“I’m in love with cities I’ve never been to and people I’ve never met.” So said John Green - only he didn’t. The author of last year’s top-selling novel, The Fault in Our Stars, explained in his YouTube series vlogbrothers that these words, often quoted as part of his book Paper Towns, were in fact written by a young blogger:
Green said that he hadn’t remembered writing the words, but “I don’t remember writing a lot of Paper Towns - that book came out seven years ago!”, so when he started seeing the quote on the internet a few years ago, “I just assumed it was in [the book]”. “I suppose instead of blindly assuming I’d written something the internet said I wrote, I should have done some research,” he reflected.
The misattributed quotation earned more than 1,700 likes on Goodreads – from where it has now been deleted. It also popped up all over Tumblr, where it turned out to have been written by a 13-year-old blogger Melody Truong. Asked by another user how she came to write “the John Green quote”, she explained:
The author’s fans – also known as Nerdfighters – have already turned this into a meme, and created a reddit thread with other fake John Green quotes
Green said this is an example of how crediting, sourcing and copyright are an unresolved matter in the digital world: “We do an epically bad job of acknowledging one another’s work and checking our sources.”
But it’s not only a problem of modern technology, John. Here are some other authors who have been victims of misattributed quotes. Do add your favourite examples in the comment thread below.
Misattributed quotes: some of the most infamous
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Misattributed to: Mark Twain (famously one of the most misquoted people of all time). Real origin: disputed. Possibly Sir Charles Dilke (19th-century English politician)
If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.”
Misattributed to: Winston Churchill (as are so many others). Real origin: François Guizot (18th-century French historian and statesman)
Let them eat cake.”
Misattributed to: Marie Antoinette. Real origin: disputed
I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.”
Misattributed to: Martin Luther King (on the occasion of Osama Bin Laden’s killing). Real origin: a Facebook user
The ends justify the means.”
Misattributed to: Niccolo Machiavelli. Real origin: Ovid (1st century BC Roman poet)
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Misattributed to: Voltaire. Real origin: his biographer Evelyn Beatrice Hall (1906)
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Misattributed to: Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain. Real origin: a 1980 pamphlet from the Hazelden Foundation, possibly.
Standing on the shoulders of giants”.
Misattributed to: Isaac Newton. Real origin: Bernard of Chartres (12th-century French philosopher)
