Tracing Quotations
Mohandas Gandhi? Jonathan Safran Foer? B. N. Misra? T. S. A. Chettiar? Hakim Sanai? Yoruba Proverb? Navajo Proverb? Oromo Proverb? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Some people deliberately refuse to acknowledge unwelcome facts or events. They may pretend to misunderstand information, or they may simply ignore it. Here is a pertinent figurative expression: You can’t …
Continue reading “Proverb Origin: You Cannot Awaken Someone Who Is Pretending To Sleep”
Mark Twain? Ann Landers? Turkish Proverb? Mohandas Gandhi? Seneca the Younger? Frederica Mathewes-Green? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Intense feelings of anger affect the body and mind negatively. This notion can be expressed metaphorically: Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on …
Mohandas Gandhi? Charles E. Garst? Laura DeLany Garst? Jerome D. Davis? Karl Quimby? Deton J. Brooks? Harold Ehrensperger? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A visitor once met with a revered leader and asked for guidance: “Do you have a message for the people?” “My life is my message.” This reply has been attributed to Mahatma …
Mohandas Gandhi? Corita Kent? Nirmal Kumar Bose? David Guy Powers? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The experience of hunger causes one’s motivations to focus on the need to acquire food. The following saying reflects this single-mindedness: God himself dare not appear to a hungry person except in the form of bread. This remark has been …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: To the Hungry, God Can Only Appear as Bread and Butter”
George Bernard Shaw? Albert Schweitzer? Life Magazine? Mohandas Gandhi? Ferdinand Pecora? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Some thinkers believe that humanity has not yet achieved an advanced society worthy of the name “civilization”. This notion has been expressed with the following dialog: “What’s your idea of civilization?” “It’s a good idea. Somebody ought to start …
Mohandas Gandhi? Dorothy Uris? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Archaeologists and historians have expended enormous efforts in tracing the origins of civilization. A trenchant humorist has said that scholars should not be trying to ascertain where civilization began; instead, they should be trying to guess when it will begin. Did Mahatma Gandhi say something like …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Question Is Not Where Civilization Began, But When Will It”
Mohandas Gandhi? Arleen Lorrance? Ernest Troutner? Diane Kennedy Pike? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Often you cannot convince someone via speech alone to constructively alter a behavior, but you can provide a model for emulation by changing your own behavior. Here are three versions of this notion: This saying has been attributed to the famous …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Be the Change You Wish To See in the World”
Mohandas Gandhi? Jean Cocteau? Robbie Williams? Julian Beck? Earl B. Morgan? Tony Benn? Peter D. Jones? Louis Agassiz? Arthur Schopenhauer? Question for Quote Investigator: Mahatma Gandhi famously employed nonviolent strategies during the struggle for Indian independence. A quotation often attributed to him asserts that popular movements pass through four stages: First they ignore you. Then …
Mohandas Gandhi? George Hyde Preston? Lynda Bird Johnson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi who famously employed nonviolent strategies has implausibly been credited with the following piece of folk wisdom: If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Would you please explore this topic? Reply from Quote Investigator: …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: If You Are Going To Be a Bear, Be a Grizzly”
Mohandas Gandhi? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Mahatma Gandhi is credited with a brilliantly acerbic remark made in response to a question from a self-satisfied journalist: Journalist: What do you think of Western civilization? Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any solid citations for …