Tracing Quotations
Albert Einstein? Ray Cummings? Mark Twain? Arthur C. Clarke? John Archibald Wheeler? Arthur Power Dudden? Susan Sontag? Dear Quote Investigator: Albert Einstein has received credit for a humorous remark about time: The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. Would you please explore the provenance of this quip? Quote Investigator: …
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Will Rogers? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Achieving extensive knowledge and expertise in one domain can be quite valuable, but it does not automatically allow one to pontificate intelligently in a different domain. The intellectual mastery attained by some experts is quite narrow. Here is a germane remark: There is nothing so stupid as an educated …
Albert Einstein? Christina Baldwin? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a quotation about art attributed to the famous scientist Albert Einstein which describes a person extending a hand into the universe and acting as a “conduit for passing energy”. I am skeptical of this ascription because I have been unable to find a citation. Would …
Continue reading “One Hand Extended Into the Universe and One Hand Extended Into the World”
Yogi Berra? Albert Einstein? Richard Feynman? Benjamin Brewster? Charles F. Kettering? Walter J. Savitch? Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut? Dave Jeske? Chuck Reid? Dear Quote Investigator: The following popular adage balances unsteadily between brilliance and absurdity: In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. This notion has been attributed …
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The blinkered pursuit of success can lead an individual to ignore other aspects of life such as adventure, humor, spirituality, exploration, altruism, and curiosity. Albert Einstein apparently offered pertinent advice. Here are four versions: Try not to become a person of success but rather a person of value. Do …
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Leo Tolstoy? Edwin H. Stuart? Elinor Glyn? Henry Traphagen? Art Buchwald? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: While I am working hard on a complex project my desk usually becomes messy, but I take comfort in the following sayings: A cluttered desk is the mark of a genius. A messy desk is the sign of a creative …
Paul A. Samuelson? Max Planck? Thomas S. Kuhn? Henri Poincaré? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Resistance to revolutionary scientific theories is intransigent. Progress only occurs when the prestigious detractors from a previous generation die out. Here are four versions of a maxim eloquently stating this viewpoint: Science advances funeral by funeral. Science advances one funeral at …
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Albert Einstein? Truman Twill? Lyndon B. Johnson? Laurence J. Peter? Paul A. Freund? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Many sayings attributed to the scientific genius Albert Einstein concern the mind. Here is a funny example: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign? I …
J. K. Turner? Newton A. Fuessle? Edward Earle Purinton? William C. McCraw? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Office workers whose desks are covered with a jumble of papers are criticized with the following adage. Here are three versions: A cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind. A messy desk is evidence of a messy …
Continue reading “A Cluttered Desk Produces a Cluttered Mind”
Albert Einstein? Enrico Fermi? Leon M. Lederman? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: During the twentieth century the field of physics advanced astonishingly quickly. Researchers discovered a large number of elementary particles. A prominent physicist quipped: If I could remember the names of all those particles, I’d be a botanist. Did Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, or somebody …
Continue reading “If I Could Remember the Names of These Particles, I Would Have Been a Botanist”