Tracing Quotations
Stephen Jay Gould? George Lakoff? Delta Willis? Steven Pinker? Stephen Fry? Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent scientist apparently made the following surprising pronouncement: There is no such thing as a fish. I do not recall the precise phrasing. Would you please explore the provenance and interpretation of this statement? Reply from Quote Investigator: In …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Regret To Report That There Is Surely No Such Thing as a Fish”
Franklin P. Adams? Franklin P. Jones? H. B. Meyers? Sylvia Strum Bremer? Loring Smith? Mike Connolly? Steven Pinker? Question for Quote Investigator: Public intellectual Steven Pinker recently published the bestselling book “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress” which includes an entertaining quotation about nostalgia attributed to a prominent newspaper columnist: As …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Nothing Is More Responsible for the Good Old Days than a Bad Memory”
Clarence Darrow? George Sand? Charles Paul de Kock? Henry Monnier? Eddie Drake? Heywood Broun? Irvin S. Cobb? Steven Pinker? Anonymous? Disliked Food: Spinach? Carp Head? Eels? Oysters? Lobster? Lettuce? Green Peas? Beets? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous defense lawyer Clarence Darrow apparently had a very low opinion of the vegetable favored by the cartoon …