Correctly Credited · misattribution archive

Misattributed quotations

These records document quotations whose popular attribution is not the best-supported attribution in the evidence currently published by RiseHush. Read the note and follow the sources before repeating a correction.

Records in this view24
Reviewed2026

Evidence desk

Read the record, then check the source

All records ↗
misattributedI mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.Martin Luther King Jr.Source note: An unnamed English teacher (2011 Facebook post)misattributedLadies and gentlemen of the class of 1997: Wear sunscreen.Kurt VonnegutSource note: Mary SchmichmisattributedBe the change you wish to see in the world.Mahatma GandhiThe exact wording is not established in the cited evidence; the closest Gandhi passage is reported by The New York Times.misattributedFirst they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win.Mahatma GandhiSource note: Nicholas KleinmisattributedThe ends justify the means.Niccolò MachiavelliNo exact occurrence located in The Prince; the traceable textual basis is the final-result discussion in chapter 18.misattributedOur deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.Nelson MandelaSource note: Marianne WilliamsonmisattributedFailure is not an option.Apollo 13 crewSource note: Apollo 13 screenwriters and later Gene Kranz titlemisattributedMe Tarzan. You Jane.TarzanNo occurrence located in the 1932 film; the phrase is a later popular summary.misattributedI want to suck your blood.Count DraculaNo occurrence located in the cited Dracula texts; the phrase is a later popular shorthand.misattributedIt's life, Jim, but not as we know it.SpockSource note: The FirmmisattributedBeam me up, Scotty.James T. KirkNo exact occurrence located in the original series; later shorthand condensed several real requests to Scotty.misattributedSometimes a cigar is just a cigar.Sigmund FreudNo secure Freud source established in the cited evidence; later twentieth-century circulation is documented.misattributedI disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.VoltaireSource note: S. G. TallentyremisattributedI cannot tell a lie.George WashingtonSource note: Mason Locke WeemsmisattributedIf you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best.Marilyn MonroeNo secure Monroe source established in the cited evidence; the exact internet-era circulation is later than Monroe's lifetime.misattributedWell-behaved women rarely make history.Marilyn MonroeSource note: Laurel Thatcher UlrichmisattributedHello, Clarice.Hannibal LecterNo exact occurrence located in the 1991 film; later popular shorthand.misattributedThe only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy, and the lash.Winston ChurchillSource note: Anthony Montague-BrownemisattributedThe British are coming!Paul RevereSource note: Henry Wadsworth LongfellowmisattributedThe only two certainties in life are death and taxes.Mark TwainSource note: Edward Ward or Christopher BullockmisattributedI have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.Mark TwainSource note: Clarence DarrowmisattributedDon't fire 'til you see the whites of their eyes.Andrew JacksonSource note: William Prescott, relayed by Israel PutnammisattributedI did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.Ginger RogersSource note: Unknown newspaper cartoonist; later repeated in popular culturemisattributedLet them eat cake!Marie AntoinetteSource note: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Editorial boundary

A public record is not a rights grant.

Wording can differ by translation, edition, transcript, and adaptation. Each entry shows the evidence currently held by RiseHush; it does not prove that a quotation is globally false or grant blanket rights to reuse it.

Read how this archive works ↗ Inspect the data ↗