Any Fool Can Paint a Picture, But It Takes a Wise Person To Be Able To Sell It

Samuel Butler? Apocryphal? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: I’ve always wanted to be an artist. But digitization and the internet have upended so many domains, e.g., music, photography, graphic art, and books. Now there are artists raising money on Kickstarter. Apparently, you cannot simply create a work of art; you must personally market and promote it. I’m trying to recall a statement by the controversial nineteenth century novelist Samuel Butler. Here is my vague memory:

Any fool can create a piece of art. Only a wise person can sell it.

The cogency of this adage has grown over the years. Can you tell me what Butler actually said?

Quote Investigator: Butler did make a remark of this type about painting. The statement was published posthumously in a book titled “Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler”. The introduction explained that Butler filled a sequence of notebooks over a long period of time with miscellaneous jottings:[1]1934, Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler by Samuel Butler, Chosen and edited by A. T. Bartholomew,”Art Note”, Chapter: Introduction, Quote Page 5, Published by Jonathan … Continue reading

Early in life Samuel Butler acquired the habit of carrying a Note-Book and of writing down in it anything he wanted to remember; it might be something he heard someone say, more often it was something he said himself. Or perhaps it was the germ of a passage in whatever book he happened to be writing at the moment.

Butler consolidated material on small notebooks by copying it to larger notebooks, and he sometimes revised his writings. The adage about painting was the following:[2]1934, Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler by Samuel Butler, Chosen and edited by A. T. Bartholomew,”Art Note”, Quote Page 175, Published by Jonathan Cape, London. … Continue reading

ART NOTE
Any fool can paint a picture but it takes a wise man to be able to sell it.

The above text was written in a notebook sometime between 1883 and 1887, and it may have been revised sometime between 1897 and 1898. Butler died in 1902, and the notebook extracts containing the quotation were published in 1934.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “Any Fool Can Paint a Picture, But It Takes a Wise Person To Be Able To Sell It”

References

References
1 1934, Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler by Samuel Butler, Chosen and edited by A. T. Bartholomew,”Art Note”, Chapter: Introduction, Quote Page 5, Published by Jonathan Cape, London. (Questia)
2 1934, Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler by Samuel Butler, Chosen and edited by A. T. Bartholomew,”Art Note”, Quote Page 175, Published by Jonathan Cape, London. (Questia)

You Can’t Use Up Creativity. The More You Use, The More You Have

Maya Angelou? Oscar Wilde? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: Recently on Pinterest and Twitter I have seen the following quotation attributed to the famous wit Oscar Wilde:

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.

However, I thought these were the words of the acclaimed poet and memoirist Maya Angelou. Would you please resolve this conflict?

Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Oscar Wilde made this remark. It is not listed in “The Wit & Wisdom of Oscar Wilde”, an extensive collection compiled by quotation expert Ralph Keyes.[1] 1996, The Wit & Wisdom of Oscar Wilde, Edited by Ralph Keyes, HarperCollins Publishers, New York. (Verified on paper)

The earliest evidence known to QI appeared in a periodical in 1982 which was initiating a series of articles:[2]1982, Bell Telephone Magazine, Volume 61, Number 1, Creativity: It’s the Thought that Counts by Mary Ardito, Start Page 32, Quote Page 32, Published by American Telephone and Telegraph Company, … Continue reading

With this edition, Bell Telephone Magazine begins a series to profile those people whose attitudes and approaches to problems and challenges bear the mark of creativity — of courage, of talent, of innovative problem solving.

Maya Angelou was the first subject of the series, and her wide accomplishments as a writer, singer, dancer, actress, and teacher were discussed. Angelou commented on the inexhaustibility of creativity. Boldface has been added to excerpts:[3]1982, Bell Telephone Magazine, Volume 61, Number 1, Creativity: It’s the Thought that Counts by Mary Ardito, Start Page 32, Quote Page 33, Published by American Telephone and Telegraph Company, … Continue reading

“You can’t use up creativity,” she stresses. “The more you use, the more you have. It is our shame and our loss when we discourage people from being creative. We set apart those people who should not be set apart, people whom we assume don’t have a so-called artistic temperament, and that is stupid.

“Too often creativity is smothered rather than nurtured. There has to be a climate in which new ways of thinking, perceiving, questioning are encouraged. People also have to feel they are needed.”

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “You Can’t Use Up Creativity. The More You Use, The More You Have”

References

References
1 1996, The Wit & Wisdom of Oscar Wilde, Edited by Ralph Keyes, HarperCollins Publishers, New York. (Verified on paper)
2 1982, Bell Telephone Magazine, Volume 61, Number 1, Creativity: It’s the Thought that Counts by Mary Ardito, Start Page 32, Quote Page 32, Published by American Telephone and Telegraph Company, New York. (Verified with scans; thanks to Charles Doyle and the University of Georgia, Athens library system)
3 1982, Bell Telephone Magazine, Volume 61, Number 1, Creativity: It’s the Thought that Counts by Mary Ardito, Start Page 32, Quote Page 33, Published by American Telephone and Telegraph Company, New York. (Verified with scans; thanks to Charles Doyle and the University of Georgia, Athens library system)

If I Am To Speak Ten Minutes, I Need a Week for Preparation; If an Hour, I Am Ready Now

Woodrow Wilson? Abraham Lincoln? Rufus Choate? Thomas B. Macaulay? William Howard Taft? Mark Twain? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: A biography of President Woodrow Wilson included an entertaining quotation about the preparation time needed for speeches of varying lengths. Here is an excerpt from the book:[1] 1946, The Wilson Era: Years of War and After 1917-1923 by Josephus Daniels, Quote Page 624,The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Verified with scans)

A member of the Cabinet congratulated Wilson on introducing the vogue of short speeches and asked him about the time it took him to prepare his speeches. He said:

“It depends. If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.”

This biography was published in 1946, i.e., many years after the death of Wilson in 1924. Could you search for earlier support of this quotation?

Quote Investigator: QI has located a match for a close variant quotation in 1918 that was attributed to Woodrow Wilson. The details are given further below.

There is a family of statements expressing this central idea, and it has been evolving for more than one hundred years. Tracing this family is difficult because of the high variability of the wording.

The first relevant instance found by QI was spoken in 1893 by the Governor of California. He ascribed the words to Abraham Lincoln, but this linkage was weak because Lincoln died decades earlier in 1865.This rudimentary version mentioned two different speech lengths instead of four:[2]1893, Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the Thirtieth Session of the Legislature of the State of California, Volume 1, First Biennial Message of Governor H. H. Markham to the … Continue reading

Lincoln once made a most apt suggestion applicable to such cases. When asked to appear upon some important occasion and deliver a five-minute speech, he said that he had no time to prepare five-minute speeches, but that he could go and speak an hour at any time.

In 1895 a minister named J. N. Hall gave a speech at a meeting of the Men’s Sunday Evening Club as reported in a Rockford, Illinois newspaper. Hall ascribed an instance of the saying to Rufus Choate who was an orator and Senator from Massachusetts who died decades earlier in 1859. This version was tripartite; however, the third part referred to talking all day instead of speaking for an hour:[3]1895 December 3, Rockford Daily Register Gazette, It’s Second Birthday: Men’s Sunday Evening Club Properly Celebrates, Quote Page 5, Column 2, (GNB Page 3), Rockford, Illinois. … Continue reading

There is a great deal in condensation in these days of compressed yeast and potted ham, and I am reminded of an incident told of Rufus Choate, who being asked to make a speech on a certain occasion said, “If it is to be a minute speech I shall need four weeks in which to prepare, if a half hour speech, then two weeks, but if I am to talk all day I’m ready now.”

The QI website also has an entry for a popular related quotation: “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter”. Here is a link.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “If I Am To Speak Ten Minutes, I Need a Week for Preparation; If an Hour, I Am Ready Now”

References

References
1 1946, The Wilson Era: Years of War and After 1917-1923 by Josephus Daniels, Quote Page 624,The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Verified with scans)
2 1893, Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the Thirtieth Session of the Legislature of the State of California, Volume 1, First Biennial Message of Governor H. H. Markham to the Legislature of the State of California, Thirtieth Session, (Delivered on January 3, 1893 in Sacramento, California), Start Page 3, Quote Page 5, Published by A. J. Johnston, Superintendent of State Printing, Sacramento, California. (Google Books Full View) link
3 1895 December 3, Rockford Daily Register Gazette, It’s Second Birthday: Men’s Sunday Evening Club Properly Celebrates, Quote Page 5, Column 2, (GNB Page 3), Rockford, Illinois. (GenealogyBank)

The Person Who is Clever and Lazy Qualifies for the Highest Leadership Posts

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder? Erich von Manstein? Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord? Douglas MacArthur? Frederick the Great? Apocryphal?

Dear Quote Investigator: In self-help books I have repeatedly seen a two-by-two matrix used to evaluate individuals. The four elements in the matrix were labeled: Brilliant & Lazy, Brilliant & Energetic, Dumb & Lazy, and Dumb & Energetic. Curiously, the brilliant and lazy were extolled above all others.

Sometimes a different vocabulary was employed. Brilliant was replaced by smart, bright, clever, or intelligent. Energetic was replaced by industrious or diligent. Dumb was replaced by stupid.

This four-class categorization has been ascribed to several German generals, e.g., Helmuth von Moltke, Erich von Manstein, Carl von Clausewitz, and Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord. Would you please explore the origins of this matrix?

Quote Investigator: The earliest evidence located by QI appeared in January 1933 in a periodical called “Army, Navy & Air Force Gazette” based in Great Britain. A passage attributed to German General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord described the placing of officers into four classes.

The text was reprinted under the title “Selecting Officers” in the “United States Naval Institute Proceedings” in March 1933[1]1933 March, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Professional Notes: January 1 to January 31, Section: Germany: Selecting Officers, Start Page 437, Quote Page 448, The Institute, Annapolis, … Continue reading and in the “Review of Military Literature: The Command and General Staff School Quarterly” in September 1933. Boldface has been added to excerpts:[2]1933 September, Review of Military Literature: The Command and General Staff School Quarterly, Volume 13, Number 50, Section 1: Abstracts of Foreign-Language Articles, Selection of German Officers, … Continue reading

General Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord, the present chief of the German Army, has a method of selecting officers which strikes us as being highly original and peculiarly un-­Prussian. According to Exchange, a Berlin newspaper has printed the following as his answer to a query as to how he judged his officers: “I divide my officers into four classes as follows: The clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities.

Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous.”

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “The Person Who is Clever and Lazy Qualifies for the Highest Leadership Posts”

References

References
1 1933 March, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Professional Notes: January 1 to January 31, Section: Germany: Selecting Officers, Start Page 437, Quote Page 448, The Institute, Annapolis, Maryland. (This document states that the material from “Army, Navy & Air Force Gazette” was published January 19) (Verified on microfilm)
2 1933 September, Review of Military Literature: The Command and General Staff School Quarterly, Volume 13, Number 50, Section 1: Abstracts of Foreign-Language Articles, Selection of German Officers, (Excerpt from “Army, Navy & Air Force Gazette” of UK; dated January 18, 1933), Quote Page 23 and 24, Published Quarterly by The Command and General Staff School Library, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. (Special note: QI has not yet seen the issue of “Army, Navy & Air Force Gazette” containing the excerpt; this data is from “Review of Military Literature”) (Verified with scans from Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library)

Choose a Lazy Person To Do a Hard Job Because That Person Will Find an Easy Way To Do It

Bill Gates? Frank Gilbreth Sr., Clarence Bleicher? Walter Chrysler? Apocryphal? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: There is a quotation offering eccentric advice that is often attributed to the billionaire software magnate Bill Gates:

I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.

I will always choose a lazy man to do a hard job because a lazy man will find an easy way to do it.

However, a very similar comment has been ascribed to Walter Chrysler who was famous for starting the Chrysler car company:

Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it.

Are these really the words of Gates or Chrysler?

Quote Investigator: Probably not. QI has located no substantive support for the claim that Bill Gates or Walter Chrysler made this remark.

The earliest evidence known to QI championing the counter-intuitive adroitness of the lazy man appeared in an article published in “Popular Science Monthly” in 1920. Frank B. Gilbreth Sr. evaluated the motions of workmen to determine the most efficient techniques to perform tasks:[1]1920 December, Popular Science Monthly, Volume 97, Number 6, “The Man of the ‘One Best Way’: How Frank Gilbreth studies men and their ways” by Fred C. Kelly, Start Page 34, … Continue reading

Gilbreth studied the methods of various bricklayers—the poor workmen and the best ones, and he stumbled upon an astonishing fact of great importance and significance. He found that he could learn most from the lazy man!

Most of the chance improvements in human motions that eliminate unnecessary movement and reduce fatigue have been hit upon, Gilbreth thinks, by men who were lazy—so lazy that every needless step counted.”

Another important thing Gilbreth noted was that the so-called expert factory workers are often the most wasteful of their motions and strength. Because of their energy and ability to work at high speed, such men may be able to produce a large quantity of good work, and thus qualify as experts, but they tire themselves out of all proportion to the amount of work done.

The above valuable citation was located by librarian Erica Cathers who shared it with QI.

Gilbreth’s ideas were influential, and his comments about the “lazy man” probably reached the ears of many managers in industry. In 1947 an automobile executive named Clarence Bleicher testified before a U.S. Senate committee. He was the president of a division of Chrysler Corporation that built DeSoto automobiles. QI hypothesizes that Bleicher’s remarks were refashioned over time to yield the modern quotations. The following excerpt includes a question that was posed by Allen J. Ellender who was a Senator from Louisiana:[2]1947, Eightieth U.S. Congress, First Session, Hearings Before the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Bills S. 55 and S.J. Res. 22, (Testimony of Clarence E. Bleicher on … Continue reading

Mr. BLEICHER. …So if you have got a job that is tough—I have taught my foremen this for some months now—if you get a tough job, one that is hard, and you haven’t got a way to make it easy, put a lazy man on it, and after 10 days he will have an easy way to do it, and you perfect that way and you will have it in pretty good shape. [Laughter.]…

Senator ELLENDER. You say you would put a lazy man on a job to find an easy way to do it. Why would you say a lazy man rather than a hard worker?

Mr. BLEICHER. Because the lazy man will find an easy way to do it. He may not do much, but he will find an easy way to do it. [Laughter.]

Senator ELLENDER. That has been your experience?

Mr. BLEICHER. That has been my experience.

A thematically related viewpoint was expressed by German General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord in the 1930s. However, Hammerstein was discussing the selection of military officers, and he assigned the greatest value to individuals who were both lazy and smart. The quotation under examination here does not mention intelligence. The QI entry on the Hammerstein quotation is available here.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “Choose a Lazy Person To Do a Hard Job Because That Person Will Find an Easy Way To Do It”

References

References
1 1920 December, Popular Science Monthly, Volume 97, Number 6, “The Man of the ‘One Best Way’: How Frank Gilbreth studies men and their ways” by Fred C. Kelly, Start Page 34, Quote Page 34, McClure, Phillips and Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link
2 1947, Eightieth U.S. Congress, First Session, Hearings Before the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Bills S. 55 and S.J. Res. 22, (Testimony of Clarence E. Bleicher on Friday January 31, 1947), Start Page 301, Quote Page 320, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (HathiTrust) link link

If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a Conservative at 35 You Have No Brain

Edmund Burke? Anselme Batbie? Victor Hugo? King Oscar II of Sweden? George Bernard Shaw? François Guizot? Jules Claretie? Georges Clemenceau? Benjamin Disraeli? Winston Churchill? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: Some individuals change their political orientation as they grow older. There is a family of sayings that present a mordant judgment on this ideological evolution. Here are three examples:

Not to be a républicain at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head.

If you’re not a socialist before you’re twenty-five, you have no heart; if you are a socialist after twenty-five, you have no head.

If you aren’t a liberal when you’re young, you have no heart, but if you aren’t a middle-aged conservative, you have no head.

Political terminology has changed over time, and it differs in distinct locales. Within the context of these sayings the terms “républicain”, “socialist”, and “liberal” were all on the left of the political spectrum. Would you please explore this complex topic?

Quote Investigator: The earliest strong match known to QI appeared in a history book titled “Histoire de la Révolution de 1870-71” by French literary figure Jules Claretie. The book included a reprint of a public 1872 letter from academic and politician Anselme Polycarpe Batbie who employed the saying. Interestingly, Batbie, credited the remark to “Burke”. Below is an excerpt in French followed by an English translation. Boldface has been added:[1]1874, Histoire de la Révolution de 1870-71 par Jules Claretie, Livre Second, Chapitre 2, Comment on letter: Le Conservateur du Gers publiait à ce propos la lettre de M. Batbie (On this subject, the … Continue reading

Plusieurs de mes amis m’engageaient à répondre par le trait célèbre de Burke: « Celui qui n’est pas républicain à vingt ans fait douter de la générosité de son âme; mais celui qui, après trente ans, persévère, fait douter de la rectitude de son esprit. »

Several of my friends urged me to respond with Burke’s famous line: “Anyone who is not a republican at twenty casts doubt on the generosity of his soul; but he who, after thirty years, perseveres, casts doubt on the soundness of his mind.”

Batbie was probably referring to the statesman Edmund Burke who was noted for his support of the American Revolution and his later condemnation of the French Revolution. However, QI has not located the quotation under investigation in the writings of Burke. Anselme Batbie lived between 1828 and 1887.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a Conservative at 35 You Have No Brain”

References

References
1 1874, Histoire de la Révolution de 1870-71 par Jules Claretie, Livre Second, Chapitre 2, Comment on letter: Le Conservateur du Gers publiait à ce propos la lettre de M. Batbie (On this subject, the Conservateur du Gers published Mr. Batbie’s letter), Letter location: Versailles, Letter date: 3 décembre 1872 (December 3, 1872), Quote Page 482, Column 1, Dépot Général de Vente a la Librairie Polo, Paris, France. (HathiTrust Full View) link

I Have Made an International Reputation for Myself by Thinking Once or Twice a Week

George Bernard Shaw? Apocryphal?

Dear Quote Investigator: The famous playwright, critic, and essayist George Bernard Shaw has been credited with a remark about his world-wide fame. He entertainingly stated that his acclaim rested on his ability to engage in thought once or twice a week because others attempted to think only two or three times a year. Would you be willing to trace this quotation?

Quote Investigator: The earliest instance of this remark known to QI was published in the mass-circulation periodical “Reader’s Digest” in May 1933. The statement was printed in a section called “Quotable Quotes” together with a miscellaneous collection of other items:[1] 1933 May, Reader’s Digest, Volume 23, Quotable Quotes, Quote Page 16, The Reader’s Digest Association. (Verified on microfilm)

George Bernard Shaw once addressed a company as follows: “I suppose that you seldom think. Few people think more than two or three times a year. I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.”

Unfortunately, the passage did not present any details about when the words were spoken nor was the audience identified. Shaw died in 1950, and the expression coupled with this ascription achieved wide-spread dissemination many years before his death.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “I Have Made an International Reputation for Myself by Thinking Once or Twice a Week”

References

References
1 1933 May, Reader’s Digest, Volume 23, Quotable Quotes, Quote Page 16, The Reader’s Digest Association. (Verified on microfilm)

If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything

Alexander Hamilton? Gordon A. Eadie? Irene Dunne? Peter Marshall? Theodore DeVries? William Sloane Coffin Jr.? Alex Hamilton? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: There is a popular exhortative statement that employs the contrasting words “stand” and “fall”. Here are three versions:

(1) If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
(2) Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
(3) When you stand for nothing, you fall for everything.

This adage is attributed to Alexander Hamilton, Peter Marshall, and others. Could you explore this topic?

Quote Investigator: An interesting precursor for the saying appeared in a Methodist church announcement in an Iowa newspaper from 1926. The word order and meaning were distinct, but the keywords were the same. In 1927 the same precursor was printed as a “Sermonogram” in an Ohio newspaper:[1] 1926 May 27, State Center Enterprise, Church Announcements: Methodist Mention, Quote Page 1, Column 4, State Center, Iowa. (NewspaperArchive)[2] 1927 July 29, Athens Messenger, Sermonograms, Quote Page 8, Column 7, Athens, Ohio. (NewspaperArchive)

It is easier to fall for anything than to stand for something.

Thanks to Andrew Steinberg for locating and sharing these nascent citations.

The earliest evidence of close match known to QI was published in the January 1945 issue of a journal called “Mental Hygiene”. At the time of publication World War II was still being fought. The adage appeared in an article by the medical doctor Gordon A. Eadie titled “The Over-All Mental-Health Needs of the Industrial Plant, with Special Reference to War Veterans”. Boldface has been added to excerpts:[3]1945 January, Mental Hygiene, Volume 29, Number 1, “The Over-All Mental-Health Needs of the Industrial Plant, with Special Reference to War Veterans” by Gordon A. Eadie, M.D. … Continue reading

We are trying to show him not only what we are fighting against, but what we are fighting for. So many of these boys have only a very hazy idea of the real issues of the war. About all they see is “going back to the good old days.” This is a dangerous state. If they don’t stand for something, they will fall for anything. They need to realize that we are fighting two wars—the war of arms and the war of ideas—that other war of which the war of arms is one phase.

The important reference work “The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs” from Yale University Press has an entry for this adage and points to the same journal and year for its earliest citation.[4]2012, The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, Compiled by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro Quote Page 239, Yale University Press, New Haven. (Note that the first citation lists the … Continue reading

Although the saying was employed by Gordon A. Eadie it is not clear whether he crafted it. A few months later the adage was spoken by the popular film actress Irene Dunne during a radio broadcast as indicated below. QI believes that it is reasonable to categorize this expression as an anonymous modern proverb.

The common attribution to the eighteenth-century statesman Alexander Hamilton was probably based on a mistaken understanding of a relatively modern citation. A different man named Alex Hamilton who was a British broadcaster used the saying in 1978. Details are given further below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything”

References

References
1 1926 May 27, State Center Enterprise, Church Announcements: Methodist Mention, Quote Page 1, Column 4, State Center, Iowa. (NewspaperArchive)
2 1927 July 29, Athens Messenger, Sermonograms, Quote Page 8, Column 7, Athens, Ohio. (NewspaperArchive)
3 1945 January, Mental Hygiene, Volume 29, Number 1, “The Over-All Mental-Health Needs of the Industrial Plant, with Special Reference to War Veterans” by Gordon A. Eadie, M.D. (Affiliation: Eastern Aircraft Division, General Motors Corporation, Linden, New Jersey), Start Page 101, Quote Page 103, Published by the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, Inc., New York. (Verified on microfilm)
4 2012, The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, Compiled by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro Quote Page 239, Yale University Press, New Haven. (Note that the first citation lists the title and author of the article preceding the article containing the saying due to a slight misreading.) (Verified on paper)

Everyone Is Necessarily the Hero of His Own Life Story

John Barth? Mary McCarthy? Apocryphal? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: I am trying to locate a statement made by the prominent metafictionalist author John Barth. The quotation was similar to the following:

Everyone is the hero of his own life story.

Do you know where this appeared?

Quote Investigator: John Barth did scribe a closely matching sentence in a short story titled “The Remobilization of Jacob Horner” published in Esquire magazine in 1958. The central character named Jacob Horner was a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University who suffered from bouts of paralysis caused by a malady he called “cosmopsis”. On occasion Horner experienced a disorienting cosmic viewpoint which seemed to render his actions purposeless, and he became temporarily immobile.

A physician that Horner met serendipitously had developed a variety of therapies to help individuals afflicted with psychologically induced paralysis. The doctor explained “Mythotherapy” with the following introductory words. Bold face has been added:[1]1958 July, Esquire, “The Remobilization of Jacob Horner” by John Barth (Short story), Start Page 54, Quote Page 59, Publisher by Arnold Gingrich, Esquire Inc., Chicago, Illinois. … Continue reading

“In life,” he said, “there are no essentially major or minor characters. To that extent, all fiction and biography, and most historiography, is a lie. Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.

The physician asserted that Horner’s paralysis occurred because he no longer perceived himself as a major or minor character within his own life story. To prevent this paralysis Horner must learn to assume a sharply defined mask or role and then dramatize the situation within which he was embedded.

Precursors of the quotation under examination were written in the 1800s as shown below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “Everyone Is Necessarily the Hero of His Own Life Story”

References

References
1 1958 July, Esquire, “The Remobilization of Jacob Horner” by John Barth (Short story), Start Page 54, Quote Page 59, Publisher by Arnold Gingrich, Esquire Inc., Chicago, Illinois. (Verified on microfilm)

We Fall Into Mutually Satisfying Weirdness and Call It Love

Dr. Seuss? Theodor Geisel? Robert Fulghum? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: I hope you will be able to trace a quotation for Valentine’s Day. The statement is usually attributed to Theodor Geisel who is better known as Dr. Seuss, and it begins as follows:

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird…

I have been unable to find this in any of the books written by Dr. Seuss. Did he really say it?

Quote Investigator: Probably not. There is no substantive evidence that Theodor Geisel who died in 1991 spoke or wrote this expression.

The quotation should be credited to the minister, painter, and top-selling author Robert Fulghum who is best known for the collection of essays “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”. However, this quote appeared in another 1997 book “True Love: Stories Told To and By Robert Fulghum” in a section called “Perspective”. The volume presented a variety of stories about love, and after recounting one eccentric amorous escapade Fulghum commented:

That’s weird. That’s really weird.
I would be surprised if you didn’t think that at least a couple of times while reading these stories. I did.

Yet, Fulghum adapted a stance of acceptance and asserted the universality of weirdness. Boldface has been added to excerpts:[1] 1997, True Love: Stories Told To and By Robert Fulghum by Robert Fulghum, Section: Perspective, Start Page 96, Quote Page 98, HarperCollins Publishers, New York. (Verified on paper)

You want my opinion? We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “We Fall Into Mutually Satisfying Weirdness and Call It Love”

References

References
1 1997, True Love: Stories Told To and By Robert Fulghum by Robert Fulghum, Section: Perspective, Start Page 96, Quote Page 98, HarperCollins Publishers, New York. (Verified on paper)