# Quotes wrongly attributed **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972 "2025-10-14T20:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/1 "2025-10-14T20:22:46Z")
Churchill never said “_“Don’t talk to me about Naval Tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash,”“_ but he did say he wished he did. Mark Twain, apparently never said _“Golf is a good walk spoiled”_, but the originator of that quote is disputed. Nor did he say “_“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”._ Anyone have more? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/2 "2025-10-14T20:49:19Z")
“Diplomacy is saying ‘nice doggy’ while you’re looking for a rock.” Not Will arogers ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/3 "2025-10-14T21:20:56Z")
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Mark Twain was wrong when he said Disraeli said it. So does that mean everybody on the Internet who says Twain originated it are right? ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/4 "2025-10-14T21:41:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Churchill never said “_“Don’t talk to me about Naval Tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash,”“_ but he did say he wished he did. Did he really say, “So all of you be damned, we can’t have heaven crammed”? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/5 "2025-10-14T21:49:51Z")
Gandhi never actually said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Nor, apparently, did he say, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” He may have said something like that though. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/6 "2025-10-14T23:45:16Z")
Good one- > **[Did Gandhi Say This About Christians?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/did-gandhi-say-this-about-christians/)** > > "Inspirational" quotes erroneously attributed to famous people are a common internet fixture. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/7 "2025-10-15T00:11:37Z")
Sherlock Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson”. Julius Caesar probably never said " and you Brutus?". Darth Vader never said “Luke, I am your father!”. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/8 "2025-10-15T00:17:18Z")
And, of course, Bogie never said “Play it again, Sam.” ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/9 "2025-10-15T00:17:56Z")
I believe that it is also wrongly attributed to Gandhi that, when asked about Western Civilization, he replied “I think it would be a very good idea.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/10 "2025-10-15T00:18:01Z")
Dr. Seuss never said “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/11 "2025-10-15T00:23:20Z")
John McCain never sang “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!” (He did get about three words in before trailing off.) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/U7s5pT3Rris/hqdefault.jpg "McCain Sings "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7s5pT3Rris) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/12 "2025-10-15T01:23:08Z")
I like the QuoteInvestigator site. I have contributed information to several of their articles. They have articles on several of the sayings listed in this thread. > **[Quote Origin: The Only Traditions of the Royal Navy Are Rum, Sodomy, and the...](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/05/28/navy-rum/)** > **[Quote Origin: Golf is a Good Walk Spoiled – Quote Investigator®](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/28/golf-good-walk/)** [https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/11/30/coldest-winter/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/11/30/coldest-winter/) > **[Quote Origin: Diplomacy Frequently Consists in Soothingly Saying “Nice...](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/12/18/diplomacy/)** > **[Quote Origin: There Are Three Kinds of Lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics...](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/06/22/lies-statistics/)** [https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/10/23/be-change/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/10/23/be-change/) > **[Dialogue Origin: “What’s Your Opinion of Civilization?” “It’s a Good Idea....](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/01/05/civilization/)** ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/13 "2025-10-15T03:48:15Z")
_“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”_ always seems to attributed to John Lennon in 1980. In fact it was coined at least 23 years earlier by Allen Saunders. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/14 "2025-10-15T15:24:54Z")
“Without the dark, we never see the stars” is not a quote from Edgar Allan Poe. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/15 "2025-10-15T15:32:40Z")
Samuel Beckett never said “There’s never an end for the sea.” ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/16 "2025-10-15T15:41:05Z")
At least there are still some quotes we can rely on as authentic [![](https://australianauto.com.au/cdn/shop/products/msi-2196_500x394.jpg?v=1682999106) ](https://australianauto.com.au/cdn/shop/products/msi-2196_500x394.jpg?v=1682999106) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/17 "2025-10-15T15:42:13Z")
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on.” Not Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/18 "2025-10-15T15:44:58Z")
The [Bullshit Asymmetry Principle](https://modelthinkers.com/mental-model/bullshit-asymmetry-principle) wasn’t actually created by Albert Einstein. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/19 "2025-10-15T16:18:38Z")
Einstein never said the “definition of insanity” quote either. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972/20 "2025-10-15T16:25:58Z")
I keep hearing “The blood of the Covenant is thicker than the water of the womb” is the original version of “Blood is thicker than water” but the first quote is more modern invention. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-wrongly-attributed/1023972.md?page=2)