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.
The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.
Attributed by Banksy on Instagram (October 6, 2018): "The urge to destroy is also a creative urge" - Picasso. This was actually written by anarchist philosopher Mikhail Bakunin in his essay "Reaction in Germany," in 1842. Read the full notes
Attributed to Nietzsche on quotes sites and on social media, the original quotation is from An Introduction to the History of Psychology by B. R. Hergenhahn (2008, page 226) and is the author's summary of Nietzsche's ideas: "The meaning… Read the full notes
Real auhor: Martha Medeiros, Brazilian writer. First published in November 1, 2000, in Zero Hora, a newspaper published in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It was not published as a poem, but as an article. Read the full notes
Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.
As quoted in The Peaceful Path of Prosperity : Practical and Spiritual Approaches to Enrich Your Life with Your Inner Wealth (2001) by Danny Babineaux; not found in any record of Wesley before 2001. Read the full notes
If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.
If women are to have the same duties as men, they must have the same nurture and education. — Plato, The Republic, Book V, trans. Benjamin Jowett, third edition, Oxford University Press, 1892 Read the full notes
If we fail to prepare, we prepare to fail.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. | Attributed to Franklin in Julita Agustin-Israel, Lakas ng Loob, 1996, p. 53; there is no evidence that he coined any forms of this quote. Read the full notes
There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave.
Paraphrase of Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, "in the grave will be sleeping enough" (Sept 1741), or, "there will be sleeping enough in the Grave" (Preface 1758). Read the full notes
US Senator William Edgar Borah, writing in The Reader's Digest, Vol. 8, Issue 2 (1929), p. 776; this has only rarely begun to be attributed to Washington, since about 2010. Read the full notes
While widely quoted as an example of failed predictions about technological progress and attributed to Lardner, there are no known citations of this line prior to 1980 and it does not seem to appear in his published works. It may result… Read the full notes
Many attribute this quote to Marshall, however, General Omar Bradley is the correct author. Statement by Bradley (31 May 1948), quoted in An Inconvenient Truth : The Planetary Emergency Of Global Warming And What We Can Do About It (2006)… Read the full notes
It also appears on the first page of a 1949 book by Julian Lewis Watkins, The 100 Greatest Advertisements: Who Wrote Them and What They Did. (Moore Publishing Company). | "Ernest Shackleton’s Famous Job Ad, ‘Men Wanted for Hazardous… Read the full notes
The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
Commonly attributed to Paine, even on memorials, and justly describes his ideals, but found nowhere in his writings. It is actually derived from a quote in Rights of Man: Part 2, "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." Read the full notes
François-René de Chateaubriand, in Essai sur la littérature anglaise (1836): Modèles classiques. Read the full notes
Let fraud supply the want of force in war.
From Book II of Dryden's Aeneid; no exact Latin equivalent exists in Virgil's work, but compare: "Dolus, an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?" (Aeneid 2.390). Read the full notes
This quotation not only has no known source, but also fails to use terminology contemporary to Patrick Henry. The earliest attribution of this phrase to Patrick Henry is after the year 2000. Read the full notes
The white moon is setting behind the white wave,
And Time is setting with me, O!
The wan Moon is setting beyond the white wave, And Time is setting with me, oh! Read the full notes
A man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.
Also reported as "One's mind" instead of "A man's mind", and "can never go back" or "never regains" instead of "never goes back"; most likely properly attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Read the full notes
Every soldier carries a Marshal's baton in his knapsack
Actually uttered by Louis XVIII. See Every soldier carries a Marshal's baton in his knapsack by Dushenko K.V., Bulletin of Cultural Studies (Вестник культурологии, ISSN 2658-3291). DOI: 10.31249/hoc/2019.02.11 Read the full notes
Fascism is capitalism in decay.
According to barrypopik.com, There is no evidence Lenin ever said this. It more likely comes from a book by Rajani Palme Dutt, Fascism and Social Revolution: A Study of the Economics and Politics of the Last Stages of Capitalism in Decay… Read the full notes
Attributed to Goethe by German novelist Thomas Mann in his novel The Beloved Returns. The line was Mann's invention, though it was later quoted during the Nuremburg trials by prosecutor Sir Hartley Shawcross, who quoted the passage as if… Read the full notes