Henry Ford? G. K. Chesterton? Robert R. Updegraff? Charles Zueblin? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Thinking carefully and rigorously about an issue requires major effort. That helps to explain why shallow, lazy, and self-justifying thought is so common. Here is a pertinent quotation: Thinking is the hardest work many people ever have to do, and …
Tag Archives: G. K. Chesterton
Quote Origin: The Way That Person Believes In Themselves Is Quite Refreshing In These Atheistic Times When Many Believe In No God At All
Israel Zangwill? G. K. Chesterton? George Bernard Shaw? William Thomas Stead? H. G. Wells? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Intellectuals often think very highly of themselves. One wit satirized this self-absorption with the following quip: The way he believes in himself is very refreshing in these atheistic days when so many believe in no God …
Quote Origin: When People Cease To Believe in God, They Do Not Then Believe in Nothing, But in Anything
G. K. Chesterton? Malcolm Muggeridge? Émile Cammaerts? Umberto Eco? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: An individual who becomes skeptical about traditional belief systems does not automatically embrace careful thought and rationality. Instead, the individual may embrace more eccentric belief systems and superstitions. Consider the following related remark: When people cease to believe in God, they …
Quote Origin: A House Without Books Is Like a Body Without a Soul
Marcus Tullius Cicero? G. K. Chesterton? Henry Ward Beecher? Mrs. Ashton Yates? John Lubbock? William Forsyth? William Lucas Collins? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The most attractive room in a large house is the library. Here are three versions of a germane adage: (1) A house without books is like a body without a soul. …
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Composing Free Verse Is Like Playing Tennis Without a Net
Robert Frost? G. K. Chesterton? Eleanor Graham Vance? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent poet Robert Frost did not compose free verse. Instead, he welcomed the structural demands of rhyme and meter. To explicate his choice he used a clever and vivid simile from the domain of tennis. Would you please help me to find …
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Taking Things with Gratitude, and Not Taking Things for Granted
G. K. Chesterton? Hugh Gesshugh? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The Thanksgiving season reminds me of a notion that I have seen expressed in three different ways: Instead of taking things for granted, we should take them with gratitude. We must learn to take things with gratitude instead of taking them for granted. When it comes …
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Sold His Soul for a Pot of Message
Critic: Max Beerbohm? G. K. Chesterton? Hugh Walpole? C. L. Edson? Piccolo? Maurice Francis Egan? John Cournos? Sara Henderson Hay? Theodore Sturgeon? Anonymous? Person Being Criticized: H. G. Wells? John Galsworthy? William Lafayette Strong? Douglas Goldring? Margaret Halsey? Question for Quote Investigator: The Bible tells the story of Esau who made a foolishly impulsive decision …
Quote Origin: Thinking Is the Hardest Work There Is, which Is the Probable Reason Why So Few Engage In It
Henry Ford? G. K. Chesterton? Charles Zueblin? Franklin Minor? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The automotive titan Henry Ford reportedly crafted a humorous and insightful remark about thinking. Here are three versions: 1) Thinking is hard work. That may be the reason so few engage in it. 2) Thinking is the hardest work there is, …
Life Is Too Important To Be Taken Seriously
Oscar Wilde? G. K. Chesterton? H. L. Mencken? Sebastian Melmoth? Dear Quote Investigator: The following cryptic paradox has been attributed to the famous wit Oscar Wilde: Life is too important to be taken seriously. Yet, I have not found this statement in Wilde’s plays or essays. Would you please examine its provenance? Quote Investigator: Oscar …
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Quote Origin: Truth Is Stranger than Fiction, But It Is Because Fiction Is Obliged to Stick to Possibilities; Truth Isn’t
Mark Twain? Lord Byron? G. K. Chesterton? Edward Bellamy? Humphrey Bogart? Leo Rosten? Tom Clancy? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a wonderful quotation by Mark Twain about the implausibility of truth versus fiction. Here are four versions: 1) Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. 2) It’s …