Tracing Quotations
Stanley Baldwin? Rudyard Kipling? Arthur W. Baldwin? Benjamin Disraeli? Tom Stoppard? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: In the 1930s British politician Stanley Baldwin reacted with anger when he read a claim that he considered defamatory in the pages of a popular newspaper. Shortly afterward he delivered a speech accusing the U.K. press barons of wielding power …
Continue reading “Power Without Responsibility — The Prerogative of the Harlot Throughout the Ages”
James Baldwin? James Mark Baldwin? Stanley Baldwin? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a quotation that begins with an assertion that fires cannot be made with dead embers. The quotation has often been credited to U.S. writer James Baldwin, but I haven’t been able to find a solid citation. Would you please explore this topic? …
Winston Churchill? Simon Singh? Stanley Baldwin? The Reader’s Digest? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Simon Singh is a fine author who writes knowledgeably about mathematical and scientific topics. His book “Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe” credited the following words to the statesman Winston Churchill [WCSS]: Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of …