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 minority is always in the right. The majority is always in the wrong.
Attributed to Twain, but never sourced. Suspiciously close to "A minority may be right, and the majority is always in the wrong." — Henrik Ibsen "Enemy of the People," as well as a famous quote from Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard Read the full notes
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter Drucker, and Warren Bennis, as quoted by Covey, in The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People (1989), this has sometimes become misattributed to him. Read the full notes
Sydney J. Harris, as quoted in The Routledge Dictionary of Quotations (1989) by Robert Andrews; also quoted as: "...a pleasant place in which to spend one's leisure." Read the full notes
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
Cited as being from The Meditations. This quote does not exist there; although there are several other statements about everything being an opinion, none of these are connected to a sentence about perspectives. Read the full notes
We are all on earth to help others. What on earth the others are here for, I can't imagine.
This quotation has been traced to John Foster Hall (1867–1945), an English comedian known as "The Reverend Vivian Foster, Vicar of Mirth". See: Edward Mendelson, "'We are all here on earth to help others...'", audensociety.org (n.d.) Read the full notes
My best friend is one who brings out the best in me.
Actually due to Harris Weinstock: "My best friend is the man who can bring out of me my best, and your best friend is the one who tends to bring out the best in you" (May 1914) Attributed to Henry Ford as early as 1948. Read the full notes
The more we study, we the more discover
Our ignorance.
Calderón, “Scenes from the Magico Prodigioso” fourth speech of Cyprian, as translated by Shelley, found in The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Scott, William B, ed. Read the full notes
Frans de Waal, in a NOVA interview, "The Bonobo in All of Us" PBS (1 January 2007); quotes from this interview were for some time misplaced on this page, which probably generated similar misattributions elsewhere, and the misplacement was… Read the full notes
The Harlequin, Volume 2, 1959, University of Virginia (page 15) | “Martini Madness: Dorothy Parker didn’t write the famous quatrain about martinis that’s always attributed to her.”, Troy Patterson, Slate, April 8, 2013 Read the full notes
Congress shall never disarm any citizen unless such as are or have been in actual rebellion.
Delegates of the People of the State of New Hampshire, Ratification of the Federal Constitution, Article XII of "alterations and provisions" to the Constitution (21 June 1788) Read the full notes
Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.
Known as "The Eleventh Commandment" this statement was made famous by Reagan, but was actually created by California Republican Party Chairman Gaylord Parkinson. Read the full notes
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, Sensus Communis: An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour (1709), Part 1, Sec. 5, incorrectly attributing it to Gorgias via Aristotle. Read the full notes
Each man has two countries, I think: His own, and France.
Also misattributed to Thomas Jefferson in 1880 Read the full notes
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 88. Based on a quotation by William Dyer: "You may go to Heaven without health, without wealth, without honours, without pleasures, without… Read the full notes
This statement is not to be found in the works of Herodotus. It appears in the acknowledgements to Mark Twain's A Horse's Tale (1907) preceded by the words "Herodotus says", but Twain was simply summarizing what he took to be Herodotus'… Read the full notes
Minus times minus equals plus,
The reason for this we need not discuss.
A "math mnemonic" Auden memorized as a schoolboy, and often repeated in adulthood. Reported in Paul Fussell, "The Poet Himself", The New York Times (4 October 1981) sec. 7, p. 1 Read the full notes
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97: Wear sunscreen.
Opening words to a commencement address supposedly given by Vonnegut at M.I.T., but actually based on Mary Schmich's June 1, 1997 column for the Chicago Tribune Read the full notes
The earliest evidence of this quote is from Spanish socialist politician Alfonso Guerra, who said this in a political conference in Suresnes in 1974. It has since been attributed to Bismarck Read the full notes
Most men give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain.
William R(ounseville) Alger, American clergyman and writer [1822-1905]; reported in Raphael Lewin, Ed., The New Era (1872), Volume 2, p. 315 Read the full notes
Injustice…is a mother who is never barren, and bears children worthy of her.
Sainte-Beuve was here merely reporting words spoken by Adolphe Thiers, but many French quotation websites (e.g. Dico-Citations) attribute them to Sainte-Beuve himself. Read the full notes