Quote Origin: Nothing Enhances Authority So Much as Silence

Charles de Gaulle? Leonardo Da Vinci? André Maurois? Gerard Hopkins? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A pithy speech is more powerful than a long-winded oration. Concision amplifies potency. Here are two versions of this idea: Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.Nothing enhances authority more than silence. This statement has been credited to the French …

Quote Origin: Everything Is Connected To Everything Else

Barry Commoner? Gotthold Ephraim Lessing? Leonardo da Vinci? Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.? John Muir? Jean Piaget? Daniel Patrick Moynihan? Solomon Short? David Gerrold? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The universe reflects a pervasive interconnectedness. Here are two versions of a pertinent adage: Everything is connected to everything else.Everything connects to everything else. Ecological thinkers have …

Quote Origin: Once You Have Tasted Flight You Will Walk the Earth With Your Eyes Turned Skyward

Leonardo da Vinci? John H. Secondari? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous Renaissance figure Leonardo da Vinci has been given credit for a remark about the experience of flight: Once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. How could Leonardo know something like this? I am skeptical …

Quote Origin: Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

Leonardo da Vinci? Clare Boothe Luce? Leonard Thiessen? Elizabeth Hillyer? William Gaddis? Eleanor All? Apple Computer Company? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following aphorism has often been attributed to the brilliant Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Strangely, I have been unable to find any solid source for this ascription. …