Tracing Quotations
Will Rogers? Jack Kerouac? Joseph Gurney Cannon? G. Gordon Liddy? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Each horse has exactly one posterior, and this fact produces a confounding paradox. Why are there more horses’ asses than horses? This wordplay quip has been attributed to humorist Will Rogers, novelist Jack Kerouac, politician Joseph Cannon, Watergate conspirator G. …
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Mark Twain? Will Rogers? Fred Dumont Smith? Arthur M. Pearson? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The quantity of real estate is limited by the surface area of our planet. A popular wag commented about this restricted supply. Here are three versions: (1) Buy land. They’re not making it anymore.(2) Buy land. God is not …
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Kin Hubbard? Will Rogers? Elbert Hubbard? Abe Martin? Max Eastman? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Proselytizers for get-rich-quick schemes are ubiquitous online. A popular joke describes a comically easy way to obtain illusory wealth. Here are two versions: (1) To get rich you should convert your money to bills. Next, you should fold the bills, …
Mark Twain? Will Rogers? Ring Lardner? James A. Cruikshank? T. Morris Longstreth? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Two famous humorists, Mark Twain and Will Rogers, have each received credit for a statement about the variability of weather. Here are four instances: (1) If you don’t like our weather, wait a minute. (2) If you don’t like …
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Will Rogers? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The evaluation of art is subjective. The popular U.S. humorist Will Rogers once said something like: You can call yourself an artist because nobody can prove you ain’t. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In 1926 Will Rogers published “Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat …
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Will Rogers? Charles F. Kettering? Max Denney? Thomas Jefferson? Robert Heinlein? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Many complain about the burdensome taxes collected by some governments. Many also complain about the counter-productive and wasteful actions taken by those governments. These criticisms have been combined to produce the following comical remark: Thank heavens we don’t get all …
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Will Rogers? Robert Muldoon? Herbert L. Carver? Anthony S. Rogers? Harry Woodhead? Lynn T. White? Robert Ruark? Dewey F. Bartlett? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a humorous remark about migration that initially seems a bit paradoxical. Here are two versions: When the Okies left Oklahoma and moved to California, they raised the average intelligence …
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W. C. Fields? Franklin P. Adams? H. L. Mencken? Richard Croker? Franklin D. Roosevelt? Will Rogers? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a family of sardonic sayings about the behavior of voters. Here are three examples: I never vote for anybody. I always vote against. People vote against somebody rather than for somebody. The people never …
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Will Rogers? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Some golfers are not particularly conscientious when counting the number of strokes required to complete a course. A humorist once pointed to another activity that challenges scruples: The income tax has made liars out of more people than golf. Do you know the precise phrasing of this quip and …
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Will Rogers? Ray Thompson? Walter Winchell? Milton Berle? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A talkative pet parrot can cause enormous embarrassment when it publicly recites phrases spoken in private. A comedian offered the following guidance: Live your life so you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell your family parrot to the town gossip. Popular entertainer Will Rogers …
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