Guess Who Didn't Say it? Bonus Points for Knowing the True Story

[BobG]

The ground rules are to give a famous (or at least somewhat known) quote that really wasn't uttered, and definitely not uttered by the person it's attributed to.

That's important - that the quote wasn't really uttered by the person it's usually attributed to.

The object is to guess who the quote is usually attributed to. Bonus points for knowing the true story behind the quote.


Just to make the idea clear, I'll give the first quote (an incredibly easy one).

"Elementary, my dear Watson."

 

[drizzle]

Sherlock Holmes?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Play it again Sam.

 

[phinds]

Play it again Sam.

What Rick really said was "Play it Sam"

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

To arms, to arms, the British are coming.

 

[phinds]

To arms, to arms, the British are coming.

I think what Paul actually said was laced with obscenities so we can't print it here.

 

[BobG]

Sherlock Holmes?

Yes, but to get the bonus points, you had to name the story in which he didn't say it.

The closest he came to saying this was in the story, "The Crooked Man":

"I see that you are professionally rather busy just now," said he, glancing very keenly across at me.

"Yes, I've had a busy day," I answered. "It may seem very foolish in your eyes," I added, "but, really, I don't know how you deduced it."

Homes chuckled to himself.

"I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson," said he. "When your round is a short one, you walk, and when it is a long one, you use a hansom. As I perceive that your boots, although used, are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present busy enough to justify the hansom."

"Excellent!" I cried.

"Elementary," said he.

All the parts are there - just not in the same sentence.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

The world will end on Dec 21, 2012.

 

[drizzle]

The world will end on Dec 21, 2012.

 

[BobG]

To arms, to arms, the British are coming.

I think what Paul actually said was laced with obscenities so we can't print it here.

Longfellow didn't say this either, which kind of surprised me.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,---
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

He never actually says what the message was.


Newman Hall came close to saying it though:

To arms! To arms! ye soldiers,
The trumpet call obey!
Arise from dreary slumbers
To watch, and fight, and pray.

 

[SHISHKABOB]

Luke, I am your father.

 

[BobG]

Luke, I am your father.

Darth Vader. (He didn't use Luke's name, which certainly tempted Luke to respond: "You talkin' to me?!")

 

[BobG]

"Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt".

 

[lisab]

It is better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.

Spoiler

King Kong

Spoiler

hahaha

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

It is better to have loved and lost a short girl than to have never loved a tall.

 

[jedishrfu]

Veni, vidi, relinqui.

Spoiler

Caesar didn't say this because he won the battle

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

E = mc^2

Spoiler

What he actually wrote was
If a body gives off the energy L in the form of radiation, its mass diminishes
by L/V^2 (V was the symbol he used for c)

 

[zoobyshoe]

F=ma

Seriously, he never said it or wrote it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

"Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt".

I've seen this attributed to Mark Twain many times.

 

[BobG]

"Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt".

I've seen this attributed to Mark Twain many times.

It's most often attributed to Mark Twain... plus to Abraham Lincoln, Confuscious, George Eliot... and any of them could have said it in private conversation, or something very similar, but none of them said this in any of their published works.

Its source probably comes from this:

"Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding." -- Bible, 'Proverbs' 17:28

 

[jedishrfu]

On the early Civil War Winchester rifle:

That darn Yankee rifle that you load on Sunday and shoot all week long.

 

[micromass]

"Well, that escalated quickly"

 

[ImaLooser]

E = mc^2

Spoiler

What he actually wrote was
If a body gives off the energy L in the form of radiation, its mass diminishes
by L/V^2 (V was the symbol he used for c)

That's what he wrote in his 1905 paper. In 1929 he was quoted as saying conversion of much mass to energy was unrealistic. He did use E=mc^2 later.

 

[micromass]

"The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine."

 

[Ibix]

'Beam me up, Scotty'

 

[zoobyshoe]

This quote got misattributed to a famous man who quoted it in a speech:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. "

 

[BobG]

This quote got misattributed to a famous man who quoted it in a speech:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. "

Nelson Mandela. It doesn't surprise me that he wouldn't be the originator of the quote, since a famous person quoting a less famous person tends to link the quote to the person people remember (just like songs - how many people know the songwriter?). What surprises me is that he apparently never used this in a speech at all.

Who did say it? Marrianne Williamson in her book, "A Return to Love".

Williamson reveals how we each can become a miracle worker by accepting God and by the expression of love in our daily lives. Does that quote sound different based on who its attributed to and based on its context?

 

[BobG]

Okay, one that a famous politician actually did quote, even though the quote is not attributed to him (the politician also attributed it to the wrong person, which actually isn't surprising knowing the politician).

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

 

[lisab]

Who did say it? Marrianne Williamson in her book, "A Return to Love".

Williamson reveals how we each can become a miracle worker by accepting God and by the expression of love in our daily lives. Does that quote sound different based on who its attributed to and based on its context?

I can't believe I actually knew that! I read that book when I was pregnant, and I recall I was really moved by that exact quote, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." Even as an atheist I find it very inspiring.

 

[Borg]

"The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine."

As Abraham Lincoln once said, "People are often misquoted on the Internet."