Quotes from famous people are one of the most popular topics on the RuNet. Any Jason Statham meme will confirm this. But many of these quotes are either distorted, attributed to someone else, or are simply a figment of their creators' imaginations.
Here are the top 10 fake quotes from famous people. And what they actually said.
10. John F. Kennedy
«"The USSR won the space race at the school desk."»
Of course, such words are very flattering to the ears of a Russian who still lives under the Soviet education system. Alas, Kennedy never uttered them.
While still a senator in 1958, Kennedy did indeed compare the Soviet and American education systems in his commencement address at Loyola University in Maryland. But he didn't call the system of America's main enemy the best in the world.
On the contrary, Kennedy believed that it was the Americans who needed to study hard to win the Cold War.
«I know that the fight we are now engaged in will be won or lost in the classrooms of America.»" Kennedy said in 1958.
9. Boris Yeltsin
«"I'm tired, I'm leaving"»
This phrase is like a glitch in the Matrix. Yes, Yeltsin said, "I'm leaving," but he didn't mention fatigue. However, many (myself included) clearly remember that Vladimir Putin's predecessor's phrase sounded like, "I'm tired, I'm leaving.".
This effect of false memories coinciding in most people is called the Mandela effect.
There is a theory that the expression "I'm tired, I'm leaving" was coined by the Ural Pelmeni, participants of the 1998 KVN, and this was confirmed by Alexander Maslyakov in his book "KVN is alive!".
8. Winston Churchill
«"Stalin took over Russia with a plough and left it with an atomic bomb."»
Churchill is believed to have spoken this phrase while speaking to the House of Lords on December 21, 1959, in memory of the 80th anniversary of Joseph Stalin's birth.
However, if one consults the work of Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill's official biographer, there is no evidence that the former British Prime Minister attended Parliament on December 21. On the contrary, between December 15 and 29, he felt so ill that he was unable to even respond to Emery Reeves's letters, and his doctor forbade Sir Winston from traveling.
So who is credited with the quote about the plough and the atomic bomb? According to Wikiquote, it was coined by British émigré journalist Isaac Deutscher. In 1953, he wrote an obituary for Stalin and later contributed an article about the late Soviet leader to the 1956 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.
And there are lines there «"He received a Russia using wooden ploughs and left it equipped with nuclear reactors."» (in the originals «...He found Russia working with wooden plows and left it equipped with atomic piles..». To add more impact to the phrase, an unknown translator translated «atomic piles» as «atomic bomb.».
7. Gaius Julius Caesar
«"And you, Brutus?"»
This sad phrase has come down to us thanks to the play "Julius Caesar" - William Shakespeare's dramatic retelling of the life of the ancient Roman politician and commander.
The words evoke a moving image: a dying Caesar, realizing that he has been betrayed—and stabbed—by his friend (or, in another version, his adopted son), Marcus Junius Brutus.
However, the Roman biographer Suetonius claimed the man's final words could have been even more tragic. He reports that Caesar may have said, "You too, my child?" in Greek before succumbing to his injuries.
Suetonius himself considered it more likely that Caesar died without saying a word.
6. Marie Antoinette
«"If they don't have bread, let them eat cake!"»
This expression, allegedly belonging to the Queen of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette, shows how far the monarchy was from the common people.
In fact, this phrase comes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1765 autobiography, "Confessions," published in 1782. The philosopher recalled that a certain "great princess," hearing that starving peasants were short of bread, once said, "Then let them eat brioche." This is a sweet bun with eggs and butter. However, Rousseau did not attribute the expression specifically to Marie Antoinette. Moreover, she was only nine years old at the time Rousseau wrote the biography.
5. Mark Twain
«"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its pants."»
As it turns out, lies aren't the only thing that moves fast. In the internet age, fake quotes can also travel around the world in the blink of an eye. For example, a quote about lies and truth was "shared" by several famous people, including not only the writer Mark Twain, but also American President Thomas Jefferson and even British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
The reality is that the Irish satirist and clergyman Jonathan Swift is the closest claimant to this quote. The phrase "Lies fly, and truth limps after them" appears in one of his works from 1710.
4. Otto von Bismarck
«"Russians cannot be defeated; we have seen this for hundreds of years. But Russians can be instilled with false values, and then they will defeat themselves."»
This phrase, attributed to the creator of the unified German Empire, might never have spread beyond the forums of far-right organizations if not for the advertising campaign of the "Russia – My History" Historical Park at VDNKh. As part of this campaign, the quote, allegedly from Bismarck, became popular and has survived to this day.
Incidentally, even the Iron Chancellor's more offensive false quotes, such as "Treaties with the Russians are not worth the paper they're written on," are also fakes. These phrases are not found in the Chancellor's notes or letters, nor in his speeches, nor in the memoirs of his contemporaries.
3. Marilyn Monroe
«"Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world."»
This expression is attributed to the stunning blonde, but Marilyn never uttered it. Instead, it was uttered by another famous American actress and singer, Bette Midler. Russian audiences know her from the films "Hocus Pocus," "The Stepford Wives," "Ruthless People," and others.
2. Albert Einstein
«"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute, it seems like two hours."»
This eloquent explanation of Einstein's most famous theory wasn't given by him himself, but rather taken from a joke that appeared in a 1929 New York Times article about Einstein. The reporter placed the anecdotal statement in quotation marks, and poof! The famous (and erroneously attributed to the famed physicist) quote was born.
1. Bill Gates
«"640 KB should be enough for everyone"»
Usually, fake quotes are difficult to debunk because the person who supposedly said them has long since passed away. But not in this case.
640 KB refers to the computer's memory capacity. This phrase is often used to illustrate that, although Bill Gates is considered one of the smartest and most tech-savvy people on the planet, even he couldn't foresee the radical technological changes in home computers.
Gates, however, is alive and has publicly denied ever saying such a thing. The genius, billionaire, philanthropist, and constant participant in numerous conspiracy theories told Bloomberg News in a 1996 interview:
«I've said some stupid and some wrong things, but not that. No one who works with computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is always enough.»