Quote Origin: If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade

Elbert Hubbard? Dale Carnegie? Julius Rosenwald? Robert M. Hutchins? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: In the early 1900s the slang expression “handed a lemon” emerged. It referred to experiencing a setback or failure.  The term “lemon” meant  something which was bad, undesirable, or sub-standard. A humorous expression evolved as a counterpoint. Here are two versions: …

Whenever I Feel the Urge to Exercise I Lie Down Until It Goes Away

Jimmy Durante? Edna Mae Oliver? Robert M. Hutchins? Chauncey Depew? Mark Twain? Paul Terry? Robert Benchley? Max Beerbohm? J. P. McEvoy? Dear Quote Investigator: The funniest quotation about exercise is usually credited to Mark Twain: Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes away. But this statement is also …

University Training is to Unsettle the Minds of Young Students, to Widen their Horizons, to Inflame Their Intellects

Foster C. McClellan? Robert M. Hutchins? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Since you are a sleuth for origin histories I’m wondering if you’ve ever come across this quote or any references to its origins: Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen …