Quote Investigator® – Page 31

Quote Origin: The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything Is Forty-Two

Douglas Adams? Deep Thought? Geoffrey Hinton? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The number forty-two is sometimes presented as the answer to life’s deepest question. Where did this answer originate? Who suggested this eccentric and opaque answer?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1978 BBC Radio 4 broadcast the science fiction comedy series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” created by Douglas Adams. The fourth episode recounted a tale about the answer to humanity’s ultimate existential question.

Millions of years ago a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings decided to build a computer called Deep Thought to solve the problem of Life, the Universe and Everything. After the computer was finally built and the question was posed, the response was displeasing. Deep Thought stated that it would require an additional seven and a half million years to arrive at an answer.

After this long waiting period elapsed, a magnificent ceremony took place, and the pan-dimensional beings waited expectantly for an answer. The speakers identified as One, Two, and Three are computer attendants. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

DEEP THOUGHT: All right. The Answer to Everything …
TWO: Yes … !
DEEP THOUGHT: Life, The Universe and Everything …
ONE: Yes … !
DEEP THOUGHT: Is …
THREE: Yes … !
DEEP THOUGHT: IS …
ONE/TWO: Yes … !!!
DEEP THOUGHT: Forty two.
(Pause. Actually quite a long one)
TWO: We’re going to get lynched, you know that.
DEEP THOUGHT: It was a tough assignment.

Deep Thought indicated that simply knowing the Answer was not enough. The next task was to build an even larger computer with an organic component to determine the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. Deep Thought said it would design the new computer, and it would be called Earth.

Below are three additional selected citations and a conclusion.

To Seek Happiness by Changing Anything But One’s Own Disposition Will Waste Life in Fruitless Efforts

Samuel Johnson? Noah Webster? Orison Swett Marden? Charles Caleb Colton? Tryon Edwards?

Question for Quote Investigator: If one’s contentment depends upon external forces and events that one cannot control then one should expect continual heartache. Seeking happiness requires changing one’s own dispositions. This notion has been attributed to the famous English lexicographer Samuel Johnson, the noteworthy U.S. lexicographer Noah Webster, and the popular motivational author Orison Swett Marden. Would you please help me to determine the originator together with a citation for the precise phrasing?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1750 Samuel Johnson wrote a piece in the London periodical “The Rambler” in which he discussed the philosophy of Stoicism:^[1] 1756, The Rambler of Samuel Johnson (Reprinted), Volume 1 of 4, Fourth Edition, Issue Date: April 7, 1750, Quote page 28, Printed for A, Millar, in the Strand, London. (Google Books Full View) link

That man should never suffer his happiness to depend upon external circumstances, is one of the chief precepts of the Stoical philosophy. . .

Johnson discussed a poet who fantasized about traveling to America to attain a life of leisure and retreat. Yet, Johnson believed that the cause of the poet’s unhappiness was internal and achieving contentment required a mental shift. The word “trial” was spelled “tryal”. Boldface added to excepts by QI:^[2] 1756, The Rambler of Samuel Johnson (Reprinted), Volume 1 of 4, Fourth Edition, Issue Date: April 7, 1750, Quote page 33, Printed for A, Millar, in the Strand, London. (Google Books Full View) link

He would, upon the tryal, have been soon convinced, that the fountain of content must spring up in the mind; and that he who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing any thing but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “To Seek Happiness by Changing Anything But One’s Own Disposition Will Waste Life in Fruitless Efforts”

References

References
↑1	1756, The Rambler of Samuel Johnson (Reprinted), Volume 1 of 4, Fourth Edition, Issue Date: April 7, 1750, Quote page 28, Printed for A, Millar, in the Strand, London. (Google Books Full View) link
↑2	1756, The Rambler of Samuel Johnson (Reprinted), Volume 1 of 4, Fourth Edition, Issue Date: April 7, 1750, Quote page 33, Printed for A, Millar, in the Strand, London. (Google Books Full View) link

Don’t Cut Your Flowers and Water Your Weeds

Warren Buffett? Peter Lynch? Allan R. Stuart? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: When a stock in your portfolio goes up it is tempting to sell it and lock in profits. Also, when a stock is languishing it is natural to hold on to it with the hope that someday it will ascend. However, a vivid metaphorical adage says this is foolish behavior. Here are four versions:

(1) Don’t pull your flowers and water your weeds.
(2) You shouldn’t cut your flowers and water your weeds.
(3) Be careful you don’t pick your flowers and water your weeds.
(4) Don’t garden by digging up the flowers and watering the weeds.

This saying has been attributed to super-investor Warren Buffett and successful fund manager Peter Lynch. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1989 Peter Lynch with John Rothchild published “One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market”. The book warned against flawed investment strategies. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[1]1989, One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market Peter Lynch with John Rothchild, Chapter 16: Designing a Portfolio, Quote Page 245, Simon and Schuster, New … Continue reading

Some people automatically sell the “winners”—stocks that go up—and hold on to their “losers”—stocks that go down—which is about as sensible as pulling out the flowers and watering the weeds. Others automatically sell their losers and hold on to their winners, which doesn’t work out much better. Both strategies fail because they’re tied to the current movement of the stock price as an indicator of the company’s fundamental value.

QI believes that the modern versions of this adage evolved from Lynch’s statement.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “Don’t Cut Your Flowers and Water Your Weeds”

References

References
↑1	1989, One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market Peter Lynch with John Rothchild, Chapter 16: Designing a Portfolio, Quote Page 245, Simon and Schuster, New York. (Verified with scans)

Quote Origin: You Can Always Tell a Harvard / Yale Student, But You Can’t Tell Them Much

William Howard Taft? Arthur Twining Hadley? Zora Neale Hurston? James Barnes? Wigg? Wagg? LeBaron Russell Briggs? Joseph Choate? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: The rivalry between the universities Yale and Harvard exists in the domain of quips. The following jests use wordplay based on two different meanings of “tell”:

(1) You always can tell a Harvard man, but you can’t tell him much.
(2) It’s easy enough to tell a Yale man, but you can’t tell him much.

Can you determine the original target of this barb? Would you please explore this family of jibes?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match for this joke template located by QI appeared in December 1886 within the “Democrat and Chronicle” of Rochester, New York which acknowledged a Somerville, Massachusetts newspaper. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“You can always tell a man who has once been a clerk in a hotel,” says an exchange. Our experience has always been that you can’t tell him much. He thinks he knows it all.—Somerville Journal.

Thus, the first target of this barb was a hotel clerk and not a college student. During the ensuing decades the template was filled with a wide variety of entities. By 1895 the quip was aimed at the “Yale man”, and by 1906 the “Harvard man” was criticized.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

When You’ve Exhausted All Possibilities, Remember This: You Haven’t!

Thomas Edison? Robert H. Schuller? Helen Peikin? Leslie Hanscom? Dale Carnegie? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: After exploring a series of ineffective solutions to a problem it is natural to give up hope. Yet, a popular motivational saying suggests that perseverance will be rewarded:

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t.

This statement has been attributed to the famous inventor Thomas Edison and the prominent televangelist Robert H. Schuller. I am skeptical of the connection to Edison. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive support for the ascription to Thomas Edison. He received credit in 2000, but he died many years earlier in 1931.

In 1981 columnist Helen Peikin of the “Sentinel Star” of Orlando, Florida printed the following as an epigraph of an article. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[1] 1981 September 9, Sentinel Star, Altamonte Mall featuring discount movies for women by Helen Peikin, Quote Page 22, Column 2, Orlando, Florida. (Newspapers_com)

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this . . . you haven’t.
—DR. ROBERT SHULER

QI conjectures that Peikin misspelled “Schuller” as “Shuler”. Pastor Robert Schuller probably used the expression during a sermon in 1981 or earlier. In 1983 Schuller authored the bestseller “Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!”. An entire page of the book was dedicated to displaying the statement:^[2] 1983, Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! by Robert H. Schuller, Chapter 1: Tough Times Never Last, Quote Page 27, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. (Verified with scans)

When you’ve exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t!

Robert Schuller used this saying on multiple occasions, and he did not credit anyone else. Thus, based on current evidence QI believes that Schuller deserves credit for this statement.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “When You’ve Exhausted All Possibilities, Remember This: You Haven’t!”

References

References
↑1	1981 September 9, Sentinel Star, Altamonte Mall featuring discount movies for women by Helen Peikin, Quote Page 22, Column 2, Orlando, Florida. (Newspapers_com)
↑2	1983, Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! by Robert H. Schuller, Chapter 1: Tough Times Never Last, Quote Page 27, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. (Verified with scans)

There Is No There There

Gertrude Stein? Herb Caen? Ben J. Wattenberg? William Gibson? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent literary figure attempted to return home after a long absence and found that the location was unfamiliar because the home had been demolished. Fond memories of youth were no longer attached to a physical location. The feeling of disconnection inspired a popular saying:

There is no there there.

Nowadays, the meaning of this phrase has shifted. The statement typically refers to something which is diffuse, unsubstantial, or unimportant. It has also been used to explicate virtual reality. Would you please help me to find a citation.

Reply from Quote Investigator: Author and art connoisseur Gertrude Stein employed an idiosyncratic writing style. Her infrequently punctuated stream of consciousness was sometimes difficult to parse. Her 1937 book “Everybody’s Autobiography” included a passage about traveling to the locale of her childhood:^[1] 1971 (1937 Copyright), Everybody’s Autobiography by Gertrude Stein, Chapter 4: America, Quote Page 289, Cooper Square Publishers Inc., New York. (Verified with scans)

. . . we went across the bay on a ferry, that had not changed but Goat Island might just as well not have been there, anyway what was the use of my having come from Oakland it was not natural to have come from there yes write about it if I like or anything if I like but not there, there is no there there.

Stein described the feelings of estrangement produced by the visit to her former neighborhood:^[2] 1971 (1937 Copyright), Everybody’s Autobiography by Gertrude Stein, Chapter 4: America, Quote Page 291, Cooper Square Publishers Inc., New York. (Verified with scans)

Ah Thirteenth Avenue was the same it was shabby and over-grown the houses were certainly some of them those that had been and there were not bigger buildings and they were neglected and, lots of grass and bushes growing yes it might have been the Thirteenth Avenue when I had been.

Not of course the house, the house the big house and the big garden and the eucalyptus trees and the rose hedge naturally were not any longer existing, what was the use, if I had been I then my little dog would know me but if I had not been I then that place would not be the place that I could see, I did not like the feeling . . .

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “There Is No There There”

References

References
↑1	1971 (1937 Copyright), Everybody’s Autobiography by Gertrude Stein, Chapter 4: America, Quote Page 289, Cooper Square Publishers Inc., New York. (Verified with scans)
↑2	1971 (1937 Copyright), Everybody’s Autobiography by Gertrude Stein, Chapter 4: America, Quote Page 291, Cooper Square Publishers Inc., New York. (Verified with scans)

The Optimum Population of the World Should Be About One Hundred Thousand

Arthur C. Clarke? Fred Hoyle? Georg Borgstrom? Donald W. Mann? Gretchen C. Daily? Anne H. Ehrlich? Paul Ehrlich? Kenneth Smail?

Question for Quote Investigator: The world population is projected to exceed 8 billion in 2022. Also, the United Nations Population Division forecasts that before 2100 the population will exceed 10 billion. Interestingly, some countries currently have declining populations.

One prominent person suggested that the optimum human population should be dramatically smaller—only one hundred thousand. This notion has been attributed to science fiction luminary Arthur C. Clarke and prominent English astronomer Fred Hoyle. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In April 1968 Arthur C. Clarke published an essay titled “Next: On Earth, the Good Life?” in “Vogue” magazine. Clarke credited Fred Hoyle with suggesting that the ideal number of Earth inhabitants was relatively small. Boldface added to excepts by QI:^[1] 1968 April 15, Vogue, Volume 151, Issue 8, Next: On Earth, the Good Life? by Arthur C. Clarke, Start Page 84, Quote Page 142 and 143, Condé Nast Publications, New York. (ProQuest)

There is no doubt that, with proper organization, our planet could support a population of many billions at a much higher standard of living than today. But should it? In a world of instantaneous communication and swift transport, where all men are virtually neighbours, is there any point in a population of more than a few millions? The answer to this question depends upon one’s philosophical and religious views concerning the purpose of life.

Fred Hoyle, for example, once suggested to me that the optimum population of the world should be about one hundred thousand—as that was the maximum number of people one could get to know in a lifetime.

Intriguingly, this low number was not due to fears of environmental impact; instead, Hoyle’s number was based on the limits of interpersonal relationships.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading “The Optimum Population of the World Should Be About One Hundred Thousand”

References

References
↑1	1968 April 15, Vogue, Volume 151, Issue 8, Next: On Earth, the Good Life? by Arthur C. Clarke, Start Page 84, Quote Page 142 and 143, Condé Nast Publications, New York. (ProQuest)

Quote Origin: By Invading the Territories of Art, Photography Has Become Art’s Most Mortal Enemy

Charles Baudelaire? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Technophiles have welcomed recent advances in artificial intelligence in the domain of art. Yet, many artists and connoisseurs have been unsettled or openly hostile.

One commentator attempted to provide historical perspective by claiming that the famous French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire denounced the emerging technology of photography. Baudelaire said that photography had become “art’s most mortal enemy”.

Is this quotation genuine? Would you please help me to find a citation for the original statement in French?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1859 “Revue Française” of Paris published a letter from Charles Baudelaire under the title “Le Public Moderne et la Photographie” (“The Modern Public and Photography”). Below is an English translation of the pertinent passage followed by the original French. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

As the photographic industry was the refuge of all failed painters, too ill-equipped or too lazy to complete their studies, this universal infatuation bore not only the character of blindness and imbecility, but also the color of vengeance. That such a brainless conspiracy, in which one finds, as in all the others, the wicked and the dupes, can achieve absolute success, I do not believe it, or at least I do not want to believe it; but I am convinced that the ill-applied advancements of photography have greatly contributed, like all purely material progress, to the impoverishment of French artistic genius, which is already so rare.

Modern Fatuity may well roar, belch out all the rumblings of its rotund stomach, spew out all the indigestible sophisms with which a recent philosophy has stuffed it. Nevertheless, it is obvious that this industry, by invading the territories of art, has become art’s most mortal enemy, and that the confusion of functions prevents any from being well fulfilled. Poetry and progress are two ambitious people who hate each other instinctively, and when they meet on the same path, one of them must serve the other. If photography is allowed to supplement art in some of its functions, it will soon have supplanted or corrupted it altogether, thanks to the natural alliance it will find in the stupidity of the multitude.

Below is the original French followed by additional citations.

“Life, Though, Is Peculiar,” Said Jeremy. “As Compared With What?” Said the Spider

Elizabeth Madox Roberts? Harvey Wickham? Charles P. Curtis Jr.? Ferris Greenslet? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: An entire lifetime can be encapsulated within the following memorably eccentric dialog:

“Life is peculiar” said Jeremy. “Compared to what?” said the spider.

I have encountered this exchange several times, but I have never been able to determine its source, and I am unsure of the precise phrasing. There is a variant line with “very strange” instead of “peculiar”. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Elizabeth Madox Roberts was an acclaimed Kentucky novelist and poet who was part of the Southern Renaissance. In 1928 she published the satirical fantasy novel “Jingling in the Wind”. During one scene the character Jeremy converses with a spider which is weaving a web that embodies the entirety of human culture:^[1] 1928, Jingling in the Wind by Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Quote Page 230, The Viking Press, New York. (Verified with scans; thanks to Dennis Lien)

“I have it all here, the whole of culture I draw it all out of myself with my long supple fingers, I pattern it on the air. I make it as I go, but it is made already within me, spinning . . .

A dark age is followed by an age of enlightenment, and here is a new religion. Votes for women, moral prescriptions, Egypt, India, Babylon, I make a knot, a rise and a decline.”

The spider rhapsodizes about the web, and Jeremy comments about the oddity of life. The ellipsis below appears in the original text. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[2] 1928, Jingling in the Wind by Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Quote Page 233, The Viking Press, New York. (Verified with scans; thanks to Dennis Lien)

“Life, though, is peculiar,” said Jeremy.
“As compared with what?” said the spider.
“There has never been a great woman philosopher,” Jeremy began to say.
“All women are philosophers,” said the spider.
“Philosophies are the common knowledge of all females.”
“Has any woman poet ever been buried in the Poets’ Corner?” Jeremy asked.
“Who wants to be buried?” asked the spider.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading ““Life, Though, Is Peculiar,” Said Jeremy. “As Compared With What?” Said the Spider”

References

References
↑1	1928, Jingling in the Wind by Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Quote Page 230, The Viking Press, New York. (Verified with scans; thanks to Dennis Lien)
↑2	1928, Jingling in the Wind by Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Quote Page 233, The Viking Press, New York. (Verified with scans; thanks to Dennis Lien)

Quote Origin: You’re a Ghost Driving a Meat Coated Skeleton Made from Stardust

Gilbert Ryle? Rat_sandwich? Brostoyevskiy? Clifford A. Pickover? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Halloween is approaching, and the following quasi-philosophical saying fits the holiday theme:

You’re a ghost driving a meat-coated skeleton made from stardust; what do you have to be scared of?

Would you please explore the provenance of this remark?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The chemical elements of life such as carbon, magnesium, and calcium were originally created in the extremely hot and dense cores of stars and subsequently dispersed via stellar explosions. Thus, human bodies are made of stardust.

In 1921 a newspaper in Michigan printed an advertisement that highlighted a pertinent adage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

We’re All Made of Dust—
But It’s Star Dust!

A Quote Investigator article about the saying “We are made of star-stuff” is available here.

In 1949 philosopher Gilbert Ryle employed the phrase “the Ghost in the Machine” while criticizing mind/body dualism. The quotation under examination implicitly references this notion of ghost.²

QI hypothesizes that the quotation evolved from a collection of antecedents circulating on social media. Here is a sampling of precursor phrases with dates from twitter:

2011 Apr 28: I just feel like I’m a ghost in a heavy meat suit
2012 Jan 29: im just a brain driving a meat suit around life
2012 Jul 30: skeleton wearing a meat-suit
2012 Aug 05: people are still basically just skeletons coated in filthy meat
2012 Oct 29: Ain’t nothin’ but a ghost driving a meat suit
2013 Jan 31: You’re a ghost driving a meat coated skeleton made from stardust, what do you have to be scared of?

The earliest full match given above was tweeted by @rat_sandwich on January 31, 2013 at 4:58 AM EDT. QI tentatively credits @rat_sandwich with the full saying although future researchers may discover superior citations.

Additional details for these citations are given below.