56 Misattributed Famous Quotes

In a world where words have the power to inspire, provoke thought, and shift perspectives, quotes have become a cherished part of our cultural tapestry. Yet, not all quotes are accurately credited to their rightful creators. Countless famous sayings have been misattributed over time, as they traverse the pages of history, lose their original source, and attach themselves to more renowned figures. This phenomenon unfolds an intriguing narrative of how words take on lives of their own, often gaining popularity due to their perceived association with influential personalities. Join us as we delve into this fascinating collection of 56 misattributed famous quotes, unraveling the truth behind their origins and providing clarity on who truly penned these timeless expressions.

1. “In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky — her grand old woods — her fertile fields — her beautiful rivers — her mighty lakes, and star-crowned mountains. But my rapture is soon checked, my joy is soon turned to mourning. When I remember that all is cursed with the infernal actions of slaveholding, robbery and wrong, — when I remember that with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are borne to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten, and that her most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters, I am filled with unutterable loathing.” - Frederick Douglass

2. “Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.” - Leo Tolstoy

3. “Gossip, as usual, was one-third right and two-thirds wrong.” - L.M. Montgomery

4. “If I am right, Thy grace impartStill in the right to stay;If I am wrong, O, teach my heartTo find that better way!” - Alexander Pope

5. “Can't it be stopped?" said Lina. She shifted around under her blanket, trying to find a place to sit where rocks weren't digging into her.Maybe it can be stopped at the beginning," Maddy said. "If someone sees what's happening and is brave enough to reverse the direction."Reverse the direction?"Yes, turn it around."How would you do that?"You'd do something good," said Maddy. "Or at least you'd keep yourself from doing something bad."But how could you?" said Lina. "When people have been mean to you, why would you want to be good to them?"You wouldn't want to," said Maddy. "That's what makes it hard. you do it anyway. Being good is hard. Much harder than being bad.” - Jeanne DuPrau

6. “This isn't right. This isn't even wrong.” - Wolfgang Pauli

7. “Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.” - Robert Bloch

8. “Had not enough gone wrong?” - Brom

9. “There is no right and wrong, and precepts are for fools. Every thing is just as it is! And we must experience things without condemning them, because if we condemn them, then we are becoming too involved.” - Ru Freeman

10. “Doing the right thing for someone else occasionally means doing something that feels wrong to you.” - Jodi Picoult

11. “The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creatures that cannot.” - Mark Twain

12. “Well, I'm stubborn and wrong, but at least I know it.” - Vanessa Carlton

13. “There's a hard life for every silver spoon.There's a touch of gray for every shade of blue.That's the way I see life.If there was nothing wrong...Then there'd be nothing right.” - Shinedown

14. “That's the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you're never wrong.” - Christopher Buckley

15. “It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.” - John Maynard Keynes

16. “It's sometimes funny to watch some people doing something the wrong way but doing it confidently. Even more funny, they succeeded.” - Toba Beta [Betelgeuse Incident]

17. “I can't help it. I'm just a big gasbag. I still got leftover barbeque gas." She squeezed her eyes shut tight and did a full minute-long far. "Excuse me," she said.” - Janet Evanovich

18. “Perhaps she was just looking for love in the wrong places. In all the safe places. What if love was not safe at all?” - Mary Balogh

19. “The Wrong we have Done, Thought, or Intended Will wreak its Vengeance onOur SOULS.” - Carl Gustav Jung

20. “Misconceptions play a prominent role in my view of the world.” - George Soros

21. “Good laws make it easier to do right and harder to do wrong.” - William Ewart Gladstone

22. “What's right isn't what's worked.” - Toba Beta

23. “There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil. ” - Ayn Rand

24. “Everybody is right when there are no wrongs.” - Santosh Kalwar

25. “I don't know,' he said irritably. 'Is it meant to improve you?'She swiveled toward him, eyes wide with shock.'Because nothing could,' he added. Her mouth dropped in astonishment. Blotchy scarlet rushed her complexion. One would have thought he'd shot her.Oh dear God!He realized belatedly how wrong it had sounded.'No! God... that is to say.. nothing is necessary to improve you. Nothing could possibly make you better... than you already are.” - Julie Anne Long

26. “in a constitutionally ordered state, where laws are derived from broad principles of right and wrong and where those principles are enshrined and protected by agreed upon procedures and practices, it can never be in the long-term interest of the state or its citizens to flout those procedures at home or associate too closely overseas with the enemies of your founding ideals.” - Tony Judt

27. “The world is full of men who want to be right, when actually the secret of a man's strength and his pathway to true honor is his ability to admit fault when he has failed. God wants to fill the church with men who can say they are wrong when THEY ARE WRONG. A man who is willing to humble himself before God and his family and say:"I was wrong." will find that his family has all the confidence in the world in him and will much more readily follow him. If he stubbornly refuses to repent or admit he was wrong, their confidence in him and in his leadership erodes.” - Jim Anderson

28. “Doing what is right will always keep you moving forward toward your destiny, but choosing the wrong way will keep you stuck in the same spot:No Where!-Anita R. Sneed-Carter” - Anita R. Sneed-Carter

29. “This singularity of meaning--I was my face, I was ugliness--though sometimes unbearable, also offered a possible point of escape. It became the launching pad from which to lift off, the one immediately recognizable place to point to when asked what was wrong with my life. Everything led to it, everything receded from it--my face as personal vanishing point.” - Lucy Grealy

30. “Divinity for the sake of the simple-minded is beautiful. Those theological assertions you write, say, or live by that you later feel foolish about, it means God still lives in you enough to tell you that they were indeed foolish. By mistakes you know you are alive.” - Criss Jami

31. “The last thing I heard before falling asleep was, "Everything is okay now."No matter how much I wanted to believe Stellan, I knew he was terribly wrong.” - Markelle Grabo

32. “Being democratic is not enough, a majority cannot turn what is wrong into right. In order to be considered truly free, countries must also have a deep love of liberty and an abiding respect for the rule of law.” - Margaret Thatcher

33. “Lying's wrong, but when the world spins backwards, a small wrong may be a big right.” - David Mitchell

34. “Beethoven said that it's better to hit the wrong note confidently, than hit the right note unconfidently. Never be afraid to be wrong or to embarrass yourself; we are all students in this life, and there is always something more to learn.” - Mike Norton

35. “What's wrong with people?" she says, almost too quiet for me to hear. "Were they born with parts missing or did it fall out somewhere along the way?” - Isaac Marion

36. “I'm too old to figure out the rights and wrongs of everything.” - Barbara Else

37. “Sometimes it's right to do the wrong thing.” - Finian Whish

38. “There is no wrong time to do the right thing.” - Charles M. Blow

39. “Sensible men are all of the same religion. Religious sentiments cannot be stirred up within righteous people of any religion for instigating them to do wrong to their own or fellow brethrens”.” - Dr. Amit Abraham

40. “Being sad with the right people is better than being happy with the wrong ones.” - Philippos

41. “Anyone who ever bet against you was wrong. Don’t let their opinion blind you from your reality. You were not meant to live their life; LIVE yours!” - Steve Maraboli

42. “Being over there changes a man. Right and wrong don't look so different anymore to some.” - M.L. Stedman

43. “I wonder where you got that idea from? I mean, the idea that it's feeble to change your mind once it's made up. That's a wrong idea, you know. Make up your mind about things, by all means - but if something happens to show that you are wrong, then it is feeble not to change your mind, Elizabeth. Only the strongest people have the pluck to change their minds, and say so, if they see they have been wrong in their ideas.” - Enid Blyton

44. “He's wrong he's so he's so wrong he's more wrong than an upside-down rainbow.” - Tahereh Mafi

45. “I find there are usually no extremes in relationships, even friendship. One is not always right or never wrong.” - Boone Brux

46. “И разбирам колко много нежност разпилях, но не по който трябва.” - Камелия Кондова

47. “Life is like defusing a bomb, once you cut the wrong wire your whole life is ruined.” - Mohamed Zahy Hussain

48. “Just because it's something original, eccentric or you're not used to it; doesn't mean it's wrong.” - Sandra Chami Kassis

49. “If you lose a man because you thought the best but were all wrong, then that's his fault. If you lose him because you thought the very worst and were wrong, then that's yours. And there's nothing so sad as missing out on love for lack of a little faith.” - Jennifer Blake

50. “I don’t like seeing you hit.”“Well, to be quite honest, I don’t like being hit unless it’s by you.” As soon as it was out of my mouth, I realized what I had said. “That sounded all sorts of wrong.”“Insanely so, actually.”“To be clear,” I said to any overhearing ears, “I hit him back--”“Hard.”“It’s a very give-and-take, non-abuse type hitting situation…”The sides of Liam’s mouth folded up like an accordion. “You should probably stop now.”“I’m trying. My mouth keeps moving of its own accord.” - Tammy Blackwell

51. “… you were so worried about legal and illegal that you never stopped to think about whether it was right or wrong.” - Terry Pratchett

52. “How can you say that so casually? You're talking about the possible death of hundreds of people, yourself included."He gave a negligent shrug. "Wrong place, wrong time. Life sucks.” - shannon k. butcher

53. “Finding the right one is never easy. Especially, when the wrong one looks so right.” - Hanifa Johnson

54. “Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.” - Democritus

55. “If I ever have to cast an acting role, I want the wrong person for the part. I can never visualize the right person in a part. The right person for the right part would be too much. Besides, no person is every completely right for any part, because part in a role is never real, so if you can't get someone who's perfectly right, it's more satisfying to get someone who's perfectly wrong. Then you know you've really got something.” - Andy Warhol

56. “Right and wrong are very complicated; sometimes I get confused which one to follow.” - M.F. Moonzajer