Tracing Quotations
Mark Twain? James Wayle? Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar? Walter Winchell? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: In the past few days several phony quotations were widely disseminated on the internet; in other words, they went viral. My question is about a saying that might be genuine. A CNN article contains the following expression attributed to Mark Twain: I …
Continue reading “I Did Not Attend the Funeral, But I Sent a Nice Letter Saying I Approved of It”
Mark Twain? Clarence Darrow? Overland Monthly? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I saw the quotation below when it was tweeted a few days ago. It was credited to Mark Twain, but apparently he never said it: I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure. Later I read news reports …
Mark Twain? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I have heard the following quote attributed to Mark Twain: A man who doesn’t smoke is like a sinking ship with no rats to desert it. True of false? Quote Investigator: QI was unable to locate a close match for that quotation in the works of Mark Twain; however, …
Continue reading “She Was a Sinking Vessel with No Freight to Throw Overboard”
Mark Twain? Robert Frost? Ambrose Bierce? Ben Bernanke? Philippe Girardet? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: It is remarkably difficult to obtain a loan in a difficult economic climate. This notion can be expressed with the following adage: A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back …
Continue reading “A Banker Lends You His Umbrella When It’s Sunny and Wants It Back When It Rains”
Mark Twain? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I am interested in a fantastic quotation that I always thought was from the pen of Mark Twain: When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was …
Continue reading “When I Was a Boy of Fourteen, My Father Was So Ignorant”
Mark Twain? Grant Allen? Dear Quote Investigator: I am still in school and that is probably why the following quote attributed to Mark Twain appeals to me so much: I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Your blog posts about Twain quotations reveal that the information on the internet about what he …
Continue reading “Never Let Schooling Interfere With Your Education”
Mark Twain? James Montgomery Flagg? William Dean Howells? Dear Quote Investigator: When I discovered your blog I knew just the right word to describe it: Quotesmanship. That word was used in the New York Times in 1980 to describe the desire to determine and use correct attributions for quotations [NYQM]. The author of the Quotesmanship …
Mark Twain? Nyrum Reynolds? Hiram Runnels? Andrew Jackson? Dear Quote Investigator: I sometimes have difficulty spelling words correctly. But I take comfort in the magnificent statement attributed to Mark Twain: I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way. Actually, I used to take comfort in those words, …
Continue reading “No Respect for a Man Who Can Spell a Word Only One Way”
Mark Twain? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I have to present a speech soon, and I would like to use a quotation attributed to Mark Twain: It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. The intended audience has the background to know that impromptu means without planning or preparation, and the …
Continue reading “Three Weeks to Prepare a Good Impromptu Speech”
Mark Twain? William Gladstone? A Northern Gael? F. W. Payn? Sam Loates? The Allens? Harry Leon Wilson? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I love to play golf, but sometimes when I am playing poorly I am tempted to simply walk the course and get some exercise. When I mentioned this to a friend he told me …