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.
For iii may keep a counsel if twain be away.
Cf. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act II, sc. iv, l. l. 186. Titus Andronicus, act 4, sc. 2, l. 144: "Two may keep counsel when the third's away." Herbert, Jacula Prudentum. Heywood, Proverbs, pt. 2, ch. 5. Franklin, Poor Richard (1735)… Read the full notes
Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.
The earliest published incident of this yet located is in "32 Mystical Connections for Advertising Buffs" by Ram Ray, in Ideate with June A Valladares (2005) by June A Valladares, p. 154; the earliest attributions to Henry Ford yet located… Read the full notes
Sallust, Bellum Catilinae, X, 5. This particular translation of the original Latin is from the essay "On Liberty" by Abraham Cowley: "Sallust, therefore, who was well acquainted with them both and with many such-like gentlemen of his time… Read the full notes
To be and not to be, that is the answer.
This witticism derived from William Shakespeare's line "To be or not to be; that is the question" in Hamlet, has sometimes been attributed to Hein, but also to many others. The earliest occurrence so far located in research for Wikiquote… Read the full notes
Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself—that is my doctrine.
Robert Green Ingersoll: "...my religion is simply this: First. Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself. Second..." in "The Limitations of Toleration" (The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, vol. 7, pp. 217-260… Read the full notes
The collapse of education is the collapse of the Nation.
Sometimes misattributed to Mandela, this is in fact an a statement of unknown provenance (usually attributed to an anonymous "lecturer in the university in South Africa") spread throughout Internet from around 2017. Later misattributed to… Read the full notes
A: Would you sleep with me for $1,000,000?
B: ...YES!
A: How about $1?
B: What do you think I am?
[...] QI hypothesizes that this anecdote began as a fictional tale that was intended to be humorous with an edge of antagonism. The story was retold for decades. Famous men were substituted into the role of the individual making the… Read the full notes
What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
Quote Investigator, retrieved 17 May 2016 Read the full notes
This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.
The earliest attribution of this quote was published in the February 1960 Reader's Digest, and credited to a book review by Sid Ziff in the Los Angeles Mirror-News, which existed from 1955 to 1960. This is a little odd, considering that… Read the full notes
Said to be a quote from Das Kapital in an anonymous email, this attribution has been debunked at Snopes.com with the earliest occurrence found being a post by Gpkkid on 23 December 2008; it was used as a basis of a satirical article… Read the full notes
"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt."
http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections/John-Muir-Papers/John-Muir-Collections-.html | Widening the search on the Internet, it appears that the quote is frequently attributed to John Muir but is also fairly… Read the full notes
We no longer know what socialism is, or how to get there, and yet it remains the goal.
About the impact of the French Revolution, actually said by Zhou Enlai THIS QUOTE IS HARDLY EVER ATTRIBUTED TO DENG XIAOPING --> Read the full notes
First attributed to Demosthenes in the 1688 edition of N. Ling's Politeuphuia. Wits Common-wealth. | Compare Plato, Theaetetus 179d, Philebus 55c and Plutarch, How to Tell a Flatterer From a Friend 64d. Read the full notes
For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
Every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness. | Junius, "Office Cat", The Daily Freeman [Kingston, NY] (30 December 1936), p. 6 Read the full notes
Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything.
The earliest known occurance of a similar adage dates back to 1926, then apparently regarded as a common one of unknown origin. Its connection to Alexander Hamilton arose from confusion with its use in 1978 by a UK radio broadcaster also… Read the full notes
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain — and most fools do.
Attributed in various post-2000 works, but actually Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends and Influence People p.14, published in 1936. (N.B. Carnegie is quoting Franklin immediately prior to writing this, so attribution could be due to a… Read the full notes
Vain hopes are often like the dreams of those who wake.
Similar to Matthew Prior: "For hope is but the dream of those that wake", Solomon on the Vanity of the World, book iii, line 102. | Similar to Diogenes Laërtius: "The question was put to him [Aristotle], what hope is; and his answer was… Read the full notes
Instead MacKinnon asserts that rape and intercourse are "difficult to distinguish" (1983), and that "the major distinction between intercourse (normal) and rape (abnormal) is that the normal happens so often that one cannot get anyone to… Read the full notes
And Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon have long argued that in a patriarchal society all heterosexual intercourse is rape because women, as a group, are not in a strong enough social position to give meaningful consent—an assault on… Read the full notes
Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli (signed at Tripoli on November 4, 1796, and at Algiers on January 3, 1797 and received ratification unanimously from the U.S. Senate on June 7, 1797; it was signed into law by John Adams (the original… Read the full notes