Didn’t Say That

When I get an article to edit that includes a quote from a famous person, I almost always put the quote into a search engine to make sure the person in question really said it. Often, it was somebody completely different—or, alternatively, it’s not clear who said it.

Consider five examples:

• “The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” This one is frequently attributed to the economist John Maynard Keynes. But it was probably said by the financial analyst A. Gary Shilling.
• “The eighth wonder of the world is compound interest.” Albert Einstein often gets credit for this one. Instead, it may have originated with a 1925 bank advertisement.
• “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” Mark Twain supposedly said this. He didn’t.
• “News is what somebody does not want you to print. All the rest is advertising.” Back in college, I remember writing a column that attributed this quote to a 1930s British press baron. But as I’ve since discovered, it isn’t clear who said it.
• “If all the economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.” George Bernard Shaw purportedly said this—but most likely didn’t.

The above five quotes were all investigated by Quote Investigator, my go-to site for checking on the source of popular quotations. It seems quotes are often wrongly ascribed to famous folks. I’ve become especially skeptical whenever I hear a quote attributed to Einstein, Twain or Winston Churchill.

Why do we attach snappy quotes to well-known individuals? Perhaps the mistake originated with a writer or speaker who had a faulty memory. Perhaps he or she was trying to bolster a point by invoking a famous name.

At some point, these wrong attributions take on a life of their own, and they become “common knowledge.” Which makes me wonder: What is it that we think we know that simply isn’t so?

Mark Twain, of course, once said something like that. Or not.