Vincent van Gogh? Joni Mitchell? Justin Lee Collins? Nellie Hermann? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A personal website enables an artist to achieve inexpensive worldwide distribution of a large digital portfolio. Yet, the greatest challenge for an artist today is convincing others to pay attention to their artworks. In the late nineteenth century an artist …
Search results for: war
In the Sublime War of Humanity Against Reality, Humanity Has But One Weapon, The Imagination
Lewis Carroll? Cheshire Cat? C. S. Lewis? Jules de Gaultier? Benjamin de Casseres? Percy Bysshe Shelley? Herbert Kaufman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Reality can be cold and disheartening. Yet, humans have the extraordinary facility to imagine a different and more entertaining universe. Here are two versions of a pertinent saying: (1) Imagination is the …
Damn Everything But the Circus! Damn Everything That Is Grim, Dull, Motionless, Unrisking, Inward Turning
E. E. Cummings? Corita Kent? Helen Kelley? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: To enjoy a full life one must be willing to embrace excitement, change, beauty, and risk. Metaphorically, one must enter the center ring of life’s circus and perform. The prominent U.S. poet E. E. Cummings (often styled e e cummings) has been credited with …
You May Not Be Interested in War, But War Is Interested in You
Leon Trotsky? Fannie Hurst? James Burnham? O. H. Steiner? Marshall Berman? Michael Walzer? Donald Barthelme? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Several sayings have employed the following templates: (1) You may not be interested in X, but X is interested in you. (2) We may not be interested in X, but X is interested in us. (3) …
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It Is Good To Have an End To Journey Towards; But It Is the Journey That Matters, in the End
Ernest Hemingway? Ursula K. Le Guin? Lynn H. Hough? Dear Quote Investigator: It is natural to assign meaning or purpose to the terminus of a long journey, but the value truly lies within the journey itself. This notion has been expressed as follows: It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it …
“Now That He Is Minister of War I Feel Safe” “Why?” “Well, When He Was Minister of Fuel We Had No Fuel”
Winston Churchill? Alexander Ince? Leonard Lyons? Emanuel Shinwell? John Williams Hughes? Drew Pearson? Eleanor Boardman? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Ensuring the smooth operation of the industry sector that supplies energy to a country is a crucial task. Here is an example of the type of mockery aimed at a politician who botched this important mission: …
We Must Walk Consciously Only Part Way Toward Our Goal, and Then Leap in the Dark To Our Success
Henry David Thoreau? William Ellery Channing? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: When you are pursuing a goal you should be guided by conscious and unconscious thoughts. These two complementary elements will each take you part of the way to the goal. As you approach the objective you must make a leap in the dark to attain …
Truth Is the First Casualty in War
Aeschylus? Philip Snowden? Ethel Annakin? Samuel Johnson? Anne MacVicar Grant? E. D. Morel? W. T. Foster? Agnes Maude Royden? Hiram Johnson? Arthur Ponsonby? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The participants in a violent conflict often engage in crude propaganda and advocacy. Here are four versions of a pertinent saying: Truth is the first casualty in …
All Wars Are Planned by Older Men in Council Rooms Apart
Grantland Rice? Herman Melville? Herbert Hoover? Reverend E. W. Elstron? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A mournful anti-war poem contains this line: All wars are planned by older men in council rooms apart. The poem has been attributed to Grantland Rice who was a popular sports journalist. I have seen a version of the verse that …
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Quote Origin: His Grace Returned From the Wars This Morning and Pleasured Me Twice in His Top-Boots
Sarah Churchill? James Agate? A. L. Rowse? Theodor Reik? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A legend asserts that Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough wrote a passionate remark in her diary. Here are three versions: Are any of these statements genuine? What evidence is available? Reply from Quote Investigator: Several researchers have attempted to explore this …