Quote Investigator® – Page 3 – Tracing Quotations

Quote Origin: Give Me a Good Fruitful Error Any Time, Full of Seeds, Bursting with Its Own Corrections

Vilfredo Pareto? John Bartlett? Charles P. Curtis Jr.? Ferris Greenslet? Stephen Jay Gould? Apocryphal?

**Picture of fruits and seeds from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Scientific observations are often inexact. Yet, this inexactitude can be helpful because it facilitates the formulation of theories that generate predictions which are approximately correct. These intermediary theories are valuable because they provide a stepping stone toward achieving successor theories which are more comprehensive and more precise. Over time as observations improve in accuracy, novel theories can be built on previous ideas and can generate superior predictions.

The prominent Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto has been credited with the following statement which embraces the utility of “fruitful error”:

Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself.

Unfortunately, I have never seen a solid citation supporting this attribution, and I have become skeptical. Pareto received credit in the prestigious reference book “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations”, but strangely no citation was given. Would you please explore the provenance of this quotation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI believes that the ascription to Vilfredo Pareto is incorrect. Instead, QI thinks Charles P. Curtis Jr. and Ferris Greenslet should receive credit for this quotation. In 1945 these two authors published a compilation of quotations titled “The Practical Cogitator: Or, The Thinker’s Anthology”, and the earliest match for the statement under examination appeared in this book.

Confusion occurred because the target statement was located within an entry for Vilfredo Pareto. The entry began with a translation of text written by Pareto about the German scientist Johannes Kepler:¹

PARETO 1848-1923
It was a happy circumstance for the beginning of astronomy that in Kepler’s time the observations of Mars were not too exact. If they had been, Kepler would not have discovered that the curve described by the planet was an ellipse and he would have failed to discover the law of planetary motion.

This entry continued, and the full text from Pareto consisted of two paragraphs with a total of 149 words. These words were followed by two sentences written in a slightly smaller font. These final sentences were not written by Pareto; instead, they were commentary composed by Charles P. Curtis Jr. and Ferris Greenslet. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:²

Give me a good fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself.

This mistake corresponds to a known error mechanism based on the misreading of neighboring expressions. A reader sometimes inadvertently transfers the ascription of one statement to a contiguous statement.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Adage Origin: An Army of Stags Led by a Lion Is More Formidable Than an Army of Lions Led by a Stag

Plutarch? Chabrias? Julius Caesar? Philip of Macedon? Iphicrates? Napoleon Bonaparte? Daniel Defoe?

**Statue of a lion outside of the Utah State Capitol from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: The quality of the members of an organization is important, but the leadership is decisive to achieving success. Here are two versions of a pertinent adage:

(1) An army of sheep commanded by a lion is more formidable than an army of lions commanded by a sheep.

(2) An army of donkeys led by a lion is vastly superior to an army of lions led by a donkey.

A variety of animal names appear in different versions of this template including: stags, harts, deer, sheep, donkeys, asses, and jackasses. Apparently, this saying is ancient. Would you please explore its provenance?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The saying appeared in the collection “Moralia” by the Greek philosopher Plutarch who died in AD 119. The Athenian general Chabrias who died in 357 BC received credit. Here is an English translation by scholar Frank Cole Babbitt from 1931. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

He was wont to say that an army of deer commanded by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions commanded by a deer.

Many others have been credited with instances of this saying including Roman leader Julius Caesar, Philip of Macedon, and Athenian general Iphicrates.

Here is an overview based on early appearances of instances in Latin or English:

1544: Dictitare etiam solebat, formidabiliorem esse cervoru exercitum duce leone, quàm leonum cervo imperate (Attributed to Chabrias by Plutarch)

1544: (Translation into English from Latin) He also used to say that an army of stags led by a lion is more formidable than lions commanded by a stag (Attributed to Chabrias by Plutarch)

1563: Rather an army of harts, under the conduct of a Lion, then of Lions, conducted by a hart (Attributed to Philip, probably Philip II of Macedon)

1644: An Army of Harts led by a Lion, is better then an Army of Lions led by a Hart (Anonymous)

1655: There is greater hope of a herd of Harts led by a Lion, then of so many Lions conducted by a Hart (Julius Caesar by translator Clement Edmonds Esquire)

1658: An army of valiant Lions led by a cowardly Hart, is not so prevalent as an army of Harts led by a Lion (John Jones comment on Ovid)

1673: An Army of Harts, with a Lion to their Captain, would be able to vanquish an Army of Lions, if their Captain were but an Hart (Attributed to Iphicrates)

1683: He esteemed more an Army of Deer, commanded by a Lion, than an Army of Lions, commanded by a Deer (Attributed to Chabrias by Plutarch)

1736: An Army of Sheep, headed by a Lyon, is more to be apprehended, than an Army of Lyons headed by a Sheep (Anonymous saying used by Henry Stonecastle)

1743: Better to have a Lyon at the Head of an Army of Sheep, than a Sheep at the Head of an Army of Lyons (Anonymous proverb in a work credited to Daniel Defoe)

1803: An army of stags is more to be feared under the command of a lion, than an army of lions led by a stag (Anonymous Latin Proverb)

1823: An army of deer commanded by a lion is better than an army of lions commanded by a deer (Attributed to an unnamed Athenian general by Napoleon Bonaparte)

1855: An army of lions led on by donkeys (Attributed to an anonymous Russian)

1856: An army of lions led by jackasses (Attributed to John Arthur Roebuck by Lord Palmerston)

1864: An army of asses led by a lion is vastly superior to an army of lions led by an ass (Anonymous)

1887: An army of jackasses led by a lion will defeat an army of lions led by a jackass (Persian proverb)

1904: Rather have an army of donkeys with a lion for a leader, than an army of lions with a donkey for a leader (Attributed to Napoleon)

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Every New Idea Is Just a Mashup or a Remix of One or More Previous Ideas

Austin Kleon? T. S. Eliot? C. E. M. Joad? Ecclesiastes? Anonymous?

**Mashup of Van Gogh’s paintings “Sunflowers” and “Starry Night”**

Question for Quote Investigator: The recent creation of artificial intelligence systems that generate text, images, and videos has caused ferocious controversy and motivated several copyright lawsuits. The current generation of popular AI systems are trained using billions of webpages and billions of images.

The nature of human originality is undergoing careful scrutiny. One influential viewpoint states that every idea which appears to be new is really a mashup or a remix of previous ideas. About a decade ago I read a similar statement in a book about art and creativity. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 2012 artist Austin Kleon published the best-seller “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative”. The first chapter contained the following statement. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.

Please note that this remark is about human creativity, and it does not entail any specific viewpoint about AI systems and copyright.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: People Don’t Realize How Much Time and Effort Is Required To Learn To Read. I Have Been At It for Eighty Years, and I Haven’t Reached My Goal

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Carl Sandburg? Ruth Strang? Johann Peter Eckermann? John Oxenford? Henry R. Tedder? Apocryphal?

**Painting of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe created circa 1787**

Question for Quote Investigator: When the famous German intellectual Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was an octogenarian he spoke to a friend about the effort required to read a text carefully and deeply. He said something like the following:

Ordinary people know little of the time and effort it takes to learn to read. I have been at it eighty years, and have not reached my goal.

I have not been able to find a citation for this statement. Hence, I am not certain whether it is accurate.

I believe that the U.S. poet and biographer Carl Sandburg also commented on the multi-decade process of learning to read productively. Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Johann Peter Eckermann served as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s personal secretary during the final decade of his life. After Goethe’s death Eckermann published a multi-volume work titled “Gespräche mit Goethe” (“Conversations with Goethe”) which included an entry dated January 25, 1830. Here is a translation of an excerpt. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

He then joked about the difficulty of reading and the arrogance of many people who want to read every philosophical and scientific work straight away without any preliminary studies or preparatory knowledge, as if it were nothing more than a novel.

“The good people,” he continued, “don’t know how much time and effort it cost to learn to read. It took me eighty years to do it and I still can’t say that I’ve reached my goal.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Before We Reach Human-Level AI We Will Have To Reach Cat-Level & Dog-Level AI

Yann LeCun? Demis Hassabis? Bence Ölveczky? Apocryphal?

**Public domain illustration of a robot cat**

Question for Quote Investigator: Progress on artificial intelligence during the 2010s and 2020s has been remarkable. The AlphaFold computer program developed by DeepMind employed machine learning techniques with deep neural networks to successfully predict protein structures. The AlphaGo program used a tree search algorithm together with deep neural networks to beat the best humans at the board game Go. The company OpenAI used large language models (LLMs) and reinforcement learning to build the GPT family of chatbots which displayed powerful new capabilities.

Yet, the prominent computer scientist Yann LeCun has expressed skepticism about current progress in AI and about the near-term prospects. LeCun is a Professor at New York University and the Chief AI Scientist at Meta. He won the prestigious Turing Award in 2018 together with two colleagues.

LeCun stated that researchers must first reach cat-level AI and dog-level AI before they have a chance of reaching human-level AI. I am not sure of his precise phrasing. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In February 2023 Yann LeCun posted the following message on x-twitter. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Before we reach Human-Level AI (HLAI), we will have to reach Cat-Level & Dog-Level AI.
We are nowhere near that.
We are still missing something big.
LLM’s linguistic abilities notwithstanding.
A house cat has way more common sense and understanding of the world than any LLM.

Yann LeCun has been referring to animal intelligence as an important AI benchmark for several years. For example, in 2018 he posted an x-tweet containing the following lines:²

Right now, we need to get machines to the level of a house cat.
Never mind symbolic mathematics and formal logic.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: If You Want To Be a Grocer, or a General, or a Politician, or a Judge, You Will Invariably Become It; That Is Your Punishment

Oscar Wilde? Stephen Fry? Apocryphal?

**Avatar icons representing professions from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: The following remark about selecting a career is comically acerbic:

If you want to be a grocer, or a general, or a politician, or a judge, you will invariably become it; that is your punishment.

The statement above has been attributed to the famous Irish playwright and wit Oscar Wilde, but I am skeptical. There is a second part to the remark which comments on an artistic life:

If you live what some might call the dynamic life, but i will call the artistic life, if each day you are unsure of who you are and what you know, you will never become anything, and that is your reward.

Would you please explore the provenance of these statements?

Reply from Quote Investigator: These statements were spoken by the popular English actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry in 2010. Fry attributed the words to Oscar Wilde, but QI believes that Fry was really presenting a rough paraphrase and interpretation of a passage written by Wilde in his essay/letter titled “De Profundis” which was composed while Wilde was in prison in 1897.

“De Profundis” was published posthumously in 1905. Boldface added to excerpts by QI. The term “gaol” is an alternative spelling of “jail”:¹

People point to Reading Gaol and say, ‘That is where the artistic life leads a man.’ Well, it might lead to worse places. The more mechanical people to whom life is a shrewd speculation depending on a careful calculation of ways and means, always know where they are going, and go there.

They start with the ideal desire of being the parish beadle, and in whatever sphere they are placed they succeed in being the parish beadle and no more.

A man whose desire is to be something separate from himself, to be a member of Parliament, or a successful grocer, or a prominent solicitor, or a judge, or something equally tedious, invariably succeeds in being what he wants to be. That is his punishment. Those who want a mask have to wear it.

But with the dynamic forces of life, and those in whom those dynamic forces become incarnate, it is different. People whose desire is solely for self-realization never know where they are going. They can’t know.

In one sense of the word it is of course necessary , as the Greek oracle said, to know oneself : that is the first achievement of knowledge. But to recognise that the soul of a man is unknowable, is the ultimate achievement of wisdom . . .

I hope to live long enough and to produce work of such a character that I shall be able at the end of my days to say, ‘Yes! this is just where the artistic life leads a man!’

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: You Have To Be Careful To Protect the Rights of People You Despise

Daniel Patrick Moynihan? Robert Lenzer? John Rhoades? Ann Landers? Apocryphal?

**Illustration of a wooden gavel and sounding block from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: A society which grants wide liberties and constitutional rights to engage in speech and action will contain people who are performing activities deemed distasteful or reprehensible by many. The following remark is pertinent:

You have to be careful to protect the rights of people you despise.

This statement has been attributed to U.S. politician and diplomat Daniel Patrick Moynihan, but I am having trouble trying to locate a precise citation. Would you please help me?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In November 1996 a “Forbes” magazine article by journalist Robert Lenzer reported on individuals in the U.S. who had acquired great wealth and did not wish to pay taxes. These individuals renounced their U.S. citizenship and became citizens of other countries such as the Bahamas to avoid paying taxes. The term “taxpatriate” was used to describe these people. “Forbes” published comments from Moynihan. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

The matter isn’t settled. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), the Senate Finance Committee’s ranking Democrat, thinks that treating taxpatriates like illegal immigrants is a bad idea.

“You have to be careful to protect the rights of people you despise,” says Moynihan. “Our legislation which called for a capital gains tax on appreciated assets as the price of expatriation was a fairer way to deal with the problem. What passed was a bad bill.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: People Don’t Care How Much You Know Until They Know How Much You Care

Theodore Roosevelt? Margaret Tyson? Zig Ziglar? John C. Maxwell? James F. Hind? Beltone Hearing Aid Company?

**Items used to care for medical patients fron Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Interpersonal relationships are based on trust. A knowledgeable person can be impressive, but another quality is more important when establishing a connection. Here is a pertinent adage:

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

This statement has been attributed to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, best-selling author John C. Maxwell, and others. Yet, I have not seen any definitive citations. Would you please help trace this statement?

Reply from Quote Investigator: This clever saying employs a rhetorical device called antimetabole. Key words in the first half of the statement are reordered in the second half.

QI has found no evidence that Theodore Roosevelt used this expression. The earliest match located by QI appeared in a 1959 commencement speech by Margaret Tyson who was the Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Virginia. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Nurses graduating from a course at King’s Daughter’s Hospital here last night were told that “People won’t care how much you know unless they really know how much you care.”

Margaret Tyson is a candidate for creator of the saying, but QI conjectures that the saying was already in circulation, and the originator remains anonymous.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Promise People That They Will Have a Chance of Maltreating Someone

Aldous Huxley? George Sokolsky? Apocryphal?

**Illustration of a stamp which displays “CANCELLED” from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: Social media enables people to express righteous indignation by joining together to form electronic mobs. The chance to target and maltreat individuals while maintaining a good conscience is psychologically appealing. The opportunity to hurt and pull down others is enticing to some people.

Apparently, the English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley made an observation of this type before the existence of social media. Huxley’s remark supposedly appeared in the novel “Crome Yellow”, but I have carefully examined that book, and I was unable to find any matching statement. This situation is confusing. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Aldous Huxley was commissioned to write an introduction to a collector’s edition of Samuel Butler’s nineteenth century novel “Erewhon”. Huxley placed the date of July 24, 1933 at the end of his introduction, and the book was issued by the Limited Editions Club in 1934. Huxley commented on the motivations of people. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

The surest way to work up a crusade in favour of some good cause is to promise people that they will have a chance of maltreating someone. Men must be bribed to build up and do good by the offer of an opportunity to hurt and pull down. To be able to destroy with a good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’—this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.

QI has searched the 1921 satirical novel “Crome Yellow”² by Huxley for the phrases “righteous indignation”, “good conscience”, and “pull down”. There were no matches for these phrases in the book.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Show Me a Good Loser and I’ll Show You a Loser

Knute Rockne? Red Auerbach? Robert Zuppke? Fred Taylor? Richard Nixon? Jimmy Carter? Anonymous?

**Illustration of a trophy for the winner**

Question for Quote Investigator: Any participant in competitive sports must eventually experience defeat. The value of good sportsmanship has been emphasized by many mentors. Different terms have been employed to contrast the divergent reactions to defeat: “gracious loser”, “good loser”, “poor loser”, “angry loser”, and “sore loser”.

A controversial adage emerged from sports coaches in the twentieth century which suggested that a loss should make a person unhappy and should provide a strong impetus for future improvement:

Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.

This saying has been attributed to U.S. football coach Knute Rockne, U.S. basketball coach Red Auerbach, U.S. football coach Vince Lombardi, and many others. I have not seen any solid citations. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The saying evolved over time, and there are many variants which makes it difficult to trace. The earliest exact match known to QI appeared in 1962 when it was spoken by Gus Doerner who was a U.S. basketball player and coach. Yet, QI believes the expression was already in circulation. The creator remains anonymous.

Below is an overview of the evolution with dates and attributions:

1904 Jul: If I may not win, make me a good loser (Anonymous)

1907 Jun: The “good loser” is blamed seldom any old kind of a winner (Jim Nasium)

1924 Nov: A good loser is no good (Robert Zuppke)

1938 Jun: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a man without guts (Anonymous)

1940 Oct: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a streak of yellow (Anonymous)

1943 Aug: Show me a good loser, and I will show you a failure (Attributed to Knute Rockne by George Strickler)

1946 Jan: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a guy without an ounce of competitive spirit in his makeup (Lee Dunbar)

1948 Dec: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a failure (Attributed to Knute Rockne by John Mooney)

1952 Mar: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a consistent loser (John Mooney)

1956 Jan: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you an idiot (Attributed to Paul Gilbert by Bennett Cerf)

1957 Sep: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you an unsuccessful man (Attributed to Knute Rockne by Paul Steiner)

1959 Mar: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you someone who never wins (Fred Taylor)

1960 Apr: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a guy who is going to lose most of the time (Carl Rees)

1960 Jun: Good losers get lots of practice (Benny Marshall)

1962 Apr: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Gus Doerner)

1963 Jun: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Frankie Albert)

1965 Apr: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Red Auerbach)

1975 Jul: Show me a good loser in professional sports, and I’ll show you an idiot. (Leo Durocher)

1975: You show me a good loser and I will show you a loser (Credited to Anonymous by Jimmy Carter)

1978: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Attributed to Wallace Newman by Richard Nixon)

1982 May: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Credited to Anonymous by Paul Newman)

2010: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Attributed to Vince Lombardi by John Marlowe)

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.