QuotesFamous quotes that were never said
Some of the most shared quotations in the world were never said by the people they are credited to, or were said in different words. Here are well known examples, with what the record actually shows. None of the doubtful versions is listed as a quotation anywhere else on this site.
Never said, or not in those words
| The popular line | Credited to | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| "Be the change you wish to see in the world." | Mahatma Gandhi | Not found in his writings in these words. The nearest passage, from 1913, reads: "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change." |
| "Elementary, my dear Watson." | Sherlock Holmes | The phrase does not appear in any of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories. It became famous through later plays and films. |
| "Let them eat cake." | Marie Antoinette | There is no evidence she said it. A similar story about "a great princess" appears in Rousseau's Confessions, written when Marie Antoinette was still a child. |
| "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." | Voltaire | Written by his biographer Evelyn Beatrice Hall in The Friends of Voltaire (1906) to sum up his attitude. Voltaire did not write it. |
| "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." | Oscar Wilde | Not found in any of Wilde's works or letters. |
| "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." | Albert Einstein | No record that Einstein said or wrote it. The line is first seen in print in the early 1980s, long after his death. |
| "The ends justify the means." | Machiavelli | A summary of ideas in The Prince. The sentence itself is not in the book. |
| "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." | Henry David Thoreau | A shortened rewording of a longer sentence in Walden (1854). The real sentence is on our Thoreau page. |
Real, but usually misquoted
| How people say it | The actual words | Source |
|---|---|---|
| "Money is the root of all evil." | "For the love of money is the root of all evil." | 1 Timothy 6:10, King James Bible |
| "Pride goes before a fall." | "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." | Proverbs 16:18, King James Bible |
| "All that glitters is not gold." | "All that glisters is not gold." | Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice |
| "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." | "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." | Shakespeare, Hamlet |
| "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink." | "Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink." | Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner |
| "Blood, sweat and tears." | "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." | Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 13 May 1940 |
How to check a quotation yourself
- Look for a source, not just a name. A real quotation can be traced to a book, a speech, a letter or a dated report. "Gandhi said" with nothing after it is a warning sign.
- Search the exact words inside quotation marks together with the name of the work. If the line appears only on quote websites and posters, doubt it.
- Check the full text. Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, Emerson, Thoreau, Tagore and most authors on this site can be read free on Project Gutenberg and Wikisource.
- Notice the style. A line that sounds like a modern motivational poster probably is one.
- Remember who is speaking. In plays and novels, a line belongs to a character and may be the opposite of what the author believed.
If you find a mistake in any quotation or source on this site, please tell us. We would rather remove a line than keep a wrong one.