A correspondence corner for not-so-famous lost words

A correspondence corner for not-so-famous lost words

Burton Caine asks who said, “If the result is absurd, it impeaches the logic upon which it is founded.” He adds, “I cannot find it in Cardozo. Kingston v Chicago & N.W. Ry., Wisconsin Supreme Court, is close but substitutes ‘injustice’ for ‘absurd,’ and that makes all the difference.”

Judith Stix hopes to learn the title and author of a children’s book that ends, she recalls: “And that’s how they could tell the white horse from the black horse.”

Robert McGinnis wonders if anyone has traced the original source of a remark attributed to Mark Hanna: “There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is.” The Macmillan Dictionary of Political Quotations (1993), he reports, “did not give a source. The New York Times ran the quote in September 1993. It has been widely repeated since.”

Erik Levin seeks aid in determining “if there is a use of ‘stalk’ in the modern sense of obsessive, unwanted attention prior to John le Carré’s 1968 novel A Small Town in Germany: ‘He would never do such a thing. It was not in his nature…. He assured me categorically that he was not...stalking me.’”

Michael Comenetz seeks a source for: “As a man grows older, he comes to know, with gradually increasing astonishment, that he is mortal.”

 

Send inquiries and answers to “Chapter and Verse,” Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via e-mail to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

You might also like

Keri Russell Calls ‘The Diplomat’ a Love Letter to Public Servants

A Harvard Kennedy School event looks behind the scenes of the Netflix drama. 

Boston Ballet’s Ming Min Hui on Changing Audiences and Timothée Chalamet

The outgoing executive director and Harvard Business School graduate went from dancing The Nutcracker to growing a ballet company.

Padimut at Harvard

A rare Egyptian mummy case is on display at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.

Most popular

The Loneliness Pandemic

As the country isolates, are we all alone?

Lafayette’s Unexpected Gift to George Washington: Pheasants

The two birds will be on display at Harvard this summer.

As Union Protests Continue, Stephen Colbert and Yo-Yo Ma Event at Harvard Cut Short

A conversation between the comedian and the celebrated cellist was interrupted by a fire alarm in Sanders Theatre.

Explore More From Current Issue

Colorful icons representing sleep, fruit, speech, and a mind with a water lily.

Take this quiz on six healthy habits that Harvard doctors recommend

Colorful illustration of a split-level house showing various activities in different rooms.

Can the College do more to prepare students for the real world?

Delicate green cocoa pods and small white flowers on a tree branch, surrounded by soft greenery.

Harvard researchers investigate climate’s impact on cocoa crops, innovations in nasal vaccines, and links between pain and skull marrow.