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 Hitler say this quote about education?

On How Hitler Stopped Homeschooling they say Hitler said this: “The youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a…
user50066
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Did Augustine of Hippo warn Christians to beware mathematicians?

On the first page of Mathematics for the Nonmathematician, mathematician Morris Kline quotes Augustine of Hippo as saying: The good Christian should beware the mathematician and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that…
Jayson Virissimo
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Did Gandhi call vaccination a barbarous practice?

While searching for a different image on Google, I came across this: The text in the image reads: Vaccination is a barbarous practice and one of the most fatal of all the delusions current in our time. Conscientious objectors to vaccination should…
user11643
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Is the quote "Your mind is software. Program it. Your body is a shell. Change it. Death is a disease. Cure it." attributable to Peter Thiel?

The source is in this tweet by Tim Ferriss dated Sep 10, 2014. I've listened to the podcast referenced there (correct link) and searched the transcript of that podcast on YouTube, but couldn't find any of those six sentences. Another "source" is…
Dan Dascalescu
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Did the United States Holocaust Museum have a display entitled "Early Warning Signs of Facism"?

I saw this on my Facebook news feed, posted on a page called “Truth in Crisis”. Is this a real display in the United States Holocaust Museum as the post claims? I’m doubtful as a number of them seem more like a comment on current political and…
lgrayden
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Did Putin threaten to have traitors assassinated?

In the recent U.N. Security Council meeting, U.K. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Jonathan Allen quoted Putin by the following words (YouTube link, the relevant part starts at 1:07:30): Traitors will kick the bucket, believe me. Those other…
DK2AX
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Did Benjamin Franklin warn the young American Nation against the Jews?

In reading some recent history, I came across an open letter from Osama bin Laden to the American public. In it, he claims the typical "Jews own your banks and media" stuff. But he also claims that Benjamin Franklin warned us about that possible…
user11643
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Did the computing term "bug" come from a moth stuck in a computer?

The story goes like this: Back when computers still consisted of vacuum tubes, a system went down one day and people started investigating the cause. They found that a moth was stuck in the computer which fouled it up. When asked what was…
user6204
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Was Julius Caesar good at multitasking?

A popular belief (at least in Russia) holds that Julius Caesar was good at multitasking; he was able to read, write and give orders simultaneously. Julius Caesar was the first person praised for his ability to do several tasks simultaneously. He…
Quassnoi
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Did Noam Chomsky make the statement on privatisation that's attributed to him?

There's a quote keeps doing the rounds on Facebook and the like. It claims to be from Noam Chomsky and reads "That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private…
Craig Graham
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Did L Ron Hubbard say "The way to make a million dollars is to start a religion."

I have heard various versions of this meme and was tempted to quote it in a comment on another thread. This site appears to do a fairly decent job of investigating the claim but leaves the conclusion based at best on anecdotal evidence that is…
Chad
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Did Einstein say "Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you that mine are greater"?

I've seen the quote below attributed to Einstein in several places Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you that mine are greater. Even on sites where several other Einstein quotes are sourced (for example here) this quote…
Charles Hudgins
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Did Richard Feynman say that anyone who claims to understand quantum physics is lying or crazy?

Theoretical physicist, Richard Feynman is often attributed with the quote Anyone who claims to understand quantum theory is either lying or crazy. Example of the claim. Is this apocryphal, or did Feynman (or another notable physicist) actually say…
benjimin
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Did Joseph Goebbels say "Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty"?

The quote, "accuse the other side of that which you are guilty" is often attributed to Joseph Goebbels. For example this meme and it also appears in me.me and memegenerator.net. I have looked for it in the wikiquote entry about him. I have also…
Sakib Arifin
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Did Napoléon Bonaparte ask his wife Josephine not to bathe for several days in a letter before his arrival?

According to British historian Andrew Roberts, Napoléon Bonaparte wrote a letter to his wife Joséphine, in which he wrote "to her, ‘don’t wash for three days’" to spice up their reunion. This seems to be a common story also found in many other…
EpicBroccoli
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