Quote Origin: I Told the Doctor I Was Overtired, . . . Constantly Depressed With Recurring Fits of Paranoia. Turns Out I’m Normal

Jules Feiffer? Leonard Roy Frank? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Many years ago I encountered a comic strip presenting a humorous commentary about the modern condition. In a series of panels a person complained to a doctor about feeling overtired, anxious, depressed, and paranoid. The doctor simply replied that the person was perfectly normal. I do not recall the exact phrasing. I think the creator was cartoonist Jules Feiffer. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In January 1969 “The Village Voice” newsweekly of New York printed a six-panel comic strip by Jules Feiffer. Each panel contained one of the phrases below accompanied with the drawing of a face displaying an evolving sequence of unhappy expressions. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

I TOLD THE DOCTOR I WAS OVERTIRED—
ANXIETY RIDDEN—
COMPULSIVELY ACTIVE—
CONSTANTLY DEPRESSED—
WITH RECURRING FITS OF PARANOIA..
TURNS OUT I’M NORMAL.

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: Picture of two surveillance cameras from Miłosz Klinowski at Unsplash. The image has been cropped.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Mardy Grothe whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Grothe knew the text of the comic and was told that the quotation appeared circa 1968 in a Jules Feiffer comic strip in “The Village Voice”. Many thanks to Ben Zimmer who precisely located the work in the January 30, 1969 issue of “The Village Voice”.

[1] 1969 January 30, The Village Voice, (Comic Strip by Jules Feiffer), Quote Page 4, Column 1, The Village Voice Inc., New York. (Google News Archive) link

Quote Origin: The Greatest Mistake You Can Make In Life Is To Be Continually Fearing You Will Make One

Elbert Hubbard? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Anxiety about making a mistake can cause inaction and paralysis. Moving forward inevitably leads to some errors and imperfections. Yet it is necessary to make choices, take action, and fix the accompanying mistakes. Here is a pertinent adage:

The greatest mistake is continually fearing you will make one.

This statement has been attributed to U.S. writer, publisher, and philosopher Elbert Hubbard. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Elbert Hubbard was the chief writer of the periodical “The Philistine”. The November 1901 issue contained a collection of miscellaneous quotations which included the following three items from Hubbard. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

Not only does beauty fade, but it leaves a record upon the countenance as to what became of it.

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.

The more one knows the more one simplifies.

QI believes that Elbert Hubbard deserves credit for the quotation under examination. Hubbard sometimes used quotations from others without listing an ascription, but QI has found no other substantive candidate for authorship of this quotation.

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Images Notes: A broken plate from CHUTTERSNAP at Unsplash. The image has been cropped.

Acknowledgement: Thanks to My Peak Challenge who tweeted this saying with an attribution to Elbert Hubbard. Great thanks to Jane Bella who subsequently inquired about the tweet which led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.

[1] 1901 November, The Philistine, Volume 13, Number 6, (Untitled collection of miscellaneous quotations), Quote Page 187 and 188, The Roycrofters, East Aurora, New York. (Google Books Full View) link

Quote Origin: The Essence of True Horror — the Clown, at Midnight

Robert Bloch? Lon Chaney? Stephen King? Ray Bradbury? Carlos Clarens? Eleanor Ringel? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A clown is usually a figure of humor or pathos, but a clown can also be frightening. If one appeared on your doorstep late at night it would be deeply unsettling. The following saying has been attributed to horror writer Robert Bloch, horror actor Lon Chaney, and horror author Stephen King. Here are five versions:

(1) The essence of true horror — the clown, at midnight. 
(2) There is nothing laughable about a clown in the moonlight.
(3) There’s nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight.
(4) No one loves a clown at midnight.
(5) A clown isn’t funny in the moonlight.

I have not seen any solid citations for this saying. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Robert Bloch was best known as the author of the 1959 book “Psycho” which was made into a chilling 1960 film by Alfred Hitchcock. In May 1962 the magazine “Famous Monsters of Filmland” published “The Clown At Midnight” by Robert Bloch. This was the second part of a two part article. Bloch wrote about his desire to visit the cinema “for shocks & shudders and the wholesome release of fears as old as all mankind”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

Where our search will lead, I don’t know. It may be that we’ll discover the ultimate cinematic horror in a clown. Years ago, Lon Chaney said:

“A clown is funny in the circus ring, but what would be the normal reaction to opening a door at midnight and finding the same clown standing there in the moonlight?”

That, to me, is the essence of true horror — the clown, at midnight.

A note at the beginning of this 1962 article stated that the essay was reprinted from a 1960 issue of “Rogue”. QI has not directly examined this earlier article. The cover of the March 1960 issue of “Rogue” does list an article titled “The Clown at Midnight”.

QI has not yet found additional evidence supporting the attribution of the quotation to Lon Chaney. Chaney died in 1930. The final sentence with the word “essence” is a quotation directly from Bloch and not Chaney.

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: Partially illuminated tree shown late at night from Aditya Chinchure at Unsplash. The image has been cropped.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to author Will Ludwigsen whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.

[1] 1962 May, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Volume 4, Number 2, The Clown at Midnight (Conclusion) by Robert Bloch, Note: First published in Rogue magazine in 1960, Start Page 8, Quote Page 32, Central Publications, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Verified with scans)

Quote Origin: Habit Is Habit, and Not To Be Flung Out of the Window By Any Man, But Coaxed Down Stairs a Step at a Time

Mark Twain? Mabel Thatcher Wellman? Ellen H. Richards? John Harvey Kellogg? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Longstanding habits are difficult to break. This notion has been expressed metaphorically as follows:

A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.

This statement has been attributed to the famous humorist Mark Twain, but I have been unable to find a solid citation. Also, there exists a family of similar remarks with different phrasings. Variants use the words “flung”, “thrown”, and “tossed”. Were any of these remarks written or spoken by Mark Twain? Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest member of this family known to QI occurred in an installment of the serialized version of Mark Twain’s work “Pudd’nhead Wilson” which appeared in “The Century Magazine” in January 1894. The fourth chapter featured the following epigraph. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

HABIT is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs a step at a time.—Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.

Mark Twain used the expression again within an installment of his work titled “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc” published in “Harper’s New Monthly Magazine” in May 1895. The narrator was a fictional version of Joan of Arc’s page and secretary:2

. . . I was resolved to face about, now, and begin over again, and never insult her more with deception. I started on the new policy by saying—still opening up with a small lie, of course, for habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down stairs a step at a time . . .

In 1896 “Education: A Monthly Magazine” published a piece titled “The Physiological Law of Habit and Its Application To Common School Studies” by Mabel Thatcher Wellman which credited Twain with a variant expression using the word “throw”:3

As Mark Twain puts it, “No man is strong enough to throw habit out of the window, it must be coaxed step by step down stairs.” The surest way of overcoming a bad habit is to start a counter habit which, by its increasing force, makes resistance to the evil grow constantly less difficult . . .

Over the years other variants have entered circulation. These alternate versions were probably constructed based on faulty memories of Twain’s original statement.

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: View out of an open window in Italy from Jacob Morch at Unsplash. The image has been cropped.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Hugh Hyatt whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Hyatt noticed that Twain often received credit for a version of the saying using the word “tossed”, but Hyatt was skeptical because no citation was supplied.

[1] 1894 January, The Century Magazine, Volume 47, Number 3, Pudd’nhead Wilson: A Tale by Mark Twain, Serialized, (Chapter 4 starts on page 329; the quotation appears as an epigraph of Chapter 6), Quote Page 334, The Century Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link

[2] 1895 May, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Volume 90, Number 540, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by The Sieur Louis de Conte (Her Page and Secretary) by Mark Twain, Serialized (Chapter 6 begins on page 845), Quote Page 849, Column 2, Harper and Brothers, New York. (Google Books Full View) link

[3] 1896 September, Education: A Monthly Magazine, Volume 17, Number 1, The Physiological Law of Habit and Its Application To Common School Studies by Mabel Thatcher Wellman, Start Page 52, Quote Page 52, Kasson and Palmer, Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link

Headline Origin: Sticks Nix Hick Pix

Variety? Abel Green? Lin Bonner? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A famous headline appeared in the U.S. show business periodical “Variety” in 1935:

STICKS NIX HICK PIX

STICKS referred to rural audiences. NIX meant reject. HICK referred to a rural theme. PIX meant a motion picture. Thus, the headline was stating that rural audiences were not going to see films with rural themes.

I have seen other versions of this headline, e.g., STIX NIX HIX PIX. The situation is perplexing. Would you please determine the precise original text together with a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Here is a sampling of close matches for this headline which have appeared over the years. The similarity of these candidates has caused confusion. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:

1935: STICKS NIX HICK PIX
1936: STIX NIX HICK PIX
1937: STIX NIX HIX PIX
1949: STIX NIX HICKS PIX
1953: STICKS NIX HICKS PICS
1955: STICKS NIX HIX PIX

The original headline appeared on the front page of “Variety” on July 17, 1935. The following was the main banner together with the subheading:[1]

STICKS NIX HICK PIX
NOT INTERESTED IN FARM DRAMA

In 1935 the editor of “Variety” was Abel Green, and the person assigned to construct the headline was Lin Bonner. Green was still the editor when he wrote on the topic of authorship thirty years later in 1965. The term “streamer” meant headline:[2]

The story itself was anything but one of this paper’s best and Lin Bonner was assigned to come up with a lively streamer. Bonner had only just been transferred from the Hollywood to the New York staff, coming east in the hope a change of climate would help his health. After he groped half an afternoon for the right swing and size of caption this editor applied the final touch. All unanticipated, a VARIETY classic was born.

Thus, Abel Green took credit for crafting the headline although he may have received some input from Lin Bonner. Sadly, Bonner died from cancer within three weeks of the headline appearance according to Green. Thus, Bonner’s testimony remains unavailable.

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: Famous headline from the magazine “Variety”.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Jonathan Lighter whose discussion of this topic led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Lighter found citations for a variant and remarked on the difference from the original.

[1] 1935 July 17, Variety, Volume 119, Number 5, STICKS NIX HICK PIX (Front page headline), Quote Page 1, Column 1, Variety Inc., New York. (ProQuest)

[2] 1965 October 13, Variety, Volume 119, Number 5, STICKS NIX HICK PIX by Abel Green, Quote Page 2, Column 5, Variety Inc., New York. (ProQuest)

Quote Origin: Anger Is an Acid That Can Do More Harm To the Vessel In Which It’s Stored Than To Anything On Which It’s Poured

Mark Twain? Ann Landers? Turkish Proverb? Mohandas Gandhi? Seneca the Younger? Frederica Mathewes-Green? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Intense feelings of anger affect the body and mind negatively. This notion can be expressed metaphorically:

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

Mark Twain, Ann Landers, and Mohandas Gandhi have received credit for this saying, but I am skeptical because I have not seen any solid citations. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Mark Twain employed this saying. It does not appear on the Twain Quotes website edited by Barbara Schmidt,[1] nor does it appear in the large compilation “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips” edited by Caroline Thomas Harnsberger.[2]

The earliest close match located by QI appeared in May 1955 within the “Daily News-Post” of Monrovia, California. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:[3]

Corrosive
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it’s stored than to anything on which it’s poured.

The saying above also appeared on the same day in other newspapers such as the “San Pedro News-Pilot”[4] of San Pedro, California and the “Evening Vanguard”[5] of Venice, California. The creator was anonymous.

The central metaphor of this expression has a long history in the Turkish language. A compact instance appeared in “A Dictionary of Turkish Proverbs” compiled by Metin Yurtbaşı:[6]

Keskin sirke küpüne/kabına zarar.
Sour vinegar harms its jar.
[A bad temper harms its possessor most!]

The dictionary provided a nineteenth century citation and a twentieth century citation for this proverb in Turkish:

ÖAA 1402 < Ş 3037
Ş. = Şinasi, Durüb-ı Emsâl-i Osmaniyye (Ottoman Proverbs), Istanbul, 1863.
ÖAA = Ömer Asim Aksoy, Atasözleri Sözlüyü (Dictionary of Proverbs), Ankara, 1965.

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: Picture of a campfire cauldron from Ray_Shrewsberry at Pixabay. The image has been cropped.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Ben Hadad whose message led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Hadad was reminded of this saying by the related saying about resentment. He noted the attribution to Mark Twain and the existence of a Turkish proverb “Sharp vinegar harms its own container”.

[1] Website: TwainQuotes.com, Editor: Barbara Schmidt, (QI searched the website for quotations containing the phrase “anger is an acid” or the phrase “vessel in which”. No pertinent match was discovered), Description: Mark Twain quotations, articles, and related resources. (Searched January 28, 2023) link

[2] 1948, Mark Twain at Your Fingertips by Caroline Thomas Harnsberger, (QI searched for quotations containing the phrase “anger is an acid” or the phrase “vessel in which”. No pertinent match was discovered), Cloud, Inc., Beechhurst Press, Inc., New York. (Verified with search)

[3] 1955 May 16, Daily News-Post, Corrosive (Filler item), Quote Page 4, Column 1, Monrovia, California. (Newspapers_com)

[4] 1955 May 16, San Pedro News-Pilot, Corrosive (Filler item), Quote Page 4, Column 1, San Pedro, California. (Newspapers_com)

[5] 1955 May 16, Evening Vanguard, Corrosive (Filler item), Quote Page 4, Column 1, Venice, California. (Newspapers_com)

[6] 2012 (1993 First Printing), A Dictionary of Turkish Proverbs, Compiled by Metin Yurtbaşı, Topic: Anger, Quote Page 17, Published by Mehmet Başpehlivan, Excellence Publishing. (Verified with scans)

Quote Origin: There’s No Point in Having Sharp Images If You’ve Got Fuzzy Ideas

Jean-Luc Godard? Ansel Adams? Richard Roud? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: When you create a photograph or film your intentions should be well defined. Here are three pertinent statements which may be grouped together:

(1) There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.
(2) There’s no point in having a sharp image if intentions are blurred.
(3) There’s no point in having sharp images if you’ve got fuzzy ideas.

This notion has been attributed to French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and U.S. photographer Ansel Adams. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1963 the French journal “Cahiers du Cinéma” published a review by Jean-Luc Godard of recent works by the British documentary director Richard Leacock. Godard criticized Leacock’s style of cinéma-vérité because it did not embody a viewpoint or attitude. The following excerpt in French is accompanied with one possible English translation. Boldface has been added by QI:[1]

Privée ainsi de conscience, la caméra de Leacock, malgré son honnêteté, perd les deux qualités fondamentales d’une caméra ; l’intelligence et la sensibilité. Rien ne sert d’avoir une image nette si les intentions sont floues. Son manque de subjectivité conduit d’ailleurs Leacock à manquer finalement d’objectivité.

Thus deprived of conscience, Leacock’s camera, for all its honesty, loses the two fundamental qualities of a camera: intelligence and sensitivity. There’s no point in having a sharp image if intentions are blurred. Indeed, Leacock’s lack of subjectivity ultimately leads to a lack of objectivity.

Godard’s analysis of Leacock’s films also included the following statements:

On peut l’expliquer facilement en disant que l’équipe de Leacock met en scène au niveau d’un Gordon Douglas, même pas d’un Hathaway ou d’un Stuart Heisler. Avec en plus ce défaut qu’ils ne savent même pas qu’ils mettent en scène, et que le reportage pur n’existe pas.

This can easily be explained by saying that Leacock’s team directs at the level of a Gordon Douglas, not even a Hathaway or a Stuart Heisler. With the added flaw that they don’t even know they’re directing, and that pure reportage doesn’t exist.

In 1968 U.S. film critic Richard Roud published “Jean-Luc Godard”. Roud was a movie enthusiast who co-founded the New York Film Festival. In his book about Godard, Roud discussed cinéma vérité, and he included a germane quotation in English attributed to Godard. No citation was specified for the commentary, but the likely source was the “Cahiers du Cinéma” passages presented previously in this article:[2]

The implication, of course, is that cinéma vérité does not give us the truth. It, too, is a kind of counterfeit passed off as the real thing . . . Or like Godard’s view of Richard Leacock:

“There’s no point in having sharp images if you’ve got fuzzy ideas. Leacock’s lack of subjectivity leads him ultimately to a lack of objectivity. He doesn’t even know that he is a metteur en scène, that pure reportage doesn’t exist.”

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: Blurry image of Sydney, Australia from Lubo Minar at Unsplash

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Yoel Greenberg whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Greenberg had already located a source for one of the Ansel Adams quotations.

[1] 1963 Décembre to 1964 Janvier, Cahiers du Cinéma, Topic: Situation du Cinéma Américain II (The State of American Cinema II), Tome XXV, Number 150-151, Review Essay: Richard Leacock by Jean-Luc Godard, Start Page 139, Quote Page 140, Cahiers du Cinéma: les éditions de l’Etoile, Paris, France. (Verified with scans)

[2] 1968, Jean-Luc Godard by Richard Roud, Appendix A: Shorts and Sketches, Quote Page 138 and 139, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York. (Verified with scans)

Quote Origin: I Have Been Misquoted Everywhere, and the Inaccuracies Are Chasing Me Round the World

George Bernard Shaw? Ritchie Calder? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Prominent Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw is a misquotation magnet. Numerous remarks have been ascribed to him that he never said. Apparently, he once grumbled about being “misquoted everywhere”. He believed that the inaccuracies were chasing him around the world. Would you please help me to find a citation.

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1933 the “Daily Herald” of London printed a piece about George Bernard Shaw who complained that his recent conversation with Helen Keller had been misreported. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:[1]

“I remember meeting her in London, as they say in their attacks, at Lady Astor’s. Conversation was difficult, as you would suppose, considering that she is both blind and deaf, and everything has to be spelt out by someone else on her fingers.

“She ‘sees’ you by feeling your face. It was rather embarrassing. It would have been in the worst possible taste to ignore her condition.

“I remarked, by way of a compliment, that she was wonderful, and added, jokingly, that she could see and hear better than her countrymen who could neither see nor hear.

“Someone takes a joking remark meant in all kindness and says I insulted Helen Keller by saying, ‘All Americans are deaf and blind—and dumb—anyway.’

“I tell you I have been misquoted everywhere, and the inaccuracies are chasing me round the world.”

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: Quotation marks from Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program).

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to the anonymous person whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. The person wanted to know whether the “Daily Herald” article was available in a database. It is available in the British Newspaper Archive and the newspapers.com database.

[1] 1933 April 20, Daily Herald, G.B.S Back From His Travels—and He’s Glad by Ritchie Calder (On the Empress of Britain), Quote Page 4, Column 4, London, England. (British Newspaper Archive)

Quote Origin: You May Encounter Many Defeats, But You Must Not Be Defeated

Maya Angelou? Claudia Tate? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: You will experience many setbacks and reversals in life, but you should never feel defeated. Encountering difficulties will help you to strengthen your power to endure and succeed. The prominent poet and memoirist Maya Angelou said something like this. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Maya Angelou spoke on this theme several times. In 1970 the “Los Angeles Times” reported on Angelou’s motivations for writing her autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:[1]1970 April 16, Los Angeles Times, Faith of Black Woman in a World Full of Conflict by Maggie Savoy (Times Woman’s Editor), (Continuation title: Faith of Black Woman Amid Turmoil), Start Page 1, … Continue reading

“I meant to write it to black girls, to say ‘you can win.’ But it came out the Chinese girl in Chinatown, the white girl in Texas, the farm girl In Iowa, the deb living up on the hill. All people harbor the same fears, dreams, hopes, goals.

They want to love. That is the human condition. I wanted to say to all girls, ‘You may encounter many defeats, but you just must never be defeated.’”

In 1979 the “Lexington Herald” of Kentucky presented an interview with Angelou during which she said the following:[2] 1979 April 12, Lexington Herald, Poet Says Her Love of Poetry Grew Despite Poverty by Eileen Levy (The Herald Sun Staff), Quote Page A3, Column 4 and 5, Lexington, Kentucky. (Newspapers_com)

“Bitterness is like cancer,” said Ms. Angelou, when asked if the adversity in her early life had embittered her. “It eats away at you and doesn’t develop anything. But anger purges, and can help you.

“I believe it may be necessary to encounter many defeats,” Ms. Angelou said, “without being defeated by them. Trials shape and mold you. I think I am a result of the pressure I have endured.”

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: A chessboard representing defeat and victory from Artur Shamsutdinov at Unsplash.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to the anonymous person whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.

References

References
↑1 1970 April 16, Los Angeles Times, Faith of Black Woman in a World Full of Conflict by Maggie Savoy (Times Woman’s Editor), (Continuation title: Faith of Black Woman Amid Turmoil), Start Page 1, Quote Page 8, Column 2, Los Angeles, California. (Newspapers_com)
↑2 1979 April 12, Lexington Herald, Poet Says Her Love of Poetry Grew Despite Poverty by Eileen Levy (The Herald Sun Staff), Quote Page A3, Column 4 and 5, Lexington, Kentucky. (Newspapers_com)

Quote Origin: The Word ‘No’ Is a Complete Sentence

Shonda Rhimes? Carol Burnett? Jane Fonda? Anne Lamott? Megan LeBoutillier? Bil Keane? Earl Wilson? Si Cornell? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: A negative response to a request often causes dissatisfaction. Hence the request is repeated many times. Some people do not wish to accept “No” for an answer. The following adage is favored by adamant respondents:

The word “No” is a complete sentence.

This statement has been attributed to prominent U.S. television producer Shonda Rhimes, well-known U.S. comedian Carol Burnett, and popular U.S. author Anne Lamott. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in 1958 within the newspaper column of Si Cornell in “The Cincinnati Post” of Ohio. Boldface added to excerpt by QI:[1] 1958 October 20, The Cincinnati Post, The Town’s Talking: Lawyer Tries Hypnotism by Si Cornell, Quote Page 11, Column 2, Cincinnati, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)

SIGN ON BANK official’s desk: “In this office, the word NO is a complete sentence.”

The creator of this quip remains anonymous. Shonda Rhimes, Carol Burnett, Anne Lamott, and many others employed this saying after it was already in circulation.

Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.

Image Notes: Sign depicting a choice between “Yes” and “No” from geralt at Pixabay.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Ben Yagoda whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Yagoda told QI about the podcasts with Jane Fonda and Carol Burnett during which the expression was employed. Yagoda also told QI about the 1959 citation in the “Reader’s Digest”.

References

References
↑1 1958 October 20, The Cincinnati Post, The Town’s Talking: Lawyer Tries Hypnotism by Si Cornell, Quote Page 11, Column 2, Cincinnati, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)