Wasn't it Maya Angelou who pointed out the misquoted inscription on the MLK Memorial in DC? Ironic.
Speaking of Mark Twain, I think he said something like this: If you don't read a newspaper, you are uninformed--if you read a newspaper, you are misinformed.
People have forgotten that this "feminist" defended Mike Tyson'a sexual assault of an African-American woman. Fortunately, a court did not agree with her.
1
Confucius himself is said to have said, "I am a transmitter and not a maker, believing in and loving the ancients." (Analects, Book 7, Ch. 1.) In other words, he said he only passed on to the current generation what others before him had uttered or written.
But isn't it obvious why there's a problem with this case, and why it borders on plagiarism, and why it isn't mere "Churchillian drift"?
Namely, Maya Angelou used these very words over and over again *without attribution* -- and given that she herself wrote a poem "I know why the caged bird sings", wouldn't she expect everyone to attribute those words to her?
Are we just supposed not to notice these flagrant facts?
Namely, Maya Angelou used these very words over and over again *without attribution* -- and given that she herself wrote a poem "I know why the caged bird sings", wouldn't she expect everyone to attribute those words to her?
Are we just supposed not to notice these flagrant facts?
4
Everyone picks on the Post Office. But often, the criticisms are deserved.
I personally think the USPS does a great job. When I disagree with their executives is when they become greedy or don't know how to rank employees at salary review time. "Of the 70,000 postal employees eligible to receive a salary increase, 50.8 percent received the average 5.3 percent raise; 37.6 percent were above the average, and 11.6 percent were below the average, a postal spokesman said." 37.6% above average? How does that fit into a bell-shaped curve?
This error in using the words of another woman as a quote by Maya Angelou shows the Post Office doesn't have more than one-of-three executives who are above average.
I personally think the USPS does a great job. When I disagree with their executives is when they become greedy or don't know how to rank employees at salary review time. "Of the 70,000 postal employees eligible to receive a salary increase, 50.8 percent received the average 5.3 percent raise; 37.6 percent were above the average, and 11.6 percent were below the average, a postal spokesman said." 37.6% above average? How does that fit into a bell-shaped curve?
This error in using the words of another woman as a quote by Maya Angelou shows the Post Office doesn't have more than one-of-three executives who are above average.
The stamps printed with the error should be sold. If they don't sell, destroy them. When they are gone, a second printing using an original, correct quote from Ms. Angelou should be made and sold. Buy and keep or use the stamps you prefer.
That will satisfy no one, but everyone can do what they wish. Perhaps some will learn from this - it's not that difficult to check attribution, and it's important to be correct.
And those who were given responsibility for the design of the stamp should apologize to the country and to Ms. Angelou's family.
That will satisfy no one, but everyone can do what they wish. Perhaps some will learn from this - it's not that difficult to check attribution, and it's important to be correct.
And those who were given responsibility for the design of the stamp should apologize to the country and to Ms. Angelou's family.
"MarjieCallaway, VA
I want to be a gnomologist. Matters not what they study: just love the word."
Well, you could study the common, garden variety gnome, or the more elusive forest gnome.
kzookitty
I want to be a gnomologist. Matters not what they study: just love the word."
Well, you could study the common, garden variety gnome, or the more elusive forest gnome.
kzookitty
Believe what you read on the internet ? Why ????
There is almost no incentive to correct anything on the internet that is wrong. It costs to make a correction -- time and/or money. Just do a search under your own name, and I will bet you will find stuff that is no longer accurate, if it ever was. Do you think you have a chance of having that removed? Do you want to buy some ocean front property in Arizona I have for sale cheap?
The Times issues corrections. How many other web sites even do that?
Do Google, Facebook, or Twitter verify what they transmit ?
Believe what you read on the internet ? Why ????
There is almost no incentive to correct anything on the internet that is wrong. It costs to make a correction -- time and/or money. Just do a search under your own name, and I will bet you will find stuff that is no longer accurate, if it ever was. Do you think you have a chance of having that removed? Do you want to buy some ocean front property in Arizona I have for sale cheap?
The Times issues corrections. How many other web sites even do that?
Do Google, Facebook, or Twitter verify what they transmit ?
Believe what you read on the internet ? Why ????
1
Does anyone know the author of: "Sincerity is the most important thing, once you learn to fake that you have it made." I have heard it attributed to Jack Benny.
1
It was my honor to have known Maya Angelou for decades, and I can say with some certainty that she would have found the quote "lovely," and would have been charmed and amused by the mistake. Her heart and soul were so much bigger than most people can imagine. If you haven't yet read "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings," you really should. She was no caged bird, but she sure could sing.
1
In an article about misattribution, I got to the end and read the author's blurb and thought 'no, she did NOT write 'The Hundred Dresses!' Turns out she did write a book called 'The Hundred Dresses,' but the title is the same as an earlier, very important children's book written in 1944 by Eleanor Estes. I would imagine that most women reading this piece would flash to Estes' book first. It is a treatise on bullying and imagination and it is used in schools all over the country. Wryly ironic that her title is the same as an older, on subject book.
5
True.
For anyone who has not had the pleasure of reading THE HUNDRED DRESSES, by the great Eleanor Estes, illustrated by the GREAT Louis Slobodkin, here's the link:
http://smile.amazon.com/dp/0152052607/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
New edition includes a letter from Mrs. Estes's daughter.
For anyone who has not had the pleasure of reading THE HUNDRED DRESSES, by the great Eleanor Estes, illustrated by the GREAT Louis Slobodkin, here's the link:
http://smile.amazon.com/dp/0152052607/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
New edition includes a letter from Mrs. Estes's daughter.
3
Years ago when email first began to be popular, I would say "Email is an excellent way to transmit information but a poor way to effect communication." I used it once with an opposing attorney whose emails exemplified my point, and he was very impressed with the comment. Years later we had another matter together only this time as co-counsel, and he told me that he often quoted me on that line. I asked whether he gave me attribution. He said that he did not and that he would just say that an attorney that he knows authored the line. I remarked jokingly that he had to be a moron. If he was not going to give me credit then he at least ought to plagiarize it. I told him "One of us ought to get credit, and I'd rather it be you than some fictitious attorney who will gain nothing from this pithy wisdom."
Wisdom? No.
Pithy? No.
Pithy? No.
3
These USPS college graduated managers have higher standard for middle school children than they do for themselves. How disappointing!
None of the 490,000 plus USPS employees publicly pointed out the mistake, before, during, and after the release of the stamps to their managers. How scary!
None of the 490,000 plus USPS employees publicly pointed out the mistake, before, during, and after the release of the stamps to their managers. How scary!
1
Lest we forget, there are few original minds like mine. Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong -- I drink wine -- and all great truths begin as blasphemies. This world is a comedy to those think, a tragedy to those that feel, but the greatest tragedy is that I will never get a USPS stamp. We all think in the phrases of our past. It is how language is learned.
This incident was unfair to Maya Angelou's memory.
This incident was unfair to Maya Angelou's memory.
1
No. She had many chances to credit Joan Walsh Anglund, and she didn't take them.
If anyone was "unfair", it was Maya Angelou.
If anyone was "unfair", it was Maya Angelou.
7
I know the feeling: I think I may have been the originator of the say-it-was-Ben-Franklin quote you mention (or at least a version of it). I've been bouncing it around for years. Then, after I got a twitter account (as a relatively early adopter), and started posting my little aphorisms, I was startled, then miffed, then oddly flattered, to soon see them (including the Ben Franklin) appearing unattributed in other people's posts. But in the wild west of the web whole books get up-and-downloaded with neither literary attribution nor financial contribution. I'm thinking that once we dispense with the paper (as we nearly have) it may no longer be possible to get your doggerel to go where you want it to.
The problem with not withdrawing the stamp and starting over is that anyone who looks at the quote will of course assume it originated with Ms. Angelou. Just because she co-opted it as her own doesn't mean this should be perpetuated. I don't have an opinion on Ms. Angelou's talents as a poet, but I think a stamp on which she is celebrated should accurately portray something she originated - assuming this was the intention of placing the quote on the stamp. The excuse of "well, she said it a lot, it became associated with her" and so on isn't the point. Not perpetuating lazy research is.
8
Tempest In A Teapot
No. The United States Post Office is not a teapot. To demean it that way shows a lack of understanding of American history.
This error reveals a lot about a lot of people.
This error reveals a lot about a lot of people.
2
Susan, Please provide attribution. Those words sound familiar, however apt.
1
I quote others only in order the better to express myself. Michel de Montaigne
2
Or, as Tom Lehrer said "in the name of" Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, "You know why the good Lord made your eyes, so don't shade your eyes but plagiarize, plagiarize plagiarize."
5
Clearly there was no basic reading or research done on this great writer before the stamp went to print...how shallow.
5
She was not a "great writer".
5
It's actually, “A bird doesn’t sing because he has an answer, it sings because he wants sex”, which is why a bird sings.
4
“Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female."
At the risk of revealing my own intelligence and/or prettiness (or lack thereof),
I don't have a clue what this means. Anyone out there willing to help?
At the risk of revealing my own intelligence and/or prettiness (or lack thereof),
I don't have a clue what this means. Anyone out there willing to help?
6
Dear Footprint,
I think it means - but of course, could be wrong - that women are judged on how they look more so than men. That "female" and "pretty" have been intertwined over the years. Whereas, males are not labelled one way or the other so much,
I don't know. My head hurts.
I think it means - but of course, could be wrong - that women are judged on how they look more so than men. That "female" and "pretty" have been intertwined over the years. Whereas, males are not labelled one way or the other so much,
I don't know. My head hurts.
2
A woman should stop worrying or fussing about appearing pretty or comely all the time. She doesn't owe anybody to be pretty.
4
I want to be a gnomologist. Matters not what they study: just love the word.
Anyone looking for wisdom in a snippet of text is probably on the wrong road in any case.
1
Why the bird sings? Read Thomas Hardy's poem "The Darkling Thrush" for another take altogether on this question. It ends....
"So little cause for carolings
of such ecstatic sound
was written on terrestrial things
afar or nigh around,
that I could think there trembled through
his happy, good-night air
some blessed hope, whereof he knew
and I was unaware."
"So little cause for carolings
of such ecstatic sound
was written on terrestrial things
afar or nigh around,
that I could think there trembled through
his happy, good-night air
some blessed hope, whereof he knew
and I was unaware."
6
Ms. Angelou's PARTICULAR voice should be recognized since so many have been moved by her words.
1
Since the self is an illusion, perhaps all quotes should be attributed to anonymous.
3
Even quotes from fictional people are misattributed. It is known for a fact by some people that the quote "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" is from the Bible. Actually, it's from Shakespeare's Hamlet, out of the mouth of Polonius.
4
Who thinks it's from the bible?
1
I'll buy the stamp, but I'll stick it on the water bill envelope up-side-down in protest.
4
Oh, big deal. If the person who originally said this is ok with it, then let it go. Now if we can just get the police to honor and respect black citizens as much as the US post office does it the bird will really sing!
4
Excuse my confusion. But in those interviews you mention, did Ms. Angelou simple use the quote, or did she imply it was her own invention? Until I know that, I'm not sure what to think....
1
I am inexpressibly happy to have discovered that there is such a thing as Churchillian Drift.
10
I initially thought it might have been an earlier term for "mission creep" ... not that Churchill was guilty of that.
I don't buy the spin this op-ed is putting on Ms. Angelou's behavior. What was she doing quoting another author's line during interviews without attribution? Especially a line that she very well knew her audience would attribute to her. Sorry, but this is blatant plagiarism. Whether it's of the Joe Biden type or Brian Williams puffery we may never know. But please don't insult our intelligence by circling the wagons around the indefensible.
16
To add to the murk: I recently received a free set of notecards in the mail from Project Renewal, an organization for homeless New Yorkers, which used the same "bird" quote--but attributed it as "Chinese proverb."
9
I've seen some interviews where Maya Angelou uttered the quote. Although she never claimed the quote as her own, at the same time, she never attributed it to Joan Walsh Anglund.
8
Of course, the proper redress would be for the U.S. Postal Service to recall this stamp and issue another with a true quotation of Maya Angelou's. However, I understand that the post office plans to do nothing, and let time brush their mistake under the rug. As a protest, I will not use this stamp.
7
And philatelists will purchase it in the hope the error will become a collectible like the Inverted Jenny. (If enough of them do, it will lose its rarity and *not* be valuable.)
1
Supposedly they said they will not "reissue" it. I don't know what that means. Does it mean they will continue to print it, or let it fade away after the first printing?
It's so ugly, and the quotation is so boring.
It's so ugly, and the quotation is so boring.
1
Even the brilliant Albert Einstein recognized that creativity often included misattribution and outright plagiarism. Here is what he has said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources”.
3
I thought, "Einstein would never had said anything so craven." and I was right, this quote is yet another misattribution, check Quote Investigator.
Are you being ironic?
Are you being ironic?
1
For example: How about replacing "apothegm" (a concise maxim), with "apophlegm" (a pithy clearing of one's throat), a word I have just coined?
4
Gesundheit! Best comment here, Gil. Thanks for providing a rare pre-coffee laugh. I will use apophlegm, and I will attribute it to Gil R NYC until I forget.
What a graceful way of inserting into the NYTimes a story about one's own quote being misattributed to someone else: embed it in an op-ed piece about someone more newsworthy suffering the same fate! Burying the lede is a small price to pay.
8
I think it was Arlo Guthrie who said that he had a funny feeling of having "arrived" in some sense when he heard one of his tunes in an elevator in a department store.
1
As McKean says, it's deja vu al over again. In 2011 Rebecca Mead devoted a lengthy essay in The New Yorker to her extensive search for when and where George Eliot may have written "We may always be what we might have been." Had Mead thought to google that quote, she would have quickly learned that its author was Adelaide Procter (a now-forgotten Victorian poet). I pointed this out to The New Yorker at the time but received no acknowledgment.
1
No clue what she means by her quote "Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space labelled female" (Not exact of course). What does she mean? Prettiness is nice and almost found everywhere in girls and many women. Rent? Does she mean you have to buy your prettiness if you are female? Guess that's what she means. Sad attitude - money is the important thing. Can be important of course, but in this quote seems overdone. WRT Angelou, she's terrific and we all know it. Enough said.
2
Nothing mistaken about many attributions, surely.
I see this as a deliberate attempt by the misquoter to big up their ego/supposed reputation by being seen to be quoting from a great person - Einstein/Churchill/Gandhi/Confucius et al - irrespective of the content and value of the words misattributed.
Sometimes this is taken to bizarre extremes. The lengthy quotation that starts "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate...", which is widely attributed to Mandela's presidential inaugural speech of 10 May 1994, is actually from Return to love, by Marianne Williamson (published 1996). It's on p191, starting line 1, as you can see for yourself by using the Amazon "look inside" feature.
As the speech is easily found on the internet, you can assure yourself that this text appears nowhere in it.
I see this as a deliberate attempt by the misquoter to big up their ego/supposed reputation by being seen to be quoting from a great person - Einstein/Churchill/Gandhi/Confucius et al - irrespective of the content and value of the words misattributed.
Sometimes this is taken to bizarre extremes. The lengthy quotation that starts "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate...", which is widely attributed to Mandela's presidential inaugural speech of 10 May 1994, is actually from Return to love, by Marianne Williamson (published 1996). It's on p191, starting line 1, as you can see for yourself by using the Amazon "look inside" feature.
As the speech is easily found on the internet, you can assure yourself that this text appears nowhere in it.
1
The should re-print the stamp and not embarrass the family with this silly issue. My favorite Angelou quote: "Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently."
5
Um, that sure sounds like something I've seen attributed to Plato. Or Aristotle, maybe. Who obviously wouldn't have said it in English and couldn't have used exactly those words, but still . . . .
1
This article says nothing about what the U.S. Postal Service plans to do. They should be recalling this stamp and re-issuing it with one of Maya Angelou's sayings. However, I have suspect that they will do nothing to correct their mistake, and hope time will sweep it under the rug.
2
"You can't believe 70% of the things you see on the internet." - Abraham Lincoln
15
ripped off from multiple sources based on a five minute internet search. not even worth including for the sake of irony. oh well....
Oh how lame of the post office! All they had to do was use Angelou's title, that leaves us pondering why, indeed, the caged bird sings! Far more intriguing than the cutesy little answer. Still, it's nice to see the poet get a stamp.
4
if nothing else, my mind got a case of elevation this morning: "misattribution" has just been added to my vocabulary. I just hope that nothing is ever misattributed to me in life.
1
Miss Attribution could be a runner-up category in 'beauty contests'.
2
"Americans like to credit anything folksy to Mark Twain."
Has Ms. McKean been out of the house in the past 40 years?
If she had she'd know that she'll rarely if ever hear anyone attribute anything to Mark Twain while she'd frequently hear them attribute such things to Yogi Berra. I can't think of a week that goes by that I haven't heard someone say "It's like deja vu all over again" and misattribute it to Mr. Berra (and I assume when Mr. Berra gets his own stamp, this will be on it).
And Yogi had the final word on such misattributions: "I never said all the things I said."
With regard to Ms. Angelou, I know she never claimed that the quote was her own but apparently when other people such as President Obama attributed it to her in her presence she made no attempt to correct them.
Has Ms. McKean been out of the house in the past 40 years?
If she had she'd know that she'll rarely if ever hear anyone attribute anything to Mark Twain while she'd frequently hear them attribute such things to Yogi Berra. I can't think of a week that goes by that I haven't heard someone say "It's like deja vu all over again" and misattribute it to Mr. Berra (and I assume when Mr. Berra gets his own stamp, this will be on it).
And Yogi had the final word on such misattributions: "I never said all the things I said."
With regard to Ms. Angelou, I know she never claimed that the quote was her own but apparently when other people such as President Obama attributed it to her in her presence she made no attempt to correct them.
7
That's what bothers me, too. She could have thanked President Obama for mentioning the quotation she liked so much and thanked Joan Walsh Anglund for writing the line that inspired her.
(Just as Erin McKean was careful to credit the great Eleanor Estes, author of the 1944 book, The HUNDRED DRESSES, for using the title on her own 2013 book.)
(Just as Erin McKean was careful to credit the great Eleanor Estes, author of the 1944 book, The HUNDRED DRESSES, for using the title on her own 2013 book.)
2
And nowadays sometimes "The Internet" takes the place of Churchill in Churchillian drift, as in "You didn't write that! I found it on the Internet," as related in this story, in which the author found an ancient solution: http://www.bricklin.com/jokeattrib.htm
As a screenwriter who has done uncredited rewrites and seen my best lines lauded in reviews and attributed to another writer, I have more than a passing interest in this story. My hunch is that Ms. Angelou was clever in associating herself with the quote without ever explicitly taking credit for it. But she almost certainly knew what she was doing and what she was doing was tantamount to intellectual theft. The Post Office should find another quote to honor her legacy. And the Angelou family should apologize to the real writer.
22
I've always thought that Dr. Angelou's book title alluded to the poem "Sympathy," by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, published in 1899. The first line of each stanza and the last line of the poem are that very statement: "I know why the caged bird sings." Allusion is a literary device in any writer's toolbox; it is hardly "plagiarism." This particular allusion, in my mind, connected Angelou to the great tradition of African American poetry going back to the early years black Americans were allowed literacy and publication. In Angelou's era the "cage" has no longer been legal slavery but prison bars and more metaphorical cages. On the question at hand: the argument that it's just fine to use a quotation from another person on a revered author's stamp is silly. Apologize and change it, USPS.
28
You are right about Angelou's use of the allusion to Dunbar's poem. The quotation on the stamp, however, was often repeated by Angelou in public appearances and interviews, sometimes with attribution and sometimes without. I heard her use it many times. It was a quotation that meant a great deal to her, so she shared that meaning with others. When I first heard about the "mistake," my response what much like yours, "How does this happen? Correct it now!" Having read this article, however, I've changed my mind. If Angelou's family is not disturbed, if Ms. Anglund is not disturbed, if the quotation meant so much to Angelou such that she recited it so much and wished to share it with others, why should we be disturbed? As you say, allusion is not plagiarism. Literature cannot survive without it.
You find this all the time in poetry- intertextuality. Modern poetry draws upon poets that inspire them - drawing reference in their own work from someone else's work. The literary world is full of intellectuals that know one another, and admire one another.
There is little doubt that Angelou drew influence from Dunbar's poem, and paid homage in a way countless other poets do.
There is little doubt that Angelou drew influence from Dunbar's poem, and paid homage in a way countless other poets do.
Roses are red, violets are blue,
Are not the words of Maya Angelou.
Are not the words of Maya Angelou.
10
In a college cafeteria, surrounded by people parroting quotes to demonstrate their erudition, I once said "I'm more interested in what you think than what you've memorized." The conversation stopped and someone said "That's good. Who said that?"
35
Interesting. I find memorization one, not the only but one, of the important steps in the process of thinking. Had you asked them what they thought about what they had memorized, perhaps both you and they would have benefited greatly.
Remember the coins with women's images: Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony? Their size (virtually identical to the quarter) almost insured they would not be well-received by the public.
Now we have the mini-fiasco of the Maya Angelou stamp.
It seems the powers-that-be find it difficult to "get it right" when it comes to honoring great women.
I wonder why that could be? :)
Now we have the mini-fiasco of the Maya Angelou stamp.
It seems the powers-that-be find it difficult to "get it right" when it comes to honoring great women.
I wonder why that could be? :)
5
Maybe it has something to do with neither of them being great women?
Aside from the fact that people prefer greenbacks and not coins.
I mean, come on. Sacagawea was a nice 17 year old girl who helped out Lewis and Clark as an interpreter for a year and then disappears from history. OK, but not that's not exactly changing the course of history or falling on a grenade to save your pals. I suspect since no African American women qualified, Saca was the next best thing, being an Indian and all. I never even heard of Susan B Anthony. Clara Barton (American Red Cross) or Dorthea Dix would have been reasonable choices, and actually were great women who did extremely important work in alleviating human suffering, but to be politically correct you had to choose a suffragette. They should have picked Carrie Nation, and put her on the coin with the hatchet she used to bash kegs of whiskey when she attacked saloons.
A good choice would be Clara Barton (American Red Cross) or Dorthea Dix.
Aside from the fact that people prefer greenbacks and not coins.
I mean, come on. Sacagawea was a nice 17 year old girl who helped out Lewis and Clark as an interpreter for a year and then disappears from history. OK, but not that's not exactly changing the course of history or falling on a grenade to save your pals. I suspect since no African American women qualified, Saca was the next best thing, being an Indian and all. I never even heard of Susan B Anthony. Clara Barton (American Red Cross) or Dorthea Dix would have been reasonable choices, and actually were great women who did extremely important work in alleviating human suffering, but to be politically correct you had to choose a suffragette. They should have picked Carrie Nation, and put her on the coin with the hatchet she used to bash kegs of whiskey when she attacked saloons.
A good choice would be Clara Barton (American Red Cross) or Dorthea Dix.
Living in El Salvador, I use those $1 coins every day. Not the clunky Susan B Anthony, though, but Sacagawea and others for sure. And yes, they are US coinage.
Honey, just because you haven't heard of Susan B. Anthony doesn't mean that people don't know who she was or why she is important in US history. Bless your heart.
2
Not only the misattribution to think of, but why did they have to sanitize the gender? I doubt they would have changed "she" to "it". That, folks, is discrimination!
9
Yes, we may not be "amplifying" the words of the original author, but attributing words to an author she couldn't or wouldn't have said creates a false impression of that person's work. It also reveals a tin ear and ignorance of the author in question, as this Huffington post blog about "famous" viral misquotations shows: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lev-raphael/3-fake-quotes-by-famous-a_b_61...
Surely both authors were riffing on Paul Laurence Dunbar?
I won't be purchasing the stamp!
9
Mimi has it right, although it is not America in general it is this administration. The list of mistakes is endless from foreign policy to supporting a position domestically before all the facts are known.
Yes these stamps should be recalled and not issued or used. That, though, will be up to the consumer. Just refuse to use them. That will be my position.
Yes these stamps should be recalled and not issued or used. That, though, will be up to the consumer. Just refuse to use them. That will be my position.
1
Wow. An article on the longstanding cultural practice of misattributing quotations and you manage to turn into an attack on the Obama administration. A stunning piece of ideological drift.
2
Why didn't the Post Office just go with "I know why the caged bird sings"? Perhaps they did do their due diligence there, and found Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose poem "Sympathy" included those and other lines lifted by Angelou. His were published in 1893.
6
hard to imagine that the lack of due diligence in tracking the quote (now and when ms angelou was delivering it without attribution) and the "so what?" shrug over the stamp would have happened if joe biden, say, had uttered the words in a speech or oped piece.
3
In middle school, my son was part of a leadership program that handed out T-shirts attributing the following quote to John Quincy Adams: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." The Quote Investigator tracked it down for me: not to Adams, but to Dolly Parton.
On the walls of the bookstore at the College of William & Mary, where Jefferson attended, the following quote is attributed to Jefferson: ""Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." The quote actually comes from the mid-20th century Polish author Witold Gombrowicz.
If an old quote sounds "new age" or if it supports your own political biases with stunning precision, chances are it was generated through Churchillian Drift.
On the walls of the bookstore at the College of William & Mary, where Jefferson attended, the following quote is attributed to Jefferson: ""Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." The quote actually comes from the mid-20th century Polish author Witold Gombrowicz.
If an old quote sounds "new age" or if it supports your own political biases with stunning precision, chances are it was generated through Churchillian Drift.
4
This is what happens when the Wikepedia generation takes over editorial decisions. You could also count the Rolling Stone UVA story in there as well.
But of course, "I know why the caged bird sings" was also not Ms. Angelou's. It originated with Black Ragtime era Harlem poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Culture is a slippery place.
But of course, "I know why the caged bird sings" was also not Ms. Angelou's. It originated with Black Ragtime era Harlem poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Culture is a slippery place.
27
I find your comment (Wikipedia generation) amusing because one of my own results, the existence of inherently ambiguous (context free) languages was attributed by the eminent scholars Hopcroft and Ullman to Maurice Gross, even though Gross himself attributes the result to me.
The Wikipedia does set the record straight.
So it is possible, at least at times, that the Wikipedia is more careful than some scholars.
The Wikipedia does set the record straight.
So it is possible, at least at times, that the Wikipedia is more careful than some scholars.
Very glad you cited Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Angelou's book title was indeed a tribute to him and helped this reader discover his work.
1
"By the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar" might be a more worthy description. Midwestern; even Southern, on occasion. But hardly "Harlem poet."
Erin McKean says her 2013 book, THE HUNDRED DRESSES, "was inspired by" the great Eleanor Estes's 1944 book, THE HUNDRED DRESSES. Why couldn't she have come up with an original title?
As to the quotation on the stamp? A dud, whoever said it. Maya Angelou had many chances to correct the misattribution but chose not to. That says a lot about her. The stamp should be withdrawn.
As to the quotation on the stamp? A dud, whoever said it. Maya Angelou had many chances to correct the misattribution but chose not to. That says a lot about her. The stamp should be withdrawn.
6
Interesting that someone who was lauded for her bad poetry and equally bad prose now is in the middle of a posthumous misattributrion controversy. I always believed that Ms. Angelou's work was suitable for Hallmark cards and little else. Not much here to change my mind.
14
sorry sr. hallmark is in the business of making money.
drivel doesn't sell.
...might be suitable to tag on a wall somewhere though....
drivel doesn't sell.
...might be suitable to tag on a wall somewhere though....
I, for one, am doing my bit to fight misquotations and misattributions, at least in the case of Bernard Shaw. The Irish playwright ranks second to none in quotatios erroneously adscribed to him.
http://shawquotations.blogspot.com.es/
http://shawquotations.blogspot.com.es/
2
I think Shakes may beat Shaw in the misattribution area, though. And definitely beats him in terms of twisting a quotation out of context to skew or even reverse the author's meaning. Most notorious case of this: 'First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.' And removed from context, it is interesting to note that oft-quoted gems of Shakespearean wisdom - (1) Who steals my purse steals trash ... but he who filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him, but makes me poor indeed' and (2) 'neither a borrower nor a lender be' and 'to thine own self be true' come, respectively, from (1) Iago the treacherous liar and (2) Polonius the senile sycophant. No better example, perhaps, of the fallacy behind assuming that wisdom lies with the speaker rather than the words.
Looks like the Post Office is run by the CIA.
Incompetence by the Post Office is something we have grown to expect in an organization that is now cutting corners in an effort to prevent it going down the drain. If they were smart, they would issue another stamp to create a run on this one, increase its value and sell its stock for profit.
Incompetence by the Post Office is something we have grown to expect in an organization that is now cutting corners in an effort to prevent it going down the drain. If they were smart, they would issue another stamp to create a run on this one, increase its value and sell its stock for profit.
The P.O. is not "cutting corners in an effort to prevent it going down the drain", but is functioning as best it can under the direction of a Congress that couldn't run a lemonade stand.
There is no excuse for the stamp fiasco, but there is a reason. Whatever that reason, mistakes have been made in the past - and certainly will be made in the future. By everyone, not just the CIA.
"Let he who is without sin among you cast the first stone."
There is no excuse for the stamp fiasco, but there is a reason. Whatever that reason, mistakes have been made in the past - and certainly will be made in the future. By everyone, not just the CIA.
"Let he who is without sin among you cast the first stone."
We can learn proper attribution from the Bible in many instances of Jesus' teachings. For example in Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus begins by saying "You have heard that it was said to those of old 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I (Jesus) say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says "You fool!' will be liable to the hell fire!" Two things: 1) No claim of authorship on the opening, non-controversial verse 21 as everyone may agree with this but 2) Full claim of authorship on the controversial teaching of verse 22. Now there's putting courage to one's convictions, as it has been said before.
1
It's no mystery why birds sing. They sing to attract mates. It's part of the mating ritual. Caged birds sing for the same reason as free birds, but with poorer results. It’s a shame they did not mistakenly use the famous line from Lynyrd Skynyrd: “I’m as free as a bird now, and this bird you cannot change.”
15
Not a shame, as Lynyrd Skynyrd routinely toured with a Confederate Stars and Bars flag as their backup, something that would have been deeply offensive to Dr. Angelou.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sympathy/
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals--
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting--
I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings--
I know why the caged bird sings!
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals--
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting--
I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings--
I know why the caged bird sings!
1
I see misattributed quotes all the time in comments, most usually spurious quotes of Benjamin Franklin (about printing money), Abraham Lincoln (about corporations), and Thomas Jefferson (about almost anything). Complicating the issue is Google: every click moves the misattribution to the top of search results and keeps it there, lending it false authority. Most often repeated does not equal most true.
I disagree that 'resonance matters more than provenance'. The purpose of misattribution is not simply to shape one's own sentiments more gracefully ('what oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed' - Pope, 'Essay on Criticism', and yes, I checked it before posting). Rather, it serves to lend authority to bolster sentiments that might be too wobbly to stand on their own - 'intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative' (WS Gilbert, 'The Mikado', and yes, I checked that too).
Churchillian drift is a primary tool of theology. In Talmudic exegesis, it's not uncommon to find such formulae as "Rabbi A said in the name of Rabbi B". = "this is along his lines of thinking, what I maintain he would have said if you'd put the question to him." Scholars tell us now that half the Epistles attributed to Paul weren't written by him.
'Question authority!' (attributed to Timothy Leary and Socrates among others)
I disagree that 'resonance matters more than provenance'. The purpose of misattribution is not simply to shape one's own sentiments more gracefully ('what oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed' - Pope, 'Essay on Criticism', and yes, I checked it before posting). Rather, it serves to lend authority to bolster sentiments that might be too wobbly to stand on their own - 'intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative' (WS Gilbert, 'The Mikado', and yes, I checked that too).
Churchillian drift is a primary tool of theology. In Talmudic exegesis, it's not uncommon to find such formulae as "Rabbi A said in the name of Rabbi B". = "this is along his lines of thinking, what I maintain he would have said if you'd put the question to him." Scholars tell us now that half the Epistles attributed to Paul weren't written by him.
'Question authority!' (attributed to Timothy Leary and Socrates among others)
28
Socrates may not have stated 'Question authority!' in English.
Or, Jon, he may not have said it at all - which is the point of 'attributed to.'
This process is common in politics: "If Abraham Lincoln were alive today he'd be a Democrat", "if Jack Kennedy were alive today, he'd support gay marriage", and so on.
In fact, if either were alive today, it'd be a scary sight!
In fact, if either were alive today, it'd be a scary sight!
1
Instead of apologizing, the post office should double down on this and put out an entire book of folks aphorisms accompanied by photos of random famous people. I can see it now -- "Life's a bitch and then you die." - Sandra Day O'Conner. "Keep It Simple, Stupid." - Bill Gates. "There's no use crying over spilled milk." - Donald Rumsfeld. It would be like those Demotivational posters, only cheaper.
22
I'd pay money for that. Monopoly money, that is...
Who do you think should get credit for "There's a sucker born every minute"?
Who do you think should get credit for "There's a sucker born every minute"?
If they are going to put a stamp out with something that a writer is supposed to have written or said the very least they can do to honor the writer is to make sure that it was said or written by the writer and can be attributed as an original to the writer. This "honor" is not an honor. It would have been better to put her image on the stamp and leave at that. Or maybe some bright soul could have read her book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" to discover an apt quotation.
25
as with most commentors here you focus on the stamp and not the source of the confusion. simple, proper attribution by maya angelou through her many public uses of the words (and corrections when others publicly attributed them to her) would have been enough the have prevented the current situation.
The most disappointing part of this report is the USPS attempt to shift blame to the Angelou family! It would be refreshing to have their spokesperson truthfully say:
"Yes, we screwed up, we should have had that right."
Or, maybe:
"We knew the origin but used the quote because it is popularly associated with Maya Angelou."
"Yes, we screwed up, we should have had that right."
Or, maybe:
"We knew the origin but used the quote because it is popularly associated with Maya Angelou."
28
the most disappointing part of this is that maya angelou apparently repeated these words so many times without attribution that the words were seen as her own.
that blame belongs with her unless some rash of testimony emerges showing where she provided attribution.
the problem is as you indicate in your last sentence in that popular association trumped (and tends to trump) truth.
that blame belongs with her unless some rash of testimony emerges showing where she provided attribution.
the problem is as you indicate in your last sentence in that popular association trumped (and tends to trump) truth.
3
or the USPS could withdraw the stamp and reissue it was a correct quote.
1
"Sing on, oh bird of late!"
Maya didn't say that (and is probably chuckling at the "The Bird" misattribution). But she could sing.
Good God almighty! Could she sing!
Maya didn't say that (and is probably chuckling at the "The Bird" misattribution). But she could sing.
Good God almighty! Could she sing!
2
perhaps.
i never heard her sing.
she just couldn't write.
or, it seems, appropriately attribute the words of others when she used them.
but if she sings for you then i am truly happy for you. and i
i never heard her sing.
she just couldn't write.
or, it seems, appropriately attribute the words of others when she used them.
but if she sings for you then i am truly happy for you. and i
2
Now, why do I think you don't believe Maya had the faintest clue as to what that caged bird she wrote about was singing? I'd venture Zeno would have. He dedicated his life to listening and thinking, all while living simply, in harmony with nature.
Shameful that this would occur on a commemorative stamp. Is no one in America capable of ensuring accuracy before final approval? Or does no one care? These stamps should be thrown out and new ones printed. Won't ever happen.
30
or accuracy while she still lived....
Does anyone in civil service ever get fired for anything?
And it's a comma splice.
19
Yes, but it's usually acceptable in writing that's considered poetic.
will this stamp become known as The perverted Joanie?
4
Good one!
I'm going to rush out to buy a block of Maya's ASAP.
I'm going to rush out to buy a block of Maya's ASAP.
Since the USPS is not going postal over the misattribution, why should we? As its own spokesman said this week, if dignitaries like Oprah and the president can attribute the saying to her, then it's just one small part of the Great National Narrative of revisionist history. We must look forward, not backward.
Maybe they can issue another stamp with something that Maya Angelou really said, such as "Because Clarence Thomas has been poor, has been nearly suffocated by the acrid odor of racial discrimination, is intelligent, well trained, black and young enough to be won over again, I support him."
The post office can vet it here:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DE173FF936A1575BC0A...
Or maybe we can do right by Joan Walsh Anglund and issue a stamp with one of her iconic children's illustrations, say from "A Friend Is Someone Who LIkes You." It could be accompanied by a legitimate quote from Maya Angelou. How about this literary gem:
"Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."
http://kmgarcia2000.blogspot.com/
Maybe they can issue another stamp with something that Maya Angelou really said, such as "Because Clarence Thomas has been poor, has been nearly suffocated by the acrid odor of racial discrimination, is intelligent, well trained, black and young enough to be won over again, I support him."
The post office can vet it here:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DE173FF936A1575BC0A...
Or maybe we can do right by Joan Walsh Anglund and issue a stamp with one of her iconic children's illustrations, say from "A Friend Is Someone Who LIkes You." It could be accompanied by a legitimate quote from Maya Angelou. How about this literary gem:
"Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."
http://kmgarcia2000.blogspot.com/
47
Karen
Thank you for the reference to the 1991 article. It was educational. Do you think she came to feel differently and regret her opinion?
Thank you for the reference to the 1991 article. It was educational. Do you think she came to feel differently and regret her opinion?
Mark Twain folksy? He was much more than folksy. He had lots to say about the human experience and he did it brilliantly.
Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
Mark Twain
Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
Mark Twain
31
One of my favorites from Twain is, "Providence don't fire no blank cartridges, boys." And I can't tell you which book contains it, nor even for 100% sure that it's Twain. What I remember is the quote. But, yes, it carries more weight in my mind if I remember it as Twain. Along with, "How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
Somebody help me out here: Twain? And, if so, where? Not Twain?
Somebody help me out here: Twain? And, if so, where? Not Twain?
1
And people who misquote him have no sense of who he really was and how he wrote: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lev-raphael/mark-twains-ghost-wont-re_b_65...
Maya Angelou a Great Democrat. I love her.
3
maya aneglou.
democrat.
sure.
great. not so much.
great poet.
not at all.
barbara jordan...now she was a great democrat.
and should have, could have, would have, been a great president except for the times and her untimely death.
democrat.
sure.
great. not so much.
great poet.
not at all.
barbara jordan...now she was a great democrat.
and should have, could have, would have, been a great president except for the times and her untimely death.
17
maya angelou said the words. many times.
in the first person.
apparently without either vague or specific attribution.
she never explicitly claimed the words as her own.
she implicitly claimed them through her recurring, unattributed speaking of the words as if they were her own.
it was accepted then because she had been publicly annointed and it fit her narrative and our narrative of her.
it will be shrugged off now because she has been publicly beautified.
it ought not be the case but this is the way of the world and always has been.
a lie said quietly once remains a lie. a lie said loudly many times becomes the truth.
in the first person.
apparently without either vague or specific attribution.
she never explicitly claimed the words as her own.
she implicitly claimed them through her recurring, unattributed speaking of the words as if they were her own.
it was accepted then because she had been publicly annointed and it fit her narrative and our narrative of her.
it will be shrugged off now because she has been publicly beautified.
it ought not be the case but this is the way of the world and always has been.
a lie said quietly once remains a lie. a lie said loudly many times becomes the truth.
42
Funny how Michele Obama and Oprah Winfrey thought those words were hers. Maya Angelou is way above those two.
1
"a lie said quietly once remains a lie. a lie said loudly many times becomes the truth."
Speaking of quotes and slogans, back when a certain newsy network was trying to come up with a motto, this one came in a close second to "Fair and balanced."
Speaking of quotes and slogans, back when a certain newsy network was trying to come up with a motto, this one came in a close second to "Fair and balanced."
1
In the original Star Trek episode 'Whom Gods Destroy,' Kirk and Spock are taken prisoner by the inmates of an insane asylum, led by Garth of Izar, a starship captain who has suffered mental disintegration following an accident. His companion, a homicidal green Orion dancing girl, Marta, offers to recite for the prisoners a poem she's written: ' "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate" --' Garth shouts Shakespeare had written that centuries before. 'Which does not alter the fact that I wrote it again yesterday,' she retorts.
And y'know, you really can't argue with that ... flawlessly logical.
:}
And y'know, you really can't argue with that ... flawlessly logical.
:}
3
"The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou" is over 270 pages[1], yet the USPS couldn't find one quote from among them?
[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=ly3w4PMo3fcC
[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=ly3w4PMo3fcC
35
What is behind misattribution by the USPS, and entities large and small, is laziness, which is served by internet lookups, where often attributions are wrong. especially when repeated thousands of times. So maybe a 5th grader should be excused for not realizing that you might actually have to dig deeper. Once if you wrote something for public ( or academic) purposes, you would be expected to be certain that you actually had a source or noted the uncertainty of the origin. Fact checking, anyone? I really think that it's an attitude that it doesn't matter - just as in colleges apparently outright plagiarism is common. Bloggers and online sites constantly use others' materials without attribution - as if they were their own thoughts.
It's not that we all don't reuse others' ideas - of course we do. But failing to acknowledge the provenance effectively wipes out another's existence and ignores their efforts.
Enjoying the resonance of a particular quote - a private pleasure. But when shared - publicly - get it right.
It's not that we all don't reuse others' ideas - of course we do. But failing to acknowledge the provenance effectively wipes out another's existence and ignores their efforts.
Enjoying the resonance of a particular quote - a private pleasure. But when shared - publicly - get it right.
78
Maya was a tricky one, she was. A whiz at self-promotion, but more song & dance artist than poet.
46
amen. and again i say amen.
never has someone so small in literary talent risen so high.
one only has to actually look at "On the Pulse of Morning" rather than the narrative surrounding it (i.e., clinton's first inauguration, mimicry of the kennedy inauguration, etc.) to see it.
but then again, we're herd animals. instinctively driven towards contextualization and not actually seeing or seeing for ourselves.
never has someone so small in literary talent risen so high.
one only has to actually look at "On the Pulse of Morning" rather than the narrative surrounding it (i.e., clinton's first inauguration, mimicry of the kennedy inauguration, etc.) to see it.
but then again, we're herd animals. instinctively driven towards contextualization and not actually seeing or seeing for ourselves.
24
Maybe. But how many contemporary poets are as well known as Ms Angelou? I know of Langston Hughes but he was from an earlier generation.
7
Her autobiographic novels were fascinating, though. I read all (7?) of them when I was in college, for fun. She had quite a life. Her mother was interesting too. Great storytelling.
"Apothegm" - wow, that word sent me scurrying to the online dictionaries.
14
Me,too! Thanks, Ms McKean!
In other words, truthiness trumps truth.
63
It is the lefty liberal way.
I am personally more bothered by the change from "he" (as in the bird) to "it". What bird is an "it"? Birds reproduce sexually, they come in two kinds -- male and female. There are no "its" in the bird kingdom.
The concept of an "it" comes straight from (and only from) lefty liberalism, whose new frontier (having botched racial equality) is to insist that there are no genders and you can change who you are fundamentally on a whim. And of course, that there must be unisex bathrooms.
I am personally more bothered by the change from "he" (as in the bird) to "it". What bird is an "it"? Birds reproduce sexually, they come in two kinds -- male and female. There are no "its" in the bird kingdom.
The concept of an "it" comes straight from (and only from) lefty liberalism, whose new frontier (having botched racial equality) is to insist that there are no genders and you can change who you are fundamentally on a whim. And of course, that there must be unisex bathrooms.
1
Your political rant is absurd. When a dog bites your leg and someone asks "What happened?" a normal person would say "It bit my leg." When a cat climbs a tree and someone asks "How did that cat get up there?" a normal person would say "It climbed the tree." Only a polemicist would attribute using "it" for animals or birds as a political signpost. The owner of the animal, of course, might know its sex and refer to it ("he," "she,") accordingly. Chill out, man (woman?)!
3
When I read this story the first time and the governments explanation that the mistaken attribution is something everyone does so he thought he would do it too on the memorial stamp, I wanted to scream. What a farce and how emblematic of how the Obama Administration behaves. Incompetence, mistake, and "the but that's exactly how we wanted it" comment, Time after time after time.
You'd think they could at least get a STAMP right! They deliberately used another person's quote and didn't even give an attribution! Good grief.
You'd think they could at least get a STAMP right! They deliberately used another person's quote and didn't even give an attribution! Good grief.
3
this isn't emblematic of the obama administration.
it is emblematic of maya angelou.
it's also systemic of the postal system where it concerns its postage it seems.
erase jackson pollack's cigarette.
give maya angelou her "quote".
i mean, she said it enough without attribution for it to be hers, right?
image matters.
truth, meh, not so much.
it is emblematic of maya angelou.
it's also systemic of the postal system where it concerns its postage it seems.
erase jackson pollack's cigarette.
give maya angelou her "quote".
i mean, she said it enough without attribution for it to be hers, right?
image matters.
truth, meh, not so much.
31
I agree with the thought, but it's a stretch to lay this at the feet of the Obama administration. Honestly, is there anything for which this President isn't taking the blame??
11
Someone has watched too much Fox News. The US government is a large bureaucratic thing. Neither Obama or anyone close to him had anything to do with the details of the quote chosen by the post office for one of many stamps honoring famous people. It is almost seems like a joke to blame this on Obama.
5
Birds don't actually sing. If we could interpret what they're saying, it would mostly be something like, "Hey, baby, you lookin' for a good time?" or "Get your butt off my turf or I'll kill ya!"
41
finally, someone who speaks bird in the new york times. the seventh seal is opened.
13
I don't think you will have any misattribution problems with this one....
1
Perhaps. But their sounds have the effect of a healing song on us. (Many bird songs anyway. Parrots, no.)
Leave it to the US Post Office to screw up the publication of a stamp honoring a great American.
11
american. yes.
great. no.
don't blame the us post office. it just followed maya angelou's lead here.
repeat a thing as many times as possible without attribution and it becomes yours.
great. no.
don't blame the us post office. it just followed maya angelou's lead here.
repeat a thing as many times as possible without attribution and it becomes yours.
23
Hey, whatevs. I found that attributing my own wise sayings to famous people actuallly swayed more minds than no attribution at all (nobody quotes themselves). As a matter of fact, I usually recommend to those people presenting those mind numbing power-point presentations that they attribute their meaningful quotations to someone the crowd actually recognizes. To their credit, they rarely take my advice.
4
When I was speechwriting, I sometimes made up jokes and and pithy quotes that I attributed to movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn.
As in: Sam Goldwyn called in one of his writers and said, "I'm thinking of making a movie out of the Bible. Read it over the weekend and give me a synopsis."
The writer said, "The whole Bible? Good God!"
Goldwyn said, "Nah, skip the character development. Just give me the plot."
As in: Sam Goldwyn called in one of his writers and said, "I'm thinking of making a movie out of the Bible. Read it over the weekend and give me a synopsis."
The writer said, "The whole Bible? Good God!"
Goldwyn said, "Nah, skip the character development. Just give me the plot."
24
the only problem with being original is that it doesn't work for most people.
"Churchillian drift" is a bore
A misattribution hurts more
Than pure plagiarism
An ethical schism,
Identity theft at the core.
A misattribution hurts more
Than pure plagiarism
An ethical schism,
Identity theft at the core.
49
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."