. basketball player Jason Kidd. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In the early 1960s Elizabeth Taylor starred in the film “Cleopatra”. During the filming of this epic she engaged in an extramarital affair with co-star Richard Burton. Subsequently, the two divorced their spouses and married one another in March 1964. In December 1964 “LIFE” magazine printed an interview of Taylor conducted by journalist Richard Meryman. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

I have learned, however, that there’s no deodorant like success. Richard and I had been pretty scandalous and all of a sudden, after the opening night of Hamlet in New York, everybody was beaming and sighing. People that hadn’t spoken to us in two years were patting him on the back and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Without a Little Falsehood Life Would Be Impossible

Hilaire Belloc? Solomon Cohen? John Butler Yeats? Anonymous?

Street sign at the intersection of “Truth” and “Lie”

Question for Quote Investigator: Absolute candor leads to social friction, alienation, and hostility. People tell lies to avoid hurting the feelings of others. Also, people embellish the truth to construct entertaining anecdotes from humdrum events. Further, people alter the truth to avoid harsh certainties. The following controversial adage provides a justification:

Without a little falsehood life would be impossible.

Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1941 French-English writer Hilaire Belloc published “The Silence Of The Sea and Other Essays”. The quotation appeared within an essay titled “On Speaking Too Soon”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Telling the news, like telling any kind of truth, is dangerous and cannot be unlimited. Obviously dangerous to the man who tells the truth, but dangerous also to the community he addresses. The only practical debate in the matter is on the degree of falsehood that ought to be admitted in order that the truth shall be of value.

We are all agreed that without a little falsehood life would be impossible. Gold cannot be worked without an alloy, it is not stiff enough.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: One of the Deep Secrets of Life Is That All That Is Really Worth the Doing Is What We Do For Others

Lewis Carroll? Charles L. Dodgson? Ellen Terry? Anonymous?

Illustration depicting a gift from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: Altruists believe that the following is a deep insight about life:

What is truly worth doing is what we do for others.

Lewis Carroll, the famous creator of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” apparently said something like this. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1890 Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym of English author and mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) wrote a letter to the popular English actress Ellen Terry who had performed a favor for him. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

And so you have found out that secret — one of the deep secrets of Life — that all, that is really worth the doing, is what we do for others? Even as the old adage tells us, “What I spent, that I lost; what I gave, that I had.”

Casuists have tried to twist “doing good” into another form of “doing evil,” and have said “you get pleasure yourself by giving this pleasure to another: so it is merely a refined kind of selfishness, as your own pleasure is a motive for what you do.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Proverb Origin: There May Be Snow On the Roof, But There’s Fire In the Furnace

Groucho Marx? Caroline Newnes? Louise Manning Hodgkins? Bert Lahr? Ted Ray? John Diefenbaker? Milton Berle? Anonymous?

Snow on the roof with a fire in the hearth

Question for Quote Investigator: The emergence of grey hair is inevitable as a person ages. Yet, most senior citizens are able to maintain their energy and vitality. A family of sayings uses figurative language to reflect this viewpoint. Here are two instances:

(1) There may be snow on the roof, but there’s fire in the furnace.

(2) Just because there’s frost on the windows, it doesn’t mean that the boiler’s gone out.

Would you please explore the provenance of this family?

Reply from Quote Investigator: This metaphorical framework has been expressed in many different ways which makes it difficult to trace. Below is an overview with dates:

1899: Snow on the roof but fire on the hearth (Written about some senior attendees of a meeting of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society held in Cleveland, Ohio)

1900: Snow on Baldy’s roof, but there’s a good warm fire inside (Spoken by a U.S. veteran at a meeting held in Vermont)

1902: Snow on the roof-tree, but there’s warmth and good cheer beneath (Written by Caroline Newnes in a New York periodical)

1932: Snow on the roof, but there’s fire in the furnace (Written in a Mississippi newspaper)

1934: Snow on the roof but there is plenty of fire in the furnace (Written by a reporter attending an American Legion meeting in Texas)

1945: Snow on the roof, don’t think there’s no fire inside (Attributed to comedian Groucho Marx)

1945: Snow on the roof, don’t think there’s no fire inside (Attributed to actor Bert Lahr)

1957: Snow on the roof doesn’t mean there isn’t a warm fire in the hearth (Spoken by wife of columnist Eric Nicol)

1950s: Frost on the windows, it doesn’t mean that the boiler’s gone out (Spoken by Ted Ray)

1968: Snow on the roof but that doesn’t mean that the fire in the furnace has gone out (Spoken by former Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker)

1989: Snow on the roof doesn’t mean there’s no fire in the house (Joke book of comedian Milton Berle)

Below are selected citations with details in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Those Who Most Dislike Puns Are Least Able To Utter Them

Edgar Allan Poe? Jonathan Swift? Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous?

Inspirational Pun: Toucan Do It. Illustration by Jean-Baptiste Oudry

Question for Quote Investigator: Creating humorous puns is difficult which may help to explain why detractors are so harsh. A wit once said:

Those who most dislike puns are least able to utter them

The master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe said something like this. Would you please help me to find a citation and determine the precise phrasing?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1845 Edgar Allan Poe published “Marginal Notes.—No. 1” in “Godey’s Lady’s Book”. Poe was unhappy that some literary critics were attacking originality. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

All true men must rejoice to perceive the decline of the miserable rant and cant against originality, which was so much in vogue a few years ago among a class of microscopical critics, and which at one period threatened to degrade all American literature to the level of Flemish art.

Of puns it has been said that those most dislike who are least able to utter them; but with far more of truth may it be asserted that invectives against originality proceed only from persons at once hypocritical and common-place. I say hypocritical—for the love of novelty is an indisputable element of the moral nature of man . . .

So Edgar Allan Poe employed a version of the saying, but he disclaimed credit by using the phrase “it has been said”. The originator remains anonymous, but the statement may have evolved from a remark attributed to the famous Irish satirist Jonathan Swift.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Punning Is a Talent Which No Man Affects To Despise, But He That Is Without It

Jonathan Swift? Edgar Allan Poe? Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? Apocryphal?

Pun: Owl you need is love. Illustration by Gustave Dore

Question for Quote Investigator: The dislike of puns is rooted in jealousy. A wit once said something like the following:

Punning is a talent which no one despises except those without it.

This notion has been attributed to Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, U.S. horror writer Edgar Allan Poe, and others. Would you please help me to find a citation and determine the precise phrasing?

Reply from Quote Investigator: There is a family of related sayings which discuss the art of creating puns. Below is an overview with dates:

1755: He greatly excelled in punning; a talent, which, he said, no man affected to despise, but those that were without it. (Comment about Jonathan Swift)

1764: Punning is a talent which no man affects to despise, but he that is without it. (Attributed to Jonathan Swift)

1807: Puns are disliked by none but those who can’t make them. (Attributed to Jonathan Swift)

1831: Nobody dislikes a pun but he who cannot make one. (Attributed to “a celebrated author” by T.H.B.)

1845: Of puns it has been said that those most dislike who are least able to utter them. (Written by Edgar Allan Poe)

1941: There must be one in every family . . . who thinks a pun is the lowest form of wit because he didn’t think of it first. (Written by Mary Livingstone)

1945: The pun is the lowest form of humor—when you don’t think of it first. (Attributed to Oscar Levant)

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: “The Pun Is the Lowest Form of Wit” “Yes, That Means It Is the Foundation of All Wit”

Henry Erskine? John Dryden? Tom Sheridan? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: An irritated critic stated that puns were the lowest form of wit. A wordsmith responded to this attack with the following clever conclusion which twisted the remark using word play. Since puns occupy the lowest position they must be the foundation of all humor. Would you please explore the provenance of this repartee?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in 1787 within “The County Magazine” of London. The joke appeared in a section of miscellaneous items called “Scraps”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“I hate Punning!”—said a gentleman well known at Bath,—“it is the lowest of all wit.”—“Then (replied the Punster whom he addressed) you must acknowledge it to be the foundation of all wit!”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: A Psychologist Tells You What You Already Know in a Language That You Cannot Understand

Henry Walker Hepner? Dorothy Dey? Ellen Seiter? Paddy Whannel? E. H. Jenkins? William James? Anonymous?

Picture of library in Stuttgart, Germany

Question for Quote Investigator: Members of a profession often develop a specialized vocabulary or jargon to communicate effectively with one another. Yet, these words and phrases are unintelligible to others. Here is a pertinent quip about psychology:

A psychologist is someone who tells you something you already know in a language which you cannot understand.

Similar barbs have been aimed at sociology, semiotics, cultural studies, and behavioral science. Would you please explore the provenance of these remarks?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Tracing this family of jokes is difficult because the phrasing is highly variable. The earliest match located by QI appeared within the “Proceedings of the New York Farmers”. A meeting was held in New York City in February 1898. An unnamed farmer received credit for a version of the gibe aimed at the entire field of science:¹

Years ago, after talking with a farmer—not a tobacco grower—regarding some reasons for thorough tillage, he paused in his work and remarked meditatively: “Science consists largely in telling people things which they already know, in a language which they cannot understand!”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Democracy Is the Worst Form of Government Except For All Others Which Have Been Tried

Winston Churchill? Guy Henson? Plato? Israel Zangwill? William Ralph Inge? Robert Briffault? Herbert Hoover? Anonymous?

Illustration of a ballot box from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: The flaws in the democratic form of government are numerous, yet the alternatives such as oligarchy and autocracy inevitably become oppressive and tyrannical. A famous saying states that democracy is the worst form of government except for all others which have been tried.

Winston Churchill popularized this notion, but I do not know who should receive credit for originating it. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In November 1947 Winston Churchill delivered a speech to the U.K. House of Commons. He made a memorable remark about democracy, but he employed the prefatory phrase “it has been said”. Thus, he signaled that the remark was already in circulation. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, continuously rule, and that public opinion, expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.

Churchill was correct that the saying was circulating before his remark. QI has located a match written by Canadian educator Guy Henson in May 1946 within “A Report On Provincial Support of Adult Education in Nova Scotia”. Henson did not take credit; instead, the attribution was anonymous:²

This dilemma in education depends for solution on the meaning of democracy in practice. This is commonly called the most difficult form of government in the world; it has even been called the worst form of government, except for all others which have been tried. Certainly it is the form of government which our people are agreed to make work.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.