These quotations were never spoken, at least in the way they are commonly cited, by these famous persons. Each one is explained in some detail in a post at the Christian Science Monitor.
10. "I can see Russia from my house!" – Sarah Palin
9. 'I invented the Internet.' – Al Gore
8. 'First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win.' - Mohandas Gandhi
7. "Let them eat cake." - Marie Antoinette
6. "Et tu, Brute?" - Julius Caesar
5. "I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people." –Dan Quayle
4. "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." – Josef Stalin
3. "The ends justify the means." – Niccolò Machiavelli
2. "To get rich is glorious." – Deng Xiaoping
1. "I am a jelly doughnut!" – John F. Kennedy
For more than a decade I have been interested in the quote misattributed to Gandhi.
ReplyDeleteI have thought it came from Humboldt but now believe that William James in 1896 stated:
"When a thing is new, people say: 'It is not true.' Later, when its truth becomes obvious, they say: 'It is not important.' Finally, when its importance cannot be denied, they say: 'Anyway, it is not new.'"
There is a treasure trove of quotes against excessive skepticism:
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/weird/skepquot.html
Enjoy.
Thanks Pietr.
ReplyDeleteActually, Al Gore never claimed he invented it. What he did take credit for was pushing the legislation to create the legal framework for commercializing the infrastructure that was already developed by DARPA.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
Ummm... that's what it says at the Christian Science Monitor link. That's why I included the link...
ReplyDeleteWhy bother reading an article, when you can pounce and show off your superior knowledge :)
ReplyDeleteBTW: Gandhi never said that either ;)
Or... we hope that it's not true and the gov't denies it. Then, the gov't doth protest too much and we fear that it may be at least a little true. Finally, once the dust has settled and the trail is cold, the gov't launches a 'full investigation' and finds nothing, and by then we all say, 'how can I care about what happened way back then when I am in such peril today?'
ReplyDeletePalin never made that statement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_can_see_Russia_from_my_house!)
ReplyDeleteI don't care what the CSM says.
Um... we all know that.
DeleteMy post says "these quotations were never spoken." CSM says "It was actually comedian Tina Fey, who was impersonating Ms. Palin on Saturday Night Live, who uttered the line that is now widely attributed to the former Alaska governor."