Everyone always says it was Churchill. It wasn’t. No one said it.
June 7, 2015 8:20 PM Subscribe
The author of the "Fault in Our Stars" talks about having this happening over a pithy quote he didn't remember not writing.
posted by pmv at 8:31 PM on June 7, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by pmv at 8:31 PM on June 7, 2015 [5 favorites]
That's the beauty of it... it doesn't DO anything!
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 8:37 PM on June 7, 2015
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 8:37 PM on June 7, 2015
I wish I was getting misattributions of great quotes by great persons in my Facebook feed. Mostly, it's just pictures of Morgan Freeman clumsily photoshopped next to somebody else's vapid political talking point.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:39 PM on June 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:39 PM on June 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wish I could negative-like people who quoted "The Fault in Our Stars".
I wish I could internet kill them.
posted by clarknova at 8:40 PM on June 7, 2015
I wish I could internet kill them.
posted by clarknova at 8:40 PM on June 7, 2015
"Most quotes on the internet are bullshit."
--Abraham Lincoln
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 8:43 PM on June 7, 2015 [6 favorites]
--Abraham Lincoln
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 8:43 PM on June 7, 2015 [6 favorites]
"I regret I only have one favorite to give for my country." -Mahatma Gandhi
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:46 PM on June 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:46 PM on June 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Enjoy the cocoa, do not cry over missing marshmallows.
Lao Tsu
posted by Oyéah at 8:53 PM on June 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
Lao Tsu
posted by Oyéah at 8:53 PM on June 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
The Wrongly Attributed Statement is the most common device for giving unearned authority to a concept you wish to promote. I've reached the age where I no longer need to know nor do I care who said it first. I should make a collection of the Dumbest Things That Great People Have Ever Said (all WITH proper attribution) for use to reply to all this Fake Authority.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:15 PM on June 7, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:15 PM on June 7, 2015 [7 favorites]
"The trouble with quotations on the Internet is that you're never sure if they're genuine": Benjamin Franklin.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:28 PM on June 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:28 PM on June 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
The one that contiually grinds my gears: Dissent is the highest form of patriotism (* not Thomas Jefferson).
posted by sbutler at 9:40 PM on June 7, 2015
posted by sbutler at 9:40 PM on June 7, 2015
Pretty sure all of these were originally said by Bob Marley.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:51 PM on June 7, 2015
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:51 PM on June 7, 2015
"The trouble with quotations on the Internet is that you're never sure if they're genuine": Benjamin Franklin.
Lincoln said it first.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:01 PM on June 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Lincoln said it first.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:01 PM on June 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
This one has been annoying me a lot lately:
"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
Steinbeck didn't say that. Yes, I agree, it sounds very much like him; and it's nice and blunt, a neat expression of something that really seems true. But he didn't say it.
posted by koeselitz at 11:07 PM on June 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
Steinbeck didn't say that. Yes, I agree, it sounds very much like him; and it's nice and blunt, a neat expression of something that really seems true. But he didn't say it.
posted by koeselitz at 11:07 PM on June 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
"I never said that"--Mark Twain, as told to George Carlin.
posted by TedW at 11:19 PM on June 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 11:19 PM on June 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
I should make a collection of the Dumbest Things That Great People Have Ever Said
"Ahh geez, I just hit myself in the balls, damn it."
---Thomas Edison
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:23 PM on June 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Ahh geez, I just hit myself in the balls, damn it."
---Thomas Edison
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:23 PM on June 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
It's usually hard to prove that someone never said something. Absence of citation is no disproof of occurrence.
- Herodotus
posted by Segundus at 11:24 PM on June 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
- Herodotus
posted by Segundus at 11:24 PM on June 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
Was not stated by Admiral Yamamoto after the Pearl Harbor attack. It's actually from the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:26 PM on June 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
Was not stated by Admiral Yamamoto after the Pearl Harbor attack. It's actually from the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:26 PM on June 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
Very popular down here in Tea Party country:
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Especially ironic as it is attributed to a slave owner.
posted by TedW at 11:29 PM on June 7, 2015
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Especially ironic as it is attributed to a slave owner.
posted by TedW at 11:29 PM on June 7, 2015
“I didn't say half the things I've said.”
—Yogi Berra
posted by traveler_ at 12:13 AM on June 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
—Yogi Berra
posted by traveler_ at 12:13 AM on June 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
"There, there; there is no 'there is no there there' anywhere in my work" -- G Stein.
posted by jamjam at 12:19 AM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jamjam at 12:19 AM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Ceci n'est pas un quote" - René Magritte
posted by Gyan at 3:03 AM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Gyan at 3:03 AM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
The highest form of patriotic.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:12 AM on June 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
Your Majesty is like a stream of bat's piss.
posted by parki at 3:36 AM on June 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by parki at 3:36 AM on June 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ah, I discovered one of these recently, and can't remember it at all now. Perhaps that's appropriate!
posted by thelonius at 4:49 AM on June 8, 2015
posted by thelonius at 4:49 AM on June 8, 2015
> "I wish I could negative-like people who quoted 'The Fault in Our Stars'. I wish I could internet kill them."
I rather like the one that starts, "Listen, douchepants."
posted by kyrademon at 5:19 AM on June 8, 2015
I rather like the one that starts, "Listen, douchepants."
posted by kyrademon at 5:19 AM on June 8, 2015
Dave Barry has it on good authority that what Winston Churchill actually said was, "I may be drunk, but BLEAAARRRGGGHHH" all over her evening gown.
posted by MtDewd at 5:21 AM on June 8, 2015
posted by MtDewd at 5:21 AM on June 8, 2015
Are we going to list our favorite misattributed statements?
My favorites are:
1.) the one supposedly by Rothschild about how he doesn't care who makes the laws &
2.) the one supposedly by Jay about how the people who own the country ought to run it.
(As I understand it John Jay's son claimed his dad said that in a written letter but there isn't any context. Maybe he said it one night late after having drank ten beers. When Chomsky tells it he makes it sound like Jay put those words into The Federalist, which he didn't quite.)
posted by bukvich at 5:25 AM on June 8, 2015
My favorites are:
1.) the one supposedly by Rothschild about how he doesn't care who makes the laws &
2.) the one supposedly by Jay about how the people who own the country ought to run it.
(As I understand it John Jay's son claimed his dad said that in a written letter but there isn't any context. Maybe he said it one night late after having drank ten beers. When Chomsky tells it he makes it sound like Jay put those words into The Federalist, which he didn't quite.)
posted by bukvich at 5:25 AM on June 8, 2015
In general, we should be suspicious when the Authority of Great Men is trotted out, even if they really did say something. Journalist Michael Kelly made much of adapting Orwell's "objectively pro-fascist", back in 2003, when Kelly claimed that people opposing the Iraq War were "objectively pro-Saddam". Orwell had said this of an English pacifist, at a time when it seemed likely that Hitler was about to invade. Not only was this a ridiculous comparison, based on lies, but Orwell later said that he was wrong, and apologized in print. Kelly died covering the war, or I'd ask him if he knew that.
posted by thelonius at 5:28 AM on June 8, 2015
posted by thelonius at 5:28 AM on June 8, 2015
There's one particularly backpfeifengesicht creationist who soils various online forums, and who likes to quote this from Darwin recalling his childhood: "I beat a puppy I believe, simply from enjoying the sense of power".
In this case, it's an accurate quote. It continues: "...but the beating could not have been severe, for the puppy did not howl, of which I feel sure as the spot was near the house. This act lay heavily on my conscience, as is shown by my remembering the exact spot where the crime was committed. It probably lay all the heavier from my love of dogs being then, and for a long time afterwards, a passion. Dogs seemed to know this, for I was an adept in robbing their love from their masters."
The original quoter knows absolutely the full quote, as he's been shown it often enough, but he never acknowledges it. So, accurate attribution does not render a quote whole, but in this as in the case of misattributed quotes you can learn more about the quoter than the subject of the quote.
(The creationist to whom I refer is one of the peculiarly obnoxious breed who take intellectual condescension to stratospheric levels, and is fond of telling academic biologists "when you come to your senses, you'll see how right I am" but phrased in even more skin-crawling ways.)
posted by Devonian at 5:54 AM on June 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
In this case, it's an accurate quote. It continues: "...but the beating could not have been severe, for the puppy did not howl, of which I feel sure as the spot was near the house. This act lay heavily on my conscience, as is shown by my remembering the exact spot where the crime was committed. It probably lay all the heavier from my love of dogs being then, and for a long time afterwards, a passion. Dogs seemed to know this, for I was an adept in robbing their love from their masters."
The original quoter knows absolutely the full quote, as he's been shown it often enough, but he never acknowledges it. So, accurate attribution does not render a quote whole, but in this as in the case of misattributed quotes you can learn more about the quoter than the subject of the quote.
(The creationist to whom I refer is one of the peculiarly obnoxious breed who take intellectual condescension to stratospheric levels, and is fond of telling academic biologists "when you come to your senses, you'll see how right I am" but phrased in even more skin-crawling ways.)
posted by Devonian at 5:54 AM on June 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
I edit nonfiction trade books, and man, these are the bane of my existence. It is a rare manuscript that comes in free of WAS, and trying to convince some authors that no, so-and-so likely didn't say/write that (and no, a link to BrainyQuote/GoodReads/Wikipedia doesn't count as proof that they did) is a fun exercise in frustration.
On the flip side, there is nothing like the elation of suspecting you have a WAS but finding it (usually attributed to someone else or with slightly different wording) in some book from 1859 (thank you, Google Books!). Every now and then I'm successful at untangling one of these mysteries, and it's those little victories—that ultimately end up making the book better—that make me love my job.
posted by timestep at 7:52 AM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
On the flip side, there is nothing like the elation of suspecting you have a WAS but finding it (usually attributed to someone else or with slightly different wording) in some book from 1859 (thank you, Google Books!). Every now and then I'm successful at untangling one of these mysteries, and it's those little victories—that ultimately end up making the book better—that make me love my job.
posted by timestep at 7:52 AM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
REMEMBER DESCENT
Both a good series of video games AND a great horror film! What could more patriotic?
posted by Panjandrum at 8:28 AM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Both a good series of video games AND a great horror film! What could more patriotic?
posted by Panjandrum at 8:28 AM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Back in the 1960s, we didn't have the web and we didn't have Snopes.
But we did have Will Robinson.
From the great wall of Gahanna to the steps of the throne,
He travels fastest who travels alone.
--Zachary Smith
WIlliam Shakespeare
Rudyard Kipling
posted by Herodios at 8:30 AM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
"A free kitten for each and every MeFite." -- Matthew Haughey.
posted by Wordshore at 9:16 AM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Wordshore at 9:16 AM on June 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
"Hello Clarice" -- not in the movie
but it is in the second Hannibal, possible put in by the writers as an inside joke in reference to the misquoting of the original movie.
posted by DreamerFi at 9:22 AM on June 8, 2015
but it is in the second Hannibal, possible put in by the writers as an inside joke in reference to the misquoting of the original movie.
posted by DreamerFi at 9:22 AM on June 8, 2015
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
— Leonardo da Vinci (apocryphal)
posted by Rangi at 9:53 AM on June 8, 2015
— Leonardo da Vinci (apocryphal)
posted by Rangi at 9:53 AM on June 8, 2015
Those Lincoln and Churchill guys sound pretty smart. They should run for office someday.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:17 PM on June 8, 2015
posted by Sangermaine at 12:17 PM on June 8, 2015
Just in case you don't read the comments, Quote Investigator tracks these things down as ably as it is possible, with some fun results.
posted by Mo Nickels at 1:52 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mo Nickels at 1:52 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Those Lincoln and Churchill guys sound pretty smart. They should run for office someday.
They did run for office but lost.
posted by TedW at 2:53 PM on June 8, 2015
They did run for office but lost.
posted by TedW at 2:53 PM on June 8, 2015
"Put the lotion in the basket!"
-irate shopper.
posted by clavdivs at 10:00 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
-irate shopper.
posted by clavdivs at 10:00 PM on June 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
« Older Ladies and gentlemen: the Vocoder | These are all of the potatoes in Canada Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
- Edmund Burke.
posted by clavdivs at 8:30 PM on June 7, 2015 [2 favorites]