Comments on: 5 famous misquotes from literature

By: Les

Les — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:23:12 +0000

Although Nelson Mandela is cited as having used Marianne Williamson’s words, apparently he never did so. Numerous websites such as Snopes.com track the who myth.

By: Dean

Dean — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:18:25 +0000

I always felt that there was some mistake, or something missing from the quote, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, and assumed that maybe “Hell hath no fury like a woman s p u r n ed,” was more to the point – a woman’s advances rejected by a man admired would move any woman more like to a pure fury than would simply being scorned. But, I was mistaken; but not on this last point, I again maintain.. And I was therefore misquoting a misquote when I once wrote in a piece, “… Hell hath no fury like a woman spurned, and what else can we do for those who fall into anger but spurn and scrorn for their lack of control, their freedom from the constraints of themselves and the world around. Anger is unbecoming; but it is, nevertheless, essential …” It went on.

Nevertheless, to another matter, just a word to Kathleen (mail number 3, above):
“Play it again, Sam.” , with which you ended your missive is itself a misquote. Bogart merely said, “Play it, Sam”, nor it again uttered.
If you can intend a misquote of a quote (or even a misquote of a misquote, as I did) language can retain its liveliness, and not descend into cliche. The problem then remains, is the misquote left as just plain corny, and awful to word and manner? Cheers to you all, I enjoyed reading this page.

CJ: Glad you enjoyed the post, Dean. I can see what you mean about “spurned”; that would make more sense in a literal way but I suppose Congreve was taking some liberties as it follows a more free-flowing and relaxed structure. I’d be interested to know where you got the “spurned” misquote from; that’s a lengthy misquote considering it sounds quite unlike it.

And you’re right, it is “Play it, Sam”. It is interesting, how writers try to show intention without resorting to cliché… it’s not easy. Perhaps that’s what separates good writers from great ones. But in this case I think Kathleen was just joking.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:26:03 +0000

Mandela never used the Williamsom quote in his address..that is part of the myth. She even said so herself. CJ: You're right, Greg, I didn't think to check it out further after Grace's comment, but I had a look on Wikipedia and it was never in Mandella's speech. Thanks for pointing it out.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:07:58 +0000

Here’s another fun mistake in John Keats: On First Looking into Chapmans’s Homer.
John Keats compares his experience when reading Chapman’s Homer for the first time to that of the famous spanish explorer Hernan Cortez when seeing the Pacific. In fact, it wasn’t Cortez who first saw the Pacific but was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, another spanish explorer of the 1500s.

CJ: That’s another good one. I suppose more of an error than a misquote but not the sort of thing you’d expect from someone like John Keats! Thanks for stopping by.

By: Lior

Lior — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:07:02 +0000

It might be worth to point out that Julius Caesar’s famous quote “Et tu, Brute?” is actually from Shakespeare’s play and does not have any proven historical basis as many believe (and as I believed not too long ago).

Impressive literary knowledge there, especially with the Sherlock Holmes books.

CJ: Hi Lior, thanks for the comment. That’s a good point about Julius Caesar; a lot of the misconceptions people have come from confusing the play with history, but it’s understandable. We study the play but we only have bits and pieces from history. Plus it’s great drama.

I knew the Sherlock Holmes’ one through my love of the books, but a couple like Coleridge’s I picked up from various quote books I have. I love literature and looking at the history behind classic works, so I find these kinds of comparisons really interesting. Glad you found it interesting too.