Tracing Quotations
Winston Churchill? Will Rogers? Jock Falkson? Ann Landers? Ewan McGregor? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: One’s sensitivity to the opinions of others often changes as one matures. The following statement has been attributed to statesman Winston Churchill: When you’re 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you’re 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, when you’re …
Continue reading “When You’re 60 You Realize No One Was Ever Thinking About You”
Will Rogers? Ron Chernow? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The U.S. journalist and historian Ron Chernow spoke at the 2019 White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner. He shared a quip attributed to humorist Will Rogers about the status reversal of comedians and politicians. Would you please help me to find a citation? Quote Investigator: In November …
Continue reading “People Are Taking Their Comedians Seriously, and Their Politicians as a Joke”
Will Rogers? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Achieving extensive knowledge and expertise in one domain can be quite valuable, but it does not automatically allow one to pontificate intelligently in a different domain. The intellectual mastery attained by some experts is quite narrow. Here is a germane remark: There is nothing so stupid as an educated …
Oscar Wilde? Mark Twain? Frank Fiest? Will Rogers? Walter Armstrong? Herman Lindauer? William M. Lewis? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: What do the following musical instruments have in common: cornet, ukulele, saxophone, bagpipes, accordion, and banjo? Each of these instruments has a distinctive sound that is unpleasant to some listeners providing inspiration for a family of …
Continue reading “My Idea of a Gentleman Is He Who Can Play a Cornet and Won’t”
James R. Quirk? Douglas Fairbanks? Walter Winchell? Louella Parsons? Barbara Stanwyck? Jack Osterman? Al Jolson? Walter Huston? Will Rogers? Hedda Hopper? Marie Dressler? Arthur Ashe? Laurence Olivier? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The popularity and power of an entertainer, top athlete, or financial whiz can ascend vertiginously, but it can also decline precipitously. A harshly pragmatic family …
Continue reading “You’re Only As Good As Your Last Performance”
Mark Twain? Josh Billings? Artemus Ward? Kin Hubbard? Will Rogers? Edwin Howard Armstrong? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The Oscar-winning 2015 film “The Big Short” begins with a display of the following statement: It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. The brilliant …
William Goldman? Will Rogers? Kevin Smith? Gus Van Sant? Robert Towne? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Predicting the box office success of a forthcoming movie is apparently impossible. It is also difficult to anticipate the critical response. These challenges are encapsulated in a Hollywood adage of exasperation: Nobody knows anything. Would you please explore the provenance …
Will Rogers? Walter Trumbull? Franklin Rodman? Frances Rodman? Robert Phelps? Wynn Catlin? Harold Winkler? Robert Phelps? Dear Quote Investigator: The reassuring words of a diplomat may sharply diverge from the true agenda of the envoy. The following metaphor depicts hidden hostility: Diplomacy is the art of being able to say “nice doggie” until you have …
Will Rogers? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The popular American humorist Will Rogers once made a memorable remark about liberty. Unfortunately, the precise phrasing was not memorable enough. Here are several versions: Liberty don’t work as good in practice as in speech. Liberty don’t work as good in practice as it does in speech. Liberty don’t …
Continue reading “Liberty Don’t Work as Good in Practice as It Does in Speech”
William Butler Yeats? Will Rogers? Edgar Guest? Margaret Lee Runbeck? Dorothy C. Wegner? Roberta Lieberman? Mitch Albom? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The Nobel Prize winning Irish poet William Butler Yeats often receives credit for the following sentiment: There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met. Is this ascription accurate? Quote Investigator: QI …
Continue reading “There Are No Strangers Here; Only Friends You Haven’t Yet Met”