Robert Frost? Mark Twain? Margaret Pepperdene? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Prominent U.S. poet Robert Frost has received credit for a brilliantly vivid metaphor describing two types of teachers. One type fills students with so much quail shot they cannot move. The other type simply prods students a little, and they jump to the skies. …
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Adage Provenance: Before You Leave the House, Look in the Mirror and Remove One Piece of Jewelry
Coco Chanel? Gracie Allen? Joan Rivers? The McGuire Sisters? Polly Bergen? Nancy Abraham? Maggie Daly? Helen Hennessy? John Robert Powers? Beatrice Molinsky? George Burns? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Fashion sense is always subjective, but many agree that wearing too much jewelry looks gaudy and ostentatious. The style maven Coco Chanel supposedly gave the following …
Quote Origin: When a Man Loves Cats, I Am His Friend and Comrade
Mark Twain? Robert H. Hirst? Susy Clemens? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Several books about cats contain a quotation credited to humorist Mark Twain stating that Twain was a friend and comrade to people who love cats. I am skeptical of this attribution, and I haven’t seen a citation. Would you please explore this topic? …
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Quote Origin: Never Argue With Stupid People. They Will Drag You Down To Their Level and Then Beat You With Experience
Mark Twain? George Carlin? Yul Brynner? Jean Cocteau? Bob Gray? Dilbert? Scott Adams? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Logic and careful reasoning are the ingredients of a constructive argument. Acrimony and irrationality are the elements of a fruitless argument. The celebrated humorist Mark Twain supposedly formulated the following cautionary remark. Here are two versions: (1) …
Quote Origin: I Do Not Know What I Think Until I Read What I’m Writing
Flannery O’Connor? Graham Wallas? E. M. Forster? Inger Stevens? August Heckscher? Paul Samuelson? Shirley MacLaine? Joan Didion? E. L. Doctorow? John Gregory Dunne? Edward Albee? Wendy Wasserstein? William Faulkner? Virginia Hamilton Adair? Stephen King? Question for Quote Investigator: The process of writing helps to clarify thoughts and ideas. For example, some novelists do not outline …
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Quote Origin: Never Explain. Your Friends Don’t Require It, and Your Enemies Won’t Believe You, Anyway
Elbert Hubbard? Victor Grayson? P. G. Wodehouse? Benjamin Jowett? E. A. Isaacs? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Explaining one’s beliefs and motivations is typically worthwhile, but sometimes it seems to be futile. Here are two versions of a germane remark: (1) Never explain. Your friends don’t require it, and your enemies won’t believe you, anyway. …
Quote Origin: Never Retract. Never Explain. Get It Done and Let Them Howl
Benjamin Jowett? Nellie McClung? Elbert Hubbard? Lionel Arthur Tollemache? James Kay-Shuttleworth? Ralph Lingen? George Otto Trevelyan? Wilbur F. Storey? Frederic William Farrar? Benjamin Disraeli? John Arbuthnot Fisher? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Accomplishing a difficult task when facing strong opposition takes a forceful personality. Here are three pertinent guidelines for persevering: (1) Never retract. Never …
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Quote Origin: An Expert Is a Person Who Has Made All the Mistakes Which Can Be Made in a Very Narrow Field
Niels Bohr? Edward Teller? Werner Heisenberg? W. P. Northrup? Benjamin Stolberg? Harry M. Meacham? Eugene Kane? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Expertise is often acquired by learning from a series of errors. Here are three pertinent statements whose meanings diverge. The similarities suggest that these remarks still belong in the same family: (1) An expert …
Quote Origin: The Moment You Think You Understand a Great Work of Art, It’s Dead for You
Oscar Wilde? Robert Wilson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Major works of art are complex, ambiguous, and difficult to interpret. The vitality of a piece is compromised when a single meaning is imposed on it. Apparently, an artist once said something like this: The moment you understand a great work of art, it’s dead for …
Quote Origin: I Don’t Care Who Writes a Nation’s Laws . . . If I Can Write Its Economic Textbooks
Paul Samuelson? Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun? Percy Bysshe Shelley? Mary Shelley? Sylvia Nasar? Question for Quote Investigator: The cultural impact of economic thought has been enormous. Apparently, a famous economist once said something like this: I don’t care who writes a nation’s laws if I can write its economic textbooks. Would you please help me …