Quote Investigator® – Page 7 – Tracing Quotations

Quote Origin: Promise People That They Will Have a Chance of Maltreating Someone

Aldous Huxley? George Sokolsky? Apocryphal?

**Illustration of a stamp which displays “CANCELLED” from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: Social media enables people to express righteous indignation by joining together to form electronic mobs. The chance to target and maltreat individuals while maintaining a good conscience is psychologically appealing. The opportunity to hurt and pull down others is enticing to some people.

Apparently, the English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley made an observation of this type before the existence of social media. Huxley’s remark supposedly appeared in the novel “Crome Yellow”, but I have carefully examined that book, and I was unable to find any matching statement. This situation is confusing. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Aldous Huxley was commissioned to write an introduction to a collector’s edition of Samuel Butler’s nineteenth century novel “Erewhon”. Huxley placed the date of July 24, 1933 at the end of his introduction, and the book was issued by the Limited Editions Club in 1934. Huxley commented on the motivations of people. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

The surest way to work up a crusade in favour of some good cause is to promise people that they will have a chance of maltreating someone. Men must be bribed to build up and do good by the offer of an opportunity to hurt and pull down. To be able to destroy with a good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’—this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.

QI has searched the 1921 satirical novel “Crome Yellow”² by Huxley for the phrases “righteous indignation”, “good conscience”, and “pull down”. There were no matches for these phrases in the book.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Show Me a Good Loser and I’ll Show You a Loser

Knute Rockne? Red Auerbach? Robert Zuppke? Fred Taylor? Richard Nixon? Jimmy Carter? Anonymous?

**Illustration of a trophy for the winner**

Question for Quote Investigator: Any participant in competitive sports must eventually experience defeat. The value of good sportsmanship has been emphasized by many mentors. Different terms have been employed to contrast the divergent reactions to defeat: “gracious loser”, “good loser”, “poor loser”, “angry loser”, and “sore loser”.

A controversial adage emerged from sports coaches in the twentieth century which suggested that a loss should make a person unhappy and should provide a strong impetus for future improvement:

Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.

This saying has been attributed to U.S. football coach Knute Rockne, U.S. basketball coach Red Auerbach, U.S. football coach Vince Lombardi, and many others. I have not seen any solid citations. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The saying evolved over time, and there are many variants which makes it difficult to trace. The earliest exact match known to QI appeared in 1962 when it was spoken by Gus Doerner who was a U.S. basketball player and coach. Yet, QI believes the expression was already in circulation. The creator remains anonymous.

Below is an overview of the evolution with dates and attributions:

1904 Jul: If I may not win, make me a good loser (Anonymous)

1907 Jun: The “good loser” is blamed seldom any old kind of a winner (Jim Nasium)

1924 Nov: A good loser is no good (Robert Zuppke)

1938 Jun: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a man without guts (Anonymous)

1940 Oct: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a streak of yellow (Anonymous)

1943 Aug: Show me a good loser, and I will show you a failure (Attributed to Knute Rockne by George Strickler)

1946 Jan: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a guy without an ounce of competitive spirit in his makeup (Lee Dunbar)

1948 Dec: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a failure (Attributed to Knute Rockne by John Mooney)

1952 Mar: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a consistent loser (John Mooney)

1956 Jan: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you an idiot (Attributed to Paul Gilbert by Bennett Cerf)

1957 Sep: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you an unsuccessful man (Attributed to Knute Rockne by Paul Steiner)

1959 Mar: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you someone who never wins (Fred Taylor)

1960 Apr: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a guy who is going to lose most of the time (Carl Rees)

1960 Jun: Good losers get lots of practice (Benny Marshall)

1962 Apr: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Gus Doerner)

1963 Jun: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Frankie Albert)

1965 Apr: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Red Auerbach)

1975 Jul: Show me a good loser in professional sports, and I’ll show you an idiot. (Leo Durocher)

1975: You show me a good loser and I will show you a loser (Credited to Anonymous by Jimmy Carter)

1978: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Attributed to Wallace Newman by Richard Nixon)

1982 May: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Credited to Anonymous by Paul Newman)

2010: Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser (Attributed to Vince Lombardi by John Marlowe)

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Art Is the Window of a Person’s Soul. Without It, They Would Never Be Able To See Beyond Their Immediate World

Lady Bird Johnson? Claudia Alta Johnson? Jill Biden? Henry Seldis?

**Allusive illustration of a soul from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: A First Lady of the United States once spoke about the importance of experiencing great art. She said that art was the window of person’s soul. Art was required to see beyond the immediate everyday world and to see the inner world.

I do not recall the precise phrasing. Would you please help me to identify the speaker, and to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1964 the sculpture garden of the Museum of Modern Art in New York was considerably enlarged. The First Lady of the United States Claudia Alta Johnson spoke at the rededication ceremony. She was known to the public as Lady Bird Johnson. The art critic of the “Los Angeles Times” Henry Seldis reported the words of Johnson. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“This great and growing museum makes it possible to leave our ‘dailyness’ and see what we never saw before in the daily round—for art is the window of man’s soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within.

“We are so often pictured as a society entirely devoted to technological advance that it is good to have this abundant proof to the contrary,” the First Lady said.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: As Soon As It Works, No One Calls It AI Anymore

John McCarthy? Pamela McCorduck? Bertram Raphael? Donald Michie? Melanie Mitchell? Bertrand Meyer? Anonymous?

**Visual metaphor of a brain-like circuit from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) researchers tackled a variety of challenging problems. One early goal was the development of symbolic mathematics systems capable of performing polynomial factorization, integration, and differentiation. Researchers made such great progress that this field was reclassified. It was no longer part of AI; instead, it became a subfield of algorithm design and analysis.

In 1997 the Deep Blue chess computer triumphed over world champion Garry Kasparov. The system employed a massive brute-force game-tree search. The victory was a milestone, but some researchers believed that the system was no longer part of AI research.

In general, if a problem is effectively solvable then it is no longer deemed an appropriate task for AI. Here are two versions of a comment about this phenomenon that is both wistful and mordant:

(1) As soon as it works, no one calls it AI anymore.
(2) If it works, it isn’t AI.

This notion has been attributed to several AI researchers including John McCarthy and Edward Feigenbaum. I am having difficulty finding solid citations. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: This notion is difficult to trace because it can be expressed in many different ways. Below is an overview showing the evolution via key statements together with dates:

1971: AI is a collective name for problems which we do not yet know how to solve properly by computer [Attributed to Bertram Raphael by Donald Michie]

1979: Every time somebody figured out how to make a computer do something—play good checkers, solve simple but relatively informal problems—there was a chorus of critics to say, but that’s not thinking [Pamela McCorduck]

1979: AI is whatever hasn’t been done yet [Attributed to Larry Tesler by Douglas Hofstadter]

1982 May: If it’s useful, it isn’t AI [Anonymous]

1982 Sep: If you can understand how it works, it isn’t AI [Anonymous]

1983 May: If you do know what you’re doing (or if you find out), it isn’t AI anymore [Beau Sheil]

1984: If it works, it isn’t AI [Anonymous]

1984 Feb: Anything computers can’t yet do is AI [Anonymous]

1984 Sep: It it’s useful, it isn’t AI [Anonymous]

1985: If you understand how it works, it isn’t AI [Anonymous]

1985 Apr: When an AI idea is turned into a useful system, in some sense it isn’t AI anymore [Roger Schank and Larry Hunter]

1985 Jun: Once they are thoroughly solved, they are not AI anymore but just another computer program [Severo Ornstein]

1988: If it works, it isn’t AI [Attributed to Edward Feigenbaum]

2011 Oct: As soon as it works, no one calls it AI anymore [Attributed to John McCarthy by Bertrand Meyer]

2017: Intelligence is whatever machines haven’t done yet [Attributed to Larry Tesler by Garry Kasparov]

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: People More Frequently Require To Be Reminded Than Informed

Samuel Johnson? C. S. Lewis? Peggy Noonan? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: People often know what they should be doing. A didactic lecture is not required. Instead, a simple reminder is adequate to inspire appropriate action. Here are four examples from a family of pertinent sayings:

(1) Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
(2) People require more to be reminded than informed.
(3) Mankind in general stand more in need of being reminded than instructed.
(4) People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.

This saying has been credited to English lexicographer Samuel Johnson and British fantasy writer C. S. Lewis. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1750 Samuel Johnson began to publish the periodical “The Rambler”. The second issue contained the following passage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

What is new is opposed, because most are unwilling to be taught; and what is known is rejected, because it is not sufficiently considered, that men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

The learned are afraid to declare their opinion early, lest they should put their reputation in hazard; the ignorant always imagine themselves giving some proof of delicacy, when they refuse to be pleased . . .

QI believes that Samuel Johnson deserves credit for initiating this family of sayings. The saying evolved over time, and Johnson often received credit for variant phrasings.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Trust Everybody, But Cut the Cards

Finley Peter Dunne? Martin Dooley? Anonymous?

**Picture of playing cards from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: One should be generous when conveying trust, but one should not be gullible or naïve. One must take precautions and defend oneself. An adage from the domain of card games presents this viewpoint:

Trust everybody, but cut the cards.

This notion has been attributed to the U.S. humorist Finley Peter Dunne, but I have not seen a citation. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Beginning in the 1890s Finley Peter Dunne published newspaper columns in the voice of a fictional Irish bartender named Martin Dooley. The columns used nonstandard spelling to reflect the pronunciation of a recent Irish immigrant. In 1900 Dunne published a book titled “Mr. Dooley’s Philosophy”. A section titled “Casual Observations” included the following item:¹

Thrust ivrybody—but cut th’ ca-ards.

Here is the standard spelling:

Trust everybody—but cut the cards.

Here are three other items from the same page of the book which illustrate the eye dialect. The items are accompanied with renderings in standard English:

’Tis as hard f’r a rich man to enther th’ kingdom iv Hiven as it is f’r a poor man to get out iv Purgatory.

It’s as hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven as it is for a poor man to get out of Purgatory.

Ivry man has his superstitions. If I look at a new moon over me shoulder I get a crick in me neck.

Every man has his superstitions. If I look at a new moon over my shoulder I get a crick in my neck.

If ye dhrink befure siven ye’ll cry befure iliven.

If you drink before seven you’ll cry before eleven.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: What I Learned, I No Longer Know. What Little I Still Know, I Have Guessed

Nicolas Chamfort? Charles de Talleyrand? Catherine Gore? Apocryphal?

**Picture of Forget-Me-Not Flowers from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: A student is taught numerous topics during a formal education, yet most details are swiftly forgotten once schooling is completed. A wit composed the following candid remark:

All that I’ve learned, I’ve forgotten. The little that I still know, I’ve guessed.

This saying has been attributed to the French epigrammatist Nicolas Chamfort and the French statesman Charles de Talleyrand. I have never seen a solid citation. Would you please help to find the original French statement together with a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Nicolas Chamfort died in 1794, and the following year a multivolume collection of his works was published in Paris. The fourth volume included a section titled “Pensées morales” (“Moral thoughts”) which included the following statement. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Ce que j’ai appris, je ne le sais plus. Le peu que je sais encore, je l’ai deviné.

Here is one possible translation into English:

What I learned, I no longer know. What little I still know, I have guessed.

A similar statement was attributed to Charles de Talleyrand many years later in 1848. QI conjectures that Talleyrand was aware of the Chamfort’s remark, and Talleyrand decided to employ a version of it.

Below is an overview of this family of expressions with dates and attributions:

1795: Ce que j’ai appris, je ne le sais plus. Le peu que je sais encore, je l’ai deviné. (Nicolas Chamfort)

1795: What I learned, I no longer know. What little I still know, I have guessed. (English translation of Chamfort)

1848: What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Charles de Talleyrand)

1857: What I have learned I no longer know; the little I know I have divined. (Attributed to Chamfort)

1857: What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Talleyrand)

1860: What I learnt, I have forgotten: what I know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Talleyrand)

1874: Tout ce que j’ai appris, je l’ai oublié; ce que je sais, je l’ai deviné. (Attributed to Chamfort)

1874: Everything I learned, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed. (English translation of phrase attributed to Chamfort)

1891: All that I was taught I have forgotten. I remember only what I taught myself. (Attributed to Talleyrand)

1894: What I have been taught I have forgotten; what I know I have guessed. (Attributed to Talleyrand)

1902: What I have learnt I no longer know; what I still know has come to me by intuition. (Attributed to Chamfort)

1903: What I learned I have forgotten. The little that I do know I have guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)

1933: The little that I do know I have guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)

1948: What I have learnt I know no longer.What I know I have guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)

1949: What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Talleyrand)

1969: What I have learned, I no longer know. The little that I still know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)

2008: All that I’ve learned, I’ve forgotten. The little I still know, I’ve guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Mark Twain? Frank Marshall White? Albert Bigelow Paine? Apocryphal?

**Public domain illustration of Mark Twain**

Question for Quote Investigator: A famous anecdote about the humorist Mark Twain occurred when he was an elderly gentleman. A prominent newspaper reported that Twain was either gravely ill or dead. Journalists rushed to learn more about the story, and they found that Twain was still alive and in good health. When Twain was asked about the faulty report he responded with a quip. Here are four versions:

(1) The report of my death was an exaggeration
(2) Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated
(3) The report of my death has been grossly exaggerated
(4) The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated

Would you please help to dispel the uncertainty about what Twain really said by exploring this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: An entertaining thematic precursor to this quip was written by Mark Twain in 1863 while he was in Virginia City, Nevada. Twain sent a series of letters about his experiences in Nevada to the “Daily Morning Call” of San Francisco, California which published them.¹ One of Twain’s letters² described a false rumor about a local resident’s death. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:³

There was a report about town, last night, that Charles Strong, Esq., Superintendent of the Gould & Curry, had been shot and very effectually killed. I asked him about it at church this morning. He said there was no truth in the rumor.

Another precursor appeared in a short item within “The Daily Examiner” of San Francisco in 1882. The writer was an anonymous journalist:⁴

The rumor in reference to John Davis’ death was greatly exaggerated, and that gentleman was in Oakland to-day, apparently as well as ever.

On June 1, 1897 several newspapers reported that Mark Twain was seriously ill. The “Plainfield Courier-News” of New Jersey⁵ and the “Lebanon Daily News” of Pennsylvania⁶ both credited “The New York Herald” for the pessimistic story:

The sad news comes from London that Mark Twain is grievously ill and possibly dying. Worse still, we are told that his brilliant intellect is shattered and that he is sorely in need of money. Bravely and sturdily he fought up to the last, endeavoring to regain some portion of his lost fortune, and now it seems that his indomitable energy has at last left him and that we are not likely again to have any of those flashes of genius which long ago showed Mark Twain as the greatest living American humorist.

After all, the news from London may be exaggerated, though Mark Twain’s friends in this city are inclined to believe that it is true. For years Mark Twain was one of the most popular authors in this country as well as in Great Britain.

Several journalists attempted to contact Twain in London to determine the truth. The “New York Journal” published a story by journalist Frank Marshall White on the following day, June 2, 1897. Twain provided a rebuttal to the somber news:⁷

Mark Twain was undecided whether to be more amused or annoyed when a Journal representative informed him to-day of the report in New York that he was dying in poverty in London.

He is living in comfort and even luxury in a handsomely furnished house in a beautiful square in Chelsea with his wife and children . . .

The great humorist, while not perhaps very robust, is in the best of health. He said:

“I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about. I have even heard on good authority that I was dead. James Ross Clemens, of St. Louis, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness.

“The report of my death was an exaggeration. The report of my poverty is harder to deal with. My friends might know that unless I were actually dying in poverty I should not live in poverty when I am receiving offers to lecture by every mail.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Joke Origin: “Give Me a Cup of Coffee Without Cream” “You’ll Have To Take It Without Milk. We Haven’t Any Cream”

Jean-Paul Sartre? George Carlin? Slavoj Žižek? O. O. McIntyre? Sewell Ford? Billy Wilder? Leo Rosten? Anonymous?

**Picture of a coffee cup with coffee beans from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Philosophers, linguists, and humorists enjoy the following joke about tacit knowledge: A person enters a café and requests coffee without cream. After a delay the waiter returns and says “I’m sorry. We’re out of cream. Would you like to have coffee without milk?”

This joke has been attributed to the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Slavoj Žižek. It also been linked to the humorists George Carlin and Leo Rosten. Would you please explore its provenance?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in “The Mansfield News” of Mansfield, Ohio in January 1921. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“Give me a cup of coffee without cream.”
“You’ll have to take it without milk. We haven’t any cream.”
That from Johnny Hines’ new Torchy comedy.

U.S. actor Johnny Hines was a star of the silent film era. He appeared in a series of short films about a redheaded office worker named “Torchy”. The film titles included “Torchy Comes Through” (1920), “Torchy in High” (1920), and “Torchy’s Millions” (1920). The films were based on a series of books by Sewell Ford which began with “Torchy”² in 1911.

QI has not seen these films. Also, QI has not examined all these books; hence, QI has not verified the presence or absence of this joke. Thus, the creator of the gag remains anonymous, at this time.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Soul Is Healed By Being With Children

Fyodor Dostoevsky? Prince Myshkin? Constance Garnett? Henry Carlisle? Olga Carlisle? Apocryphal?

**Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky circa 1872**

Question for Quote Investigator: A major literary figure once wrote about the connection between children and spiritual health. Here are two versions:

(1) The soul is healed by being with children.
(2) Through children the soul is healed.

This remark has been attributed to the acclaimed Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, but I have never seen a solid citation. Would you please help me to precisely locate the statement in Russian and English?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Fyodor Dostoevsky published the novel Идиот (“The Idiot”) serially between 1868 and 1869. An English translation by Constance Garnett appeared in 1913. During one scene in chapter six the main character Prince Lev Nikolayevitch Myshkin spoke about the children of a village and their schoolteacher Jules Thibaut. Boldface added to except by QI:¹

At first he used to shake his head and wonder how it was the children understood everything from me and scarcely anything from him; and then he began laughing at me when I told him that neither of us could teach them anything, but that they can teach us. And how could he be envious of me and say things against me, when he spent his life with children himself! The soul is healed by being with children.

Below is the passage in Russian as it appeared in a 1973 edition of Идиот (“The Idiot”) from the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences:²

он сначала всё качал головой и дивился, как это дети у меня всё понимают, а у него почти ничего, а потом стал надо мной смеяться, когда я ему сказал, что мы оба их ничему не научим, а они еще нас научат. И как он мог мне завидовать и клеветать на меня, когда сам жил с детьми! Через детей душа лечится.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.