Tracing Quotations
Thomas Carlyle? Benjamin Franklin? Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Johann P. F. Richter? Minna Antrim? Heinrich Heine? William Ralph Inge? Dear Quote Investigator: The most memorable and painful lessons are usually learned via direct experience, but the cost can be very high. A family of adages depict this point of view. Here are two instances: Experience is …
Continue reading “Experience Is the Best of Schoolmasters; Only the School-Fees Are Heavy”
Benjamin Franklin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Some people are only able to learn via direct experience. They disregard the lessons and the struggles of others. Yet, this experiential approach can be quite costly. The fees incurred may be measured in time expended, energy drained, money squandered, and injuries suffered. The statesman Benjamin Franklin said something …
Continue reading “Experience Keeps a Dear School; Yet Fools Will Learn In No Other”
Franklin D. Roosevelt? Abraham Lincoln? Thaddeus Stevens? Benjamin Butler? Philip Cook? Bill Higgins? John Franklin Carter? Justin Herman? Wayne Hays? Alistair Cooke? Cordell Hull? Anonymous? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A participant in the harsh domain of political power often faces difficult decisions. For example, should one promote a member of one’s party even when one …
Continue reading “He Is a Great Rascal. Ah! But He Is Our Rascal”
William Marcy Tweed? Boss Tweed? Thomas Nast? Zack Chandler? Napoleon Bonaparte? Joseph Stalin? Boris Bazhanov? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Remarks about the manipulation of vote tabulations have a long history. Apparently, a corrupt leader made a cynical pronouncement about voting. Here are three versions: Let me count the votes, and I care not who casts …
Continue reading “As Long As I Count the Votes, What Are You Going To Do About It?”
Noel Coward? Frank Sinatra? Margaret McManus? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The popular English playwright Noel Coward apparently once suggested that he welcomed any amount of criticism as long as it was unqualified praise. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In January 1956 Noel Coward was interviewed by journalist Margaret McManus …
Continue reading “I Love Criticism as Long as It Is Unqualified Praise”
William Butler Yeats? John Butler Yeats? Carl Sandburg? Ezra Pound? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A reader who requests clarification for a poem that is opaque is sometimes met with a rejoinder of this type: If the lines can be explained then the work is not poetry. This notion has been attributed to the Nobel Prize-winning …
Thomas Henry Huxley? Charles Darwin? Herbert Spencer? Benjamin Franklin? John Dougall? John Tyndall? Dear Quote Investigator: An elaborate and magnificent scientific theory can completely collapse if a contradictory fact is uncovered. A prominent scientist called this methodological occurrence one of great tragedies of science. Would you please explore this topic? Quote Investigator: In 1870 biologist …
George Bernard Shaw? Oscar Wilde? Clarence Rook? Alexander Woollcott? Hesketh Pearson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A playwright feared that his upcoming work was about to flop at the box office. After the surprisingly successful inaugural performance the bewildered playwright appeared on stage. Amongst the resounding cheers there was a barely audible hiss. The playwright addressed …
Continue reading “I Quite Agree With You, But Who Are We Two Against So Many?”
Katharine Whitehorn? Confucius? Elbert Hubbard? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A generation of social media stars began by sharing their passions, e.g., playing video games, applying makeup, preparing meals, or animating short tales. Lucrative careers became possible with support from advertisers, patrons, and merchandise deals. Vocational advice from decades ago is especially pertinent today: Find something …
Continue reading “Find Out What You Like Doing Best and Get Someone To Pay You for Doing It”
Abe Martin? Kin Hubbard? H. L. Mencken? Jim Courier? George Young? Gary Shelton? Mike Lupica? Dale Bumpers? Shannon Sharpe? Dear Quote Investigator: Contract negotiations are tough, and disputes usually involve money. Yet, participants sometimes highlight other issues as paramount. Jaded observers have crafted the following dictum: When they say it’s not about the money. Just …
Continue reading “When They Say It’s Not About Money, It’s About Money”