I love a good quotation, but I'm regularly frustrated by inaccurate or misattributed quotes. For instance, the quote above (from Dorothy L. Sayers' Have His Carcase, chapter IV) is usually given as "A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought." I've read Sayers, but I knew the second version, not the first. Research showed that Sayers fans—who are OCD in all the right ways—failing to find that version anywhere in Sayers' work, have dismissed it as a sloppy paraphrase with an unknown origin.

I wasn't satisfied, and dug deeper. The second version is, in fact, a wholly accurate Lord Peter Wimsey quotation, it's just not from Sayers. It's from Philip Broadley's excellent television adaptation of Gaudy Night.

If you see a quotation on Signaland, it's accurate. I promise.

My quotation posts:

I have an Amazon affiliate account and I do put Amazon affiliate links in my posts when appropriate. If you buy something through one of those links (not necessarily the linked product), I get a small commission at no cost to yourself. I disclose my affiliate status on every page with affiliate links and virtually every other page as well. Disclosure matters.

I do not have affiliate accounts with any other businesses.

Sometimes I recommend products. I do so because I bought them and found them useful (or because I've rented them or borrowed them from a library), not because I got a freebie from the company or a PR firm hired me to shill for them.