Tracing Quotations
Ray Bradbury? Erica Jong? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The science fiction luminary Ray Bradbury relied deeply on his intuitions and his imagination to compose lyrical prose. He believed that creativity was obstructed by over-thinking and intellectualizing. The following two statements have been attributed to him: Are these quotations genuine? Would you please help me …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Self-Consciousness Is the Enemy of All Art”
Graham Greene? Doris Lessing? Erica Jong? Question for Quote Investigator: An artist who has achieved a distinctive reputation with critics and the general public is placed into a metaphorical strait jacket. Newly fashioned artworks are expected to be similar to previous artworks. Change and innovation are frowned upon. This notion can be expressed using a …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Reputation Is Like a Death Mask. I Wanted To Smash the Mask”
Erica Jong? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Humor is a helpful tool for understanding and accepting events that are difficult to process emotionally such as divorce or death. I think the U.S. novelist Erica Jong made an observation similar to this. Would you please help me to locate her comment? Reply from Quote Investigator: In …
Gloria Steinem? Irina Dunn? Erica Jong? Florynce Kennedy? Charles S. Harris? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous feminist slogan asserts that a woman is capable of living a complete and independent life without a man. Here are two versions: Would you please explore the origin of this saying? Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Woman Without a Man Is Like a Fish Without a Bicycle”
Erica Jong? Oscar Wilde? Robert Webster Jones? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: As a single person I enjoy the following joke about bigamy. Here are two versions: (1) Bigamy is having one husband too many. Monogamy is the same. (2) Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same. The …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Bigamy Is Having One Spouse Too Many. Monogamy Is the Same”