H. L. Mencken? Jo Petty? Max L. Forman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Freedom is precious. Without continual vigilance, it disappears. Safeguarding it requires unrelenting commitment. A popular political commentator said something like the following about freedom: No price that is ever asked for it is half the cost of doing without it. This statement …
Tag Archives: H. L. Mencken
Proverb Origin: A Bayonet Is a Weapon with a Worker at Each End
John Maclean? James Hudson? James Riley? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Warring countries enlist workers to fight battles. Pacifists have adopted the following slogan. Here are three versions: (1) A bayonet is a weapon with a working man at either end.(2) A bayonet is a weapon with a worker at each end.(3) …
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Saying Origin: Labor-Saving Devices Don’t Save Labor. They Increase It
John Stuart Mill? Henry George? H. L. Mencken? C. Palfrey? J. E. Jennings? Adam Coaldigger? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recent progress in artificial intelligence and robotics has led some to believe that work hours will shrink and leisure will grow. However, history suggests a different possibility. Brilliant inventors have created a series of remarkable …
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Quote Origin: Birthdays Are Feathers in the Broad Wing of Time
Jean Paul? Johann Paul Friedrich Richter? Charles T. Brooks? H. L. Mencken? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The experience of a birthday inspires philosophical reveries in some older people. Apparently, a literary figure once wrote: Birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time. This statement has been credited to the German Romantic writer Johann …
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