Great quote thread (Page 10 of 11)

This tells whats known about it : http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/04 … -einstein/

For it to actually have been from AE it would have to be pretty early on, because his theories were based on a finite universe.

Einstein is a wellspring of misattributions. The oft repeated "insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results" is almost certainly not an actual AE quote, and his deathbed acceptance of the existence of God didn't happen.

Debunking these sorts of mis-attributions is sort of a hobby of mine (being a former English teacher). Most of the popular quotation sites online are notoriously unreliable about this stuff. Best advice I can offer if you're really trying to play quote detective is to do an exact phrase search for a particularly unique phrase from the quotation you're working on. You'll get bunches of hits from quote sites, but you will also get hits from places that specialize in debunking common mis-attributions...

By far the most comical one of these I have run across is a quote frequently attributed to Shaquille O'Neill:  "Excellence is not a singular act; it's a habit. You are what you repeatedly do." I have actually seen motivational posters with O'Neill's picture on them featuring this quotation. Shaq didn't say it, of course, Aristotle did. For those of us with long memories, we remember a brief period when Shaq wanted to be called The Big Aristotle: "For all my friends in the media who like quotes, mark this quote down. From this day on I'd like to be known as 'The Big Aristotle' because Aristotle once said, 'Excellence is not a singular act; it's a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.'"

Now, of course, it isn't Shaq's fault that others don't do their homework. It doesn't help that Aristotle quotations are, of necessity, translations, and there are several available. The most frequently-encountered version of Shaq's quote is this one: "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Now, I don't know if Shaq's version is different because he was relying on his own memory or because the translation where he found the quote originally is one of the less-popular ones (hint: if an Aristotle translation uses a lot of modern contractions, keep shopping).

Anyway, just thought I'd share. It isn't often I get a chance to post on a subject I actually know something about! 

Don't know if this information has already been shared (don't feel like reading 13 pages of comments to make sure), but if you enjoy quotations paired with visuals, you might like this place: http://www.reddit.com/r/QuotesPorn/.  I contribute there from time to time myself...

I beg your pardon...I never promised you a rose garden! 

Seriously, I don't disagree. It ain't all gold, but there is some good stuff in there for the quote addict. I can usually tell from the thumbnail and who the quote is by whether I want to click on the link. But let's keep arguin' about it, though...I need to keep slogging towards 1,000 posts, and I have too much pride to start posting in "What Song Are You Listening to Right Now?" 

My biggest beef with most quote-centric sites (not just quotesporn) is that they tend to be unfiltered. That's how you wind up getting kids posting vapid quotes from TV personalities and cartoon characters, and fanboys trying to dress up the most banal quotes from their favorite "under-appreciated" authors, etc. On quotesporn, quite often the most fun for me is seeing how someone pairs up the visual element with the quote...

Maybe one of these days when I'm feeling frisky I'll post a Joe pic over there with the quote "All knobs to the right." 

Great addition to this topic thread, Sally.

To which I'll add, "I can't let it get me down, change my smile into a frown".  Life's too short for spending it making our faces wrinkle.  Old age will do that, soon enough.

Also liked the quote attributed to Plato, Brack.

Thanks.

"Never be too proud to get down on your knees and pray" - Paul "Bear" Bryant

hilarious, they above all other publications should be able to get it right the first time. "Can you dig it?!"

http://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/ … e/14184077