Tracing Quotations
Albert Einstein? Samuel Johnson? Sophonisba Breckinridge? John Brunner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The depth and breadth of information available on the internet is wondrous. Here are three examples from a family of pertinent sayings I came across recently: 1) I don’t need to know everything; I just need to know where to find it, …
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Groucho Marx? George Burns? Jean Giraudoux? Celeste Holm? Ed Nelson? Samuel Goldwyn? Daniel Schorr? Joe Franklin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The funniest advice I was ever given as a sales associate was from another seasoned employee: The most important thing is honesty. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made. Later, I read or …
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Locale: San Francisco, California? Paris, France? Duluth, Minnesota? Milwaukee, Wisconsin? Originator: Mark Twain? Horace Walpole? James Quin? R. Q. Grant? Lord Byron? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Living in Menlo Park near San Francisco I have heard the following witticism credited to Mark Twain many times: The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in …
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Groucho Marx? Ed Wynn? Jimtown Weekly? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Groucho Marx was the host of a quiz show called “You Bet Your Life” during the 1940s and 50s. Sometimes when a contestant did poorly Groucho would ask an easy question so that the person could win a prize or some money. For example: Who …
Continue reading “Quiz Question: Who Is Buried in Grant’s Tomb? Answer: Grant!”
Ann Landers? Abigail Van Buren? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Samuel Johnson? Malcolm Forbes? Paul Eldridge? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? James D. Miles? Dan Reeves? Dear Quote Investigator: I am attempting to verify the following quotation because it will appear in a forthcoming book, but I have discovered multiple attributions: You can easily judge the character of …
Charles Kingsford-Smith? Ernest K. Gann? TWA Captain? Yachtsman? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: In the aviation world there is an axiom that avers: The only time an aircraft has too much fuel on board is when it is on fire. This pearl of wisdom is commonly attributed to the pioneer Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, …
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Mark Twain? Ben Wade? Emery A. Storrs? James Matthew Barrie? Robert Burton? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a well-known quotation about heaven and hell that is usually credited to Mark Twain. I have found it phrased in different ways: Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. I would choose Heaven for climate …
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Frank Lloyd Wright? Herbert Hoover? Arch Oboler? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: When I was a child I saw a gallery of images showing a house built at the top of a waterfall. I fell in love with that house, called Fallingwater, and later learned that it was built by the extraordinary American architect Frank Lloyd …
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Who was fighting? Russians? French? Zulus? English? Prussians? Boers? Dear Quote Investigator: When I worked on a student newspaper in college I was told a story about a late night editor at a major newspaper who received a terse wire report saying the “Russians Have Taken Umbrage”. The editor did not know the meaning of …
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Eleanor Roosevelt? Reader’s Digest? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a remarkably insightful statement about self-esteem that is usually credited to Eleanor Roosevelt, the diplomat and former First Lady: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. This is one of my favorite quotations, but I have not been able to determine …
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