Quotes Uncovered
Here are more quote authors and origins Shapiro’s tracked down recently.
A while back, I invited readers to submit quotations for which they wanted me to try to trace the origins, using The Yale Book of Quotations and more recent research by me. Hundreds of people have responded via comments or e-mails. I am responding as best I can, a few per week.
Eric M. Jones asked:
“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.” Dorothy Parker might have said it. This quip is frequently phrased (with variations): “a free bottle in front of me; a pre-frontal lobotomy.”
The Yale Book of Quotations, which attempts to trace all famous quotations to their earliest findable occurrence, has this:
“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.” Tom Waits, quoted in Creem Magazine, March 1978.
Beth Lavadia asked:
My mother used to say in exasperation to my sisters and I, “For Pete’s sake!” Who is this Pete fellow and why is his name used in such an expression?
This is usually thought to refer to St. Peter, chosen as a less offensive swear reference than Jesus or God. But in the etymology business, the proper answer is often “etymology unknown,” and no one knows for sure who this Pete fellow is.
Franz asked:
I have a book somewhere about Lombardi that attributes this quote to him: “Winning isn’t everything, but making the effort to win is.” This is certainly different than “… winning is the only thing.”
The Yale Book of Quotations demonstrates that Red Sanders used the “… it’s the only thing” quote before Lombardi, but the YBQ does credit Lombardi with your variant:
“Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is!” Vince Lomabardi, quoted in Esquire, November 1962.
Do any readers have any other quotations whose origins they would like me to attempt to trace?
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My dad always said: “what in the Sam Hill is going on here?”
A few years ago, the representative of the company with which my firm’s retirement accounts were invested came to do a presentation about our retirement options. At some point, he mentioned that Albert Einstein had called compound interest “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” This immediately smacked of apocryphal sales bs, so I googled it. I came up with plenty of instances of people attributing this quote or something similar to Einstein, but all of them were people who were trying to sell investments. So: is it true? And, if it was true, was it sincere or sarcastic?
“Your name is Mud in this town”.
I thought it meant muddy or dirty but I think it refers to Dr. Mudd who took care of John Wilkes Booth after he shot President Lincoln.
He was ruined by that association.
As was said in The Fairly Oddparents:
“Oh, for the love of Pete!”
“Who’s Pete? Someone I should know about?”
My wife says “for Pete’s sake” as well, in an attempt to avoid more unsavory expressions in front of our kids. The other day, my 12 year old son had a friend over, who, after hearing my wife say that, asked “just who is this Pete, and does Mr Lee know about him?”
Wondering what is the exact quotation of this and from whence does it originate: The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong but that’s the way to bet it.
I have two …
1) Beyond the pale… ? Or, is it ‘Beyond the pail’?
2) Cold as a witch’s teat in a brass bra.
Here’s a shout-out to all those people doing stuff for my sake: Thanks so much; really appreciate it.