Tracing Quotations
Thich Nhat Hanh? Sylvia Boorstein? Peg Bracken? Ollie Crawford? George D. Ludcke? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Humorous sayings can be created by ingeniously transforming mundane expressions. Most people are familiar with the entreaty: Don’t just sit there, do something. However, the following reordered sentence indicates that inaction is often desirable: Don’t just do something, …
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H. L. Mencken? Jack Dempsey? Peg Bracken? Bennett Cerf? Alexander Woollcott? Stewart Holbrook? William Safire? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Forceful newspaper columnists often receive opinionated and hostile responses. There is a powerful temptation to send a sharp retort. Yet, one famous journalist typically replied with a brief disarming note: Dear Sir (or Madam ),You …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Dear Sir (Or Madam), You May Be Right”