The Internet is full of quotes that the people they're attributed to never said. Some of these famous misquotes end up as inspirational pablum on Facebook walls, others are used to push forth false versions of history. Most are taken at face value and accepted as part of the canon, despite rarely having any justification. Some of these quotes attributed to the wrong person are obviously fake, yet never questioned.
But even a tiny bit of scholarship can shed the light of truth on most famous misquotes. You might not be able to set the record straight, but at least you'll know who really said what - and if anyone even said it at all. When it comes to famous sayings, notable quotes, and popular ideas, their source might often be generally misattributed.
So did Leonardo da Vinci really extol the virtues of "doing some stuff?" Did Shakespeare warn us not to "play with the feelings of others?" Did Bill Gates really think 640K of memory was "enough for anyone?" What of Orwell and his "rough men?" Or Dr. Seuss telling us about those who matter and those who mind? Did any of these people say any of this stuff?
This list features all kinds of incredibly famous quotes everyone gets wrong from all periods of history that are all over the Internet, attributed to people who never even said them.
http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-misquotes/mike-rothschild, history, quotations, people, interesting,
“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This started going around social media after the death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011, with a longer version of the quote reading, "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
The whole paragraph is actually a mashup of a few lines Dr. King did say, and a few lines from a Facebook user, who included quotation marks around the quote from Dr. King. Somewhere along the line, the quotation marks vanished, and the whole quote was attributed to Dr. King – falsely.
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” – George Orwell
This is a tidy summary of the themes underlying much of Orwell’s work, but Orwell didn’t write it. It was actually written ABOUT Orwell, long after his death, in a 1993 article in The Washington Times article by film critic Richard Grenier. There are variations on the quote in several different works by Orwell, but it was Grenier who first put these words together – and even then, he wasn’t quoting Orwell, only attempting to generalize his philosophy.
The quotation marks were added later by a mystery mis-attributor, turning a quote about Orwell into a quote by Orwell.
"Let them eat cake." – Marie-Antoinette
Around 1789, after learning that her French subjects had no bread to eat, Marie-Antoinette supposedly said, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche," which translates to “Let them eat cake,” arguably one of the most famous quotes in history. But historians don't believe she ever actually said this. The French queen was generally intelligent and generous, donating to many causes, and often displaying great compassion towards the poor in France.
As well, the story was first circulated as far back as 1660, then associated with Spanish princess Marie-Thérèse.
“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” – Sinclair Lewis
This quote is usually taken from Lewis’s 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here, except it’s not actually in there. In fact, there’s no evidence Lewis ever said or wrote it, and it’s not in any of his published works. It’s also been attributed to former Louisiana governor Huey Long, but there’s no evidence he said it, either.
Numerous variations on quotes equating religion and fascism popped up in the 1930s and '40s, including two from other Sinclair Lewis books, and another from an anonymous story in The New York Times. But who actually put these words together in this sentence remains a mystery.
“Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.” – Leonardo da Vinci.
The idea that the genius who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, mastered human anatomy, and developed the first flying machine would use a phrase as colloquial and crude as “do some stuff” is laughable.
Needless to say, Da Vinci has absolutely nothing to do with this quote. Instead, it was written by Chicago Tribune business writer Tom Peters in a 1994 article about innovation. How the attribution got so wildly messed up is a mystery.
“The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people. But because of the silence of good people.” – Napoleon
A pat variation on “the only thing necessary for evil men to triumph is good men to do nothing,” there’s no record of Napoleon writing or saying this to anyone at any time. Numerous well-sourced lists of Napoleon quotes are out there, and not a single one includes this quote, nor does any searchable Napoleon biography.
One could argue that not only did Napoleon not say it, he also didn’t abide by it. The Napoleonic Wars tore Europe apart and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. The French general’s brutal repression of his enemies caused the world and the good people in it to “suffer a lot.” If there’s one thing worse than a fraud, it’s a hypocritical fraud.
“The end justifies the means.” – Machiavelli
While often thought to be an extract from the Italian theorist’s book The Prince, this exact quote doesn’t actually appear anywhere in the book – though similar concepts do.
The idea of the outcome of an action justifying the action itself goes all the way back to Ovid, and has been expressed by a number of writers in numerous ways.
“We’re bigger than Jesus!” – John Lennon
Lennon’s March 1966 quote touched off a firestorm of protests, bannings, record burnings, and religious controversy when it was published in an American teen magazine five months later; the controversy would dog the Beatle for the rest of his life, and might have even played a role in his death. But it’s worth looking at the entirely of what Lennon said, to get the context behind the actual misquote:
“Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity.”
Putting aside Lennon’s odd word choices (how does something shrink after it’s vanished?), he wasn’t completely wrong. Lennon’s remarks had already been published in England, and nobody batted an eye. It was only when the quote hit the evangelical parts of the US that the public turned on Lennon. But church attendance in England had been falling for years, and the Church had less and less relevance to the generation of hippies and teens who were buying Beatles albums. So when Lennon said The Beatles were more popular than Jesus, he might have been making an arrogant boast, but he was also making incisive social commentary.
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” – William Shakespeare
Often falsely attributed to the Bard, this is from the 1697 play The Mourning Bride, written by William Congreve decades after Shakespeare died and is almost always written incorrectly. The full quote is actually “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.”
“Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss
While this simple, inspirational quote is often given as a line from a Dr. Seuss book, it’s not one. It never appears in any of his published writings, and there’s no evidence he ever said it. It’s actually been published in various forms ever since the 1940s, and was mysteriously attributed to Seuss in the '90s, without a source or date.
It’s also sometimes attributed to American economist Bernard Baruch, but even that’s only secondhand, from a New York gossip columnist quoting him in an article. Quote Investigator finally tracked it down to an article in the distinctly un-Seussian British periodical The Journal of the Institution of Municipal & County Engineers, Volume 64, Number 16, from 1938.