Home > Famous non-quotation
A famous non-quotation is a well-known phrase attributed to someone who, in fact, did not say it.It may not be known how these phrases came about, but when possible their type of origin is noted in this way:
- [P] Parody or satire of the original.
- [C] A corruption or mistranslation of the original phrase, possibly accidental, which became better known than the original.
- [M] A deliberate misquoting or made-up quote intended to discredit the alleged speaker.
- [A] Attributed to a well-known person to improve the appearance of the phrase or the person.
1 Famous non-quotations by actual persons
- " A few acres of snow"--- Voltaire, referring to Canada [C]
- Actual quote refers to Acadia, not Canada.
- "Let them eat cake!"--- Marie Antoinette [M]
- The original quote came from Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "Finally, I remembered the way out suggested by a great princess when told the peasants had no bread: 'Well, let them eat cake'." He was not speaking of Antoinette.
- "I cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the cherry tree."--- George Washington [A]
- "Judy, Judy, Judy!"--- Cary Grant [P]
- "Houston, we have a problem." [C]
- This is a minor misstatement of the actual communication between the Apollo 13 astronauts and Mission Control in Houston immediately after the explosion that aborted the intended mission. The actual quote was "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here," uttered by Jack Swigert, soon followed by "Houston, we've had a problem" by Jim Lovell.
- "I invented the Internet."--- Al Gore [C]
- Distortion of Gore's claims to have been a significant political promoter of the development of the internet. The attribution was perpetuated and altered by the media echo chamberWhen used literally, the term echo chamber refers to a hollow enclosure used to produce echoing sounds, usually for recording purposes. For example, the producers of a television or radio program might wish to produce the aural illusion that a conversatio effect.
- "Anything that can go wrong, will" (and variations on this theme) – Edward A. Murphy, Jr.Murphy's law is a popular adage in Western culture, which broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation. It is most commonly formulated as "if anything can go wrong, it will. The law was named after Edward A. Murphy, Jr. a development en [C]
- Actual quote uncertain. Variously, "If that guy has any way of making a mistake, he will," and "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way."
- "Religion is the opiate of the masses."--- Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx ( May 5, 1818 March 14, 1883) was an influential German economist, philosopher, social and political theorist. Although Marx addressed many issues in his career as a journalist and philosopher, he is most famous for his analysis of hist [C]
- Actual quote: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." Marx's intended meaning is subtler than the misquote would suggest.
- "The only good Indian is a dead Indian."--- Philip SheridanPhilip Henry Sheridan ( March 6, 1831 August 5, 1888), a military man and one of the great generals in the American Civil War. His actions proved decisive for the Union. He pacified the Great Plains. Both as a soldier and private citizen he was instrument [C]
- Actual quote is said to be "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead," though Sheridan denied ever saying it.
- "Money is the root of all evil."--- 1 TimothyThe First Epistle to Timothy is a book of the canonic New Testament, one of the three so-called "pastoral epistles" 1 Timothy 2 Timothy and the Epistle to Titus . It is offered as a letter from Paul to Timothy. Authorship and date Traditional view The tra 6:10, the BibleThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) [C]
- Actual quote: "For the love of money is the root of all evil" ( King James VersionThe King James Version (KJV is an English translation of the Holy Bible, commissioned for the benefit of the Church of England at the behest of King James I of England. First published in 1611, it has had a profound impact on not only most English transla) or "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" ( New International VersionThe New International Version NIV is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Translation The complete translation was first published in 1978 and revised in 1984. The translation work was done under the auspices of the International Bible Society a).
- "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Acton [C]
- Actual quote: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely".
- "Gild the lily" -- William Shakespeare, King John
- Actual quote: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily"
- "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." -- Joseph Stalin [M]
- This quote has popularly been attributed to Stalin but, at this stage, there is no clear evidence as to whether it is genuine or not.
- "Et tu, Brute?" -- Julius Caesar
- This quote was invented by Shakespeare for his play; there is no evidence that Caesar said anything at all when he was assassinated. However, there is an interesting twist: Caesar had, many years earlier, carried on an affair with Brutus' mother and consequently had right to believe that he was Brutus' father. Thus, according to some historians, his actual words were (in Greek, no less) "καί σύ, τέκνον;", in english, "You too, son?"
