Tracing Quotations
Marshall McLuhan? Albert Einstein? Clyde Kluckhohn? Pierce Butler? James C. Coleman? John H. Fisher? John Culkin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Sometimes an individual embedded in a particular culture or environment can become blind to the prevailing norms within his or her domain. I have heard a figurative expression that illustrates this predicament. Here are three …
Continue reading “We Don’t Know Who Discovered Water, But We Know It Wasn’t a Fish”
Bishop of Chelmsford? A. H. Reginald Buller? Albert Einstein? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a popular comical limerick about a young woman named White or Bright that highlights the counterintuitive nature of time measurements in Einstein’s theory of relativity. Do you know this poem? Do you know who composed it? Quote Investigator: The earliest …
Continue reading “There Was a Young Lady Named Bright Whose Speed Was Far Faster Than Light”
John A. Shedd? Grace Hopper? Albert Einstein? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: On December 9, 2013 the Google Doodle honored the pioneering computer scientist and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper. Here are two versions of a quotation that is often attributed to her: A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what …
Continue reading “A Ship in Harbor Is Safe, But that Is Not What Ships Are Built For”
Charlie Chaplin? Albert Einstein? János Plesch? Hans Albert Einstein? Eduard Einstein? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The entertainer Charlie Chaplin and the scientist Albert Einstein were two of the most famous individuals of the last century. I have heard the following anecdote about a meeting between them in the 1930s. While traveling together they were recognized …
Niels Bohr? Albert Einstein? Carl Alfred Meier? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is popular anecdote about a journalist or friend who visited the home of a prominent physicist. The visitor was surprised to find a horseshoe above the front doorway of the scientist’s abode. Tradition asserts that a horseshoe acts as a talisman of luck …
Continue reading “I Understand It Brings You Luck, Whether You Believe in It or Not”
Albert Einstein? Bob Samples? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A well-known scholar delivered a lively and appealing lecture online which included the following quotation. The words were attributed to Einstein, but I am skeptical: The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors …
Continue reading “The Intuitive Mind Is a Sacred Gift and the Rational Mind Is a Faithful Servant”
Albert Einstein? Charles Darwin? Maurice Maeterlinck? E. O. Wilson? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A dramatic quotation about the dangers of environmental upheaval is attributed to the brilliant physicist Albert Einstein. Here are two versions: If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No …
Albert Einstein? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The following saying is attributed to the scientific genius Albert Einstein: I never think of the future – it comes soon enough. Did he really say this? When did he say it? Quote Investigator: The earliest evidence of this saying located by QI was printed in a newspaper article …
Continue reading “I Never Think of the Future. It Comes Soon Enough”
George Bernard Shaw and Isadora Duncan? Anatole France and Isadora Duncan? Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe? Albert Einstein and a chorus girl? George Bernard Shaw and a strange lady in Zurich? Dear Quote Investigator: Reportedly there was famous exchange between the prominent playwright George Bernard Shaw and the glamorous dancer Isadora Duncan on the topic …
Continue reading “But Suppose the Child Inherited My Beauty and Your Brains?”
Margaret Thatcher? Ann Richards? Joel Chandler Harris? Uncle Remus? African-American folklore? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, passed away recently, and I was reminded of a pointed saying that is credited to her. Here are three versions: The cock may crow, but it’s the hen who lays …
Continue reading “The Rooster May Crow, But It’s the Hen Who Lays the Egg”