Wikiquote:Reference desk: Difference between revisions

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What is the correct quote and who is the author? I thought it was A. W. Tozer, but I can't find it any where. --anon —This unsigned comment is by Gayle (talk • contribs) 08:10, 3 February 2010.

Does anyone know who said, and the exact wording on the following?

Men who rule men rule men who rule machines and men who rule money rule them both.

As far as we know, there are no such quotes. TeleComNasSprVen (talk) 09:07, 10 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

How many films do you list at WikiQuote please? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.218.213.159 (talk) 19:25, 28 March 2010

If we add up the sum total of all pages in each of the subcategories of Category:Films, and exclude Category:Film stubs and Category:Fictional characters, it equates to approximately 1782 films. However, because this approximation is prone to error, especially with entries duplicated between subcategories, it's best you check out the category tree structure of Category:Films and its attendant subcategories yourself. Or alternatively, you can try and count the number of films listed on our page List of films. TeleComNasSprVen (talk) 09:07, 10 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"ladies and gentlemen take my advice, take off your pants and slide on the ice.".....sydney freidman.

What episode is this from???? Why isn't it in your list of M A S H quotes? Can it be added please? —This unsigned comment is by Ded 96 (talk • contribs) 19:58, 28 March 2010.

Season 3, episode "O.R.", now listed on Wikiquote. TeleComNasSprVen (talk) 09:07, 10 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Anyone know a quote that runs broadly as follows:

There's more wisdom to be found in one hour spent looking at a tree than a hundred years reading books.

Many thanks,

--anon —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.142.238.110 (talk) 05:46, 15 April 2010

As far as we know, there is no such quote. TeleComNasSprVen (talk) 09:07, 10 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I wanted to add www.mansonquotes.com to Marilyn Mansons quote page but it said that it was black listed. why? How does that get removed? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.176.13.22 (talk) 05:27, 28 June 2010

Sites are normally blacklisted because they're heavily abused as a form of link spamming, where spambots will typically insert them everywhere into our articles in order to increase search engine optimization (SEO) in terms of Google PageRanks for the sites they link to. You can ask an administrator to whitelist your site by posting at Wikiquote:Administrators' noticeboard, but if your site has been abused by spambots, I doubt the proposal would pass. TeleComNasSprVen (talk) 09:07, 10 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

which actress said? marvelous darling just marvelous? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.182.63.118 (talk) 18:03, 7 July 2010

Joanna Lumney regularily in her hit tv series "Absolutely Fabulous" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.70.240.233 (talk) 01:59, 25 January 2012

If you're referring to a variation on the popular quote "marvelous darling, simply marvelous", then see this thread in our archives. According to that, it's possible that the quote came from the franchise Breakfast at Tiffany's. TeleComNasSprVen (talk) 09:07, 10 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I want to use a quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes in my novel. How do I get permission? Also, where did this quote occur. "I don't give a fig for simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would die for simplicity on the other side of complexity." Thanks 254 932-6745 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.79.250.25 (talk) 18:19, 6 March 2011

who coined the saying and is this the whole saying? 'You stay in your village and I will stay in mine, If your sheep eat our grass we may kill you, If our sheep have no grass we may kill you anyway. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 114.78.28.240 (talk) 03:53, 26 April 2011

I am looking for a movie that is a few years old. I am collecting some dancing/cheerleading/gymnastics movies with great music and for the life of me I can't remember the title of one I want.

The girl is rebellious and sent to take gymnastics. She is a show off at first but then starts fitting in. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 99.187.187.127 (talk) 04:13, 28 April 2011

who said that "Ceaser's wife is without doubt". Which is the other quote to counter this qoute? —This unsigned comment is by Jagdishshah (talk • contribs) 08:24, 28 July 2011.

"between good and evil stands a warrior" Does anyone: 1) know the whole quote; 2) know where it comes from radio, tv, movie? I know it was used in a tv ad recently but i am wondering about the original usage. --lsid—This unsigned comment is by Lsid (talk • contribs) 01:53, 31 July 2011.

When (where and in what context) did Ronald Reagan say: "What Energy Crisis?"? Thank you. My e-mail address is: rob@lordanglin.com—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.4.10.107 (talk) 17:26, 6 September 2011

Where did the quote ‘Do you wanna piece of me?” come from? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.159.168.204 (talk) 09:41, 8 September 2011

Who said:  "Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes; it is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.23.212.42 (talk) 14:38, 22 September 2011

how did fredrich keep warm in the winter what danger did rosa face afer being fired from her job how did the group of young people punish the man who was stealing his childrens bread —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 174.91.150.236 (talk) 23:27, 1 November 2011

Looking for a quote that was part of Andrew Zuckerman's photo exhibit "Wisdom". I saw it in Toronto this year. The theme of the quote was that as the speaker became older, he/she felt they were increasingly going into an adolescent period, rather than becoming older and wiser. —This unsigned comment is by Connected (talk • contribs) 15:39, 9 November 2011.

I cannot locate or identify the source of the following quote by Denise Levertov; can you help me, please?

Acknowledgement, and celebration, of mystery probably constitutes the most consistent theme of my poetry from its very beginnings. Because it is a matter of which I am conscious, it is possible, however imprecisely, to call it an intellectual position; but it is one which emphasizes the incapacity of reason alone (much though I delight in elegant logic) to comprehend experience, and considers Imagination the chief of human faculties. It must therefore be by the exercise of that faculty that one moves toward faith, and possibly by its failure that one rejects it as delusion. Poems present their testimony as circumstantial evidences, not as closing argument. Where Wallace Stevens says, "God and the imagination are one," I would say that the imagination, which synergizes intellect, emotion and instinct, is the perceptive organ through which it is possible, though not inevitable, to experience God. A Poets View (1984)

from Walter R. Dickhaut at walterrdickhaut@yahoo.com—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.145.145.42 (talk) 12:56, 10 January 2012

Does anyone know the rest of this verse?

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.161.56.91 (talk) 27 February 2012

In my memory, was:

That's the way it goes... first your money, then your clothes, next your wife and then your life... That's the way it goes. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.88.119.169 (talk) 18:01, 23 June 2012

marvelous simply marvelous darling —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.144.52.25 (talk) 19:00, 13 March 2012

Need help finding a quote I read a long time ago. Can't remember the exact words, just the content. It said: when i was young, my father was smart and know everything; when i grow up, i see that my father didn't know much of anything; when i was old and he was gone, wish he was still around to give me advice. That's the content i recall from memory, most likely not the exact wording. Similar to Mark Twain quote but Twain's quote only have 2 parts about being at 14 and 21 years old. I'm fairly sure this quote has 3 parts about being very young, being teenage year and being old age; very sure about the old age part. It's what i remember the most from the quote. Thanks for helping me find it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.242.233.42 (talk) 15:14, 27 March 2012

How can I find out if I have an authentic signature of Mr. Kipling?--50.124.20.40 17:21, 7 May 2012

Can you clearly determine who wrote this poem? I suspect that Mr Allen quoted Ms Wilcox without credit. (As a Man Thinketh, end of chapter 2) I found contradictions between your site and theotherpages.org with the credit given to either James Allen or Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

YOU will be what you will to be; Let failure find its false content In that poor word "environment," But spirit scorns it, and is free, It masters time, it conquers space, It cows that boastful trickster Chance, And bids the tyrant Circumstance Uncrown and fill a servant's place. The human Will, that force unseen, The offspring of a deathless Soul, Can hew the way to any goal, Though walls of granite intervene. Be not impatient in delay, But wait as one who understands; When spirit rises and commands, The gods are ready to obey. The river seeking for the sea Confronts the dam and precipice, Yet knows it cannot fail or miss; You will be what you will to be!

http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/wilcox01.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Wheeler_Wilcox

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Allen

Thank you! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.111.197.26 (talk) 18:05, 8 June 2012

Who said, "Stupidity may get you into trouble, but it is pride that keeps you there."? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.51.164.131 (talk) 17:39, 19 June 2012

“Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.”

I’ve seen it attributed to Diogenes but that doesn’t seem to be right.

Thanks! Alison Cummins —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.191.72.153 (talk) 13:17, 7 August 2012

I have been looking for a quote about how walls work well because the cows do not test them. I think it may be by Anais L

"Those who do not move, do not notice their chains" is a much quoted statement attributed to Rosa Luxemburg, and to no other. However, I cannot find the document source for the quote anywhere. --80.193.162.87 08:25, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'd like to get the citation of Terry Eagleton's quote: "The marginal has occupied the central position whereas the central has retreated to the marginal"when he refered to the contemporary Bitish poetry.Sorry I foegot where I read it. I'm now in need of this citation because I want to quote it in my recent book. I'll be very much grateful if anyone could help. Thanks! Emma Liang from China

Hi Emma, could this be it?—

«The poets who seem to me to matter most are those ‘"skewed" to the dominant social wisdom [...] in the sense of having access to historical or symbolic resources, submerged allegiances and affiliations’ and characterised the period ‘as (very broadly) polarized between [...] writing, where the marginal becomes somehow central, and a self-absorbed, knowing, postmodernist ironizing’.»

—Terry Eagleton, "surveying British poetry of the 1980s for Poetry Review", as quoted in D. Kennedy Sheffield Hallam Working Papers: Value (2001).

The earliest appearance I could find of this quote was in: The Poetry Review, Vol. 79 (Poetry Society of America, 1989), p. 278. DanielTom (talk) 14:24, 14 November 2013 (UTC) posted 15:06, 16 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I found found a few claims online that claim the following quotes are from the late Nelson Mandela. I checked the Wikiquote page on Mandela but did not find these. Is there any truth behind these being attributed to him. I was trying to make a point that it is strange that those who consider Mandela a hero are often those who believe communism is an evil philosophy. Here are the quotes:

"The cause of communism is the greatest cause in the history of mankind!"

"Under a Communist Party government, South Africa will become a land of milk and honey. Political, economic and social rights will cease to be enjoyed by whites only. They will be shared equally by whites and non-whites. There will be enough land and houses for all. There will be no unemployment, starvation and disease. Workers will earn decent wages; transport will be cheap and education free."

“Communists everywhere fight to destroy capitalist society and to replace it with socialism, where the masses of the common people, irrespective of race or color, will live in complete equality, freedom and happiness. They seek to revolutionize society and are thus called revolutionaries. Those who support capitalism with its class divisions and other evils and who oppose our just struggles to end oppression are called counter revolutionaries.”

“In our own country, the struggles of the oppressed people are guided by the South African Communist Party and inspired by its policies. The aim of the S.A.C.P. is to defeat the Nationalist government and to free the people of South Africa from the evils of racial discrimination and exploitation.”

--94.11.27.51 22:01, 11 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You can find all those quotes in Mandela's How To Be A Good Communist. Cheers, DanielTom (talk) 15:12, 16 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Where and when did Erwin Schrodinger write, “Quantum physics thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe.” --66.74.191.77

He didn't. Fritjof Capra did, in his book The Tao of Physics (1975). ~ DanielTom (talk) 22:50, 15 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Fritjof Capra said, "Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe." ...theory, not physics.... There's numerous examples of people using the Schrodinger quote, “Quantum physics thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe,” but I can't find a reference to where and when he said it. Hopefully he did actually say it. --66.74.191.77 02:59, 17 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

something along the lines of "doctor, we mean to control/enslave/nobble you"

How/Where can I add my entry? Geoffrey Forrest.

You don't appear to be notable enough to have a Wikiquote page, as of yet. Please see my reply at Wikiquote:Requested entries#People. As a rule, it is best to let other people create a page for you, if you are notable, rather than doing it yourself. Take care, DanielTom (talk) 12:52, 3 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The line absence of evidence is not evidence of absence is often attributed to Carl Sagan. In looking to check it, I found it on his page here, but twice: once as a sourced quotation and once as a misattribution, well sourced to Martin Rees.

I'm a fairly experienced Wikipedian, but not much experienced here. ISTM that once a quote from person X is demonstrated as misattributed to person Y, it shouldn't be listed as a quote under Y at all, except in the "Misattributed" section. I couldn't find guidance on that here, so I commented that quote out of Sagan's page—

Carl Sagan#The Demon-Haunted World : Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995), Ch. 12 : The Fine Art of Baloney Detection, p. 221

—and put a note on the Talk page, at the end of a long discussion about this quote that was mostly not relevant to the misattribution.

Now I'm asking for help: What's the policy on this kind of issue? I don't come to WQ often, but I'll try to check back here regularly. --Thnidu (talk) 22:12, 19 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I restored that quotation because it actually does appear in the book, and is adequately sourced. I don't see a good justification here for the removal of said sourced material – indeed, I see the opposite, as the reference made to it in the "Misattributed" section would stop making sense if that quote was removed. If you wish, you may add a note next to the quote, clarifying that it was Martin Rees who originated it, but please do not remove the sourced quote. ~ DanielTom (talk) 22:31, 19 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I saw this on someones twitter account. Is this out of a book? Where can I find this saying? (Her smile stops shooting stars in their spiral. No starry night covers her luster without stare. Dawn stretches out eagerly for her awake)

Please email me back at rainbowsparklesmiles@yahoo.com

The following quote has been attributed to Lyndon Baines Johnson and while it sounds like something he could or would have said, I cannot find it documented anywhere. I want to know if it is a true quote. I do, of course, recognize that he might have said it in company that would have not captured the moment. "I will have these niggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years". Please advise if it is a documented quote.—This unsigned comment is by ProudTexan62 (talk • contribs) .

Hi. Apparently the earliest source attributing it to LBJ was Kessler's book Inside The White House (1996). This attribution to LBJ also appears in other published works, e.g., here (2001, with no citation/source given), and here (citing "The American Sentinel, Sept 1997, p. 9"). Cheers. ~ DanielTom (talk) 13:24, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Expanding on the first source, Ronald Kessler's Inside the White House (Simon and Schuster, 1996), here is the quotation in context (p. 33): «During one trip, Johnson was discussing his proposed civil rights bill with two governors. Explaining why it was so important to him, he said it was simple: "I'll have them niggers voting Democratic for two hundred years."» [1] Citation given: «Interview on March 28, 1993, with MacMillan.» [2] ~ DanielTom (talk) 14:03, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I've always found this an amusing and pithy response to the male habit of starting at something other than a woman's face while conversing. When I came across it at Know Your Meme, which currently traces its print use to newspapers in 1996, I thought that this has got to have a much older provenance. So far, the earliest print occurrence I've found (courtesy Google Book Search) is by Kathie Lee Gifford, who mentions it in her autobiography:

• I put my mike up and started talking, but he wouldn't meet my eyes. He wasn't even close. Missed by about a foot. "Excuse me," I wisecracked. "Those are my breasts. My eyes are up here."
  • Kathie Lee Gifford & Jim Jerome, I Can't Believe I Said That!: An Autobiography, G.K. Hall, 1993, ISBN 0816157863, page 270–271

Since it's hard to believe that this is the first print version, let alone the first utterance, I didn't think it wise to create a Kathie Lee Gifford article just to establish it. So I'm posting this here to see if anyone wants to do some deeper research into the phrase's origins. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 03:05, 4 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]