Tag: Diane Ackerman

When Hopes Seem Hardly Worth Having, Just Mount a Bicycle and Go For a Good Spin Down the Road

Arthur Conan Doyle? Sherlock Holmes? Diane Ackerman? Jeremy Withers? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was a bicycle enthusiast. He suggested that taking a spin down the road on a bicycle would dispel feelings of discouragement and unhappiness. I do not know the precise phrasing Conan Doyle used. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In May 1895 “Demorest’s Family Magazine” of New York published a piece titled “What Are the Benefits of Bicycling?”, and a section called “Testimony of an Enthusiast” printed the following words from Arthur Conan Doyle. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:[1]1895 May, Demorest’s Family Magazine, Volume 31, Number 7, What Are the Benefits of Bicycling?: Testimony of an Enthusiast: Dr. A. Conan Doyle (Physician, Lecturer and Author), Quote Page 383, … Continue reading

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hopes seem hardly worth having, just mount a bicycle and go for a good spin down the road, without thought of anything but the ride you are taking.

I have myself ridden the bicycle most during my practice as a physician and during my work in letters. In the morning or the afternoon, before or after work, as the mood o’ertakes me, I mount the wheel and am off for a spin of a few miles up or down the road from my country place. I can only speak words of praise for the bicycle, for I believe that its use is commonly beneficial and not at all detrimental to health, except in the matter of beginners who overdo it.

The bicycle craze seems to me to be only in its infancy, for probably in time we shall witness the spectacle of our business men going to their offices mounted on the bicycle, instead of using the tramways.

Detailed information about this saying is available in the Quote Investigator article on the Medium website which is located here. Please follow Quote Investigator on Medium.

References

References
↑1 1895 May, Demorest’s Family Magazine, Volume 31, Number 7, What Are the Benefits of Bicycling?: Testimony of an Enthusiast: Dr. A. Conan Doyle (Physician, Lecturer and Author), Quote Page 383, Column 1, W. Jennings Demorest, New York. (Google Books Full View) link

Every Time I See an Adult on a Bicycle, I No Longer Despair for the Future of the Human Race

H. G. Wells? Robert Silverman? Diane Ackerman? Carie Dann? Heathcote Williams? Ali Smith? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Apparently, the famous science fiction author H. G. Wells was a bicycle enthusiast. Here are three versions of a remark that has been credited to him:

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race.

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.

I fear that this is a misquotation. I have never seen a precise citation for this statement pointing to an essay, book, or speech created by H. G. Wells. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has been unable to find substantive evidence supporting the attribution to H. G. Wells who died in 1946. The earliest close match located by QI appeared in the magazine “Bicycle USA” circa 1988 within a letter sent to the periodical. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:[1]1988 February, Bicycle USA, Volume 24, Section: Letters to the Editor, Quote Page 4, League of American Wheelmen, Bicycle USA, Baltimore, Maryland. (Note: QI has not yet verified this citation with … Continue reading

I encourage you to continue your efforts to make bicycling safer and more pleasant for the millions of bicyclists in North America. “Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race” said H.G. Wells.

Robert Silverman
Montreal, Canada

QI does not know where the letter writer obtained this quotation. The long delay after the death of H. G. Wells greatly diminished the credibility of this citation.

Three different books by H. G. Wells have been suggested as the source of the quotation: “The Wheels of Chance” (1896), “The History of Mr. Polly” (1910), and “The Rights of Man” (1940). QI has explored these books, and the quotation was absent. Details are presented further below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading Every Time I See an Adult on a Bicycle, I No Longer Despair for the Future of the Human Race

References

References
↑1 1988 February, Bicycle USA, Volume 24, Section: Letters to the Editor, Quote Page 4, League of American Wheelmen, Bicycle USA, Baltimore, Maryland. (Note: QI has not yet verified this citation with scans or hardcopy; data and text are based on a match in Google Books; only snippets are visible; page number and date were extracted from Google Books and may be inaccurate)

Cycle Tracks Will Abound In Utopia

H. G. Wells? Diane Ackerman? Apocryphal?

Dear Quote Investigator: When the famous science fiction author and social critic H. G. Wells envisioned utopia he wished to see ubiquitous bicycle paths winding through forests and gardens. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Quote Investigator: H. G. Wells serialized his alternate history novel titled “A Modern Utopia” in “The Fortnightly Review” with chapter two printed in November 1904,[1]1904 November, The Fortnightly Review, A Modern Utopia: A Sociological Holiday by H.G. Wells, Chapter 2: Concerning Freedoms, Start Page 928, Quote Page 936, Chapman and Hall, London; Also Leonard … Continue reading and the full book appearing in 1905. Wells described picturesque bicycle paths:[2] 1905, A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells, Chapter 2: Concerning Freedoms, Quote Page 47, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. (Google Books Full View) link

Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia, sometimes following beside the great high roads, but oftener taking their own more agreeable line amidst woods and crops and pastures; and there will be a rich variety of footpaths and minor ways. There will be many footpaths in Utopia.

There will be pleasant ways over the scented needles of the mountain pinewoods, primrose-strewn tracks amidst the budding thickets of the lower country, paths running beside rushing streams, paths across the wide spaces of the corn land, and, above all, paths through the flowery garden spaces amidst which the houses in the towns will stand. And everywhere about the world, on road and path, by sea and land, the happy holiday Utopians will go.

Below are two additional selected citations.

Continue reading Cycle Tracks Will Abound In Utopia

References

References
↑1 1904 November, The Fortnightly Review, A Modern Utopia: A Sociological Holiday by H.G. Wells, Chapter 2: Concerning Freedoms, Start Page 928, Quote Page 936, Chapman and Hall, London; Also Leonard Scott Publication Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link
↑2 1905, A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells, Chapter 2: Concerning Freedoms, Quote Page 47, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. (Google Books Full View) link