Recently added

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), Chapter 16 (Through the Trapdoor), said by Hermione Granger.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), Chapter 17 (The Man with Two Faces), said by Albus Dumbledore.

J. K. Rowling, J. K. Rowling, The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination, Harvard University commencement address, 5 June 2008; text published by the Harvard Gazette, Harvard commencement address, 5 June 2008, paragraph beginning You might never fail on the scale I did.

J. K. Rowling, J. K. Rowling, The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination, Harvard University commencement address, 5 June 2008; text published by the Harvard Gazette, Harvard commencement address, 5 June 2008, section on the benefits of failure.

J. K. Rowling, J. K. Rowling, The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination, Harvard University commencement address, 5 June 2008; text published by the Harvard Gazette, Harvard commencement address, 5 June 2008, conclusion of the section on imagination.

Not found. Credited to J. K. Rowling. It is not in Rowling’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Mahatma Gandhi, Articles in Indian Opinion, Young India and Harijan (1931), Statement to the Press, Delhi, 5 March 1931; Young India, 12 March 1931, p. 31; Collected Works, vol. XLV, item 325, p. 253.

Mahatma Gandhi, Articles in Indian Opinion, Young India and Harijan (1931), The Giant and the Dwarf, Young India, 26 March 1931; Collected Works, vol. XLV, item 397, p. 343.

Misattributed. Credited to Mahatma Gandhi. A. J. Muste wrote it, not Gandhi.

Paraphrase. Credited to Mahatma Gandhi. The idea is in Articles in Indian Opinion, Young India and Harijan (1922), The Immediate Issue, Young India, 5 January 1922, p. 5; Collected Works, vol. XXII, item 65, p. 143.

Paraphrase. Credited to Mahatma Gandhi. The idea is in Articles in Indian Opinion, Young India and Harijan (1931), Interview to Unemployed Workers’ Deputation, West Bradford, 27 September 1931; reported in Young India, 15 October 1931; Collected Works, vol. XLVIII, item 51, p. 74.

Elbert Hubbard, Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great (1894), Volume 10, To the Homes of Great Teachers (Memorial Edition, 1916), ‘Thomas Arnold’, opening paragraph.

Elbert Hubbard, Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great (1894), Volume 10, To the Homes of Great Teachers (Memorial Edition, 1916), ‘Friedrich Froebel’, discussion of the young ‘school-mothers’.

Elbert Hubbard, Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great (1894), Volume 10, To the Homes of Great Teachers (Memorial Edition, 1916), ‘Plato’, final paragraph.

Misattributed. Credited to Elbert Hubbard. Robert Burns Wilson wrote it, not Hubbard.

Bernard Baruch, Associated Press, “Baruch Upholds U.S. Atom Plan; Hits at Wallace”, dateline 8 October 1946, in The Galveston Daily News, 9 October 1946, Remarks reported in an Associated Press article of 8 October 1946, “Baruch Upholds U.S. Atom Plan; Hits at Wallace”.

Bernard Baruch, Bernard Baruch, speech to the South Carolina House of Representatives, Columbia, 16 April 1947; Journal of the House of Representatives of the First Session of the 87th General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, 1947, p. 1085, Speech to the South Carolina House of Representatives, Columbia, 16 April 1947.

Not found. Credited to Bernard Baruch. Told first of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1959); Baruch’s memoir mentions the shoeshine boy but not as his signal.

Misattributed. Credited to C. S. Lewis. Not a sentence by Lewis. It is attributed to Reepicheep in the 2010 film adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, whose screenplay has three credited writers.

Misattributed. Credited to C. S. Lewis. Not a Lewis quotation. Rick Warren uses it, but closely related printed forms predate his 2002 book; the original coiner is not established.

Misattributed. Credited to C. S. Lewis. Not Lewis’s words. A related formulation was credited to George MacDonald in 1892, but authorship of the exact modern wording and its route to Lewis remain unresolved.

Epicurus, Principal Doctrines (270 BC), Principal Doctrines 5 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.140); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, as Sovran Maxims.

Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus (270 BC), letter to Menoeceus, sections 134–135 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.134–135); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925.

Epicurus, Principal Doctrines (270 BC), Principal Doctrines 31 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.150); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, as Sovran Maxims.

Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus (270 BC), letter to Menoeceus, section 132 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.132); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925.

Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus (270 BC), letter to Menoeceus, section 130 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.130); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925.

Epicurus, Principal Doctrines (270 BC), Principal Doctrines 12 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.143); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, as Sovran Maxims.

Mae West, I’m No Angel (1933), Tira’s early conversation with the visitor who introduces himself as Ernest Brown, following his boast about travel, said by Tira.

Mae West, She Done Him Wrong (1933), Lady Lou’s introduction to Serge Stanieff, after he says he has heard much about her, said by Lady Lou.

Not found. Credited to Mae West. The saying predates the documented credits to Mae West. No primary source for her own use was established here; the attribution remains unsubstantiated.

André Gide, Fruits of the Earth (1897), Livre II, said by the lyrical narrator.

André Gide, Fruits of the Earth (1897), Livre IV, section I, said by Ménalque.

Misattributed. Credited to André Gide. No reliable Gide source is established. The saying is tentatively traced to Jacques de Biez, quoted by W. C. Brownell in 1889.

Maya Angelou, Michael Limnios, “Interview with Dr. Maya Angelou, a muse who captivates audiences through the sheer beauty of her words,” Blues.Gr, 1 June 2013, Answer about changing the world and people’s minds, interview published 1 June 2013.

Maya Angelou, Melissa Kansky, “Q&A: Maya Angelou on teaching and giving,” Elon News Network, 27 September 2012, Answer to the question about the best advice she had ever received, published 27 September 2012.

Not found. Credited to Maya Angelou. No primary Maya Angelou source is established. The earliest printing traced by researchers is Vicki Corona’s 1989 dance booklet, but Corona herself was unsure whether she originated the wording.

Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe interviewed by Richard Meryman, LIFE (1962), authorized edited reprint in The Guardian, Great interviews of the 20th century (September 2007), Richard Meryman interview for LIFE (1962), as reprinted in September 2007.

Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe interviewed by Richard Meryman, LIFE (1962), authorized edited reprint in The Guardian, Great interviews of the 20th century (September 2007), Richard Meryman interview for LIFE (1962), as reprinted in September 2007.

Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe interviewed by Richard Meryman, LIFE (1962), full-interview transcription published by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, Richard Meryman interview for LIFE (1962), paragraph on fame as a temporary happiness.

Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe interviewed by Richard Meryman, LIFE (1962), authorized edited reprint in The Guardian, Great interviews of the 20th century (September 2007), Richard Meryman interview for LIFE (1962), as reprinted in September 2007.

Not found. Credited to Marilyn Monroe. It is not in Monroe’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Marilyn Monroe. It is not in Monroe’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Albert Einstein. The saying was attributed to Einstein in notes dated 1942, but no original Einstein source has been established; the attribution remains unverified.

Misattributed. Credited to Albert Einstein. Ernest Kinoy wrote this for a fictional Einstein in Dr. Einstein Before Lunch; it is not a documented quotation from the physicist.

Misattributed. Credited to Albert Einstein. This wording developed from Bob Samples’s commentary on Einstein; no documented Einstein source supports treating it as the physicist’s own words.

Albert Camus, Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; official French transcript on NobelPrize.org, copyright Éditions Gallimard, Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph beginning Le rôle de l’écrivain.

Albert Camus, The Stranger (1942), Opening sentence (incipit), said by Meursault.

Albert Camus, Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; official French transcript on NobelPrize.org, copyright Éditions Gallimard, Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph beginning Je ne puis vivre personnellement sans mon art.

Misattributed. Credited to Albert Camus. Not a sourced Camus quotation. A closely matching sentence is documented in Albert G. Dietrich’s 1943 letter; how it became the short saying credited to Camus is unresolved.

Paraphrase. Credited to Henry David Thoreau. The idea is in Walden (1854), Economy.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 2 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 3 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 1, chapter 18 (“Old and Young Women”, Von alten und jungen Weiblein), said by an old woman.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 5 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

Naval Ravikant, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (2020), “Every Desire Is a Chosen Unhappiness”, paragraph beginning “Desire is a contract” (online edition).

Naval Ravikant, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (2020), “Find a Position of Leverage”, displayed aphorism before the real-estate example (online edition).

Naval Ravikant, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (2020), “Find a Position of Leverage”, displayed aphorism beginning “Forty hour work weeks” (online edition).

Naval Ravikant, How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) (2018), “Work As Hard As You Can”, subsection “Impatience with actions, patience with results”.

Naval Ravikant, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (2020), “Find a Position of Leverage”, paragraph beginning “Learn to sell” (online edition).

Naval Ravikant, How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) (2018), “Read What You Love Until You Love to Read”, Naval’s first answer, paragraph introducing the omitted tweet.

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), Act II, Gwendolen and Cecily comparing their engagements, said by Gwendolen Fairfax.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Preface.

Oscar Wilde, Intentions (1891), The Critic as Artist, Part I (With Some Remarks upon the Importance of Doing Nothing), Gilbert and Ernest on Greek criticism, said by Gilbert.

Oscar Wilde, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories (1891), The Sphinx Without a Secret, opening conversation at the Café de la Paix, said by the unnamed first-person narrator.

Not found. Credited to Oscar Wilde. No source in Wilde has been established. A close form was printed in Walter Winchell’s column in 1955, credited to Jimmy Nelson; the early history here rests on Wikiquote, not directly inspected newspaper pages.

Paraphrase. Credited to Oscar Wilde. The idea is in Miscellanies (1908), Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (The Chameleon, December 1894), collected in Miscellanies.

Chuck Palahniuk, Choke (2001), Publisher’s excerpt, reflection following Miss Lacey’s remark about James Bond and sex addiction, said by Victor Mancini.

Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3, while Streator builds a model house amid his neighbors’ noise, said by Carl Streator.

Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby (2002), Chapter 1, opening sentence, said by Carl Streator.

Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3, after the miniature house is finished and illuminated, said by Carl Streator.

Chuck Palahniuk, Haunted (2005), Chapter 1, bus journey to the writers’ retreat, said by Mr. Whittier.

Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter V, ‘The Twins Thrill Dawson’s Landing’, first epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson.

Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897), Chapter LXI, epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson.

Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter X, ‘The Nymph Revealed’, second epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson.

Misattributed. Credited to Mark Twain. The earliest close version located is in Maurice Switzer’s 1907 book; he is the leading candidate, not a certain inventor. No reliable Twain source is known.

Not found. Credited to Mark Twain. There is no reliable Twain source. Versions with truth pulling on boots predate his birth; the modern shoes wording has no established author.

Not found. Credited to Mark Twain. No reliable Twain source is known. A close unsigned version appeared in 1914; the first Twain attribution located by Quote Investigator is from 1945.

Fernando Pessoa, The Keeper of Sheep (1925), O Guardador de Rebanhos, poem beginning “Da minha aldeia vejo quanto da terra”, first stanza, final two lines, said by Alberto Caeiro.

Fernando Pessoa, Tobacco Shop (1933), Tabacaria, parenthetical passage beginning “Come chocolates, pequena”, lines beginning “Olha que não há mais metafísica” through “Pudesse eu comer chocolates”, said by Álvaro de Campos.

Fernando Pessoa, Message (1934), Mensagem, Second part, Mar Portuguez; poem X, “Mar Portuguez”, first stanza (1934 edition, p. 64).

Fernando Pessoa, The Keeper of Sheep (1925), O Guardador de Rebanhos, poem beginning “O mistério das cousas, onde está ele?”, passage beginning “Porque o único sentido oculto”, said by Alberto Caeiro.

Fernando Pessoa, The Keeper of Sheep (1925), O Guardador de Rebanhos, poem beginning “O meu olhar é nítido como um girassol”, stanza beginning “O mundo não se fez”, said by Alberto Caeiro.

Fernando Pessoa, Odes (1924), Ricardo Reis, ode beginning “Para ser grande, sê inteiro”, all six lines; dated 14 February 1933, said by Ricardo Reis.

Paraphrase. Credited to Marcus Aurelius. The idea is in Meditations (180), Book 8, section 47 (opening).

Paraphrase. Credited to Marcus Aurelius. The idea is in Meditations (180), Book 6, section 54.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 17 (concluding sentence); George Long translation, chapter XVII.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 33.9; George Long translation, chapter XXXIII, paragraph beginning “If a man has reported to you”.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 20 (first two sentences); George Long translation, chapter XX.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 21; George Long translation, chapter XXI.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 11 (opening sentence); George Long translation, chapter XI.

Misattributed. Credited to Epictetus. The wording is credited by attribution research to Sharon Lebell’s modern interpretation of Epictetus, not to a literal passage in his surviving works; the book citation remains secondary here.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (330 BC), Book IX, chapter 4 (1166a31, chapter IV in D. P. Chase).

Paraphrase. Credited to Aristotle. The idea is in Nicomachean Ethics (330 BC), Book I, chapter 10 in the Bywater/Greek division (1100b; chapter VIII in D. P. Chase).

Paraphrase. Credited to Aristotle. The idea is in Nicomachean Ethics (330 BC), Book II, chapter 9 (1109a, chapter IX in D. P. Chase).

Robert Frost, Mountain Interval (1916), ‘Birches’, near the close, after the speaker’s wish to leave earth and return; collected in Mountain Interval (1916), said by the poem’s adult lyric speaker.

Robert Frost, North of Boston (1914), ‘The Death of the Hired Man’, Warren and Mary’s discussion of home after Mary says Silas has returned to die, said by Warren.

Robert Frost, A Boy’s Will (1913), ‘The Tuft of Flowers’, final couplet, said by the first-person field worker.

Robert Frost, New Hampshire (1923), ‘Fire and Ice’, opening two lines; later collected in New Hampshire (1923), said by the poem’s lyric speaker.

Robert Frost, A Boy’s Will (1913), ‘Mowing’, penultimate line (line 13), said by the poem’s first-person mower.

Robert Frost, Mountain Interval (1916), ‘Hyla Brook’, final line (line 15), said by the poem’s lyric speaker.

Steve Jobs, Rob Walker, “The Guts of a New Machine”, The New York Times Magazine, 30 November 2003 (“Consumed” column), Paragraph beginning “Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like”.

Steve Jobs, “Steve Jobs: ‘There’s Sanity Returning’”, Q&A with Andy Reinhardt, Business Week, 25 May 1998 (extended online version, Bloomberg Businessweek), Answer to “Did you do consumer research on the iMac when you were developing it?”.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007), Chapter 35 (“King’s Cross”), said by Albus Dumbledore.

J. K. Rowling, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter novels (book and chapter not confirmed); sentence as republished by the official Harry Potter website in 16 pearls of wisdom from Professor Dumbledore (22 September 2015), said by Albus Dumbledore.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), Chapter 36 (“The Parting of the Ways”), said by Albus Dumbledore.

Not found. Credited to Mahatma Gandhi. It is not in Gandhi’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Mahatma Gandhi. It is not in Gandhi’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Frank Zappa, Batya Friedman and Steve Lyons, ‘Revolt Against Mediocrity’, The Progressive, November 1986, ‘Revolt Against Mediocrity’, The Progressive, November 1986, answer about the composer’s function in society.

Frank Zappa, Bob Marshall, Frank Zappa interview, 21–22 October 1988, Bob Marshall interview, 21–22 October 1988, opening answer; further explanation later in the interview.

Frank Zappa, D. Housing, ‘Zappa Comes Clean’, Berkeley Barb, 27 March–2 April 1980, D. Housing, ‘Zappa Comes Clean’, Berkeley Barb, 27 March–2 April 1980; exchange about truth, fear and getting back to work.

Not found. Credited to Frank Zappa. It is not in Zappa’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Paraphrase. Credited to Frank Zappa. The idea is in Jim Ladd, ‘Zappa On Air’, Nuggets, April 1977.

Paraphrase. Credited to Frank Zappa. The idea is in D. Housing, ‘Zappa Comes Clean’, Berkeley Barb, 27 March–2 April 1980.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay VI, “Friendship”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay II, “Self-Reliance”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay II, “Self-Reliance”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay X, “Circles”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay II, “Self-Reliance”.

Misattributed. Credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Henry Stanley Haskins wrote it, not Emerson.

Elbert Hubbard, A Message to Garcia (1899), ‘Horse Sense’, prefatory material in the 1914 edition of A Message to Garcia.

Elbert Hubbard, Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great (1894), To the Homes of Great Teachers, ‘Booker T. Washington’ (Memorial Edition, 1916), p. 207.

Not found. Credited to Elbert Hubbard. This wording is credited to Hubbard in a later quotation collection, but no checked Hubbard text establishes it. Related sayings circulated earlier; the exact wording’s author remains uncertain.

Misattributed. Credited to C. S. Lewis. William Nicholson wrote it for Shadowlands. Nicholson himself says the film line was never said by C. S. Lewis.

Misattributed. Credited to C. S. Lewis. This rewords dialogue by William Nicholson in Shadowlands. It is neither an exact film transcript nor a documented sentence by C. S. Lewis.

Bernard Baruch, Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (the Baruch Plan) (1946), Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, 14 June 1946; paragraph after “Let this be anchored in our minds” and before the discussion of ethics and physics.

Bernard Baruch, Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (the Baruch Plan) (1946), Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, 14 June 1946; opening paragraph beginning “Behind the black portent of the new atomic age”.

Not found. Credited to Bernard Baruch. No primary source establishes this as Baruch’s saying. The proverb predates its documented 1980 credit to him, and its original speaker remains uncertain.

Seneca the Younger, On the Shortness of Life (49), Chapter 9, section 1 (De Brevitate Vitae 9.1).

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book III, line 971; Leonard, Book III, “Folly of the Fear of Death”.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book II, lines 1–4; Leonard, Book II, opening.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book IV, lines 1133–1134; Leonard, Book IV, “The Passion of Love”.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 62–67; Leonard, Book I, “Praise of Epicurus”.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book II, lines 7–10; Leonard, Book II, opening.

Paraphrase. Credited to Lucretius. The idea is in On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book II, lines 77–79; Leonard, Book II, “Eternal Motion of Atoms” (the passage on replenishment of the sum of things).

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963), 16 April 1963; paragraph beginning I must make two honest confessions to you.

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963), 16 April 1963; paragraph on the misconception that time itself cures injustice.

Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love (1963), Chapter III, On Being a Good Neighbor; passage on dangerous altruism.

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963), 16 April 1963; paragraph beginning For years now I have heard the word Wait.

Not found. Credited to Martin Luther King Jr.. The exact wording is unverified, not proved fake. Its evidence comes from Marian Wright Edelman’s posthumous recollections of King, first located by Quote Investigator in 1986, rather than a contemporary King text or recording.

Not found. Credited to Martin Luther King Jr.. This exact wording has not been authenticated as King’s. Clinton credited it to him in a speech on 30 April 2000, and it resembles King’s documented arguments about moral courage, but resemblance does not establish the words.

Mae West, I’m No Angel (1933), Tira answers reporters after the breach-of-promise suit is settled; approximately 01:23:35 in the copy indexed by Clip.Cafe, said by Tira.

Mae West, She Done Him Wrong (1933), Lady Lou reassures Sally Glynn; approximately 00:16:46 in the copy indexed by Clip.Cafe, said by Lady Lou.

André Gide, André Gide, Ainsi soit-il ou Les Jeux sont faits (first published Paris: Gallimard, 1952), Bibliothèque numérique romande e-book, May 2022, Ainsi soit-il ou Les Jeux sont faits, passage containing « croyez ceux qui cherchent la vérité »; BNR e-book, page 172/222.

André Gide, André Gide, Le Traité du Narcisse (Théorie du symbole), opening paragraphs; French transcription on Wikisource, Le Traité du Narcisse (Théorie du symbole), opening discussion of the myth of Narcissus, immediately before the retelling.

André Gide, Fruits of the Earth (1897), Livre I, section I, said by the lyrical narrator.

André Gide, Fruits of the Earth (1897), Livre I, section I, said by the lyrical narrator.

André Gide, Fruits of the Earth (1897), Envoi, opening, said by the lyrical narrator.

André Gide, André Gide, Les Nouvelles Nourritures (1935), Livre premier, I; French e-text headed Les Nouvelles Nourritures terrestres, Ebooks libres et gratuits, Les Nouvelles Nourritures, Livre premier, I, paragraph immediately before « Rencontres », said by the first-person lyrical narrator.

Maya Angelou, Maya Angelou, “America’s Renaissance Woman,” Academy of Achievement, published interview transcript, headed High Point, North Carolina, January 22, 1997, Academy of Achievement interview, opening answer about Martin Luther King Jr..

Maya Angelou, Marianne Schnall, “Conversation with Maya Angelou,” Feminist.com, interview dated 12/10/08, Interview with Marianne Schnall, answer about discovering who we are through setbacks.

Misattributed. Credited to Maya Angelou. An earlier version was credited only to a contributor aged 52 in H. Jackson Brown Jr.’s 1991 compilation; Quote Investigator traces the Angelou credit to a later circulating message.

Not found. Credited to Aristotle. No source has been found for this sentence in Aristotle. It resembles the Delphic “know thyself”, but its wording and earliest printing remain untraced; related Aristotelian passages are not the same quotation.

Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, Marilyn Lets Her Hair Down About Being Famous, LIFE, 3 August 1962; full interview transcription published by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, Richard Meryman interview, LIFE, 3 August 1962; opening clause of the paragraph about creativity and an actor’s humanity.

Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, Marilyn Lets Her Hair Down About Being Famous, LIFE, 3 August 1962; full interview transcription published by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, Richard Meryman interview, LIFE, 3 August 1962; final paragraph of the published interview.

Marilyn Monroe, Pete Martin, The New Marilyn Monroe, part one, The Saturday Evening Post, 5 May 1956; republished by the magazine in April 2016, Pete Martin, The New Marilyn Monroe, part one, 5 May 1956; anecdote from a member of the Fox legal staff.

Marilyn Monroe, Pete Martin, The New Marilyn Monroe, part two: Here She Talks About Herself, The Saturday Evening Post, 12 May 1956; republished by the magazine in April 2016, Pete Martin, The New Marilyn Monroe, part two, 12 May 1956; Monroe’s explanation of her bedtime remark.

Misattributed. Credited to Marilyn Monroe. The sources checked credit this remark to Clara Bow, speaking about Marilyn Monroe, not to Monroe herself. The original Bow document has not been inspected here.

Not found. Credited to Marilyn Monroe. No authenticated Marilyn Monroe source was located. A 2006 newspaper already credits the maxim to her, but its authorship and first attribution remain unresolved.

Albert Camus, Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; French text published by NobelPrize.org (copyright Éditions Gallimard), Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph beginning with Camus’s generation.

Albert Camus, Albert Camus, speech at the Nobel Banquet, Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 1957; French text published by NobelPrize.org (copyright Éditions Gallimard), Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1957; paragraph on the two commitments of the writer’s craft.

Paraphrase. Credited to Albert Camus. The idea is in Albert Camus, Le Malentendu, Act II, scene 1; in Le Malentendu suivi de Caligula. Nouvelles versions (Paris: Gallimard, 1958), digitally transcribed by Jean-Marie Tremblay for Les Classiques des sciences sociales, 2010, corrected 2011; mirror PDF, digital transcription p. 77, said by Jan.

Charles Bukowski, The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship (1998), Journal entry of 28 August 1991, 11:28 PM, final paragraph.

Not found. Credited to Charles Bukowski. The broad sentence has not been traced to a Bukowski source. A related 1989 interview remark concerns writers, while Russell expressed a similar thought in 1933; how the internet wording arose remains uncertain.

Paraphrase. Credited to Carl Gustav Jung. The idea is in C. G. Jung, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, trans. R. F. C. Hull, Collected Works vol. 9 part II (Bollingen Series XX; New York: Pantheon / Bollingen Foundation, 1959), ch. V ‘Christ, a Symbol of the Self’. German original: Aion: Untersuchungen zur Symbolgeschichte (Psychologische Abhandlungen VIII, Zürich: Rascher, 1951). Hull’s translation is in copyright; only the one sentence is quoted here, p. 70.

William W. Purkey, Robert M. Markham and Paul Shelly, Coming from Behind: A “Catch-up” Philosophy in Education. The Story of Carver Middle School (Meridian Public School District, October 1996), opening poster What is a Student?; ERIC ED402071, What is a Student? poster, reproduced in Coming from Behind (October 1996), PDF page 3.

William W. Purkey, William Watson Purkey and John Michael Novak, An Introduction to Invitational Theory, September 2015, An Introduction to Invitational Theory (September 2015), p. 3, Optimism.

William W. Purkey, William Watson Purkey, What Is Invitational Education and How Does It Work?, conference paper; ERIC ED334488, What Is Invitational Education and How Does It Work?, People subsection, printed p. 7 (PDF page 8).

William W. Purkey, William Watson Purkey, What Is Invitational Education and How Does It Work?, conference paper; ERIC ED334488, What Is Invitational Education and How Does It Work?, Basic Assumptions of Invitational Education, Optimism (PDF page 3).

Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), A letter of October 1991 (the party at Bob’s and the drive through the tunnel; date line not read), the last line, p. 42, said by Charlie.

Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), letter of October 1991 (the party at Bob’s), Patrick to Charlie, about p. 39, said by Patrick.

Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), letter of October 6, 1991, in Bill’s talk with Charlie, just before ‘we accept the love we think we deserve’ (about p. 26–27; letter and page inferred, the page itself not read), said by Bill.

Paraphrase. Credited to Stephen Chbosky. The idea is in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), Last letter, August 23, 1992 (placement inside the letter inferred, see checked), said by Charlie.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), Chapter 1, “Economy”.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), Chapter 2, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), Chapter 18, “Conclusion”.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), Chapter 18, “Conclusion”.

Not found. Credited to Henry David Thoreau. It is not in Thoreau’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Paraphrase. Credited to Henry David Thoreau. The idea is in Walden (1854), Chapter 18, “Conclusion”.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 5 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, section 4 (Zarathustra’s Prologue, Zarathustras Vorrede), said by Zarathustra.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 1, chapter 7 (“Reading and Writing”, Vom Lesen und Schreiben), said by Zarathustra.

Not found. Credited to Friedrich Nietzsche. It is not in Nietzsche’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Friedrich Nietzsche. Rudyard Kipling wrote it, not Nietzsche.

Paraphrase. Credited to Friedrich Nietzsche. The idea is in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part 1, chapter 4 (“The Despisers of the Body”, Von den Verächtern des Leibes), said by Zarathustra.

Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (1996), Opening paragraph, said by Tyler Durden.

Chuck Palahniuk, Diary (2003), Entry headed June 22, opening sentence.

Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (1996), Opening rooftop scene at the Parker-Morris Building.

Misattributed. Credited to Chuck Palahniuk. The wording is misattributed to Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. Its older formulation is traced to Robert Quillen in 1928; the exact modern sentence’s author has not been established.

Naval Ravikant, How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) (2018), “The Internet Has Massively Broadened Career Possibilities”, nav.al/rich (Naval introducing his own tweet; Nivi reads it again under “Escape Competition Through Authenticity”).

Naval Ravikant, How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) (2018), “Seek Wealth, Not Money or Status”, nav.al/rich.

Naval Ravikant, How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) (2018), “A Calm Mind, a Fit Body, a House Full of Love” (Nivi reading the last tweet), nav.al/rich, said by Nivi.

Naval Ravikant, How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) (2018), “You Won’t Get Rich Renting Out Your Time” (Nivi reading the tweet), nav.al/rich.

Paraphrase. Credited to Naval Ravikant. The idea is in How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) (2018), “Play Long-Term Games With Long-Term People”, nav.al/rich (Nivi reading the tweet), said by Nivi.

Paraphrase. Credited to Naval Ravikant. The idea is in How to Get Rich (without getting lucky) (2018), “Arm Yourself With Specific Knowledge” (subsection “Specific knowledge can’t be trained”), nav.al/rich.

Fernando Pessoa, Tobacco Shop (1933), Opening stanza, lines 1–4; dated 15 January 1928; first published in Presença, July 1933, said by Álvaro de Campos.

Fernando Pessoa, Message (1934), Second part, Mar Portuguez; poem X, “Mar Portuguez”, second stanza, lines 7–10 (1934 edition, p. 64).

Fernando Pessoa, Message (1934), Second part, Mar Portuguez; poem I, “O Infante”, opening three lines (1934 edition, p. 51).

Fernando Pessoa, Message (1934), First part, Brasão; II, Os Castellos; poem I, “Ulysses”, opening line (1934 edition, p. 19).

Fernando Pessoa, Autopsychography (1932), First stanza, lines 1–4; Presença, no. 36, November 1932.

Misattributed. Credited to Fernando Pessoa. Nemo Nox wrote it, not Pessoa.

Not found. Credited to Albert Einstein. No authenticated Einstein source is known; the documented 2004 wording already credits him, but its actual author remains unknown.

Not found. Credited to Albert Einstein. No authenticated Einstein source supports this prediction; the four-year claim was attributed to him in print in 1965, but its originator remains unknown.

Not found. Credited to Albert Einstein. No authenticated Einstein source is known; close versions are documented in recovery communities in 1981, with no individual author established.

Misattributed. Credited to Albert Einstein. The best-supported author is sociologist William Bruce Cameron, who printed the full maxim in 1963; the later Einstein blackboard story is unsupported.

Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream (1963), March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 28 August 1963; “I have a dream” sequence, after the Mississippi passage.

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963), letter of 16 April 1963, paragraph beginning “We know through painful experience”.

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963), letter of 16 April 1963, paragraph beginning “Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states”.

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963), letter of 16 April 1963, end of the paragraph beginning “First, I must confess”.

Steve Jobs, Commencement address at Stanford University (2005), Third story, about death, paragraph beginning “No one wants to die”.

Steve Jobs, Commencement address at Stanford University (2005), Closing wish to the graduates, immediately before the final thanks.

Steve Jobs, Commencement address at Stanford University (2005), Second story, “love and loss”, final paragraph.

Steve Jobs, Commencement address at Stanford University (2005), First story, “connecting the dots”, concluding paragraph.

Steve Jobs, Commencement address at Stanford University (2005), Third story, about death, paragraph beginning “Your time is limited”.

Not found. Credited to Steve Jobs. No documented source establishes this as Steve Jobs’s writing or last words. Snopes traced the false attribution to circulation in November 2015; its real author remains unconfirmed.

Albert Camus, The Rebel (1951), Part I, “L’Homme révolté”.

Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Final sentence of the title essay, “Le mythe de Sisyphe” (before the Kafka appendix in expanded editions).

Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Opening sentence of the essay.

Not found. Credited to Albert Camus. It is not in Camus’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who! (1954), Horton’s repeated defence of the Whos on the speck of dust (unpaginated picture book), said by Horton the elephant.

Dr. Seuss, The Lorax (1971), The Lorax introduces himself to the Once-ler after the first Truffula tree is cut down (unpaginated picture book), said by the Lorax.

Dr. Seuss, The Lorax (1971), Closing exchange: the Once-ler explains the word UNLESS and entrusts the last Truffula seed to the child (unpaginated picture book), said by the Once-ler.

Not found. Credited to Dr. Seuss. It is not in Seuss’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Frank Zappa, Bob Marshall, interview with Frank Zappa, 21–22 October 1988, with Carolyn Dean and Gerald Fialka; transcription credited to Loren Gagnon, reproduced by AFKA, Bob Marshall interview, 21–22 October 1988; opening discussion distinguishing politics from civic obligation and policy.

Frank Zappa, David Sheff, ‘Playboy Interview: Frank Zappa’, Playboy, April 1993, David Sheff, ‘Playboy Interview: Frank Zappa’, Playboy, April 1993; response to the question whether raising hell is worthwhile despite his cynicism.

Frank Zappa, Michael Bloom, ‘Interview with the Composer’, Trouser Press, February 1980, Michael Bloom interview, ‘Interview with the Composer’, Trouser Press, February 1980; discussion of pessimism before the questions about composition.

Frank Zappa, Testimony to the US Senate Commerce Committee (1985), Statement to the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, record-labeling hearing, 19 September 1985; opening statement after the discussion of the least restrictive alternative.

Frank Zappa, Karl Dallas, ‘Enjoying the glandular arena’, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980, Karl Dallas interview, ‘Enjoying the glandular arena’, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980; opening exchange about Baby Snakes.

Misattributed. Credited to Frank Zappa. Often credited to Frank Zappa, but Martin Mull is the probable originator: printed Mull credits date to 1979, while a Zappa credit is documented by 1984. The first utterance remains unconfirmed.

Not found. Credited to Mahatma Gandhi. It is not in Gandhi’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Mahatma Gandhi. It is not in Gandhi’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Elbert Hubbard, Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams (1923), Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams (1923), Book of Epigrams, p. 105; first in The Philistine, December 1900, p. 24.

Elbert Hubbard, The Philistine (1901), The Philistine, November 1901, p. 188 (among short sayings); later in the Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams (1923), p. 131, and The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927), p. 129.

Elbert Hubbard, Fra Elbertus [Elbert Hubbard], The Motto Book; Being a Catalogue of Epigrams by Fra Elbertus, Assisted at Times by Solomon, Ruskin, Shakespeare, Joaquin Miller, Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Ali Baba and Felix Cyrenius (East Aurora: The Roycrofters, copyright 1909 by Elbert Hubbard), The Motto Book (1909), No. 127, p. 31; first, in another wording, on the cover of The Philistine, February 1904.

Misattributed. Credited to Elbert Hubbard. No one knows who coined it: it was in print without a name from March 1909, and in a 1909 novel as a wall motto. The same year Hubbard’s Roycrofters sold it as a wall motto and The Philistine printed it unsigned; later books credited him.

Misattributed. Credited to Elbert Hubbard. Hubbard used the quip in The Philistine in 1904 and helped spread it, but it was already called ‘an old saying’ in 1899; who first said it is unknown.

Paraphrase. Credited to Elbert Hubbard. The idea is in Fra Elbertus [Elbert Hubbard], The Motto Book; Being a Catalogue of Epigrams by Fra Elbertus, Assisted at Times by Solomon, Ruskin, Shakespeare, Joaquin Miller, Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Ali Baba and Felix Cyrenius (East Aurora: The Roycrofters, copyright 1909 by Elbert Hubbard), p. 39, No. 202.

Paraphrase. Credited to William W. Purkey. The idea is in William Watson Purkey, What Is Invitational Education and How Does It Work?, conference paper, Annual California State Conference on Self-Esteem, Santa Clara, February 22–24, 1991; ERIC ED334488, p. 11 (PDF page 12), ‘Where Is Invitational Education Headed?’, immediately before ‘Conclusion’.

Seneca the Younger, On the Shortness of Life (49), Chapter 1, section 3 (De Brevitate Vitae 1.3).

Seneca the Younger, Moral Letters to Lucilius (64), letter XIII (‘On Groundless Fears’), section 4 (Ep. 13.4).

Seneca the Younger, Moral Letters to Lucilius (64), letter I (‘On Saving Time’), sections 2–3 (Ep. 1.3).

Not found. Credited to Seneca the Younger. It is not in Seneca’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Seneca the Younger. Edward Gibbon wrote it, not Seneca.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 149–154 and 156–158 (nullam rem e nihilo gigni, I.150; nil posse creari de nihilo, I.156–157; the Perseus text prints line 155 after 158); Leonard, Book I, “Substance Is Eternal”.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 95–101 (the quoted line is I.101); Leonard, Book I, “Proem”.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book III, lines 830–831; Leonard, Book III, “Folly of the Fear of Death”.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book IV, lines 633–641 (the quoted line is IV.637); Leonard, Book IV, “The Senses and Mental Pictures”.

Misattributed. Credited to Lucretius. No. It is not in Lucretius: it rewords Edward Gibbon’s remark, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776), that Rome’s religions were thought equally true by the people, equally false by the philosopher and equally useful by the magistrate. It was credited to Lucretius by 1932.

Paraphrase. Credited to Lucretius. The idea is in On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 311–314 (stilicidi casus lapidem cavat, I.313); Leonard, Book I, “Substance Is Eternal”.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippics (44 BC), Twelfth Philippic, section 5 (Philippics XII.2.5).

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On the Laws (52 BC), On the Laws (De Legibus), Book III, section 8 (De Legibus III.3.8).

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Against Catiline (63 BC), First Oration, section 2 (In Catilinam I.1.2).

Misattributed. Credited to Marcus Tullius Cicero. No. These are words Taylor Caldwell wrote for Cicero in her 1965 novel A Pillar of Iron, not a speech of the real Cicero; a Florida justice quoted them as Cicero’s the same year.

Not found. Credited to Marcus Tullius Cicero. No. It is a twentieth-century filler, first printed in 1908 as the translation of an ancient tablet, and credited to Cicero only from about 2001.

Paraphrase. Credited to Marcus Tullius Cicero. The idea is in a letter to Marcus Terentius Varro, Book IX, letter 4 (Fam. IX.4), from Tusculum, June 46 BC.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (180), Book 4, section 17.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (180), Book 12, section 17.

Misattributed. Credited to Marcus Aurelius. Elbert Hubbard wrote it, not Aurelius.

Not found. Credited to Marcus Aurelius. It is not in Aurelius’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Paraphrase. Credited to Marcus Aurelius. The idea is in Meditations (180), Book 4, section 3, conclusion.

Paraphrase. Credited to Marcus Aurelius. The idea is in Meditations (180), Book 12, section 1.

Epictetus, Discourses (108), Book 2, chapter 17, section 1 (opening of the chapter); George Long translation, Book II, XVII, “How We Must Adapt Preconceptions to Particular Cases”.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 13; George Long translation, chapter XIII.

Epictetus, Discourses (108), Book 3, chapter 23, section 1 (opening sentence); George Long translation, Book III, XXIII, “To Those Who Read and Discuss for the Sake of Ostentation”.

Epictetus, Discourses (108), Book 2, chapter 1, section 22; George Long translation, Book II, I, “That Confidence (Courage) Is Not Inconsistent with Caution”.

Epictetus, Discourses (108), Book 1, chapter 15, section 7; George Long translation, Book I, XV, “What Philosophy Promises”.

Misattributed. Credited to Epictetus. Not as his own: the oldest record gives it to Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism (Diogenes Laertius, Lives 7.23). Later Greek anthologies credited a form of it to Epictetus, a fragment editors treat as doubtful; it is not in the Discourses or the Handbook.

Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849), “Wednesday”, the essay on Friendship (p. 286 in the first edition, 1849).

Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, “Marilyn Monroe lets her hair down about being famous: ‘Fame will go by and—so long, I’ve had you’,” LIFE 53, no. 5, 3 August 1962, beginning p. 31; full interview reprinted with Meryman’s letter by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, Richard Meryman interview, LIFE, 3 August 1962, p. 36, column 3.

Marilyn Monroe, TIME, “Cinema: Something for the Boys,” 11 August 1952, publisher’s online archive, TIME, “Cinema: Something for the Boys,” 11 August 1952, paragraph about the 1949 calendar photograph.

Misattributed. Credited to Marilyn Monroe. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote it, not Monroe.

Misattributed. Credited to Marilyn Monroe. Bette Midler wrote it, not Monroe.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), Chapter 17 (“The Man with Two Faces”), p. 221 (Bloomsbury, 2004 edition), said by Albus Dumbledore.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), Chapter 17 (“The Man with Two Faces”), p. 215 (Bloomsbury, 2004 edition), said by Albus Dumbledore.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007), Chapter 35 (“King’s Cross”), p. 578 (Bloomsbury, 2007), said by Albus Dumbledore.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), Chapter 12 (“The Mirror of Erised”), p. 157 (Bloomsbury, 2004 edition), said by Albus Dumbledore.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Chapter 18 (“Dobby’s Reward”), p. 245 (Bloomsbury, 2004 edition), said by Albus Dumbledore.

Misattributed. Credited to J. K. Rowling. Steve Kloves wrote it, not Rowling.

Maya Angelou, And Still I Rise (1978), ‘Still I Rise’, first stanza, lines 3–4, said by a defiant Black lyric speaker addressing those who would humiliate her.

Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of Morning (1993), ‘On the Pulse of Morning’, the three lines beginning ‘History, despite its wrenching pain’, said by the poem’s personified Rock.

Misattributed. Credited to Maya Angelou. A rewording of Zora Neale Hurston’s sentence in Dust Tracks on a Road (1942), not a sourced line from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Misattributed. Credited to Maya Angelou. The saying derives from Joan Walsh Anglund’s 1967 verse, with pronouns changed. Its appearance on Maya Angelou’s 2015 stamp did not make it her composition.

Robert Frost, North of Boston (1914), ‘A Servant to Servants’, the passage beginning with Len’s advice about one more steady pull; North of Boston (1914), pp. 69-70, said by an unnamed overworked woman.

Not found. Credited to Robert Frost. The Frost credit is unverified. A related banking joke appeared in 1905, and a fuller form circulated anonymously by 1930; a 1949 quotation dictionary later credited Frost without establishing his authorship.

Mae West, I’m No Angel (1933), Tira’s instruction to Beulah after an offer to buy her off; approximately 00:48:25 in the copy indexed by Clip.Cafe, said by Tira.

Mae West, I’m No Angel (1933), Tira’s answer to a compliment on her evening performance; approximately 00:57:49 in the copy indexed by Clip.Cafe, said by Tira.

Mae West, LIFE, vol. 26, no. 21 (23 May 1949), Mae West feature, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, LIFE, 23 May 1949, p. 105, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, under ON GEOMETRY.

Mae West, LIFE, vol. 26, no. 21 (23 May 1949), Mae West feature, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, LIFE, 23 May 1949, p. 105, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, under ON HUMAN NATURE.

Paraphrase. Credited to Mae West. The idea is in She Done Him Wrong (1933), Lady Lou’s invitation after complimenting Captain Cummings’s uniform; extract begins at the host’s movie offset 00:24:54, said by Lady Lou.

Bernard Baruch, Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (the Baruch Plan) (1946), Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, 14 June 1946, immediately before the numbered measures beginning ‘1. General.’.

Bernard Baruch, Congressional Record, Senate, 12 March 1948, vol. 94, p. 2628, quotation of Bernard Baruch’s preface to the 1932 L. C. Page & Co. edition of Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Preface to Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1932), passage reprinted in the Congressional Record, 12 March 1948, p. 2628.

Bernard Baruch, Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (the Baruch Plan) (1946), Opening of the address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, 14 June 1946.

Bernard Baruch, TIME, ‘Nation: The Man Behind the Legend’, 2 July 1965, final paragraph, Reported in TIME, ‘Nation: The Man Behind the Legend’, 2 July 1965, final paragraph.

Misattributed. Credited to Bernard Baruch. Baruch quoted it as Schiller’s, not as his own. The German couplet is in Goethe and Schiller’s jointly published Xenien; its individual authorship is not resolved here.

Not found. Credited to Bernard Baruch. The attribution to Baruch is unsubstantiated. Earlier related formulations are documented under Kaplan, Tomkins and Maslow; the later Baruch label does not establish authorship.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Friendship (44 BC), Chapter XXI, section 80 (Laelius de Amicitia 21.80), said by Gaius Laelius.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Duties (44 BC), Book I, chapter X, section 33 (I.10.33).

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old Age (44 BC), Chapter VII, section 24 (Cato Maior de Senectute 7.24), said by Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Friendship (44 BC), Chapter XIII, section 47 (Laelius de Amicitia 13.47), said by Gaius Laelius.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Duties (44 BC), Book I, chapter VII, section 22 (I.7.22).

Misattributed. Credited to Marcus Tullius Cicero. A modern adaptation of a passage in Taylor Caldwell’s 1965 historical novel, not a documented statement by Cicero; the familiar wording has been altered in circulation.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay II, “Self-Reliance”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay VI, “Friendship”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay II, “Self-Reliance”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (1841), Essay II, “Self-Reliance”.

Misattributed. Credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Emerson attribution is unsupported. The saying adapts a line published by Muriel Strode in 1903; the person who made the modern imperative is unidentified.

Misattributed. Credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Not a sourced Emerson quotation. The modern piece adapts Bessie A. Stanley’s 1905 essay; an altered version was credited to Emerson in 1951, but its adapter is unidentified.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 5 (opening clause); George Long translation, chapter V.

Epictetus, Discourses (108), Book 1, chapter 24, section 1 (opening sentence); George Long translation, Book I, XXIV, ‘How We Should Struggle with Circumstances’.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 1.1 (opening sentence); George Long translation, chapter I.

Epictetus, Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 8 (complete section); George Long translation, chapter VIII.

Misattributed. Credited to Epictetus. Charles de Saint-Évremond (the credit attached to the early-modern essay) wrote it, not Epictetus.

Paraphrase. Credited to Epictetus. The idea is in Enchiridion (Handbook) (107), Section 46.1 (opening instruction and banquet example); George Long translation, chapter XLVI.

Carl Gustav Jung, Letters (1959), BBC Face to Face interview with John Freeman, broadcast 22 October 1959; quoted in note 1 to the letter to Valentine Brooke, 16 November 1959, Letters vol. 2, pp. 520–521.

Carl Gustav Jung, Letters (1959), letter to Valentine Brooke, 16 November 1959, Letters vol. 2, p. 522.

Misattributed. Credited to Carl Gustav Jung. anonymous wrote it, not Jung.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (180), Book 6, section 6.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (180), Book 5, section 20, conclusion.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (180), Book 5, section 16, opening.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (180), Book 10, section 16.

Not found. Credited to Marcus Aurelius. It is not in Aurelius’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Marcus Aurelius. It is not in Aurelius’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Paraphrase. Credited to Marcus Tullius Cicero. The idea is in a letter to Atticus, Book IV, letter 8 (Att. IV.8.2), from Antium, April or May 56 BC.

C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960), Chapter IV, “Friendship”.

Not found. Credited to Dr. Seuss. It is not in Seuss’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Albert Einstein. It is not in Einstein’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Elbert Hubbard. An unnamed ten-year-old schoolboy, quoted by Agnes Deans Cameron in ‘Humor in School’, The Century Magazine (April 1905) wrote it, not Hubbard.

Misattributed. Credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson. An unknown writer rewording E. E. Cummings wrote it, not Emerson.

Not found. Credited to Frank Zappa. It is not in Zappa’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Mahatma Gandhi. Arleen Lorrance wrote it, not Gandhi.

André Gide, If It Die… (1926), Draft preface for Si le grain ne meurt (“Projet de préface”), first printed after the memoir in Œuvres complètes, vol. X (1936), pp. 453–454.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), Chapter 27 (“Padfoot Returns”), said by Sirius Black.

Misattributed. Credited to Mae West. Joe E. Lewis wrote it, not West.

Not found. Credited to Marilyn Monroe. It is not in Monroe’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love (1963), Sermon “Loving Your Enemies” (chapter V).

Misattributed. Credited to Maya Angelou. Carl W. Buehner wrote it, not Angelou.

Robert Frost, Ray Josephs, ‘Robert Frost’s Secret’, This Week Magazine (Sunday newspaper supplement), 5 September 1954, as printed in The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio, Reported by Ray Josephs, ‘Robert Frost’s Secret’, This Week Magazine, 5 September 1954.

Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), Part 1, letter of October 6, 1991, said by Bill.

Misattributed. Credited to William W. Purkey. Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh wrote it, not Purkey.

Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter II (“Driscoll Spares His Slaves”), epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.

Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897), Chapter XXV, epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar.

Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter VI (“Swimming in Glory”), epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.

Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897), Chapter XV, epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar.

Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter XV (“The Robber Robbed”), epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.

Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter XII (“The Shame of Judge Driscoll”), epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.

Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869), Conclusion.

Mark Twain, Mark Twain’s Notebook, prepared for publication with comments by Albert Bigelow Paine (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1935), Notebook, about 1894.

Mark Twain, Eve’s Diary (1906), Last line (“At Eve’s Grave”), said by Adam.

Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897), Chapter XXVII, epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar.

Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter XVI (“Sold Down the River”), epigraph from Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, said by Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.

Misattributed. Credited to Mark Twain. Grant Allen wrote it, not Twain.

Misattributed. Credited to Mark Twain. It is first printed in H. Jackson Brown Jr.’s P.S. I Love You (1990), a book of sayings he credited to his mother; whether she coined it is not known. It is not Twain’s.

Not found. Credited to Mark Twain. It is not in Twain’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Mark Twain. Twain wrote it down, in a chapter of his autobiography (1907), but as a remark attributed to Disraeli, which no one has found in Disraeli. Who coined it is not known; the earliest uses are British, from 1891.

Misattributed. Credited to Mark Twain. The earliest known form is Arthur G. Lewis’s, in a railway magazine column of 1911, and it spread as an anonymous proverb. It is not Twain’s.

Not found. Credited to Mark Twain. It is not in Twain’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Mark Twain. It grew from a line by Christian Nestell Bovee (1857), that kindness is a language the dumb can speak and the deaf understand; the shared wording is a later newspaper form. It is not Twain’s.

Not found. Credited to Mark Twain. It is not in Twain’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Paraphrase. Credited to Mark Twain. The idea is in Mark Twain, ‘Chapters from My Autobiography.—II’, North American Review, 21 September 1906.

Paraphrase. Credited to Mark Twain. The idea is in Mark Twain’s Notebook, prepared for publication with comments by Albert Bigelow Paine (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1935), 393.

Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), Part I, said by the poem’s ‘I’.

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), Act III, said by Cecil Graham.

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), Act III, said by Lord Darlington.

Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband (1895), Act III, said by Lord Goring.

Oscar Wilde, De Profundis (1905), De Profundis.

Oscar Wilde, Intentions (1891), The Decay of Lying, said by Vivian.

Oscar Wilde, Intentions (1891), The Critic as Artist, Part II, said by Gilbert.

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), Act III, said by Lord Darlington.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter 2, said by Lord Henry Wotton.

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), Act I, said by Lord Darlington.

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), Act I, said by Algernon Moncrieff.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter 1, said by Lord Henry Wotton.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), The Preface.

Misattributed. Credited to Oscar Wilde. Percy Colson wrote it, not Wilde.

Not found. Credited to Oscar Wilde. It is not in Wilde’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Oscar Wilde. Not in these words, and not as his last words. Friends reported a joke of his about a wallpaper from 1908 on; this wording comes from much later retellings.

Not found. Credited to Oscar Wilde. It is not in Wilde’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Oscar Wilde. It is not in Wilde’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Oscar Wilde. It is not in Wilde’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Paraphrase. Credited to Oscar Wilde. The idea is in Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), Act I, said by Lord Darlington.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 1, Book 3, chapter 3 (“The Confession of a Passionate Heart—in Verse”), said by Dmitri Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, A Writer’s Diary (1876), January 1876, chapter 3, section 2 (“Spiritualism. Something about devils. The extraordinary cunning of devils, if only they are devils”).

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 6, chapter 3 (“Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zossima”), section (i) (“Of Hell and Hell Fire, a Mystic Reflection”), said by Father Zosima.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 1, Book 2, chapter 4 (“A Lady of Little Faith”), said by an unnamed elderly doctor.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 5, chapter 4 (“Rebellion”), said by Ivan Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 5, chapter 3 (“The Brothers Make Friends”), said by Alyosha Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 5, chapter 4 (“Rebellion”), said by Ivan Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 5, chapter 5 (“The Grand Inquisitor”), said by the Grand Inquisitor.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 5, chapter 4 (“Rebellion”), said by Ivan Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 5, chapter 5 (“The Grand Inquisitor”), said by the Grand Inquisitor.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864), Part 1 (“Underground”), chapter 9, said by the Underground Man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Epilogue, chapter 3 (“Ilusha’s Funeral. The Speech at the Stone”), said by Alyosha Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 5, chapter 4, said by Sonia Marmeladova.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Letters (1849), letter to his brother Mikhail, 22 December 1849.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 6, chapter 3 (“Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zossima”), section (g) (“Of Prayer, of Love, and of Contact with other Worlds”), said by Father Zosima.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 1, Book 2, chapter 4 (“A Lady of Little Faith”), said by Father Zosima.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The House of the Dead (1862), Part 1, chapter 1 (“The House of the Dead”), said by the narrator.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 1, chapter 2, said by Rodion Raskolnikov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864), Part 1 (“Underground”), chapter 8, said by the Underground Man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Letters (1854), letter to Natalya Fonvizina, end of January to late February 1854.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 6, chapter 2, section (c) (“Recollections of Father Zossima’s Youth before he became a Monk. The Duel”), said by Markel.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 5, chapter 3 (“The Brothers Make Friends”), said by Ivan Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 2, chapter 6, said by Rodion Raskolnikov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864), Part 1 (“Underground”), chapter 2, said by the Underground Man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 1, Book 2, chapter 2 (“The Old Buffoon”), said by Father Zosima.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 2, Book 5, chapter 5 (“The Grand Inquisitor”), said by the Grand Inquisitor.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 3, chapter 6, said by Rodion Raskolnikov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The House of the Dead (1862), Part 1, chapter 1 (“The House of the Dead”), said by the narrator.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 1, chapter 1, said by Rodion Raskolnikov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 6, chapter 4, said by Arkady Svidrigailov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 3, chapter 5, said by Rodion Raskolnikov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Humiliated and Insulted (1861), Part 3, chapter 2, said by Alyosha Valkovsky.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864), Part 1 (“Underground”), chapter 9, said by the Underground Man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864), Part 2 (“À Propos of the Wet Snow”), chapter 9, said by the Underground Man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864), Part 1 (“Underground”), chapter 1, said by the Underground Man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 3, chapter 1, said by Dmitri Razumikhin.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Adolescent (1875), Part 2, chapter 1, section 4, said by Andrei Petrovich Versilov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, White Nights (1848), “Morning” (the last section), said by the narrator.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Pushkin Speech (1880), Speech of 8 June 1880 at the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, Moscow; printed in A Writer’s Diary, August 1880, chapter 2.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, White Nights (1848), “Second Night”, said by the narrator.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 3, chapter 5, said by Rodion Raskolnikov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons (1872), Part 3, chapter 6 (“A Busy Night”), section 2, said by Kirillov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869), Part 1, chapter 5, said by Prince Myshkin.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), Chapter 5, said by the ridiculous man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Meek One (1876), Chapter 2, section 4 (“Only Five Minutes Too Late”), said by the pawnbroker.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The House of the Dead (1862), Part 1, chapter 2 (“First Impressions”), said by the narrator.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons (1872), Part 2, chapter 1 (“Night”), section 7, said by Ivan Shatov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, A Writer’s Diary (1876), December 1876, chapter 1, section 3 (“Unfounded Assertions”).

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 5, chapter 4, said by Sonia Marmeladova.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869), Part 4, chapter 5, said by Ippolit Terentyev.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons (1872), Part 3, chapter 7 (“Stepan Trofimovitch’s Last Wandering”), section 3, said by Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869), Part 2, chapter 5, said by Prince Myshkin.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), Chapter 5, said by the ridiculous man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Part 3, chapter 3, said by Rodion Raskolnikov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869), Part 3, chapter 5 (“My Necessary Explanation”), said by Ippolit Terentyev.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, A Writer’s Diary (1876), February 1876, chapter 1, section 2 (“On Love of the People. An Essential Pact with the People”).

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869), Part 3, chapter 1, said by the narrator.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864), Part 2 (“À Propos of the Wet Snow”), chapter 6, said by the Underground Man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Letters (1839), letter to his brother Mikhail, 16 August 1839.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons (1872), Part 2, chapter 1 (“Night”), section 5, said by Kirillov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869), Part 1, chapter 6, said by Prince Myshkin.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons (1872), Part 2, chapter 7 (“A Meeting”), section 2, said by Shigalyov.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé printed it in 1885 as the remark of an unnamed Russian writer; later retellings gave it to Dostoevsky.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. Apollon Maykov wrote it, not Dostoevsky.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote it, not Dostoevsky.

Not found. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is not in Dostoevsky’s works, and who first wrote it is not known.

Misattributed. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. Marina Tsvetaeva wrote it, not Dostoevsky.

Paraphrase. Credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky. The idea is in The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Part 4, Book 11, chapter 4 (“A Hymn and a Secret”), said by Dmitri Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869), Part 3, chapter 5, said by Ippolit Terentyev.