FREE NEWSLETTER
Go to main Forum page »
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 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.
Yogi Berra, “Everything I said in my book, I didn’t really say.”
Babe Ruth, ” It only takes one to hit it”. The famous “called shot”,or not . In the 1932 Series. The catcher stated Ruth didn’t point to center field, rather, he said the above.
“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” — Abraham Lincoln
That’s hilarious, Jonathan. I’m an obsessive pursuer of quote verity myself. I haven’t heard of Quote Investigator, but I’m putting the link into my phone right now.
You’re right about particular people whose “quotes” should immediately inspire skepticism. Twain in particular had wondrous genuine quotes but has been credited with multitudes more that he never actually said. Lincoln, Jefferson and Franklin are others in that same boat. And now, oddly, George Carlin. I love correcting those.
My wife “quotes” Buddha almost daily. Her, I never correct. I may be obsessive, but I ain’t crazy.
There are many wise sounding snippets, and I suspect few of really know who said them first. Maybe a prominent person is credited for merely repeating something he heard from someone else. Or never even said it. I may attribute a saying to someone I assume said it first, based on what I read, or simply say “as a wise person once said…” to avoid implying it was me who came up with the gem. Regardless, there are many one-liners which are useful and wise.
As an engineer who spent a career in mathematical modeling of structures and equipment, I found this quote to be insightful:
All models are wrong, but some are useful
Of course, this implied that the assumptions made in the mathematical model might not correctly represent the true physics of the subject. It’s an instructive message that I repeated to many training classes I conducted.
If I type “all models are wrong, but some are useful” into a Google search, a Wikipedia page for George E. P. Box, a British statistician is returned, but the Wiki page also says the underlying concept predates Box’s writings.
Quote Investigator’s response is null – no results. If I shorten the quote to “all models are wrong” I receive a response about cosmology and how the earth is supported by four elephants standing on a tortoise (or maybe many tortoises). Very weird.
To Jonathan’s point, someone might have said it. Or maybe someone said something that has been modified, edited, or adjusted to fit a particular circumstance. The internet is full of information, and some of it might be correct! It’s up to all of us to verify!
Jeff. That is also one of my favorite quotes. It is very insightful. I actually started an article based on it, but haven’t completed it. It often requires a reasonable level of knowledge and experience to effectively use and interpret many models.
Rick – I’ve seen finite element models give completely erroneous results, and simple hand calculations that were precisely “on the money” – meaning that technology doesn’t necessarily provide the best answer. Modeling for accurate vibration response and computational fluid flow are both very difficult problems.
I was thinking of all the fake George Carlin quotes floating around the internet for the longest time. Usually derogatory in nature.
Thanks for this Jonathan. My favorite misquote is the one Einstein supposedly said about the definition of insanity.
Good one, Rick. I hear this one so often, it’s not even very meaningful anymore.
I like the one that says 1 in 4 people are insane; look around you, if the other 3 people are okay…..
Back when I was working in IT that quote went something like:
”When you’re in a team meeting look for the weakest member of the team. If you can’t find someone … it’s YOU!”
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/?amp=1
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
One of my favorite quotes, frequently attributed to Aristotle, but he never said it.
What did editors/writers/ministers do before the internet? This reminds me of when I was asked the source of a quote I had used in an essay that I had written for a book. I had gotten the quote for a sermon I had given a few years earlier but couldn’t find the file. I googled the quote while at the library (while researching another sermon – old school for me!) and not only found the quote and its author, but also found my sermon, and many others I had given, preached by someone else – almost word for word. My words will never make it to Quote Investigator but I wonder how they (and editor/writers/ministers/etc) will manage in the growing world of Artificial Intelligence…
Must have been some good sermons Don. You know what they say about imitation. (QI doesn’t tell me who said it first.)