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A famous misquotation is a well-known phrase attributed to someone who, in fact, did not say it.
It may not be known how these phrases came about, but when possible their type of origin is noted in this way:
C A corruption or mistranslation of the original phrase, possibly accidental, which became better known than the original.
M A deliberate misquoting or made-up quote intended to discredit the alleged speaker.
A Attributed to a well-known person to improve the appearance of the phrase or the person.
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Famous misquotations of actual persons
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."("Je désapprouve ce que vous dites, mais je défendrai à la mort votre droit à le dire") — Voltaire A
This line comes from the book Friends of Voltaire (1907) by Beatrice Hall. It resembles the actual quote "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too," from Voltaire's Essay on Tolerance.
The original quote comes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions: "Finally, I recalled the make-shift of a great princess who was told that the peasants had no bread and who replied: ‘Let them eat brioche’. " ("Je me rappelai le pis-aller d’une grande princesse à qui l’on disait que les paysans n’avaient pas de pain, et qui répondit, qu’ils mangent de la brioche. "). He could not have been speaking of Marie-Antoinette, as she was 10 when he wrote this, and not yet born at the time of the incident. It has been speculated that he was actually referring to Maria Theresa of Spain or various other aristocrats, though no evidence has ever been offered for this; most likely it was his own invention. (Ask Yahoo, The Straight Dope)
"Houston, we have a problem." C
This is a misstatement of the actual communication between the Apollo 13 astronauts and Mission Control in Houston immediately after the explosion that aborted the intended mission. According to the transcript, (at 02 days, 07 hours, 55 minutes, 19 seconds), Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise starting a sentence "OK, Houston..." which was cut off by Commander Jim Lovell saying "I believe we've had a problem here.", followed fifteen seconds later by Lovell's "Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt."
"Football isn't a matter of life or death, it's much more important than that" — Bill Shankly C
The real quote was said by Liverpool F.C. manager Bill Shankly in 1981 on a Granada Television talk show called 'Live from Two' hosted by Shelley Rohde, and it was "Someone said 'football is more important than life and death to you' and I said 'Listen, it's more important than that'."
Actual quote uncertain. Variously, "If that guy has any way of making a mistake, he will" and "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way". Murphy's law has been purposely misrepresented and sometimes simply misinterpreted to mean "something will always go wrong" or "nothing will ever work perfectly". This is actually a statement of Sod's Law. Murphy's Law is really a design principle: if something can be done in more than one way (such as inserting a two-socket plug the wrong way around), somebody will eventually do it. The solution is to design defensively - if the plug is asymmetrical, it simply can't be plugged in the wrong way around. There is evidence that Murphy himself didn't mean it this way when he said it, for more details, read the complete article.
"The only two certainties in life are death and taxes" — Mark Twain C
Actual quote: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." Marx's intended meaning is subtler and less condemning than the misquote would suggest.
Actual quote is said to be "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead," though Sheridan denied ever saying it.
Actual quote: "For the love of money is the root of all evil" (King James Version) or "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (New International Version). The Vulgate translates as "Greed is the root of all evil."
"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" — Lord Acton C
Actual quote: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely".
Actual quote: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily"
"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." — Joseph Stalin M
This quote has popularly been attributed to Stalin but, at this stage, there is no clear evidence as to whether it is genuine or not.
Shakespeare in his play makes Caesar say these words ("And you, Brutus?") in Latin; a similar quote is mentioned by Suetonius, but in Greek ("καί σύ τέκνον?" meaning "Even you, my son?") rather than Latin.
Actual quote: "Well, actually, he forgot Poland." (about John Kerry)
Though widely attributed, no evidence has been found that Morrison said any such thing. The Local Government Chronicle offered a reward for anyone who could source the quote.
Actual quote: "We are the masters at the moment". This followed a quotation from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in which Alice observed that the question of definitions of words depended upon who was master.
"Crisis? What Crisis?" — was the headline in The Sun on January 11, 1979. Callaghan had been asked what his policy was in view of the 'mounting chaos' and replied "I promise you that if you look at it from outside, and perhaps you're taking rather a parochial view at the moment, I don't think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos."
"Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains." — Winston Churchill A
Carl Sagan insisted for years he never said it, as it was far too vague of an expression. The quote actually comes from Johnny Carson's impersonation of Carl Sagan. Chapter one of the book Billions & Billions is titled, "I Never Said It."
Innumerable newspapers and other publications have attributed this quote to the late Chinese leader. It's supposed to be Deng's exhortation to the Chinese people at the start of his reforms. However, no one has ever been able to find an original source of this. See this Los Angeles Times article by Evelyn Iritani.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." — Benjamin Franklin
One of several misquotes of a phrase commonly attributed to Franklin. The actual quote is "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." This quote may or may not have originated from Franklin.
see Those who would give up Essential Liberty,
"In the town/Where I was born/Lived a man/Who sailed the sea/And he told/Us of his life/In a yellow/Submarine." C — The Beatles' song Yellow Submarine
The correct lyrics are "In the town/Where I was born/Lived a man/Who sailed to sea/And he told/Us of his life/In the land/of submarines." Also, the word "I" is almost never pronounced in the same way as Ringo Starr did.
"Pride comes before a fall"
Actual quote: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." From the Book Of Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 18, The Bible, King James version.
"I have seen the future, and it works."
"I fear that all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve."
His actual quote, in the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, was "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?"
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong C
Many people believe this is a famous misquotation, but it's actually a famous misspoken statement. The actual statement that Armstrong spoke when he first set foot on the moon was, in fact, missing an a before man. Without the a, the words man and mankind are interchangeable, thus obscuring the contrast between the two clauses of Armstrong's intended statement. At the time, NASA attempted to explain the missing article as having been lost in the original transmission due to the limitations of the technology of the time, which led to the common, though false, belief that Armstrong has been misquoted. Explained at Snopes.com
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Famous misquotations of fictional persons
Actual quote: "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." Note that apart from the misquotation, the scene with the skull is wrongly and mostly remembered alongside with To be, or not to be monologue which occurs in a much earlier scene.
Actual quote: "All we want are the facts, ma'am." The famous quote comes from 1953 recording by satirist Stan Freberg - a recording called "St. George and the Dragonet", which was a Dragnet spoof.
Actual quote: "A man ought'a do what he thinks is best."
Actual quote used in Star Trek IV: "Scotty, beam me up.", although the misquote had been in circulation for years before that.
On the tv series, the expletive dammit was never uttered by McCoy preceding this phrase.
Actual quote: Ingrid Bergman's character Ilsa Lund said "Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By" first; later, Rick says "You played it for her, you can play it for me!" The phrase "Play it again, Sam" is the title of a Woody Allen movie about a man who's a huge fan of Casablanca.
Actual quote: "Mmm, that dirty, double-crossin' rat," in 1931's Blonde Crazy.
The complete phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" does not appear in any of the 60 Holmes stories written by Doyle. It does appear at the very end of the 1929 film, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
Actual quote: "No, I am your father."
Actual quote: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"
Actual quote: "...you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"
Actual quote: "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you."
Actual quote: "Good evening, Clarice."
Actual quote: "Why don't you come up some time, and see me?"
In I'm No Angel West's character says "Come up and see me sometime" * so this is not much of a misquotation.
Actual quote: "All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up."
"Get off your horse and drink your milk." — a character played by John Wayne. C
Never said in any of his movies.
What makes this corrupted quote of pop culture strange, is that Mr. Bill was the one who always said "Oh no!", thus it makes no sense that he'd address himself.
"Would you like to play a game?" — WOPR, through its "Joshua" program. C
Actual quote: "Shall we play a game?" - from the 1983 movie WarGames.
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See also
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