Question for Quote Investigator: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough has received credit for an insightful expression about career choice:
Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.
I am having difficulty finding a citation. Would you please help?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1996 David McCullough delivered a commencement address at Hamilton College in New York. The Associated Press news service reported his remarks which included the following. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
“Never, ever, lose your energy and never, ever lose your idealism,” said McCullough, who won the Pulitzer for his biography “Truman.”
“Real success is finding your life work in the work that you love. That’s it. Don’t worry about making a living, don’t worry about popularity or fame. Make what you do and what you make count more than what you own. Find work that you love.”
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Charles Baudelaire? Christopher Isherwood? Sonya Stephens? Apocryphal?
Illustration of a white rose from Pixabay
Question for Quote Investigator: The French poet, essayist, and art critic Charles Baudelaire wrote provocatively about his experiences in life including erotic feelings, drug-induced states, and cosmic perceptions. Apparently, he once said:
There are moments in one’s existence when time and space are deepened, and the feeling of existence is immensely heightened.
The original statement was in French, and I do not know the exact phrasing. Would you please help me to find a citation if one exists?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Charles Baudelaire died in 1867. His posthumous works included a collection of short passages called “Fusées” (“Flares”) which contained the following text. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Le surnaturel comprend la couleur générale et l’accent, c’est-à-dire intensité sonorité, limpidité, vibrativité, profondeur et retentissement dans l’espace et dans le temps.
Il ya des moments de l’existence où le temps et l’étendue sont plus profonds, et le sentiment de l’existence immensément augmenté.
The passage above is difficult to translate. In 1930 the English novelist Christopher Isherwood published the following rendering:2
The supernatural comprises the general colour and accent—that is to say, the intensity, sonority, limpidity, vibrancy, depth and reverberation in Space and Time.
There are moments of existence at which Time and Duration are more profound, and the Sense of Being is enormously quickened.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Heraclitus? John DiFusco? Tracers?Paul Whitesell? Apocryphal?
The Parthenon in Athens, Greece from Unsplash
Question for Quote Investigator: The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus has received credit for the following statement which is popular in the military domain:
Out of every one-hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior and he will bring the others back.
I am skeptical because I have never seen a solid citation. Would you please explore the provenance of this quotation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Heraclitus created this quotation.
QI believes that this quotation was derived from a monologue in the play “Tracers” which was performed Off Broadway in New York in 1984. During one scene the character Sgt. Williams, who was training U.S. soldiers for deployment in Vietnam turned to the audience and described the dangerous situation on the battlefield, and his quest to find a warrior. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
They are now eighteen and nineteen years old. Before they are twenty-one, nearly half of them will be killed or wounded. With a two-year draft, we send out amateurs to play against pros in a game for keeps.
Ten per cent should not even be here. Eighty per cent are targets; we have no time to train them to be more. Ten per cent are fighters. One in a hundred may become a warrior. I must seek him out. I must come down heavy on him. Upon him the success or failure of our present conflict lies…..
The first work-in-progress performance of “Tracers” occurred at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles in 1980. The drama was restructured and rewritten before the opening in New York in 1984.2 The text above is from “The Burns Mantle Theater Yearbook: The Best Plays of 1984-1985”. The play “Tracers” was conceived by John DiFusco and written by the original cast members3 Vincent Caristi, Richard Chaves, John DiFusco, Eric E. Emerson, Rick Gallavan, Merlin Marston and Harry Stephens with Sheldon Lettich.
The phrasing of the passage above evolved over time, and the quotation was incorrectly reassigned to Heraclitus by 2003.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Guillaume Apollinaire? John Golding? Ian Crofton? Apocryphal?
The Golden Gate bridge rendered with ersatz Fauvism
Question for Quote Investigator: Les fauves means the wild beasts in French, and Fauvism was a style of painting that developed near the start of the 20th century. Apparently, a contemporary critic stated the following:
Fauvism is a sort of exasperated form of Impressionism.
This remark has been attributed to the French poet and novelist Guillaume Apollinaire, but I have not been able to find a citation. Would you please help me to find a citation if one exists?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1912 and 1913 Guillaume Apollinaire penned and revised an essay titled “Les commencements du cubism” (“The beginnings of cubism”). An English translation appeared in the 1968 book “Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
From the end of this year on, Cubism had ceased to be an exaggeration of Fauve painting which, in its violent coloring, was a sort of exasperated form of Impressionism.
QI believes that the current popular version of the quotation has been derived from the statement above.
Below is Apollinaire’s original statement in French which was reprinted in the 1959 book “Cubism: A History and an Analysis 1907-1914” by John Golding:2
Dès la fin de l’année, le cubisme avait cessé d’être une exagération de la peinture des Fauves dont les violents coloriages étaient de l’impressionnisme exaspéré.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Illustration printed in 1877 showing Earth supported by four elephants on top of a tortoise
Question for Quote Investigator: Satire has been used to attack a wide variety of targets. Cruel or mean-spirited mockery is often controversial. Here is a pertinent quotation:
Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it’s not satire, it’s bullying.
These words have been attributed to the popular English fantasy author Terry Pratchett, but I have never seen a solid citation; hence, I am skeptical. Would you please explore the provenance of this remark?
Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has not found any substantive evidence that Terry Pratchett made this statement. The earliest match known to QI appeared in a note dated January 27, 2016 on the microblogging platform Tumblr. The Tumblr page with this note began with a message from the handle exeggcute who said:1
satire is “I’m going to take this concept to an extreme or absurd level in order to demonstrate how bizarre/nonsensical/illogical it is” and not “I said something bigoted but just kidding I didn’t really mean it hahaha”
The Tumblr handle bogleech added the following comment:
Dang it I’ve written like 5000 words trying to explain this and I only needed this post to reblog
Finally, the Tumblr handle vrabia added the following note to bogleech’s message. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:
#i always remember that thing terry pratchett said #about how satire is meant to ridicule power #if you’re laughing at people who are hurting it’s not satire it’s bullying #important
It is crucial to observe that vrabia was not presenting a quotation from Pratchett. Instead, vrabia was using their own words to present a conjectural summary of Pratchett’s viewpoint. Later individuals misread vrabia’s message and incorrectly ascribed the words directly to Pratchett.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Mark Twain? Coco Chanel? John Barrymore? Marlene Dietrich?Jackie Kannon? Anonymous?
Picture of a vegetable salad from Nadine Primeau at Unsplash
Question for Quote Investigator: A creative person can fashion a hat out of almost any scrap of fabric. An imaginative person can combine a wide variety of ingredients to create a salad. An irascible person can generate a quarrel from a mild disagreement. These three observations have inspired the following saying:
There are three things that a person can make out of practically nothing — a hat, a salad, and a quarrel.
Typically, the person in this expression is identified as a woman. This saying has been attributed to U.S. humorist Mark Twain, French designer Coco Chanel, U.S. actor John Barrymore, and many others. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Mark Twain crafted 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 Twain died in 1910, and he received credit by 1959.
The earliest match found by QI appeared in a Canton, Missouri newspaper in 1907 within a miscellaneous group of sayings published under the title “Pert Paragraphs”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:3
There are three things a woman can make out of nothing—a hat, a salad and a fight.
No attributions were listed in the early citations for this expression; hence, QI considers the creator anonymous. The phrasing has evolved over time. Variants have used the terms: “fight”, “argument”, “quarrel”, “domestic scene”, and “scandal”.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Roger Bacon? Mike Ramsden? David C. Allan? Alex Berlyne? Martyn Cornell? Apocryphal?
Picture of a newspaper from Pixabay
Question for Quote Investigator: According to a popular journalistic legend a newspaper in London once published the following difficult to decipher headline:
Foot Heads Arms Body
This headline was purportedly about British politician Michael Foot who had become the leader of an organization which was concerned with military armaments. The headline supposedly appeared in “The Times” or “The Guardian” during the 1980s. Yet, I am skeptical because I have never seen a solid citation. Would you please explore whether this headline is genuine or apocryphal?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in the London magazine “Flight International” in 1974. The editor Mike Ramsden published a lighthearted column titled “Straight and Level” under the pseudonym Roger Bacon.1 The column contained an item about a comical fictional headline. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:2
What a narrow escape for all of us that Mr Michael Foot wasn’t made the Defence Minister, thus sparing me the headline “Foot Heads Arms Body.”
Based on this citation, Mike Ramsden is the leading candidate for creator of this mock headline. The phrase entered circulation as a joke, and it was repeated in other periodicals. QI has searched multiple databases and has not yet found this phrase used as a genuine headline in a newspaper.
Yet, it is conceivable that an editor did insert this headline into a newspaper during the 1980s. The 2010 citation given further below provides some evidence that the headline may have appeared in “The Times”. However, QI has been unable to collaborate this claim.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Buckminster Fuller? Mike Vance? Diane Deacon? Daniel Quinn? Apocryphal?
Typewriter illustrating obsolescence. Image from Unsplash
Question for Quote Investigator: Inventor and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller once spoke about the best way to accomplish positive changes. He said that one rarely changes something by fighting it directly. Instead, one should build a new system or model that makes the existing model obsolete. I do not recall the exact phrasing used by Fuller. Would you please help me to find the correct quotation together with a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1995 Mike Vance and Diane Deacon published “Think Out of the Box”. The couple were business consultants. Previously, Vance had worked for The Walt Disney Company where he was part of a team working on innovative ideas for the Walt Disney World theme park.
Vance interviewed creative thinkers to help develop new concepts. He described meeting with Buckminster Fuller at a small beach motel in Santa Monica. The interview must have occurred before Fuller’s death in 1983. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Bucky sat in a comfortable reclining chair, sipping thoughtfully from his tea cup, as we conducted an unforgettable interview with one of the world’s most unusual people . . .
He spoke quietly: “You never change anything by fighting it; you change things by making them obsolete through superior technology. Telstar replaced 500 tons of transoceanic cable. It used to take us three years to circumnavigate the globe in a wooden-hulled ship. It took three months in a steel ship, 90 minutes in a space capsule and now instantaneously with telecommunications.”
The text above seems to be an excerpt from a transcript; hence, it is probably the most reliable version of the quotation. The book “Think Out of the Box” also included a slightly different version of the quotation as an epigraph on a different page:2
“You can’t change anything by fighting or resisting it. You change something by making it obsolete through superior methods.” — Buckminster Fuller
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Charles Lamb? Thomas Love Peacock? William Makepeace Thackeray? Frederick Saunders? Oscar Wilde? Apocryphal?
Illustration of a collection of clocks from Unsplash
Question for Quote Investigator: A humorous anecdote depicts an absurdist interaction between a worker and a supervisor:
Supervisor: “You have arrived late for work.” Worker: “Yes, but I will make up for it by leaving early.”
This reply has been attributed to the English essayist and poet Charles Lamb who died in 1834, but I am skeptical because I have never seen a solid citation. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Charles Lamb was a clerk at the East India House which was the London headquarters of the East India Company. Lamb is best known for a 1823 collection of essays titled “Essays of Elia” which was supplemented a decade later with “Last Essays of Elia”.
This anecdote is difficult to trace because the phrasing of the dialog is highly variable. The earliest evidence found by QI appeared in 1852 almost two decades after Lamb’s death. The book “Memories of the Great Metropolis: Or, London, from the Tower to the Crystal Palace” by Frederick Saunders contained the following passage. Boldface added to excepts by QI:1
It was here on one occasion when a complaint was made that he came late to his office in the morning, that Lamb wittily replied, “I admit it, but I leave early in the afternoon.”
This evidence was weak because it was not directly from a witness and because it appeared posthumously. Thus, QI believes that the attribution to Charles Lamb remains uncertain.
Below are additional selected citations organized chronologically.
Dean Rusk? Jacob Morton Braude? Reader’s Digest? Apocryphal?
Illustration of a listening ear from Pixabay
Question for Quote Investigator: If you wish to influence or persuade a person you must attempt to determine their viewpoint. You must be attentive to their needs and desires. Here are two versions of a pertinent saying:
(1) One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears — by listening to them. (2) The best way to persuade someone is with your ears—by listening to them.
U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk has received credit for this saying. Would you please help me to find a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in “Reader’s Digest” magazine in May 1961 within a section titled “Quotable Quotes”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears — by listening to them. —Dean Rusk
This evidence was substantive, but “Reader’s Digest” received information about quotations from readers; hence, the accuracy was not guaranteed.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
