Misattributed quotes

There is an insidious campaign of false propaganda being waged today, to the effect that our country is not a Christian country but a religious one—that it was not founded on Christianity but on freedom of religion. It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by "religionists", but by Christians—not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.

This has been cited at some sites as being in a speech to the House of Burgesses in May 1765, but the date and quote are both spurious. Patrick Henry never said anything like it; it was written in the 1950s. The writer David Barton misread… Read the full notes

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government: upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.

Attributed to Madison by Frederick Nymeyer in Progressive Calvinism: Neighborly Love and Ricardo's Law of Association, January 1958, p. 31. The source is given there as the 1958 calendar of Spiritual Motivation. It subsequently appeared in… Read the full notes

Governor, if I had foreseen the use those people designed to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in my right hand.

Supposedly made to Governor Fletcher S. Stockdale (September 1870), as quoted in The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney, pp. 497-500; however, most major researchers including Douglas Southall Freeman, Shelby Dade Foote, Jr., and… Read the full notes

As for rosemarie, I lett it run alle over my garden walls,
not onlie because my bees love it,
but because 'tis the herb sacred to remembrance and therefore to friendship,
whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language that maketh ye chosen emblem at our funeral wakes and in our buriall grounds.

Actually written in 1852 by Anne Manning in her fictional novel The Household of St Thomas More, as if a diary entry was made by his daughter Margaret; and so, although written as said by the character Thomas More in the novel by Anne… Read the full notes

They hired the money, didn't they?

Reportedly in response to a proposal to cancel the debts owed by Allied nations to the United States following World War I; reported in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, &… Read the full notes

A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.

I am speaking of the life of a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children; who has undertaken to cherish it and do it no damage, not because he is duty-bound, but because he loves the world and… Read the full notes

There, I guess King George will be able to read that!

There! John Bull can read my name without spectacles and may now double his reward of £500 for my head. That is my defiance. | The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward. | King George can read… Read the full notes

A man knocking on the door of a brothel is looking for God.

The source is actually a 1945 book by Bruce Marshall, The World, The Flesh, and Father Smith, in which he says, "...the young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God." Read the full notes

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

Originally from Herbert Bayard Swope (1882-1958); often attributed to Cosby, he actually cites this as a sound advice he once read elsewhere, in "Dr. Bill Cosby" in Ebony, Vol. 32, No. 8 (June 1977), p. 136 Read the full notes

An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?

Michel de Saint-Pierre, as quoted in Cryptograms and Spygrams (1981) by Norma Gleason, p. 106; attributed to Descartes in The Athlete's Way : Training Your Mind and Body to Experience the Joy of Exercise (2008) by Christopher Bergland, p… Read the full notes

Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.

Rien n'est plus contraire à la religion et au clergé qu'une tête sensée et raisonnable. — Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, Théologie portative, ou Dictionnaire abrégé de la religion chrétienne (1768): Folie Read the full notes

You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.

Some sites list Norman MacEwen as the originator of the quote. Read the full notes

English: Astrology is a science in itself and contains an illuminating body of knowledge. It taught me many things, and I am greatly indebted to it. Geophysical evidence reveals the power of the stars and the planets in relation to the terrestrial. In turn, astrology reinforces this power to some extent. This is why astrology is like a life-giving elixir to mankind.

German quote attributed to Einstein in Huters astrologischer Kalender 1960 [A] | Translated by Tad Mann, unidentified 1987 work | Contradicted by Denis Hamel, The End of the Einstein-Astrology-Supporter Hoax, Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 31… Read the full notes

To the victors belong the spoils.

Reported as a misattribution in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions (1989), p. 54; Boller and George report that this was actually said by New York Senator… Read the full notes

God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.

I never said it. Never believed it. Never even thought it. I know no Christian who believes or preaches such error. The Bible commands conservation — that we as Christians be careful stewards of the land and resources entrusted to us by… Read the full notes

If we were to hang the last capitalist, another would appear to sell us the rope.

A variant of the above misquote, sometimes also attributed to Lenin. This gained popularity during the glasnost era when black market activity was at its most visible in the USSR; meant to show the profit motive was human nature and cannot… Read the full notes

The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.

Though often attributed to Galbraith, as early as 1988 in U.S. News & World Report, the earliest publications of this statement, in The Bulletin (1984) and Reader's Digest (1985) attributes it to Ezra Solomon Read the full notes

Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins.

Various permutations of this quote have been attributed to Holmes, but it was actually written by Zechariah Chafee, "Freedom of Speech in Wartime", 32 Harvard Law Review 932, 957 (1919). Read the full notes

For centuries, 'scientists' have tried to present the dinosaurs as violent monsters because they wanted to scare children. It's no coincidence that most of these men have been atheists or even homosexuals who are possessed by an intense hatred of young boys and girls.

actual page text: "At this stage you may have two questions: Why did animals like T. rex have fierce-looking sharp teeth if they were vegetarians? And why is the world today one in which there is death, disease, suffering and bloodshed… Read the full notes

There is a special providence for drunkards, fools, and the United States of America.

This saying appears as early as 1849 in the form "the special providence over the United States and little children", attributed to Abbé Correa. There is no good evidence that Bismarck ever repeated it. See talk page for more details. Read the full notes