![]() The adage itself dates back to Ovid’s Heroides, which was composed in 10 BCE. ![]() “The end justifies the means.”Īlthough this concept is introduced in Nicolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, the statement itself is never used. It was written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall a century later. However, Voltaire never said the above, his most famous quote. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “the best of all possible worlds,” you’ve heard it because Voltaire popularized the Leibniz adage in Candide, the philosopher’s attempt to theorize evil away. Voltaire was a brillian novelist and quote machine. “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” However, never one to let wit go unrecognized, reports state that Churchill later claimed he would have liked to have actually said it. Although the quote has long been sourced as one of Winston Churchill’s many famous phrases, it actually came from his assistant and private secretary, the quippy Sir Anthony Montague-Browne. “The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash.” In addition to how we know it, there’s another great version I like better: “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it burned in one.” 6. This phrase was adapted into English in the 16th century from a medieval French proverb, and there are a number of different versions that are floating around. So the Kardashians can rest a little easier tonight. The Bible suggests that money is a cause of evil – but hardly the only one. This quote comes from 6:10 of 1 Timothy and the full version is “The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.” It’s a pretty close adaptation but adds a definitiveness that the original is lacking. Just give them that b ball of yarn and they’ll be just fine. The popular version is again abridged from a longer statement: “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.” The last half of the phrase drastically changes it – because the cats get to live now. We need not wait to see what others do.” 3. ![]() What he actually said was: “As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. The phrase itself is a simplified idea from his works that boils down his words to a nice bumper sticker. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”Īccording to the New York Times, Gandhi himself never said this. ![]() For the full quote, you want to say, “Great minds think alike, small minds rarely differ” or “Great minds think alike, and fools seldom differ.” Same idea, different phrasing. This is actually a shortened version of a longer quote, of which there are two versions. In life, it turns out that there’s no phrase so great that you can’t totally butcher it. Here are 31 of the most famous misquotes in history, from the slightly altered to the completely changed. Or they find out they said something that they never said at all, which happened to George Carlin all the time. Gandhi didn’t tell you to “be the change” and Twain didn’t only believe in “death and taxes.” Sometimes quotes take on new lives after their authors’ deaths, changing from the original phrasing. However, some of the most famous quotes in history, from Gandhi to Mark Twain, aren’t what you think they are. Whether its a Facebook status or a bumper sticker, everyone loves a great quote. ![]()
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