[Air-L] quotations on line

Barry Wellman wellman at chass.utoronto.ca
Sat Sep 8 09:32:13 PDT 2007


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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