Editors, I need your help with quotation marks! Which is correct? a) I sent him an article about "The X Factor". b) I sent him an article about "The X Factor." [more inside]
posted by HeyAllie on Oct 26, 2009 - 40 answers

What is this quotation from? "...and tomorrow, and for the rest of our lives?" I think the beginning is something like "what are we going to do tonight..." and it might be from a young adult type novel. The person is carrying on a normal conversation and suddenly gets panicky/existential.
posted by lilbizou on Oct 7, 2009 - 9 answers

Canonicalize this aphorism: "When you're 90% finished, you're half-way done." [more inside]
posted by rlk on Sep 22, 2009 - 12 answers

Widely attributed, unreferenced Gandhi quotation: "I like your Christ..." Authentic? [more inside]
posted by goethean on Sep 9, 2009 - 5 answers

Quotefilter: A wise junkie once told me something that sounded suspiciously like a quotation. He said, "They'll spend any amount of your money to protect theirs." Does this ring a bell for anyone? I've had no luck thus far googling for variations.
posted by well_balanced on Jun 18, 2009 - 2 answers

What novel (possibly or probably by Haruki Murakami) contains a speech or inner monologue with the phrase "So maybe I'm not such a good person after all"? And what's the actual text of the quotation? [more inside]
posted by telegraph on Jun 2, 2009 - 9 answers

I'm looking for quotations or citations about "the aquarium," from before it existed. [more inside]
posted by sleevener on May 3, 2009 - 3 answers

Please help me find this exact quotation and its citation! [more inside]
posted by Rudy Gerner on May 3, 2009 - 6 answers

I once heard this quotation by Bob Dylan to the effect that everybody is struggling in their own way. Anyone know the exact quotation?
posted by goethean on Jan 20, 2009 - 16 answers

Help me identify this quote about death, dying, and the end of the world! [more inside]
posted by Doug on Nov 19, 2008 - 1 answer

I am going the Nike+ route and am about to order an iPod Nano. I want an inspiring but not cheesy quotation engraved on the back. Ideas? [more inside]
posted by Rudy Gerner on Oct 8, 2008 - 30 answers

Someone, somewhere--some cultural critic, I think, someone who has yet to die, or who was alive within the last half-century (but I could be wrong there), once said something along the lines of "Irony is the laughter of the slave." Do you know who that was? [more inside]
posted by ftrain on Sep 29, 2008 - 2 answers

Quotefilter: Who said something along the lines of "The way to know a people is through its artists"? [more inside]
posted by Carillon on Sep 28, 2008 - 2 answers

Where does the phrase "where the bee sups, there sups I" come from? I think that's a misquote because google fails me, and it's been bugging me.
posted by Grod on Jul 30, 2008 - 8 answers

[Quotation source-filter] I've found many references on the Internet to two similar quotes about losing a good reputation. The quotes are attributed to Warren Buffett and Benjamin Franklin, but I haven't been able to pin down what the original source is. The full text of the quotes are inside. [more inside]
posted by eisenkr on Jun 29, 2008 - 3 answers

I'm looking for quotations or video clips which deal with what it means to be human. [more inside]
posted by Pater Aletheias on May 30, 2008 - 23 answers

Quotation-filter. I'm trying to remember how a quotation went concerning Richard Feynman's lectures on physics. [more inside]
posted by jmhodges on May 2, 2008 - 5 answers

"The soul perishes not of dark, but of cold." - Where does this quote come from? [more inside]
posted by talitha_kumi on Apr 18, 2008 - 3 answers

In , "Molecular Ethology: an Immodest Proposal for Semantic Clarification", Heinz von Foerster says To escape this dilemma it is only necessary to recall that an urn is an urn, and it is animals that learn. Is this a reference to some other phrase (quotation, idiom, or otherwise) of the form "an X is just an X, and it is Y that Z"? [more inside]
posted by ErWenn on Mar 22, 2008 - 6 answers

"It's a world about men, and completely devoid of men." [more inside]
posted by mpls2 on Feb 6, 2008 - 12 answers

Where is this idea from? "You can be a connoisseur of anything, even driveway gravel" I have this paraphrased idea in my mind that I swear I read somewhere. However, I can't seem to remember its source. [more inside]
posted by k7lim on Dec 3, 2007 - 3 answers

Looking for some source of a quote about, or the general idea that, we are all slowly dying, but some are closer than others. [more inside]
posted by jckll on Nov 20, 2007 - 12 answers

Why is the quote "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt" so often attributed to Mark Twain? Is this not an anachronism? Does anyone know the real origin of this phrase?
posted by macinchik on Aug 12, 2007 - 21 answers

Can anyone identity the source of this saying? "The young die young that they may avoid corruption. The old live long that they may repent." [more inside]
posted by Pater Aletheias on Jul 30, 2007 - 2 answers

What is the origin of the phrase "we are all [blank] now"? The earliest 'famous' usage I'm aware of is Nixon's "we are all Keynesians now," but I don't know if that was really where it started.
posted by Urban Hermit on Jun 29, 2007 - 7 answers

Quotation help! Whose, and what, is the famous quotation that says essentially: "The bitterest feuds are always over the smallest differences" "You fight most viciously with those whose position is closest to yours"? Any ideas?
posted by gelcap on Jun 20, 2007 - 11 answers

Another broken quotation. Who said plenty would bring a country to its knees? [more inside]
posted by Orange Pamplemousse on Jun 15, 2007 - 8 answers

Me-fites! I want you to inspire me.. and then destroy me! Your best quotations regarding bittersweet (Pyrrhic?) accomplishment, please [more inside]
posted by TheOtherGuy on May 15, 2007 - 24 answers

Epigraphfilter: Help me think of something good (or, barring that, something funny) to kick off my senior thesis. The paper is about why nations sometimes sneak around the established, public, legally recognized way of writing treaties when they cooperate. [more inside]
posted by electric_counterpoint on Mar 16, 2007 - 10 answers

I've heard that there's a Steve Jobs quote where someone asks him (paraphrased) "What about people who can't type?" and he answers "They'll die". Does anyone know the source and exact nature of the quotation?
posted by simonw on Nov 17, 2006 - 1 answer

Who said "There is nothing more frightening than a closed door."? I seem to remember an attribution to Hitchcock, but that may be apocryphal. Also, my recollection of the quote may be a paraphrase.
posted by sciurus on Oct 4, 2006 - 19 answers

Help me find a quotation. I have a vague memory of a quote from a respected literary figure (perhaps Orwell) which states that the name given to a piece of legislation will always denote the opposite of the purpose of the legislation. In effect, the names of our laws are propaganda. The USA PATRIOT Act springs immediately to mind. Are you familiar with this alleged quote? Who said it and what did they say? Or did my drug-addled brain make the whole thing up?
posted by oncogenesis on Sep 21, 2006 - 3 answers

I'm trying to track down author and source for a specific quotation. [more inside]
posted by initapplette on Sep 20, 2006 - 5 answers

Help me find an obscure R.A. Lafferty quote. [more inside]
posted by rwhe on Aug 28, 2006 - 0 answers

Quotation Filter: We'd like to have a quote painted on the ceiling over our dining room table. All of the ones we're turning up are coming up short. The basic idea is a celebration of happiness, warmth, friends, family and food. [more inside]
posted by deanj on May 6, 2006 - 24 answers

Who owns the posts to Internet forums? I know someone who produced and acted in a one-woman show in which she "performed" weird stuff she found on Usenet. She claimed this was legal. Was it? [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on Mar 10, 2006 - 13 answers

I'm looking for an online product quotation system that I can host on my domain. [more inside]
posted by wibbler on Dec 14, 2005 - 4 answers

QuoteFilter: war + reelection + politics. No luck with Google. [more inside]
posted by pants on Sep 13, 2005 - 4 answers

Quotation filter -- who first said: "'Good enough' is the enemy of the great"? [more inside]
posted by Araucaria on Jul 25, 2005 - 13 answers

I'm looking for the text of a movie quotation about con men. [more inside]
posted by cali on Jun 27, 2005 - 7 answers

Help us identify this book/movie: The only thing we can remember is something along the lines of, "Losing one parent was understandable, but losing two just seemed careless." I seem to remember it's from one of those British children's fantasy novels that start with the kid's parents dying off — or from a parody of one of those novels? But really, we're both just stumped.
posted by nebulawindphone on Apr 19, 2005 - 7 answers

When a quotation is longer than a few words, Googling for it usually brings up a wide range of variations (example). Anyone have a good strategy for finding the actual quotation verbatim, in situ, when you don't know the exact wording at the outset? Or, failing that, a citation for the quotation in the example above?
posted by bricoleur on Apr 9, 2005 - 12 answers

Help me find a quotation that I've seen in Slashdot signatures, and other places. It's a quote about scientific ideas, usually structured in three parts. Here's the paraphrase: "First a new idea is rejected as heretical. Then it is (I don't remember what). Finally, it is universally accepted." Any ideas?
posted by waxpancake on Mar 10, 2005 - 11 answers

I'm officiating my little sister's wedding ceremony this Friday, and I'm looking for a great reading. She's young and somewhat cynical, so something modern-sounding and non-mushy would be great. Any suggestions?
posted by waxpancake on Jan 5, 2005 - 24 answers

English/Literature question: I was watching some old Futurama episodes, and I noted on two occasions the use of the phrase "fevered dream"... [mo inside yo] [more inside]
posted by ac on Oct 12, 2004 - 6 answers

Debating politics with a (conservative) friend last night, we got to talking about the whole "mission acomplished" thing. He has challenged me to come up with a single quote where Bush says anything similar to "Our mission in Iraq has been accomplished" (as opposed to just standing in front of a sign that says it). Can anyone provide such a quote, with a link to back it up?
posted by anastasiav on Sep 30, 2004 - 16 answers

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) lists the following quote under the lap entry:

If he cuts off but a lap of truth's garment, his heart smites him. --Fuller.

What's this author's full name, and can someone give me some links to information about him/her? Even amazon's "search in book" isn't of much help. Also, in general: How do you find the full name of an author listed in the omnipresent web1913? Is there a bibliography somewhere that hasn't spread quite as far as the definitions? [more inside]
posted by fvw on May 9, 2004 - 3 answers

It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story. - James Baldwin

Where is this quote from? Thanks in advance!
posted by Slimemonster on Mar 24, 2004 - 4 answers

"As the sun sets slowly in the west, we wave goodbye and goodnight to our friends on the tropical island..."

I started saying this to my daughter as I dim the lights at bedtime - and I'm *sure* that it comes from some cheesy TV show or movie that I used to watch when I was a kid. But for the life of me I can't figure out what. My brother looked at me like I was nuts when I asked him...

The "As the sun sets..." phrase is all over the web. Can anyone out there help cool my fevered brain? Does anyone know where that phrase comes from?
posted by jasper411 on Dec 18, 2003 - 11 answers