Tracing Quotations
George Bernard Shaw? George Melly? I. S. Johar? Ann Landers? Patrick Harte? Robert Frost? Winston Churchill? Oscar Wilde? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Here are two versions of an adage highlighting the sensual aspects of popular gyrations: Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire. Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal idea. George …
Continue reading “Dancing Is a Perpendicular Expression of a Horizontal Desire”
William F. Buckley Jr.? William Schlamm? Winston Churchill? Herbert Hoover? Dear Quote Investigator: I have heard a humorous saying that compares two major economic systems: The problem with socialism is socialism. The problem with capitalism is capitalists. These words have been attributed to conservative commentator William F Buckley Jr. and British statesman Winston Churchill. Would …
Marshall McLuhan? Winston Churchill? Henry David Thoreau? Robert Flaherty? Emerson Brown? John Culkin? William J. Mitchell? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The famous media theorist Marshall McLuhan has been credited with a brilliant adage about the co-evolution of humans and tools. Here are two versions: I have not been able to find a good citation. Would …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: We Shape Our Tools, and Thereafter Our Tools Shape Us”
Winston Churchill? Jack Fishman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Here is a mystifying question for you. Winston Churchill has been credited with crafting two nearly identical quotations beginning as follows: 1) Do not let specious plans … 2) Do not let spacious plans … The two expressions differed by a single word: specious/spacious. Did Churchill utter …
Winston Churchill? Readers Digest? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: British leader Winston Churchill has been credited with a crafting a vivid definition for “appeaser” that cleverly employed figurative language: An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile — hoping it will eat him last. It supposedly was spoken during World War II, but I have not …
Continue reading “An Appeaser Is One Who Feeds a Crocodile, Hoping It Will Eat Him Last”
Bertrand Russell? Frank P. Hobgood? Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre? Reader’s Digest? Montreal Star? Andrew Carnegie? Winston Churchill? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A piquant slogan has been used by pacifists and peace activists for decades. Here are two variants: War does not determine who is right — only who is left. The atom bomb will never …
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Winston Churchill? Clement Attlee? Emmanuel Shinwell? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: There was an extraordinary and ribald conversation between Winston Churchill and his political opponent Clement Attlee that supposedly took place in the men’s room of the House of Commons. Was this event authentic or apocryphal? Quote Investigator: The earliest evidence located by QI appeared in …
Continue reading “Any Time You See Anything Big and Working Well, You Want To Take It Over”
Voltaire? Spider-Man? Winston Churchill? Theodore Roosevelt? Franklin D. Roosevelt? Lord Melbourne? John Cumming? Hercules G. R. Robinson? Henry W. Haynes? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a popular saying about the relationship between ascendancy and obligation: With great power comes great responsibility. This expression has been attributed to two very different sources: Voltaire and the …
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Winston Churchill? John Randall Dunn? J. Woodruff Smith? Douglas Bloch? Linda Crew? Mario Murillo? Brian Mulroney? Wally Amos? Ron Kenoly? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Winston Churchill is often associated with quotations about steadfastness and tenacity. Consider the following saying: If you’re going through hell, keep going. I have seen this statement attributed to Churchill several …
Winston Churchill? Nancy Astor? Marshall Pinckney Wilder? Patrick O’Dowd? David Lloyd George? George Bernard Shaw? Groucho Marx? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a famous anecdote in which an exasperated individual fantasizes aloud about giving poison to another person. The sharp rejoinder is surprising and hilarious. Usually the two named participants are Nancy Astor and …