Some of the most-shared quotes were never said by the people they are credited to. Here are the ones Wikiquote lists as misattributed, with what is known about where they really came from.
We rely on the notes and sources recorded on Wikiquote and show them next to each quote. “Misattributed” means the evidence points away from the credited person — it does not always tell us who did say it.
"I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while!"
In another known episode with a child who was among 17 siblings, Groucho asked the girl what her father thought of having such a large family; when she responded that her father loves children, he replied "Well, I like pancakes, but I… Read the full notes
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
The misattribution may also be related to a statement about Plato's views made by Benjamin Jowett in the introduction to his translation of Plato's Republic (in which all the main ideas were attributed to Socrates, as in all of Plato's… Read the full notes
When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.
Does not appear attributed to Socrates in any known ancient writings. Earliest source found on google books is p. 123 of John Taylor's 2013 book Chewing The Cud: Alcibiades and Socrates Talk Life, Love and Nietzsche, in an original… Read the full notes
The mark of a basic shit is that he can’t mind his own business.
You are a Shit Spotter. It's satisfying work. … We have observed that most of the trouble in the world has been caused by ten to twenty percent of folks who can't mind their own business, because they have no business of their own to mind… Read the full notes
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
An abbreviated version of a quote by California politician Dianne Feinstein, from an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine in October 1985, on the topic of women running for public office. The original was: "... I really do have staying… Read the full notes
First On The Moon : A Voyage with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E Aldrin, Jr. (1970) edited by Gene Farmer and Dora Jane Hamblin, p. 113, states of this: "Like many a quote which gets printed once and therefore enshrined in the… Read the full notes
The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,—as it has in itself no character or enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,—and as the said States never have… Read the full notes
For my friend said that he opened his intellect as the sun opens the fans of a palm tree, opening for opening's sake, opening infinitely for ever. But I said that I opened my intellect as I opened my mouth, in order to shut it again on… Read the full notes
When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most… Read the full notes
The living will envy the dead.
No instance of this statement, allegedly in reference to nuclear war, has been found in Khrushchev's writings or documented remarks, as indicated in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989). Herman Kahn used "the survivors… Read the full notes
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.
Attributed to Merton in a number of sources, the earliest located being Studia mystica, Volumes 5-6 (1982), p. 76. This does not attribute a direct quote to Merton, but says "To use another of Merton's favorite distinctions, for Furlong… Read the full notes
In war, truth is the first casualty.
This is often attributed to U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson, but does not appear anywhere in his speeches. Arthur Ponsonby#Falsehood in Wartime (1928) quoted: "When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty", but the first recorded use seems… Read the full notes
This is a very close paraphrase of a quotation attributed to Carl Buehner in a book published many years earlier - “They may forget what you said — but they will never forget how you made them feel.” quoted in Richard Evans' Quote Book… Read the full notes
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Source: Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers (1926), reprinted in Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, 1991, ISBN 0-671-73916-6], Ch. II: Aristotle and Greek Science; part VII: Ethics… Read the full notes
To be 70 years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be 40 years old.
Almost certainly attributable to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., who is, in various sources, credited with having said this in letters to Harriet Beecher Stowe (who turned 70 in 1881) and Julia Ward Howe (who turned 70 in 1889), as well as… Read the full notes
The best way to see London is from the top of a bus.
The best way to see London is by the omnibus lines. | A Tour Around the World in 1884: or Sketches of Travel in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres (1886) by John B. Gorman Read the full notes
A variant — "Professor Einstein, the learned scientist, once calculated that if all bees disappeared off the earth, four years later all humans would also have disappeared" — appears in The Irish Beekeeper, v.19-20, 1965-66, p74, citing… Read the full notes
A vision without a task is but a dream, A task without a vision is drudgery, But a vision and a task — that is the hope of the world. | A vision without a task is but a dream. A task without vision is but drudgery. A vision and a task are… Read the full notes
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity. | Thomas Carlyle (1841) On Heroes and Hero Worship. | Any man can stand adversity — only a great man can stand… Read the full notes
Later generations will regard set theory as a disease from which one has recovered.
Also, probably a variant translation of Hölder's comment, "Point set topology is a disease from which the human race will soon recover." Read the full notes