Tracing Quotations
Collector: Collected and published by George Herbert in 1640
Man Proposeth, God disposeth.
Living well is the best revenge.
Poverty is no sinne.
Hee begins to die, that quits his desires.
Every one is a master and servant.
He that trusts in a lie, shall perish in truth.
Image Notes: Mansion adjacent to water from psaudio at Pixabay.
Rudyard Kipling? Elizabeth Ogden Smith? Bob Rigley? Jean Kerr? Anonymous?
Dear Quote Investigator: The popular poem “If —” by the prominent literary figure Rudyard Kipling has often been parodied. The first lines extol the ability to remain levelheaded in situations where others are panicking. A comical twist suggests that the unflappable person probably does not really understand what is happening. Would you please examine this humorous response?
Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in the “High School Bulletin” section of a newspaper published in Rhinebeck, New York in September 1935. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:[ref] 1935 September 20, The Rhinebeck Gazette, High School Bulletin: Published by Rhinebeck High School: Section: Jokes, Quote Page 8, Column 4, Rhinebeck, New York. (Old Fulton)[/ref]
And if you can keep your head when everybody round you is losing his, then it is very probable that you don’t understand the situation.
The second match in December 1936 occurred in the high school news section of a Lake Park, Iowa newspaper. The word “and” was omitted, and the word “around” replaced “round”:[ref] 1936 December 17, The Lake Park News, The Little Sioux Warrior, Quote Page 7, Column 2, Lake Park, Iowa. (Newspapers_com)[/ref]
If you can keep your head when everybody around you is losing his, then it is very probable that you don’t understand the situation.
In both cases, the creator of the expression was anonymous. Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Creator: “Punch”, London humor magazine
Context: On July 14, 1855 “Punch” published the following brief item containing the quotation:[ref] 1855 July 14, Punch, Or the London Charivari, (Filler item), Quote Page 19, Column 2, London, England. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]
A SHORT CUT TO METAPHYSICS.
What is Matter?—Never mind.
What is Mind?—No matter.
Related Article: Those Who Mind Don’t Matter, and Those Who Matter Don’t Mind
A. A. Milne? Satchel Paige? William Gunning King? Lucy Maud Montgomery? Alice G. Young? Woodrow Wilson? Anonymous?
Dear Quote Investigator: I enjoy relaxing and daydreaming, so I’ve always been attracted to the following saying:
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.
These words have been credited to the creator of Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne, and to the prominent baseball player, Satchel Paige. Yet, I am skeptical because I haven’t been able to find any solid citations. Would you please help?
Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in February 1905 within multiple newspapers such as “The Pittsburg Press” of Pennsylvania[ref] 1905 February 18, The Pittsburg Press, How He Spent His Time, Quote Page 2, Column 5, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com)[/ref] and the “The Buffalo Sunday News” of New York.[ref] 1905 February 19, The Buffalo Sunday News, The Simple Life, Quote Page 15, Column 5, Buffalo, New York. (Newspapers_com)[/ref] These papers acknowledged “The Boston Record” of Massachusetts. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:
A bond salesman just back from Maine says he asked an old fisherman in a snow-bound hamlet what he did with himself evenings.
The reply was: “Oh, sometimes I sit and think, and then again I just sit.”
—Boston Record
Thus, the first version employed the phrase “I sit” instead of “I sits”. The originator was described as an anonymous old fisherman, and the key propagator was an anonymous bond salesman.
Thanks to Barry Popik for his pioneering research on this topic. He found a March 1905 citation.
Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Continue reading “Sometimes I Sits and Thinks, and Sometimes I Just Sits”
Creator: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), famous humorist
Context: Understanding the humor in the following passage requires familiarity with the cherry tree legend. A young Washington received a hatchet as a gift and impetuously chopped down a cherry tree owned by his father. When the future president was confronted he said “I cannot tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.” In December 1871 Twain delivered a speech that was transcribed and printed in “The Chicago Tribune”. Twain discussed lying and compared himself to Washington: [ref] 1871 December 20, The Chicago Tribune, “Mark Twain”: Sketch of the Great American Humorist’s Lecture, Delivered in the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, Quote Page 4, Column 5, Chicago, Illinois. (“fascinating” is misspelled “facinating” in the original) (Newspapers_com)[/ref]
A reporter has to lie a little, of course, or they would discharge him. That is the only drawback to the profession. That is why I left it. [Laughter] I am different from Washington; I have a higher and grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won’t. [Prolonged laughter.] Reporting is fascinating, but then it is distressing to have to lie so. Lying is bad—lying is very bad. Every individual in this house knows that by experience. I think that for a man to tell a lie when he can’t make anything by it, is wrong. [Laughter.]
Francis Bacon? Theophilus Gale? David Hume? Apocryphal?
Dear Quote Investigator: The famous English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon made an intriguing assertion about atheism. Here are three versions:
(1) A little philosophy makes men atheists, though a great deal would cure them of Atheism.
(2) A little knowledge drives man away from God, but deeper knowledge brings him back.
(3) A little knowledge may take us away from God, but further knowledge will bring us back to him.
Would you please help me to find the correct phrasing and a citation?
Quote Investigator: The 1625 collection titled “The Essayes Or Covnsels, Civill and Morall” by Francis Bacon included the original version of the statement under analysis. The spelling in the 1625 text differed from modern spelling. For example, the letters “u” and “v” were sometimes swapped. The following passage employs updated spelling. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:1
I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, then that this universal Frame, is without a Mind. And therefore, God never wrought Miracle, to convince Atheism, because his Ordinary Works convince it. It is true, that a little Philosophy inclineth Man’s Mind to Atheism; But depth in Philosophy, bringeth Men’s Minds about to Religion.
Below is a scan of the 1625 book page showing the text above followed by additional selected citations in chronological order.
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Little Philosophy Inclineth Mans Mind to Atheism; But Depth in Philosophy, Bringeth Mens Minds about to Religion”Creator: Madonna Louise Ciccone, American singer, songwriter, and artistic entrepreneur
Context: In 1991 “Vanity Fair” published a profile of Madonna within which she discussed her “iron will” and her trepidation. Emphasis added to this excerpt by QI:[ref] 1991 April, Vanity Fair, The Misfit by Lynn Hirschberg (Profile of Madonna Louise Ciccone), Start Page 158, Quote Page 198, Column 1, Conde Nast Publications, New York. (Verified with photocopies)[/ref]
“And all of my will has always been to conquer some horrible feeling of inadequacy. I’m always struggling with that fear. I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being and then I get to another stage and think I’m mediocre and uninteresting. And I find a way to get myself out of that. Again and again. My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre. And that’s always pushing me, pushing me.
Related Article 01: “Mediocrity is My Biggest Fear” said Robert Downey Jr.
Théophile Gautier? Molière? Alphonse Karr? Alexander Dumas père? A Mathematician? Prince Albert? Joseph Coyne? Honoré de Balzac?Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Anonymous?
Dear Quote Investigator: Operas and orchestra concerts are quite expensive productions. A deprecatory wit once grumbled about the outlays. Here are three versions:
This thought has been attributed to the prominent French playwright Molière, but I have been unable to find a good citation. Would you please explore this topic?
Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in the 1845 book “Zigzags” by Théophile Gautier, a French dramatist, novelist, and critic; however, Gautier disclaimed credit and ascribed the barb to an unnamed “géomètre” (“mathematician”). Here is an excerpt in French followed by one possible English translation. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:[ref] 1845, Zigzags par Théophile Gautier, Chapter VI: Têtes d’anges, Quote Page 243 and 244, Victor Magen, Éditeur, Paris. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]
Un soir, j’étais à Drury-Lane. On jouait la Favorite, accommodée au goût britannique, et traduite dans la langue de l’île, ce qui produisait un vacarme difficile à qualifier, et justifiait parfaitement le mot d’un géomètre, qui n’était pas mélomane assurément. — La musique est le plus désagréable et le plus cher de tous les bruits. — Aussi j’écoutais peu, et j’avais le dos tourné au théâtre.
One night I was at Drury Lane. The opera was La Favorite, adapted to the British taste and translated into the language of the island. This produced a din that is difficult to categorize, and perfectly justified the quip of a mathematician, who was certainly not a music lover. — Music is the most unpleasant and the most expensive of all noises. — So I listened little, and my back was turned to the theater.
Molière (pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) died in 1673, and the earliest linkage of the playwright to the saying found by QI appeared many years later in 1956. Details are given further below.
Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Continue reading “Music Is the Most Unpleasant and the Most Expensive of All Noises”
Creator: Ralph Waldo Emerson, prominent American essayist and transcendentalist philosopher
Context: In 1836 when Emerson was 33 years old he wrote in his journal about bloody events in Spain and France. Emphasis added to excerpt:[ref] 1910, Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson with Annotations, Edited by Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes, 1836-1838, Volume 4, Journal Date: Nov. 29, 1836, Age of Ralph Waldo Emerson: 33, Quote Page 160 and 161, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (archive.org) link [/ref]
But in analysing history do not be too profound, for often the causes are quite superficial. In the present state of Spain, in the old state of France, and in general in the reigns of Terror, everywhere, there is no Idea, no Principle. It is all scrambling for bread and money. It is the absence of all profound views; of all principle. It is the triumph of the senses, a total skepticism. They are all down on the floor striving each to pick the pocket, or cut the throat that he may pick the pocket, of the other, and the farthest view the miscreants have is the next tavern or brothel where their plunder may glut them.
Acknowledgement: Special thanks to Elisa Gabbert and Brent Gohde who via twitter wondered about the authenticity of this quotation and requested a citation.
Joseph Joubert? Matthew Arnold? Anonymous?
Dear Quote Investigator: Imagination is crucial to cogitation, but it must be coupled with knowledge to achieve wholeness. Here are two versions of a germane adage:
I was reminded of this saying while reading a QI analysis of a tangentially related quotation about roots and wings. Would you please examine this saying about creativity?
Quote Investigator: The famous French essayist and aphorist Joseph Joubert died in 1824. His literary reputation was established via material published posthumously. The book “Pensées, Essais et Maximes” (“Thoughts, Essays and Maxims”) appeared in 1842, and the adage under examination was included:[ref] 1842, Pensées, Essais et Maximes de J. Joubert Suivis de Lettres à Ses Amis par Joseph Joubert, Tome 1, Titre VII: De la nature des esprits, Quote Page 169, Librairie de Charles Gosselin, Paris, France. (gallica.bnf.fr) link [/ref]
Celui qui a de l’imagination sans érudition a des ailes et n’a pas de pieds.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Continue reading “One Who Has Imagination Without Learning Has Wings Without Feet”
