Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? John Dryden? Jonathan Swift? Edgar Allan Poe? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The utterance of a pun is sometimes greeted with the assertion that puns are the lowest form of humor, but a humorist once explained the true reason behind this criticism. The complainer was unable to think of the pun …
Tag Archives: Jonathan Swift
Quote Origin: Those Who Most Dislike Puns Are Least Able To Utter Them
Edgar Allan Poe? Jonathan Swift? Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Creating humorous puns is difficult which may help to explain why detractors are so harsh. A wit once said: Those who most dislike puns are least able to utter them The master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Those Who Most Dislike Puns Are Least Able To Utter Them”
Quote Origin: Punning Is a Talent Which No Man Affects To Despise, But He That Is Without It
Jonathan Swift? Edgar Allan Poe? Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The dislike of puns is rooted in jealousy. A wit once said something like the following: Punning is a talent which no one despises except those without it. This notion has been attributed to Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, U.S. horror writer …
Quote Origin: Whoever First Ate an Oyster Was a Brave Soul
Jonathan Swift? Benjamin Franklin? Shirley Chisholm? Thomas Moffett? John Ward? King James I of England? Thomas Fuller? John Gay? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: During a commencement address I heard the following vivid advice offered to students: Be as bold as the first man or woman to eat an oyster. Apparently, the famous Irish literary …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Whoever First Ate an Oyster Was a Brave Soul”
Quote Origin: Universities Are Full of Knowledge; the Freshmen Bring a Little In and the Seniors Take None Away
Abbott Lawrence Lowell? Jonathan Swift? James Pycroft? University of Michigan Students? George Edgar Vincent? Arthur MacMurray? J. Brooks Atkinson? Charles William Eliot? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The people, laboratories, and libraries of a university embody a vast storehouse of knowledge. How did this knowledge accumulate? A humorous response to this question has often been …
Quote Origin: You Cannot Reason People Out of Something They Were Not Reasoned Into
Jonathan Swift? Fisher Ames? Lyman Beecher? Jonathan Farr? Samuel Hanson Cox? Sydney Smith? Sidney Smith? Ben Goldacre? Question for Quote Investigator: Jonathan Swift was a prominent literary figure who authored “Gulliver’s Travels” and “A Modest Proposal”. He has been credited with an elegant thought about the limitations of persuasion via logical argument: You cannot reason …
Quote Origin: Government Is Like Fire, a Dangerous Servant and a Fearful Master
George Washington? John Tillotson? Jonathan Swift? James Fenimore Cooper? Frederick Uttley Laycock? Robert Heinlein? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A cautionary statement about statecraft has often been attributed to George Washington. Here are three versions: 1) Government is like fire, a dangerous servant and a fearful master. 2) Government, like fire, is a troublesome servant …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Government Is Like Fire, a Dangerous Servant and a Fearful Master”
Quote Origin: A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes
Mark Twain? Jonathan Swift? Thomas Francklin? Fisher Ames? Thomas Jefferson? John Randolph? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? Winston Churchill? Terry Pratchett? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An insightful remark about the rapid transmission of lies is often attributed to Mark Twain and Winston Churchill. Here are two versions: (1) A lie travels around the globe while the truth …
Quote Origin: He Who Would Pun Would Pick a Pocket
Alexander Pope? Samuel Johnson? Jonathan Swift? John Dennis? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I have heard several versions of a quotation that is beloved by people who dislike puns: (1) He who would make a pun would pick a pocket. (2) A man who will pun, will pick a pocket. (3) A man who could …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: He Who Would Pun Would Pick a Pocket”