Marc Andreessen? Ben Horowitz? Dear Quote Investigator: The companies Uber and Lyft are worth billions of dollars and are juggernauts in the transportation sector. Yet, neither company owns a fleet of vehicles. The multibillion dollar company Airbnb has revolutionized the hospitality sector, yet it owns no hotels or motels. These companies control pivotal software systems …
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Whatever We Achieve Inwardly Will Change Outer Reality
J. K. Rowling? Anaïs Nin? Plutarch? Otto Rank? Dear Quote Investigator: J. K. Rowling created the beloved fantasy universe of Harry Potter and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She delivered a humorous and touching commencement address at Harvard University in 2008. While in college she studied the classics, and her address included a …
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Purpose and Persistence Are Required for Success: Unrewarded Genius Is Almost a Proverb
Calvin Coolidge? Theodore Thornton Munger? M. M. Callen? Orison Swett Marden? Edward H. Hart? Dear Quote Investigator: Many books extolling self-improvement include a didactic passage that begins as follows: Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded …
War Against a Foreign Country Only Happens When the Moneyed Classes Think They Are Going to Profit From It
George Orwell? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Lately, I have been seeing the following quotation about warfare attributed to the famous political writer George Orwell: War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it. I am skeptical of this attribution. Is this a genuine statement from …
Speed Reading: I Was Able To Go Through ‘War and Peace’ in 20 Minutes. It’s About Russia
Woody Allen? Rod Riggs? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The ability to read and comprehend text quickly is a valuable skill. Several decades ago courses were developed that attempted to teach “speed reading” or “quick reading” techniques. The well-known comedian Woody Allen created a joke about applying speed-reading strategies to Tolstoy’s massive tome “War and Peace”. …
War Does Not Determine Who Is Right — Only Who Is Left
Bertrand Russell? Frank P. Hobgood? Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre? Reader’s Digest? Montreal Star? Andrew Carnegie? Winston Churchill? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A piquant slogan has been used by pacifists and peace activists for decades. Here are two variants: War does not determine who is right — only who is left. The atom bomb will never …
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No Bastard Ever Won a War by Dying for His Country
George Patton? T. W. H. Crosland? Edmund Kozalla? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: General George S. Patton made the most incisive remark about war that I have ever heard. He was rallying Allied troops who were attempting to defeat the Axis Powers during World War II. His assertion about the two-edged sword of patriotism was cloaked …
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The Most Rewarding Things You Do in Life Are Often the Ones that Look Like They Cannot Be Done
Arnold Palmer? John Sutton? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The following statement about overcoming obstacles is attributed to the famous golfer Arnold Palmer: The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done. I am graduating soon and would like to use this as my yearbook quotation. …
War Is God’s Way of Teaching Us Geography
Ambrose Bierce? Paul Rodriguez? Jon Stewart? Mark Twain? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Many people are unable to find countries and major cities on a map. A comical remark about this cartographical ignorance has been attributed to both Ambrose Bierce and Mark Twain. Here are four versions: War is God’s way of teaching us geography War …
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A Man Is a Fool If He Drinks Before He Reaches Fifty, and a Fool If He Doesn’t Drink Afterward
Frank Lloyd Wright? William Faulkner? The Elder Gross? Charles Seiberling? Charles Douville Coburn? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The celebrated and innovative architect Frank Lloyd Wright is credited with the following remark about alcohol consumption: A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn’t …