Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.
Some evidence for Henry Buckle (1821-1862) as the source: see p.33 quotation 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.
Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.
This became widely attributed to Isaac Newton after Dominique Pire ascribed it to "the words of Newton" in his Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1958. Pire refers not to Isaac, but to Joseph Fort Newton, who is widely reported to have said… Read the full notes
The 1957 Ford Almanac has the quote "It's too late to read the handwriting on the wall when your back's up against it", attributed to "Anon." The quote appeared in several variations afterwards, for instance in an essay by Meredith Thring… Read the full notes
Presented as a full Socrates quote by various sources like this page, the first sentence of the quote is indeed attributed to Socrates in Plato's dialogue The Apology, but the second sentence is a description of Socrates' beliefs by Robert… Read the full notes
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
This is similar to a quote attributed to Mark Twain: "I never let my schooling get in the way of my education". The earliest published source located attributing the quote to Einstein is the 1999 book Career Management for the Creative… Read the full notes
The earliest published source located on Google Books attributing this to Einstein is the 2000 book The Internet Handbook for Writers, Researchers, and Journalists by Mary McGuire, p. 14. It was attributed to him on the internet before… Read the full notes
Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means.
The original: "Example is not the main thing. It is the only thing. That is, if the one giving the example is not saying to himself, 'Behold I am giving an example." That spoils it. Anyone thinking of the example he will give to others has… Read the full notes
In matters of style, swim with the current: in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
"It is not clear where the phrase originated from, but there is no proof that Jefferson ever uttered these words." Huff, Elizabeth In matters of style, swim with the current...(Spurious Quotation). at Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, Thomas… Read the full notes
What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.
A modern fabrication, possibly derived from David Barton's claim (Original Intent, p. 85) that "By George Washington’s own words, what youths learned in America’s schools 'above all' was 'the religion of Jesus Christ.'”. Washington did use… Read the full notes
There is nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.
According to The quote verifier: who said what, where, and when (2006), Keyes, Macmillan, p. 91 ISBN 0312340044 , the cover of a trade magazine once credited this observation to Churchill, but it dates back well into the nineteenth… Read the full notes
I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself.
However, this is most likely false, as variants of this quote in German first surfaced in 1946 without being attributed to Churchill. It wasn't until 1980 that the quote was attributed to Churchill in German for the first time. | In… Read the full notes
Always go to other people's funerals; otherwise they won't go to yours.
This first appeared in print, without attribution, no later than January 1911 in Punch as: Visitor: "I've just come from the doctor's funeral, but I didn't see any of you there." Hostess: "No—my husband didn't care to go, as funerals… Read the full notes
A constitution should be short and obscure.
Roederer tells us ("Œuvres," vol. iii., p. 428) that he had drawn up two plans of a constitution for the Cisalpine; the one very short and leaving much to the President, the other precise and detailed. He told Talleyrand to advise… Read the full notes
With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts.
This is attributed to Addison in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993) with a citation of "Economy and Benevolence" in Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments (1794) but that was a publication of a… Read the full notes
In necessariis unitas, In dubiis libertas, In omnibus autem caritas.
The first known occurrence of such an expression is as "Omnesque mutuam amplecteremur unitatem in necessariis, in non necessariis libertatem, in omnibus caritatem" in De Republica Ecclesiastica by Marco Antonio de Dominis, Pars I. London… Read the full notes
“I have a quotation in a story, a piece of fiction that won't be published until this summer,” I told Portago, “something that I thought at the time I wrote it you might have said: that of all sports, only bull fighting and… Read the full notes
Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.
A Welsh triad cited in A Vindication of the Genuineness of the Ancient British Poems of Aneurin, Taliesin, Llywarch Hen, and Merdin (1803), by Sharon Turner, reads, "The three pillars of learning; seeing much, suffering much, and studying… Read the full notes
I'd rather ten guilty persons should escape, than one innocent should suffer.
Attributed by Edward Seymour in 1696 during the parliamentary proceedings against John Fenwick ("I am of the same opinion with the Roman, who, in the case of Catiline, declared, he had rather ten guilty persons should escape, than one… Read the full notes
Das Höchste, wozu er sich erheben konnte, war, für etwas rühmlich zu sterben; jetzt erhebt er sich zu dem Größern, für etwas ruhmlos zu leben. | The highest he could raise himself to was to die gloriously for something; now he rises to… Read the full notes
The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.
The earliest published source found on google books that attributes this to Euclid is A Mathematical Journey by Stanley Gudder (1994), p. xv. However, many earlier works attribute it to Johannes Kepler, the earliest located being in the… Read the full notes