The ethics of deliberate misattribution

Red Bull gives you wings ? Bullshit !
Icarus

I don’t see the issue.

(I’ve been known to use “Thank heaven for little girls”–Humbert Humbert but people complained)

You have to be careful, it could go horribly wrong.
For example
“Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened”
wouldn’t sound as nice if Elie Wiesel said it.

Icarus, who drowned because of failed wings, is mocking the Red Bull’s slogan

Good Girls Go to Heaven. Bad Girls Go Everywhere "
Lolita

My phrase “Let them eat cake " was definitely half- baked … ”

  • Marie Antoinette

'Don’t bite off more than you can chew … "

  • Mike Tyson

I guess I’m the only one who misread the title thinking “misattribution” was, well, something else that has similar letters but means something completely different…

…which, of course, raises the question of whether Dorothy Parkrer, herself frequently given false credit, actually said that.

Wikiquotes says she did, and gives the source as Life 2 June 1927, p. 13, which gives me some confidence

No Paine, no gain … "

  • George Washington

Marriage is the dark side of the honeymoon … "
Marilyn Monroe

Scratch a lover, and find a foe … "
Marilyn’s proposed epitaph for herself

When it rains, it pours … "

  • Napoleon Bonaparte
    ( just as torrential rain set in for the night on June 18. 1815 in Waterloo )

I wish I could take a raincheck on June 18.1815 … "

  • Napoleon Bonaparte on St. Helena

I wish I remained undefeated rain or shine … "

  • Napoleon Bonaparte
    on St. Helena

“Après moi, le déluge” (“After me, the deluge") … "

  • Napoleon Bonaparte
    after Waterloo

“Après moi, de Waterloo ” (“After me, Waterloo ") … "

  • Napoleon Bonaparte
    proposed epitaph for himself

So maybe it does affect your eyesight after all. – Stevie Wonder

Assuming Waterloo is some sort of disaster caused by flooding toilets :dubious:, wouldn’t it be “Avant moi, le déluge”?