How to avoid using a fake quotation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research very carefully before you quote someone. The International Churchill Society has an article on January 17, 2023 titled Quotes falsely attributed to Winston Churchill. And Karena Phan at AP on October 7, 2022 has another article titled Conspiracy theory quote is falsely attributed to JFK. There is a third article by Olivia B. Waxman at TIME on September 22, 2017 titled Vice President Pence cited a fake Thomas Jefferson Quote. Here’s how to avoid the same mistake.

 

The Library of Congress Research Guides includes a web page on Finding Quotations. There also is a blog post by Sharon Rickson at the New York Public Library on November 22, 2013 titled How to Research a Quotation.

 

The silliest example I have found is described by Bodhipaksa at Lion’s Roar on November 8, 2017 in an article titled I can’t believe it’s not Buddha! The quote is:

 

“Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are. It solely relies on what you think.”

 

But The Buddha didn’t say it. The salesman and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar did – about 2500 years later.

 

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