Quote Investigator® – Tracing Quotations

Quote Origin: There Will Never Be a Robot, a Tireless Mechanism Performing All the Functions of a Man

Waldemar Kaempffert? G. K. Chesterton? Apocryphal?

**Illustration of a golden robot from Pixabay**

Question for Quote Investigator: The ongoing progress in robotics reminds me of skeptical remarks such as the following:

(1) There will never be a robot, a tireless mechanism performing all the functions of a man.

(2) A robot would be brainless because even an ingenious technologist cannot make a collection of wheels, shafts, magnets, and wires think.

(3) There will never be a robot schoolmaster or governess.

Apparently, comments like these were made in the 1920s or 1930s. The first two statements have been attributed to U.S. science journalist Waldemar Kaempffert. The third statement has been attributed to prominent English literary figure G. K. Chesterton. I am not sure of the precise phrasing for any of these statements. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Waldemar Kaempffert was an acclaimed science journalist and museum director. He wrote for “Scientific American” and became the editor of “Popular Science Monthly”. In October 1927 Kaempffert published an article in “The New York Times” in which he speculated about the capabilities and limitations of future robots:¹

There will never be a Robot—a brainless, tireless, unemotional mechanism fashioned in the image of a man, performing all the functions of a man, moving about stiffly but surely, pulling levers, turning control wheels, wielding broom, pick or shovel.

Medieval contrivers frittered away their talents in constructing lifelike automata that could write a name and play a tune or two, and that outwardly resembled Robots. The modern engineer has no patience with such fantastic creations. …

To drive home the limitations of an actual Robot, let us assume that an engineer undertook to construct one and to endow it with as many human talents as possible. The machine would, of necessity, be brainless, because even the most ingenious technologist cannot make a collection of wheels, shafts, magnets and wires think.

But it could move, hear, see and feel under human control. Instead of legs its creator would give it wheels for simplicity’s sake—wheels which would be driven by electric current supplied either by a battery or a little dynamo mounted within what might be called the “trunk.”

Its eyes would be photoelectric cells that would resemble the familiar vacuum tubes of a radio set and would perceive minute differences of light and darkness. Its ears would be telephone receivers …

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Heaven Help America When She Loses Faith in Slogans

Josiah Stamp? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: An influential banker once commented on the growing skepticism of U.S. citizens:

Heaven help America when she loses faith in slogans

Would you please tell me what prompted this remark and who delivered it?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1929 the United States experienced the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression which continued for about ten years.

In April 1932 a meeting of the Academy of Political Science was held at the Hotel Astor in New York City. Sir Josiah Stamp, the director of the Bank of England, delivered a speech that was printed in the proceedings. Stamp commented on the disillusionment of the U.S. public. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

First of all, I notice a great loss of faith in institutions; institutions of government, institutions of control, institutions of finance, institutions of education no longer command the general confidence. … They feel doubtful about them. They have discovered, rightly or wrongly, that they are not the source of all wisdom.

Also I see a considerable lack of confidence in men whose names you would have considered as infallible, something to conjure with, a year or two ago. But worst of all, from the American point of view, there has been a loss of faith in slogans—and heaven help America when she loses faith in slogans!

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Day Came When the Risk to Remain Tight in a Bud Was More Painful Than the Risk It Took to Blossom

Anaïs Nin? Lassie Benton? Elizabeth Appell? Jean Paul Richter? Orison Swett Marden? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Growth and transformation are frightening. Yet, maintaining stasis is stultifying. Here are two versions of a popular metaphorical expression about accepting change:

(1) And the day came when the risk to remain closed in a bud, became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

(2) Then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

This saying has been attributed to prominent diarist Anaïs Nin, writer Lassie Benton, and writer Elizabeth Appell. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Researchers have uncovered no substantive evidence supporting the attribution to Anaïs Nin who died in 1977.

The earliest close match found by QI in a published book appeared in 1984 within “A Practical Approach to Human Behavior in Business” by Allen L. Appell of San Francisco State University. The saying appeared as a chapter epigraph which was ascribed to Lassie Benton:¹

And the day came
when the risk to remain
closed in a bud,
became more painful
than the risk it took to blossom.
—Lassie Benton

An important article clarifying the origin of the quotation appeared in 2013 on the website of Sky Blue Press which publishes works by Anaïs Nin together with a literary journal focused on Nin’s legacy.

The website published a note from Elizabeth Appell in which she claimed credit for the quotation. Appell also stated that she previously used the name Lassie Benton:²

I wrote it in 1979. I was Director of Public Relations for John F. Kennedy University in Orinda. One of my responsibilities was to write, edit, and publish the class schedule which included events, news, and class information for the up-coming quarter. …

Another wrinkle: at the time I was using my nickname, “Lassie” as well as my first husband’s last name, Benton. I was known as Lassie Benton. Since then I gave up the nickname to use my given name, Elizabeth, and remarried Allen Appell, hence Elizabeth Appell.

The message from Appell included a scan of an undated pamphlet page from John F. Kennedy University of Orinda, California displaying the following version of the saying:

… and then the day came
when the risk to remain tight,
in a bud,
became more painful
than the risk it took to blossom …

QI believes that Elizabeth Appell (Lassie Benton) is the leading candidate for creator of this expression although the precise phrasing has varied over time.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Art Is Born of Constraint, Thrives on Struggle, and Dies of Freedom

André Gide? Leonardo da Vinci? Albert Camus? Carol Shields? Igor Stravinsky? Orson Welles? Apocryphal?

**Mosaic version of The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh**

Question for Quote Investigator: A scrappy independent movie director who was given a massive budget created a pretentious flop. A poet who wrote brilliant iambic pentameter could only compose pedestrian free verse. A musician who spent countless hours in the studio finally released an unlistenable album. These examples illustrate a compelling maxim. Here are three versions:

(1) Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.
(2) Art is born of constraint and dies of liberty.
(3) Art is born of constraint and dies of too much freedom.

This adage has been attributed to French author André Gide, Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci, French philosopher Albert Camus, and others. Here are two extended versions of the saying:

(1) Art is born of constraint, lives on conflict, and dies of liberty.
(2) Art is born of constraint, thrives on struggle, dies of freedom.

Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest close match found by QI appeared in a speech titled “De L’Évolution du Théatre” (“On the Evolution of Theater”) delivered in Brussels by André Gide in 1904. The following passage in French is followed by an English translation. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Le grand artiste est celui qu’exalte la gêne, à qui l’obstacle sert de tremplin. C’est au défaut même du marbre que Michel-Ange dut, raconte-t-on, d’inventer le geste ramassé du Moïse. C’est par le nombre restreint des voix dont il pouvait à la fois disposer sur la scène que, contraint, Eschyle dut d’inventer le silence de Prométhée lorsqu’on l’enchaîne au mont Caucase. La Grèce proscrivit celui qui ajouta une corde à la lyre. L’art naît de contrainte, vit de lutte, meurt de liberté.

The great artist is one whom constraint exalts, for whom an obstacle serves as a springboard. It was to a flaw in the very marble, so the story goes, that Michelangelo owed the invention of Moses’s compact, coiled posture. It was the limited number of voices available to him on stage that compelled Aeschylus to devise the silence of Prometheus as he was chained to Mount Caucasus. Greece banished the man who added a string to the lyre. Art is born of constraint, lives by struggle, and dies of freedom.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quip Origin: Blessed Are the Cracked for They Shall Let in the Light

Groucho Marx? Spike Milligan? Lydia Augusta Arsens? Tramp Starr? Dr. Parr? John Conolly? John Stuart Blackie? Tom Chalmers? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: The word “cracked” has several slang meanings. The traditional slang meaning is crazy, foolish, or eccentric. Here are three versions of a comical saying which uses wordplay:

(1) You’ve got to be cracked to let the light in.
(2) Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.
(3) They were certainly cracked: but the crack let in light.

This quip has been attributed to Irish comedian Spike Milligan, Canadian politician Lydia Augusta Arsens, U.S comedian Groucho Marx, pseudonymous humorist Tramp Starr, Scottish classical scholar John Stuart Blackie, and others. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in an 1830 book titled “An Inquiry Concerning the Indications of Insanity” by John Conolly, Professor of Medicine at the University of London. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Every county presents one or more specimens of individuals who are reputed scientific by those more ignorant of science than themselves; eccentric men, whose wandering attention has travelled over every subject … in the opinion of their neighbours, they become accounted “wonderfully clever men, but certainly a little mad.” The learned and benevolent Dr. Parr used to say of such men, that they were certainly cracked: but that the crack let in light;—and even then, it is to be feared, he estimated them too highly.

Dr. Parr probably corresponded to English scholar Samuel Parr who died in 1825. Parr is currently the leading candidate for coiner of this quip.

In 1841 English surgeon Walter Cooper Dendy published “The Philosophy of Mystery” which included a student character named Astrophel. This character credited the quip to Samuel Parr:²

But say, if there be (in vulgar words) a crack in this cranium of mine, may not this crack, as saith the learned Samuel Parr, “let in the light?”

If prophetic visions in the early ages came over the dying, why not in ours?

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Growing Old Is Mandatory. Growing Up Is Optional

Walt Disney? Tom Batiuk? Gary Wright? Maurice Lutkin? Herb Caen? Chili Davis? Bumper Sticker? Anonymous?

**Silhouette image of an old person and a young person from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Aging is an unavoidable part of the human experience, but it is not necessary to become staid and boring. Here is a pertinent saying:

Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

This remark has been attributed to entrepreneur Walt Disney, comic artist Tom Batiuk, newspaper columnist Herb Caen, and others. Would you please explore the provenance of this remark?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in “The Courier-Gazette” in McKinney, Texas in January 1986. The saying appeared in a piece called “Publisher’s Scratchpad” by someone using the initials JS, but the attribution was anonymous. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Wish we’d been wise enough to come up with this one:
“Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The World Market for Copiers Will Never Exceed 5,000 Units

Arthur D. Little Consulting Firm? JoAnne Yates? John H. Dessauer? Ian H. Gordon? Horace Becker? JoAnne Yates? Apocryphal?

**Illustration of a cat sitting on a photocopier**

Question for Quote Investigator: Predicting the demand for an innovative product is remarkably difficult. Apparently, the company that invented the photocopier hired a prestigious consulting firm to estimate future sales. The result was a statement like the following:

The total market for photocopiers is at most five thousand units.

I do not know the exact phrasing of the statement. Also, I do not know the precise number of units. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Chemical engineer John H. Dessauer helped develop xerography and worked for the Haloid Company, which later became Xerox Corporation. In his 1971 book, “My Years with Xerox: The Billions Nobody Wanted,” Dessauer discussed a survey that sought to forecast demand for photocopiers. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Haloid was still sponsoring a series of market surveys, for which it retained reputable New York firms. One of them, after questioning vast numbers of businessmen, reported that we could not look forward to placing more than five thousand copiers in American offices! It presented all sorts of evidence to bolster its dire warning. If its estimate was accurate, there was no hope whatever of recovering our investment in xerography. We might as well forget producing a copier and accept our loss.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quip Origin: It Is Impossible To Make Anything Foolproof Because Fools Are So Ingenious

Douglas Adams? J. R. Williams? Bill Vaughan? Ron Burns? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: There is a family of comical sayings which highlight the paradoxical intelligence of fools and idiots:

(1) Nothing is foolproof. Fools are entirely too ingenious.
(2) They’re not idiot-proof because idiots are so damned inventive.

English humorist Douglas Adams employed this quip, but I do not know whether he coined it. Would you please explore the history of this joke?

Reply from Quote Investigator: This joke is difficult to trace because it can be expressed in numerous ways. Below is an overview with dates and attributions:

1934 May 21: Answering affirmative … “Is it possible to build a fool-proof highway?” … he has no idea of the ingenuity of the fools (Anonymous)

1934 Jul 12: Inventors make things … fool-proof, but they do not take into account the marvelous ingenuity of fools (Anonymous)

1942 Nov 04: “Like to see things … absolutely foolproof” “You never will, because as th’ fool foolers get more brilliant th’ fools get more brilliant too” (Canadian cartoonist J. R. Williams)

1946 Apr 01: The trouble with so-called fool-proof devices is that they usually underestimate the number and ingenuity of fools (Anonymous)

1949 Jan 11: Nothing is fool-proof. Fools are entirely too ingenious. (McFadyen’s Streamlines)

1957 July 07: They underestimate the fools who think there is any such thing as fool-proof inspection (Anonymous)

1961 Aug 05: All these fool-proof gadgets underestimate the fools (Anonymous)

1966 May 27: Safety enthusiasts who envision a fool-proof automobile underestimate us fools (Bill Vaughan)

1973 Mar 02: It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious (Anonymous)

1979 Apr 21: It is impossible to make the ballot papers idiot proof because idiots are so incredibly ingenious (Bernard Goodsall)

1992: Mistake … trying to design something completely foolproof … underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools (Douglas Adams)

1993: You can’t make anything idiot proof because idiots are so ingenious (Attributed to Ron Burns)

1997 Jun 29: Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool (Anonymous bumper sticker)

2002 Aug 25: They’re not idiot-proof because idiots are so damned inventive (Jerry Fortburger)

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Saying Origin: You Can’t Live With Them, and You Can’t Live Without Them

Henry Ward Beecher? William James? Upton Sinclair? Peggy Hopkins Joyce? Metellus Numidicus? Frederick Reynolds? John Dryden? Robert Bell? Della E. Stewart? Anonymous?

**Silhouette of a couple sitting back-to-back**

Question for Quote Investigator: Maintaining relationships is difficult. One must accommodate the needs and desires of people who are sometimes confusing, annoying, and ungrateful. Yet, these complex human connections produce happiness and fulfillment. Here are two versions of a pertinent saying:

(1) You can’t live with ’em, and you can’t live without ’em.
(2) We cannot live with them; we cannot live without them.

Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found instances in this family of statements which refer to women, men, neighbors, wives, wicked people, and Irish people. The saying is difficult to trace because it can be expressed in numerous ways. Below is an overview with dates and attributions, beginning with partial matches.

177 AD Precursor: Set quoniam ita natura tradidit, ut nec cum illis satis commode, nec sine illis ullo modo vivi possit (English translation from Latin: We can neither live very comfortably with them nor at all without them) (Remark about wives attributed to ancient Roman statesman Metellus Numidicus by Roman writer Aulus Gellius)

1624 Precursor: We can neither live with them without inconvenience, nor without them at all (Remark about wives attributed to Metellus Numidicus by English writer Thomas Heywood)

1709 Precursor: But since we cannot live without ’em; Take ’em with all their Faults about ’em (Remark about women by an anonymous person; later incorrectly attributed to French poet Jean de La Fontaine)

1797 Precursor: That, let us rail at women, scorn, and flout them, We may live with, but cannot live without them (Remark about women from playwright Frederick Reynolds in “The Will: A Comedy”)

1875 Dec 15 Precursor: He was converted, and instead of “We can’t live with them,” it was, “We can’t live without them” (Remark about black customers by George S. Paine)

1882 May 09: We can’t live with them and we can’t live without them (Remark about Irish people attributed to clergyman Henry Ward Beecher)

1883 Oct 22: We can’t live without them or with them (Remark about Irish people attributed to clergyman Henry Ward Beecher)

1885 Jun 24: We cannot live happily with our wives, yet we cannot live happily without them (Remark about wives attributed to Metullus (Metellus Numidicus))

1887 Jun: Though in a general way he cannot live without them, yet, as regards certain individuals, it often falls out that he cannot live with them either (Remark about humans living in tribes by psychologist William James)

1888: You cannot live without them, but you ought not to live with them, nor seek their society (Remark about “the wicked” by Father John Crasset)

1892 Mar 18: We cannot live with them and we cannot live without them (Remark about women by Adiel Sherwood)

1905: You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them (Remark about wives in a humor book compiled by Harry L. Newton)

1920 Mar 09: We cannot live without them, but how hard we sometimes find it to live with them! (Remark about men by columnist Della E. Stewart)

1926 Jun 30: Neighbors! we can’t live with them, and we can’t live without them (Remark about neighbors by Mary Caroline Davies)

1927: You can’t live with ’em and you can’t live without ’em, and what sort of a mess is it? (Remark about sex in the novel “Oil” by Upton Sinclair)

1930 Mar 02: You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them! (Remark about men by Peggy Hopkins Joyce)

Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.

Adage Origin: Quacks Are the Greatest Liars in the World, Except Their Patients

Benjamin Franklin? Benjamin Rush? Doctor Thibou? David Pitcairn? William Wadd? George G. Sigmond? Anonymous?

**Items used to care for medical patients from Unsplash**

Question for Quote Investigator: Charlatans who provide fraudulent medical advice and dubious nostrums have afflicted humankind for centuries. Misguided patients often boost these deceivers the most. Here are two versions of a pertinent saying:

(1) There are no greater liars than quacks, except for their patients.
(2) Quacks are the greatest liars in the world, except their patients.

This saying has been attributed to U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin, U.S. physician Benjamin Rush, and Scottish physician David Pitcairn. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: A conversation about quacks between Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, and Doctor Thibou was described in a diary entry written by Rush which was dated September 22, 1788. The saying under examination was mentioned, but the attribution was anonymous. The word “liars” was spelled “lyers”. The term “physic” meant the practice of medicine or healing. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Waited upon Dr. Franklin with Doctor Thibou, of Antigua. The Dr. said few but quacks ever made money by physic, & that no bill drawn upon the credulity of the people of London by quacks, was ever protested. He ascribed the success of quacks partly to patients extolling the efficacy of the remedies they took from them, rather than confess their ignorance & credulity, hence it was justly said, “quacks were the greatest lyers in the world, except their patients.”

Rush’s 1788 diary entry appeared in “The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography” in 1905 within an article titled “Excerpts from the Papers of Dr. Benjamin Rush”. QI believes that this diary entry is credible; however, QI has not yet seen scans of the handwritten diary entry.

The passage is ambiguous. The “Dr.” in the second sentence might refer to Franklin or Thibou. Thus, the adage about quacks may have been spoken by Franklin or Thibou. There is a third possibility; the saying might have already been known to Rush, and he simply added it to the diary entry because it fit the context. Nevertheless, the adage is usually linked to Benjamin Franklin. Interestingly, the prefatory phrase “it was justly said” signaled that the attribution was anonymous.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.