Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Thomas Gutheil seeks the full text of a poem with a final couplet that runs, as best he recollects: “His claims to be brutally frank were just endless, / Until, to be brutally frank, he was friendless.”

More queries from the archives:

“Life is all right but for a bad 15 minutes at the end” (perhaps from Edward Gibbon)

“Not at the table, Amanda” (c. 1920s)

“Beginning in October effectively again”

“Childhood is a lost, enchanted land, and we spend the rest of our lives trying to find it again.”

The words to “My Little Papaya Tree,” heard sung on the radio to the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas”

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

The Artist Edward Gorey—and Pets—at Harvard

Winter exhibits at Houghton Library   

Parks and Rec Comedy Writer Aisha Muharrar Gets Serious about Grief

With Loved One, the Harvard grad and Lampoon veteran makes her debut as a novelist.

Must-Read Harvard Books Winter 2025

From aphorisms to art heists to democracy’s necessary conditions 

Most popular

Hironaka, Hoffman, Lyman, Painter named 2011 Centennial Medalists

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences award honors distinguished alumni whose contributions to society emerged from graduate study at Harvard.

Harvard’s Sendhil Mullainathan on behavior and poverty

A behavioral economist’s fresh perspectives on poverty

Harvard’s 2018 Commencement rites

A celebration of President Drew Faust, and wariness about the assault on “veritas”

Explore More From Current Issue

Wolfram Schlenker wearing a suit sitting outdoors, smiling, with trees and a building in the background.

Harvard Economist Wolfram Schlenker Is Tackling Climate Change

How extreme heat affects our land—and our food supply 

People gather near the John Harvard Statue in front of University Hall surrounded by autumn trees.

A Changed Harvard Faces the Future

After a tense summer—and with no Trump settlement in sight—the University continues to adapt.