They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions (Paperback)

~ Paul F. Boller Jr. (Author), John George (Author)
Key Phrases: United States, New York, White House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...highly amusing romp through the history of spurious quote-mongering....Boller and George not only perform a valuable scholarly service, they also give us a first-rate detective story."--George E. Hopkins, International Social Science Review
"[A] highly amusing romp through the history of spurious quote-mongering....Boller and George not only perform a valuable scholarly service, they also give us a first-rate detective story."--International Social Science Review
"This book full of spurious quotes and deliberate misattributions has a lesson for anyone who has ever nodded admiringly at a well-turned quotation that makes a partisan point with stunning effect. The lesson is to be wary of just such marvelous distillations of political wisdom. They're probably fakes....This is...a serious book, written with high good humor and solid research."--The Washington Times
"An infectiously browsable book."--Booklist
"One of the most pleasant surprises of the year....Not only informative but great fun."--The Newark Star-Ledger

Product Description

Abraham Lincoln never said, "You cannot fool all the people all the time." Thomas Jefferson never said, "That government is best which governs least." And Horace Greeley never said, "Go west, young man." In They Never Said It, Paul F. Boller, Jr. and John George examine hundreds of misquotations, incorrect attributions, and blatant fabrications, outlining the origins of the quotes and revealing why we should consign them to the historical trashcan.
Many of the misquotes are quite harmless. Some are inadvertent misquotes that have become popular (Shakespeare actually said, "The best part of valor is discretion"), others, the inventions of reporters embellishing a story (Franklin Roosevelt never opened a speech to a DAR group with the salutation, "My fellow immigrants"). But some of the quotes, such as Charles Darwin's supposed deathbed recantation of evolution, falsify the historical record with their blatant dishonesty. And other chillingly vicious ones, filled with virulent racial and religious prejudices, completely distort the views of the person supposedly quoted and spread distrust and hatred among the gullible. These include the forged remarks attributed to Benjamin Franklin that Jews should be excluded from America and the fabricated condemnation of Catholics attributed to Lincoln.
An entertaining and thought-provoking book, They Never Said It covers a great deal of history and sets it right. Going beyond a mere catalog of popular misconceptions, Boller and George reveal how rightists and leftists, and atheists and evangelists all have at times twisted and even invented the words of eminent figures to promote their own ends. The ultimate debunking reference, it perfectly complements handbooks of quotations.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 14, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195064690
• ISBN-13: 978-0195064698
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #384,114 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spoiling a good story, March 21, 2003

By	Andrew S. Rogers (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions (Hardcover)

It may well be true, as Roy Howard never said (p. 51) that "too much fact checking has ruined many a good news story." But the many misquotations listed here, some very well known, often have fascinating stories in themselves. In a day when, thanks to the Internet, misquotations, urban legends, and dubious "facts" fly faster and farther than ever, this book is a very valuable resource to have around.

My major complaint with this book is that I wish it had been much longer -- for example, there are numerous quotes attributed to Winston Churchill (like the one about being a liberal when you're 25) that could stand to be debunked alongside the two included in this volume.

Still, though, it's very helpful to be able to demonstrate to folks that Lenin never said anything about "useful idiots" (p. 76), that Lincoln never made the long statement beginning, "You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift..." (p. 82), or that Voltaire never "defend[ed] to the death your right to say it" (p. 124). For those reasons alone, I would recommend this book be kept and studied by anyone who cares about truth, accuracy, and stomping urban legends to the death they deserve.

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and valuable, May 13, 2009

By	L. F. Smith (E. Wenatchee, WA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Popular culture is packed with events and quotations that everyone is familiar with-- but which are fictional. This book is a collection of quotations that weren't actually said by the people they are attributed to.

The book is interesting, mostly because of the way that the authors tell the stories of how the quotations came to be accepted as real. Sometimes, the reasons are as simple as misunderstandings, poor transcriptions of speeches, and the like. Sometimes, the reasons are less innocent.

A significant number of the false quotations in this book are simply inventions of people with political or religious axes to grind. For example, Lenin never said that "The first step in overthrowing a government is to establish a firearms registration law," even though many gun rights organizations regularly use that quotation to "prove" that gun control is a commie plot. Similarly, Darwin didn't make his often-quoted deathbed retraction of the Theory of Evolution; rather, a variety of religious conservatives have put those words into his mouth, in an effort to somehow "prove" that the theory is false.

It's valuable to have these spurious quotations corrected. Today, in part due to the Internet, misinformation can spread literally at the speed of light. The only way to combat this misinformation is with the truth, and this book is an important source for that truth.

This is a valuable, entertaining book, and I recommend it highly.

12 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. George is amazing, March 23, 2000

By	Kimberly L. Cole "Kimmy Cole" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions (Hardcover)

He's my professor in college at UCO, and he's an amazing man.

This work is just an extenstion of his personality -- exacting, intelligent, and focused on what's really true rather than just what people say.

If you're at all interested in accuracy, or if you're a big fan of quotations (like I am), than this is a wonderful book for you!