Tracing Quotations
Robert Benchley? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When you hear your own words from the past recited to you as a quotation the result is sometimes profound embarrassment. The humorist Robert Benchley apparently said that you could make a monkey out of a person by simply employing their own quotations. Would you please help me …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Surest Way to Make a Monkey of a Man Is to Quote Him”
Robert Benchley? Marc Connelly? Corey Ford? Bennett Cerf? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A financially unstable comedian once asked his long-time bank for a large loan. He was dumbfounded when his request was granted, and he immediately withdrew all his money from the institution while giving the following explanation: How can I trust a bank …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Don’t Trust a Bank That Would Lend Money To Such a Poor Risk”
Robert Benchley? Arthur Loeb Mayer? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The popular humorist and actor Robert Benchley has been credited with the following response to a colleague who desired company during exercise: Go jogging? What, and get hit by a meteor? Benchley died in 1945; hence, this scenario appears anachronistic. Would you please help determine …
Tallulah Bankhead? Dorothy Parker? Robert Benchley? James Boswell? Richard Burke? William Hazlitt? Question for Quote Investigator: The actress Tallulah Bankhead was watching an ostentatious play, and she whispered to her companion a hilarious line based on an inverted cliché: There is less in this than meets the eye. This quip has also been attributed to …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: There Is Less in This Than Meets the Eye”
Robert Benchley? James G. Berrien? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Some regions of garments develop a shiny appearance when fibers are repeatedly compressed. Hence, the seats of pants sometimes become shiny. A few fabrics are particularly susceptible to this problem; in the past, blue serge suits were well-known for becoming undesirably shiny. The verb ‘to …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Do Most of My Work Sitting Down. That’s Where I Shine”
Robert Benchley? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The Broadway play “Abie’s Irish Rose” opened in 1922 and ran for more than five years which was a record-breaking achievement at the time. The writer and future actor Robert Benchley was the drama critic at “Life” magazine, and apparently he detested the production. Every week he crafted a …
Sinclair Lewis? Mary Heaton Vorse? Felicia Gizycka? Robert Benchley? Douglas Fairbanks Jr.? Marianne Gingher? Stevie Cameron? Andrew Hudgins? Nora Roberts? Stephen King? Oliver Stone? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An astonishingly simple stratagem has been recommended to anyone who wishes to become a famous author, playwright, screenwriter, or composer. The secret to success and productivity …
Neil deGrasse Tyson? Robert Benchley? Kenneth Boulding? Ross F. Papprill? Groucho Marx? Jeremy Bentham? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I enjoy humor based on clever self-referential statements, and a great example is the following: There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who divide everybody into two kinds of people, and those who …
Robert Benchley? Lon Robinson? Joseph Charles Salak? Bruce Caldwell? H. M. Stansifer? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Some people never know when to stop talking. I wish more people knew about the following quotation. Here are two versions: Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing. Drawing on my fine command of the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Drawing on My Fine Command of Language, I Said Nothing”
Robert Benchley? Mark Twain? Walter Winchell? Groucho Marx? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: One of the funniest quotations about writing is usually credited to the brilliant wit Robert Benchley: It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was …