It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.
Cited as an example of "What Mark Twain Didn't Say" in Mark Twain by Geoffrey C. Ward, et al. 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.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter
Attribution debunked in Langworth's Churchill by Himself. First known appearance is in a 1992 usenet post. Read the full notes
I found my thrill
On Blueberry Hill
On Blueberry Hill
When I found you.
Blueberry Hill; though Fats Domino's performances of this song since his 1956 renditions are the most famous and popular versions, the song was originally written in 1940 by Vincent Rose, Larry Stock and Al Lewis, and first performed that… Read the full notes
What is a hero without love for mankind?
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Philotas (1759), Act 1, Scene 7 Read the full notes
Elbert Hubbard, as quoted in The Treasury of Humorous Quotations (1951) by Evan Esar, p. 103 Read the full notes
If an idiot were to tell you the same story every day for a year, you would end by believing it.
Edmund Burke, as quoted in Lacon in Council (1865) by John Frederick Boyes, p. 124 Read the full notes
Though attributed to Emerson in Edwards' A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908), p. 37, this quote originates in Politics for the People (1848) by Charles Kingsley. Read the full notes
First reported in the Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bible Society (1870), p. 27. This is actually a misquote combining phrases from different lines in an address delivered by Webster to the New York Historical Society on February 23… Read the full notes
One idiot is one idiot. Two idiots are two idiots. Ten thousand idiots are a political party.
Was written in a slightly different way by Leo Longanesi in Italian, above form has been attributed to Kafka without evidence. Read the full notes
According to R. Ken Rasmussen in The Quotable Mark Twain (1998), this is most probably not Twain's. Read the full notes
You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Quoted in Herbert V. Prochnow (1955), Speaker's Book of Epigrams and Witticisms Read the full notes
If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?
Attributed to Dr. Laurence J. Peter. Earliest source is "Peter's Quotations," page 333. Read the full notes
Though Costello's cover became a hit, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", was actually written by Nick Lowe. Read the full notes
This has appeared on the internet attributed to Buchan, but is actually John Bunyan, as quoted in The Westminster Collection of Christian Quotations (2001) by Martin H. Manser Read the full notes
You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come into contact with a new idea.
John Nuveen, as quoted in The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham (2005) by Marshall Shelley, p. 303 Read the full notes
Robert Motherwell, partly quoting Jean Arp, in Motherwell & black (1981) p. 94 --> Read the full notes
Robert Ingersoll was humorist, iconoclast and lover of humanity.
Alice Moore Hubbard, An American Bible (1912), Introduction. Read the full notes
The worst of superstitions is to think
One's own most bearable.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise (1779), Act IV, scene II Read the full notes
A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.
Attributed to Monroe in self-help books and on social media, this quotation is of unknown origin and date. Read the full notes
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther (King's namesake) Read the full notes