Tracing Quotations
Mark Twain? Will Rogers? Ring Lardner? James A. Cruikshank? T. Morris Longstreth? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Two famous humorists, Mark Twain and Will Rogers, have each received credit for a statement about the variability of weather. Here are four instances: (1) If you don’t like our weather, wait a minute. (2) If you don’t …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: If You Don’t Like Our Weather, Just Wait a Few Minutes”
Josh Billings? Josh Weathersby? Cal Stewart? Ring Lardner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Individuals who complain often receive the most attention. There is a popular analogy about squeaky wheels that I think has been incorrectly attributed to the humorist Josh Billings who was a famous lecturer in the 1800s. (Billings was the pseudonym of Henry …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease”
Mark Twain? Chauncey Depew? Ring Lardner? William Allen White? Winston Churchill? Big Jim Watson? Joseph Hodges Choate? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: New Year’s resolutions often feature plans for more exercise. Mark Twain was once asked if he engaged in exercise, and he supposedly said: I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at …