Maya Angelou? Oprah Winfrey? Phil McGraw? Gary Zukav? Ernest Rogers? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Life requires a complicated incremental process of learning. Agonizing mistakes are inevitable. Here are two versions of a heartfelt response to setbacks: (1) You did what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better. (2) …
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Quote Origin: Seek Happiness in Tranquility and Avoid Ambition
Mary Shelley? Victor Frankenstein? Scott Galloway? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: English author Mary Shelley penned the famous science fiction novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”. The overweening ambition of the main character, scientist Victor Frankenstein, caused him to create a monster. He learned bitterly that his passion for success and fame was destructive. Apparently, …
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Quote Origin: When Everybody Thinks Alike, Nobody Will Think At All
George Patton? Benjamin Franklin? Walter Lippmann? John F. Kennedy? Sue Myrick? Edward Krehbiel? Jonathan P. Dolliver? Humphrey B. Neill? Eric Schmidt? Porter B. Williamson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Conformity is a powerful force that narrows the thought patterns of groups and individuals. Here are three selections from a family of pertinent sayings: (1) Where …
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Quote Origin: Whoever Controls the Media, Controls the Mind
Jim Morrison? Andrew Doe? John Tobler? Francis E. Walter? Philip F. Pocock? E. S. James? Frank Lisciandro? Apocryphal Question for Quote Investigator: The activities of rock-n-roll star Jim Morrison received extensive newspaper and television coverage in the 1960s. He was alternately praised and condemned in the mass media. Apparently, he once stated: Whoever controls the …
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Quote Origin: Art Is Anything You Can Get Away With
Marshall McLuhan? Quentin Fiore? Frank Richardson? Terence Trent D’Arby? Theodor W. Adorno? Question for Quote Investigator: In 2019 the Italian conceptual artist and provocateur Maurizio Cattelan used duct tape to attach a banana to the wall of an art gallery. He dubbed the resultant artwork “Comedian”. After Cattelan sold the quasi-sculpture for a lucrative price …
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Quote Origin: I Have Nothing To Declare Except My Genius
Oscar Wilde? Stuart Mason? Christopher Sclater Millard? Robert Ross? Elizabeth P. O’Connor? Arthur Ransome? Frank Harris? Sylvestre Dorian? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to legend, the famous wit Oscar Wilde delivered a comically audacious line when he first entered the United States during his lecture tour. A customs official in New York asked him …
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Quote Origin: There Is One Thing In This World That Money Can’t Buy, The Wag Of a Dog’s Tail
Josh Billings? Henry Wheeler Shaw? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A dog wagging its tail energetically produces joy in my heart. The dog is usually expressing genuine enthusiasm. A well-known writer once said that money could not buy a wagging tail. Would you please help me to identify the writer and find a citation? Reply …
Quote Origin: I Drink To Keep Body and Soul Apart
Oscar Wilde? Seamus Heaney? Dorothy Parker? Israel Zangwill? Jen Kirkman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The body and the soul separate at the time of death according to many religious systems. Hence, the idiom “keep body and soul together” refers to maintaining life, i.e., earning enough money to maintain health and activity. The famous Irish …
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Quote Origin: I Am Dying, As I Have Lived, Beyond My Means
Oscar Wilde? Robert Ross? Frank Harris? Hesketh Pearson? Josiah Flynt? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: According to legend, Oscar Wilde was resting with his eyes closed on his deathbed when two physicians began discussing the necessity of a very expensive operation to extend his life. Wilde opened his eyes and said: I suppose that I …
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Quote Origin: You May Not Be Interested in War, But War Is Interested in You
Leon Trotsky? Fannie Hurst? James Burnham? O. H. Steiner? Marshall Berman? Michael Walzer? Donald Barthelme? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Several sayings have employed the following templates: (1) You may not be interested in X, but X is interested in you.(2) We may not be interested in X, but X is interested in us.(3) They …
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