Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
Actually from Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Don Quixote, Part I, Book IV, ch. 19. Read the full notes
Misattributed quotes
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.
Confederate flags and a noose: What century is this, anyway?, By Mark Bradley, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (22 June 2020) Read the full notes
It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future
The earliest citations of this proverb, from the mid-twentieth century, refer to it as Danish in origin. See http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/20/no-predict Read the full notes
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Kessinger Publishing (2005). Read the full notes
The Bible is most dangerous book ever written on earth, keep it under lock and key.
From Why You Should Never be a Christian (1987) by Ishaq 'Kunle Sanni and Dawood Ayodele Amoo. Read the full notes
Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. My God, do you learn.
Written for the 1993 film Shadowlands by William Nicholson and spoken by Anthony Hopkins, who played Lewis. Read the full notes
America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, bad-ass speed.
Deliberately misattributed for comic effect in the opening of the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) Read the full notes
A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men.
This appears to be an anonymous proverb of unknown authorship, only occasionally attributed to Addison. Read the full notes
There is no justification for taking away individuals' freedom in the guise of public safety.
This seems more like something Benjamin Franklin might have said. There's no record Thomas Jefferson said it. Read the full notes
Comparison of Menander and Philistion, II.203–204 (tr. P. Vellacott, 1967); despite its title, the Comparison contains virtually no material from either poet (A. Körte, 1959:IX–X) Read the full notes
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 320, but not found before publication in Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, A collection of divine hymns and poems upon several… Read the full notes
Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else — and failing.
Raymond Radiguet, who was quoted by Cocteau in his acceptance speech to the Académie Française (October 1955) Read the full notes
A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.
This quote was popularized by Steinem and is often attributed to her. However, the line was first coined by Australian educator Irina Dunn, as indicated at The Phrase Finder Read the full notes
Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
Simpson's Contemporary Quotations (1988) p. 219. Misquoting "Marginalia", V (see above) Read the full notes
According to this Google Search result, the earliest reference on this quote belongs to Hon. B. G. Northrop in 1884. But the person who popularized it might be G. Stanley Hall. Read the full notes
We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them.
Attributed by Murrow to an unnamed farmer in "Harvest of Shame", CBS Reports (24 November 1960) Read the full notes
How blessings brighten as they take their flight!
Occasionally misattributed to Wordsworth, but in fact by Edward Young again. It is from his Night Thoughts, Night II, line 602 Read the full notes
A radish will never stand in the way of victory.
As quoted in association with Foch in M*A*S*H, Season 3, Episode 1, "The General Flipped At Dawn"; this seems to be a jocular fabrication. Read the full notes
If you're born poor it's not your fault, but if you die poor it's your fault.
Quoted in various publications, without any further sourcing. The quote is dubious in view of the Gates Foundation's public mission, "to lift people out of hunger and extreme poverty." Gates was born to an affluent family. Read the full notes
No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach.
From the writings of William Cowper Brann (1855 – 1898), known as Brann the Iconoclast. Read the full notes