Things Famous People Never Said

The most famous thing Abraham Lincoln never said is, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." If you scrounge around the Internet lyou can find out this is true, something I did several years ago.In his signature Hawkes Nightmare quotes Einstein saying, "Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not so sure about the former." To me it just didn't sound like Einstein. I searched the Internet for about an hour trying to find the source (this quote is very, very common) and was unsuccessful, but neither could I find any claims the quote was false.I'd like to use this thread for two purposes:

• List famous quotes that famous people never said.
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• List famous quotes that you suspect some famous person never said but you can't prove it.

--PercyEdited by Percy, : Grammar.

Would that include only real famous people, or do fictional ones (they get quoted too, you know) count as well?

While awaiting your reply, here's one I just thought of:Al Gore: "I invented the internets!"He never actually said this. What he said was that he took part in a commission that laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the internets. At least, that's how I remember it.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote."I think I saw this one pop up on a thread not so long ago. Whatever you think of the sentiments expresed, Ben Franklin never said it.

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I have no time for lies and fantasy, and neither should you. Enjoy or die.
-John Lydon

Hi Percy, nice thread.The founding fathers get a lot of this sort of thing. Here is a nice page of apparently unattributable "quotes", including this dubious offering allegedly from Jefferson;"Whosoever shall introduce into the public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world."and an equally suspicious one form Washington;"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."Yeah right!http://candst.tripod.com/tnppage/misqidx.htmMutate and SurviveEdited by Granny Magda, : No reason given.

Marie Antoinette: "Then let them eat cake!" Wiki-Meldinoor

I think that one could make an entire thread like this just from things David Barton has attributed to Washington, Jefferson, and their peers.I hope, but have no proof, that W.C. Fields really said, "Water? I never touch the stuff! Fish fuck in it!"

Hi Coragyps,You just gotta love WC Fields! A real one; "There's not a man in America that at one time or another hasn't had a secret desire to boot a child in the ass."There is a page on Snopes for more dubious quotations;Questionable Quotes Archives | Snopes.comMutate and Survive

Almost everything ever attributed to Winston Churchill. There's the famous 'He who is not left when young has no heart, and he who is not right when old has no brain', which has been said by all manner of people in one form or another - but there's no record of Churchill saying it. I remember reading that the original quote is from the time of the second French empire, and talks about being republican when young and monarchist when old, but I can't find it now.

Please tell me that he did reply to -"Winston, you're drunk!""Madam, you are ugly, but in the morning I will be sober"

I only looked at the first quote, but it's a doozy:Muhammad Ali to a stewardess on an airplane: "Superman don't need no seatbelt."Stewardess: "Superman don't need no airplane, either."I only looked at one quote because a single click brought up two ad pages, even though I have pop-ups disabled.--Percy

Hi Percy Yes, and this is becoming an increasing problem on many pages. The most annoying ones are the roll-downs that cover what you want to read until you click on them.I found on one computer that I erased all preapproved certificates by accident, and this was annoying when I had to go through the process of approving sites I wanted to see, but a benefit was that it disabled all the ads.Also check your advanced Java settings.Most certainly Al Gore did not invent the internet nor say that he did, but I am also astonished that he let the republicans get away with that canard, and I'm astonished that republicans did not use equally bad things he did say.Enjoy.

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No - that's what he did. What he said was:

quote:

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During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.

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Obviously he said a lot more than that ....

Hi, Huntard.The plural "internets" is something Dubya started. wiki

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-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)Darwin loves you.

P. T. Barnum never did say "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute."The full story is here.

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Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.