My alarm bells go off whenever I see a viral quotation on the socials. An influencer might share that misattributed Marianne Williamson quote as a Nelson Mandela quote (pictured), or a pundit might share a memed WWII general’s anachronistic thoughts on “the evil of political correctness.” One going around this week that seems to have no basis in fact is Cicero saying: “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.”
A reply to a tweet with that quote led me to this resource, which I am bookmarking: 🔎 Garson O’Toole, Quote Investigator.
In general, these are some red flags I find helpful:
- Does it sound surprisingly contemporary, partisan, or prescient?
- Is the quote shared in a meme?
- Is the speaker named but not properly cited? (e.g., J. Edgar Hoover is cited in name but not context)
- Is the quote shared by someone who isn’t a historian, a reader, or thoughtful in any way? (I don’t like the gatekeeping of this one, but not sure how else to put it.)
- Is the quote shared by someone who often reposts things frequently and quickly?
- Is the quote shared by someone who often writes things like “RETWEET if you AGREE!”?
A quick way to check if a quote is ‘real’ or not is a simple search. In the fake Nelson Mandela quote pictured above, one might search misattributed mandela greatest fear or did mandela say fabulous or something similar.
If it’s not a misattributed quote that has been written about as such, finding the real source might be a bit harder. You could search Google Books or use the ‘search tools’ function which allows you whittle down results by filtering out certain years. You could combine an exact phrase search with a minus sign to omit the suspected source. Look for three or four words that you guess might not have been written that often before, or ever. (For example, you could search for (keeping the double quotes): “playing small doesn’t serve” -mandela
The first instance of the Mandela misquote was probably a prank or a copy-paste error, since I can’t imagine what other benefit it would provide someone. While it’s probably not faked for duplicitous means, I think belittles his actual legacy. Purposely misattributed quotes are worse and designed to give credibility to bad ideas. STAY SAFE OUT THERE, DEAR READER!
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