Hi Barry and all, I did a Lexis search. I found a NYT article from 1980 that traces the quote to a book,"The Writer's Quotation Book: A Literary Companion'' (Pushcart Press, P.O. Box 845, Yonkers, N.Y. 10701). Below is an portion of the Lexis entry. -z The New York Times August 10, 1980, Sunday, Late City Final Edition BOOK ENDS WRITERS ON WRITING *BYLINE:* By Randolph Hogan *SECTION:* Section 7; Page 35, Column 1; Book Review Desk *LENGTH:* 1098 words When the small Manhattan publisher Quick Fox needed a giveaway for the recent American Booksellers Association convention, editor in chief James Charlton, who has spent years collecting quotations on books and writing, decided to gather them up and hand them out. The result was so popular that the material was expanded into ''The Writer's Quotation Book: A Literary Companion'' (Pushcart Press, P.O. Box 845, Yonkers, N.Y. 10701). Here's a sampling: ... Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at the blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead. Gene Fowler ... On 9/7/07, Alexander Kuskis <alex.kuskis@netscape.ca> wrote:
Bartlett's Quotations is part of Bartleby.com - http://www.bartleby.com/ However a quick search did not produce the source of your quote......Alex Kuskis
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Barry Wellman Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 9:32 AM To: aoir list Subject: [Air-L] quotations on line
I yet again ran into frustration trying to find the source (publication, date) for a quotation. Finding the quote is easy. In this case:
Gene Fowler, "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until little drops of blood form on your forehead."*
But when was it uttered or written. The many quotation pages on the web seem Never to give sources. (Methinks, many just copy from each other.)
They seem to be aimed at giving sound-bytes to speakers, bloggers, etc.
Barlett's QUotations was sterling on this in print days. Does it still exist?
Any other advice?
*A cognitive psych research question: is writing easier with screens and word processing than in the old days of blank pages, pens and typewriters?
Barry Wellman
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