The problem with quotations on the internet is that it is difficult to verify their authenticity. (Unknown)
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READER ALERT: When reading quotations on the internet, you cannot always be sure about the accuracy of the attributed author; and it just goes with the territory.
Consider the quotation above. Pretty easy to size up quickly. Since Socrates has been dead for a couple of thousand years, it is impossible for him to have had anything to say about the internet. But there are quite a number of popular quotations where errors of attribution are not as easy to determine.
And here’s a good example, drawn from the modern master of quotation anthologies, Dr. Mardy Grothe:
“Most people in this world are about as happy as they have made up their minds to be.” (Author Unknown)
ERROR ALERT: For more than a century this observation (in a number of similarly-worded versions) has been mistakenly attributed to Abraham Lincoln. In The Quote Verifier (2006), quotation expert Ralph Keyes wrote: “No evidence has been offered that he [Lincoln] ever said or wrote this.” For more on the history of the quotation, see this 2012 post by Garson O’Toole, the Quote Investigator.”
However, as a good common sense rule, we would suggest: “for the most part, most author attributions can be trusted as being accurate”
“Unfortunately, great words are difficult to attribute accurately. In some cases, multiple attributions can be found. In other cases, no attribution can be given. There are also many quotes that reflect similar sentiments worded differently. In the end, it is the burden of the editor to determine which quotes are used and who receives credit.” (Garson O’Toole)
“One of my laws of quotation is that however sure you are that you have attributed a quotation correctly, an earlier source will be pointed out to you.” (Nigel Rees)
Getting Personal
If you are interested in verifying the accuracy of a quote’s author attribution, check out the informative website, quote investigator.com or more generally, drmardy.com, keeping an eye out for his error alerts.
