Quote Origin: The Next Best Thing To Being Clever Is Being Able To Quote Someone Who Is
Mary Pettibone Poole? A. A. Milne? Dorothy L. Sayers? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: If you cannot think of something clever to say then you can resort to the next best strategy. You can quote someone else who is clever. This point has been expressed with a concise statement. Would you please help me to determine the creator and find a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: A matching quip appeared in the 1938 collection of quotations titled “A Glass Eye at a Keyhole” edited by Mary Pettibone Poole. Some of the items in the collection were already in circulation, and some were formulated by Poole. QI conjectures that the following was authored by Poole. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹
The next best thing to being clever is being able to quote some one who is.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1920 famous children’s author A. A. Milne penned a thematically related statement:²
For a quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business.
A separate article about the above quotation is available here.
In 1932 prominent mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers created a thematically related statement which was spoken by a character in her novel “Have His Carcase”:³
“I always have a quotation for everything — it saves original thinking.”
A separate article about the above quotation is available here.
In 1996 “The New Beacon Book of Quotations by Women” compiled by Rosalie Maggio include the following entry:⁴
The next best thing to being clever is being able to quote some one who is.
Mary Pettibone Poole, A Glass Eye at a Keyhole (1938)
In 2001 the quotation with an ascription to Poole appeared in “Funny Ladies: The Best Humor from America’s Funniest Women” compiled by Bill Adler.⁵
In 2007 the quotation with an ascription to Poole appeared in “Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes & Brilliant Remarks” compiled by Karen Weekes.⁶
In conclusion, QI believes Mary Pettibone Poole deserves credit for the remark in her 1938 compilation “A Glass Eye at a Keyhole”. No earlier matches have been uncovered at this time. Subsequent compilations of quotations by other editors have also credited Poole.
Image Notes: Quotation marks from Gimp, the GNU Image Manipulation Program.
[1] 1938, A Glass Eye at a Keyhole by Mary Pettibone Poole, Section: Excess Prophets, Quote Page 51, Published by Dorrance and Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Verified with scans; thanks to Dennis Lien and the University of Minnesota library system)
[2] 1920, If I May by A. A. Milne, Essay: The Record Lie, Start Page 89, Quote Page 90, Methuen & Company, London. (Internet archive archive.org) link
[3] 1975 (Copyright 1932), Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers, Series: A Lord Peter Wimsey Novel, Quote Page 53, Avon Books: A Division of The Hearst Corporation, New York. (Verified with scans)
[4] 1996 Copyright, The New Beacon Book of Quotations by Women, Compiled by Rosalie Maggio, Topic: Quotations, Quote Page 562, Column 1, Beacon Press, Boston, Massachusetts. (Verified with scans)
[5] 2001, Funny Ladies: The Best Humor from America’s Funniest Women, Compiled by Bill Adler, Topic: Conversation and Communication, Quote Page 73, Andrews McMeel Publishing, Kansas City, Missouri. (Verified with scans)
[6] 2007 Copyright, Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes & Brilliant Remarks, Compiled by Karen Weekes, Section: Quotations, Quote Page 341, Quirk Books, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Verified with scans)
