Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

H. John Rogers writes: “The Onala Club in Pittsburgh has a placemat on its wall that reads, ‘Fai bene—Do good /Scordate—Forget about it / Fai male—Do bad / Pensaci—Think about it.’ ” He wonders if this is an old Italian saying, or if someone can provide a specific source.

“something wrong with the experiment” (May-June). Robert Kantowicz supplied a sidelight on this topic from Walter Isaacson’s Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), which states on page 252 that when a student asked Einstein how he would have reacted had eclipse observations contradicted the general theory of relativity, the physicist replied, “Then I would have been sorry for the dear Lord; the theory is correct.”

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

Related topics

You might also like

How Stories Help Us Cope with Climate Change

The growing genre of climate fiction offers a way to process reality—and our anxieties.

These Harvard Mountaineers Braved Denali’s Wall of Ice

John Graham’s Denali Diary documents a dangerous and historic climb.

Open Book: A New Nuclear Age

Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy’s latest book looks at the rising danger of a new arms race.

Most popular

Ken Burns on America’s Unfinished Revolution

At Radcliffe, the filmmaker joined Harvard historians to discuss what the nation’s founding means today.

The Harvard Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

Radcliffe Acquires a Black Feminist’s Archive

An architect of Black women’s studies, Barbara Smith introduced the concepts of “identity politics” and “intersectionality.”

Explore More From Current Issue

Older man in a green sweater holds a postcard in a warmly decorated office.

How a Harvard Hockey Legend Became a Needlepoint Artist

Joe Bertagna’s retirement project recreates figures from Boston sports history.

A woman in a black blazer holds a bottle of beer.

Introductions: Mallika Monteiro

A conversation with a beer industry executive

A woman gazes at large decorative letters with her reflection and two stylized faces beside them.

The True Cost of Grade Inflation at Harvard

How an abundance of A’s created “the most stressed-out world of all.”