Questions tagged [quotes]

Use this tag when the question is about whether someone said or wrote a quote.

The repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts.

This tag is appropriate for questions where the authenticity of a quote is being questioned rather than questions where a quotation is the source of a claim. In other words, the underlying claim is about the authenticity of the quote itself rather than any claims made within the quotation.

Example appropriate questions for the tag
  • Famous Person X claims in his recent book that Famous Person Y gave a speech claiming that the sky is green. Did Famous Person Y really give a speech in which he claimed that the sky is green?
  • Smith (2019), in a paper published in Science, claims that his assertion that "x is bounded by the lesser hyperbola when n < 3" is a quotation from a paper by Johnson (1995), but I cannot find this paper anywhere. Does it really exist and does it in fact contain the claimed mathematical assertion?
Example inappropriate questions for the tag (choose a more appropriate tag)
  • Famous Person Y claims that the sky is green, is it really green?
  • A paper by Johnson (1995) claims that "x is bounded by the lesser hyperbola when n < 3". Is x actually so bounded? The proof that Johnson provides appears very specious, and I have these specific concerns about it specifically....
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Did Donald Trump say that "global warming was a hoax invented by the Chinese"?

In the Presidential debate of 26th September, Hillary Clinton claimed that "Donald Trump said that global warming was a hoax invented by the Chinese" . Trump replied several times "I did not say that". Did he say (or write) that?
DJClayworth
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Has Phil Karlton ever said "There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things"?

Several references to the quote "There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things" can be found, such as Martin Fowler's blog and others. I'm unable to find the source of this quote, has he ever said it?
Vitor De Mario
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Did JFK call himself a jelly donut in his famous Berlin speech?

This morning, in an attempt to find inspiration for a name for my new puppy (who is a great talker), I googled "great orators". The second hit took me here, where JFK is again listed as one of history's great orators. However, I was surprised to…
anongoodnurse
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Did Einstein say this about his marriage?

I found a picture with a quote on facebook today quoting Einstein. The quote states: When we first got married, we made a pact. It was this:In our life together, it was decided I would make all of the big decisions and my wife would make all of…
TheChetan
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Did Karl Marx write that slavery had good sides and abolishing it would indirectly destroy modern civilization?

The WikiQuote page for Karl Marx claims he wrote this in a letter to Pavel Annenkov, 28 December 1846: Freedom and slavery constitute an antagonism. There is no need for me to speak either of the good or of the bad aspects of freedom. As for…
user41826
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Did Einstein say "if you can't explain it simply you don't understand it well enough"?

A very popular quote attributed to Albert Einstein but did he really say it? If so, what is the original document containing the original explanation of it?
Renan
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Did Valerie Jarrett say she wanted "America to be a more Islamic country"?

This picture, being shared on Twitter, alleges that Valerie Jarrett, former Senior Advisor to the President, during the Obama administration, claimed to be of Iranian descent and of Islamic faith in her yearbook. Image reads Take a look at the…
Evan Carroll
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Did Bill Gates say that vaccines and health care could reduce the population growth by 10-15%?

I have seen the quote below on numerous sites (example), always being attributed to Bill Gates and treated as an admission of his malicious purposes, basically proving that his vaccination programmes are really thinly veiled population control…
mike glenndale
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Is the Gregorian calendar the "most accurate calendar ever devised"?

This statement comes from a Joe Rogan show episode where he chats to Neil de Grasse Tyson. His statement is about the Gregorian calendar, and goes as follows: "Point is, this was hard-earned, and the whole world uses this calendar, it is the most…
Zebrafish
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Did Sasha Johnson state “the white man will not be our equal but our slave"?

As the news of Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson being shot became public in May 2021, social media contained images which allegedly show a tweet posted by her stating: the white man will not be our equal but our slave However, searching…
vsz
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Did Einstein say this quote about war & patriotism?

Can this quote be correctly attributed to Albert Einstein? If so, can we have a source for it? He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal…
Moby Disk
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Did Bill Gates say 640k ought to be enough for everyone?

This is a quite famous quote: 640k ought to be enough for anybody. Did Bill Gates say this?
Lincity
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Did Marx's mother say she wished he would accumulate capital instead of writing about it?

I have encountered quotes similar to this one on the internet in the past few days, attributed to Karl Marx's mother and referring to him: I wish you were more interested in accumulating capital instead of just writing about it. Maybe then you…
user2891462
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Did Einstein say imagination is more important than knowledge?

I see lots of posters and pictures online of Einstein regarding the following quote: Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to…
a13a22
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Did Bernie Sanders say that a woman cannot be president?

During the January 2020 Democratic debate at 43:27 the moderator asked Bernie why he said that a woman cannot win an election https://youtu.be/Ppm_mqo9Tyc?t=2607 . Bernie responds by denying that he ever said that. However, Warren confirms that he…
finks
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