Comments on: Top 10 Famous Historic Misquotes

By: Jennevive

Jennevive — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:52:21 +0000

@DanOhh — It wasn’t Socrates, it was Val Kilmer’s character in the movie Real Genius. Awesome flick!

By: JonnyHale

JonnyHale — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:11:49 +0000

Quote: “Jack of all trades master of none”

Actual phrase: “Jack of all trades master of one”

The owner of this quote believed you should know something about everything and everything about something.

By: California_Dreamin

California_Dreamin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:20:04 +0000

“Quote: ‘The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash.’

Churchill did not utter this phrase at all – his assistant (Anthony Montague-Brown) did. What Churchill did say later was that he wished he had said it.”

You have some interesting information here, but I don’t think the above is accurate. This is a misquote of Churchill, not a case of false attribution. What Churchill actually said was better-turned and more evocative: “Naval tradition? Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers, and the lash.”

The theory that Churchill never made this comment, but that, Anthony Montague-Brown, he wished he had said it. Is prominent on the internet, but My 2006 copy of The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Quotations–even though it is put out by Oxford, is in the fifth edition, and has a whole section devoted to misquotes–makes no mention of this theory. I’m going to go with Oxford as the authority on this one and assume that rather than just wishing he had said this, Churchill did in fact say it. One thing that argues in favor of that conclusion is the distincly Churchillian ring of the phrase.

http://www.squidoo.com/famous_misquotes

By: Reagan

Reagan — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:03:09 +0000

Too bad there are none for Stalin, whose “famous quotes” could’ve easily filled the whole list of ten.

By: Habler

Habler — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:12:11 +0000

Actually Caesar never said that in Britain at all, he said it in asia minor i believe. An area which was subdued by Pompey the great, Caesar said it to undermine the acheivements of his famous rival.

By: jplu7758

jplu7758 — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:10:54 +0000

What should of been up there was Julius Caesar when he came into britan he stated “i came i saw i conquered” but he never acturly conquered britan because he never collected taxes or surrport from the british people he just invaded and stayed for awhile.

By: hannah

hannah — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:55:30 +0000

haha i like the indian one

By: Top 10 Famous Historic Misquotes | WiredNews

Top 10 Famous Historic Misquotes | WiredNews — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:55:35 +0000

[...] Read More Famous, General news, Historic Misquotes, Top 10 Posted by: admin (2662 posts on WiredNews) [...]

By: Rocker23

Rocker23 — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:01:24 +0000

Having just discovered this entertaining site, I am obviously late to this particular party. But as it concerns correcting misinformation I feel compeled to point out that Benjamin Franklin died in 1788, making it very difficult to write a letter to anyone.

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:47:32 +0000

Anthony Montague-Brown is *not* the one who said “rum, sodomy, and the lash.” According to what I can find, he made a speech in which he talked about this phrase being attributed to Churchill and said that Churchill had told him (A. M.-B.) that he (W.S.C.) WISHED he had said it.

According to the Yale Dictionary of Quotations, it’s quoted in Harold Nicolson’s diary entry of 17 August 1950 (an edition of the diary was published in 1968) as “Naval traditions? Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers, and the lash.”