Gore Vidal? Franklin P. Adams? George S. Kaufman? Mary Horan? Chico Marx? Walter Winchell? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The holiday season is here, and I have a question about a pun. A critic once told Gore Vidal that one of his novels was meretricious and Gore pointedly replied: Really? Well, meretricious and a happy New …
Tag Archives: Walter Winchell
Quote Origin: Be Nice to People on Your Way Up. You’ll Meet Them On Your Way Down
Jimmy Durante? Wilson Mizner? Walter Winchell? George Raft? Question for Quote Investigator: Sometimes clichés become clichés because they express important truths. I think this is an example: Be nice to those you meet on the way up because you will meet them on the way down Can you determine who first came up with this …
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Theatrical Review: I Saw It Under Adverse Conditions. The Curtain Was Up
Groucho Marx? Walter Winchell? George S. Kaufman? George Jean Nathan? Dear Quote Investigator: When a friend asked me my opinion of a terrible play that I saw recently I answered: I did not like it, but perhaps this judgment is unfair. I saw it under adverse conditions — the curtain was up. Eventually she coaxed …
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The Harder I Practice, the Luckier I Get
Gary Player? Arnold Palmer? Jerry Barber? Jack Youngblood? Lee Trevino? Ethel Merman? L. Frank Baum? Dear Quote Investigator: I am a fan of the golfing legend Gary Player, and the Wikipedia article about him says he: “Coined one of the most quoted aphorisms of post-War sport”: The harder you practice, the luckier you get. Is …
The Futuristic Weapons of WW3 Are Unknown, But WW4 Will Be Fought With Stones and Spears
Omar Bradley? Albert Einstein? Young Army Lieutenant? Walter Winchell? Joe Laitin? James W. Fulbright? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a great quotation about the type of weapons that will be used in World War IV. The words are both funny and chilling, and every time I have seen the saying it has been attributed to …