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.
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
Benjamin Franklin proposed this as the motto on the Great Seal of the United States . It is often falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson because he endorsed the motto. See also John Bradshaw and Simon Bradstreet Read the full notes
All time is the right time for saying what is just.
ὁ πᾶς ἂν πρέποι παρὼν ἐννέπειν τάδε δίκᾳ χρόνος. | The whole of time could aptly by its presence justly prompt these words! | The corrupt form first appears in H. T. Riley, A Dictionary of Latin Quotations (London, 1856), p.543. Read the full notes
Widely quoted as an Addison maxim this is actually by the American clergyman George Washington Burnap (1802-1859), published in Burnap's The Sphere and Duties of Woman : A Course of Lectures (1848), Lecture IV. Read the full notes
The mind that opens to a new idea, Never comes back to its original size.
Actually said by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. in his book The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table: "Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions." Read the full notes
For the full story see "Anatomy of a Fake Quotation" by Megan McArdle, The Atlantic (May 3, 2011) and for the Facebook version of the quote see Did Martin Luther King, Jr. say that "I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an… Read the full notes
τὸν οὖν Ἀνάχαρσιν πυθόμενον, καταγελᾶν τῆς πραγματείας τοῦ Σόλωνος, οἰομένου γράμμασιν ἐφέξειν τὰς ἀδικίας καὶ πλεονεξίας τῶν πολιτῶν, ἃ μηδὲν τῶν ἀραχνίων διαφέρειν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἐκεῖνα τοὺς μὲν ἀσθενεῖς καὶ λεπτοὺς τῶν ἁλισκομένων καθέξειν… Read the full notes
The search for truth is more precious than its possession.
This quote does appear in Einstein's 1940 essay "The Fundaments of Physics" which can be found in his book Out of My Later Years (1950), but Einstein does not claim credit for it, instead calling it "Lessing's fine saying". Read the full notes
The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.
In this work are exhibited in a very high degree the two most engaging powers of an author. New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new. ~ Samuel Johnson, "The Life of Alexander Pope" from Lives of the English Poets… Read the full notes
This misquote could possibly have two possible sources: an abridged version of a paragraph in Mein Kampf regarding the Big Lie, or a report by the United States Office of Strategic Services about Hitler's psychological profile. The second… Read the full notes
You may want to review this page about "John Muir Misquotes" | http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/misquotes.aspx Read the full notes
None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.
Attributed to Russell in M. Kumar Dictionary of Quotations, p. 76, but actually said by Marshal Lannes, according to The London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences (1824), p. 664 Read the full notes
This is from Pickings from the Portfolio of the Reporter of the New Orleans "Picayune" (1846) by Dennis Corcoran; it seems to have become attributed to Crockett in The Dictionary of Biographical Quotation of British and American Subjects… Read the full notes
As quoted in The Best Liberal Quotes Ever : Why the Left is Right (2004) by William P. Martin. Though widely attributed to Henry, this statement has not been sourced to any document before the 1990s and appears to be at odds with his… Read the full notes
If you want to know what the Lord God thinks of money, just look at those to whom he gives it.
“We may see the small Value God has for Riches, by the People he gives them to.” -- Alexander Pope (1727). Read the full notes
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson, Ann Landers, et al. never said these words. The phrase is an alteration of one made by Jonathan Swift: Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it. (See .) Read the full notes
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
Plato and his dialogues by Bernard SUZANNE, "Frequently Asked Questions about Plato : Did Plato write "Only the dead have seen the end of war"?" Read the full notes
Nothing is more common than the wish to be remarkable.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858), ch. XII : Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable. Misattributed to Shakespeare in Criminal Minds ("L.D.S.K." - season 1, episode 6). Read the full notes
Reportedly said by Trump after he was hospitalized with COVID-19, following an outbreak of the disease in the White House; the quote actually originates from an image featuring a fabricated subtitle overlaid on a video released by the… Read the full notes
Spurious quotations | Apparent fabrications; derived from statements by Adams, but with significant alterations and additions. Read the full notes
This is not by Churchill, but a paraphrase of Churchill quoting Arthur James Balfour in Great Contemporaries (1937): 'there were some things that were true, and some things that were trite; but what was true was trite, and what was not… Read the full notes