We all love a good quote. They can inspire, make us laugh, or add weight to our words. But what if some of the most famous lines we use aren’t quite right? Or what if they weren’t even said by the person we think? Prepare to be surprised! Many well-known quotations have been twisted, misremembered, or credited to the wrong person over time. It’s easy for things to get a little mixed up, like thinking Hamlet said, “Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him well,” when it was actually, “Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio.” Or that classic line from The Empire Strikes Back, often recalled as “Luke, I am your father,” when Darth Vader really said, “No, I am your father.” Sometimes these changes add context, or the original just wasn’t as catchy. Let’s dive into ten common sayings that aren’t what they seem.
10 “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Many people believe the famous showman P. T. Barnum coined this phrase. He was known for his museum of oddities and clever hoaxes in the 19th century. However, there’s actually no solid proof he ever said these exact words. Arthur H. Saxon, who wrote Barnum’s biography, found no contemporary accounts of Barnum saying it. Instead, the phrase has been linked to his competitors, Adam Forepaugh and David Hannum, who might have said it in connection with Barnum.
But the saying is even older than that! The earliest version we know of appeared in the European Magazine in 1806. It went something like: “It was the observation of one of the tribes of Levi… ‘That there vash von fool born every minute.’” Since P. T. Barnum wasn’t even born until 1810, he couldn’t have been the one to come up with this classic line.
9 “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
When Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon in 1969, these are the words the world remembers. But were they his *exact* words? Armstrong himself stated he actually said, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Adding the “a” makes a big difference in meaning. Without it, “man” and “mankind” sound like the same thing. With the “a,” it clearly means one individual’s step.
In his official biography, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, he suggested that maybe the “a” “didn’t get picked up by the voice mic.” He hoped that if he did miss saying it, “history would grant me leeway for dropping the syllable and understand that it was certainly unintended.” NASA did grant him that leeway, officially transcribing the audio to include the “a.”
8 “The ends justify the means.”
This phrase is often linked to Niccolò Machiavelli’s book, The Prince (1532). Many think the book is a guide to being ruthless, boiling down its message to this famous saying. However, if you actually read The Prince, you’ll find these words never appear. While Machiavelli’s name has come to mean cunning or deceitful behavior, he didn’t exactly recommend being a villain all the time.
The closest he gets to this idea is when he advises a prince to “stick to the good if he can but know how to be bad when the occasion demands.” So, a more accurate summary of his philosophy might be “the ends sometimes justify the means.” The Roman poet Ovid is a more likely source for the direct quote. In his work Heroides, he wrote “Exitus acta probat,” which translates to “the outcome justifies the means.”
7 “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
These inspiring words often appear on motivational posters, usually with a picture of a mountain. Many people think Confucius said this, but it’s actually credited to Lao Tzu, who lived around the same time. The quote comes from the ancient Chinese text Tao Te Ching (also known as Dao De Jing), written around 400 BC.
The popular version isn’t quite accurate either. The original text says, “the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.” A “li” is a traditional Chinese unit of distance, equal to about 360 miles. While “a journey of 360 miles” doesn’t sound as grand as “a thousand miles,” that’s the original sentiment. The change is understandable for impact!
6 “Hell is just a frame of mind.”
If you search for this quote online, many sources will tell you it’s from Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus (written around 1592 or 1593). However, this exact phrase doesn’t appear in the play. The idea behind it is there, though. The demon Mephistophilis warns Faustus about hell, saying: “Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed / In one self-place; but where we are is hell; / And where hell is, there must we ever be.”
Mephistophilis is basically saying that hell isn’t a specific place, but a state of being—or, in other words, a frame of mind. His powerful speech has been shortened and twisted into the popular quote now associated with the play. The original lines are much more chilling, even if they didn’t stop Faustus from his dangerous path.
5 “Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
This popular quote is often misattributed, and its original meaning has also been bent out of shape. Many people think Marilyn Monroe said it. In reality, it was written by the academic Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Much of Ulrich’s research focuses on women who have been overlooked by traditional history books. This now-famous saying comes from her 1976 paper, “Vertuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1668-1735.”
When taken out of context, the quote sounds like encouragement for women to be rebellious. However, Ulrich’s original point was that well-behaved women should make history and be recognized for it. In 2007, she published a book with this title and explained that the slogan’s popularity was a chance “to reach out to those who might not take a history course, and encourage them to ask new questions about the nature of history.”
4 “Houston, we have a problem.”
This famous line originated from a real crisis during the Apollo 13 mission to the moon, following an onboard explosion. It has since become a common way to say something has gone seriously wrong. But that’s not exactly what was said at the time. Astronaut Jack Swigert actually reported, “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” When Mission Control asked him to repeat, Jim Lovell then said, “Uh, Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
The more dramatic version, “Houston, we have a problem,” was made popular by the 1995 movie Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks. William Broyles Jr., one of the film’s screenwriters, explained that using the past perfect tense (“we’ve had”) wasn’t as dramatic as “We have a problem,” which implied the problem was ongoing. Interestingly, NASA itself used the misquoted version as a title for a radio program in 1983, and it was also the title of a 1974 TV movie about the mission.
3 “The only two certainties in life are death and taxes.”
This witty observation is often credited to famous figures like Mark Twain or Benjamin Franklin. Mark Twain did use a similar idea in a letter in 1884, writing that he “changed publishers once—and just as sure as death and taxes I never will again.” Benjamin Franklin used it even earlier, in a 1789 letter: “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” And before them, Daniel Defoe wrote in The Political History of the Devil (1726): “things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed.”
However, none of these well-known men actually invented the phrase. The earliest known use comes from a play called The Cobbler of Preston by Christopher Bullock, first performed in 1716. In the play, a character named Toby Guzzle says, “You lye, you are not sure; for I say, Woman, ’tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes.”
2 “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Many believe this powerful statement about free speech came directly from the French Enlightenment writer Voltaire. While Voltaire was indeed a strong advocate for free speech, he never actually wrote or said this specific phrase. It was penned by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, who wrote under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre.
In her 1906 biography of Voltaire, titled The Friends of Voltaire, Hall wrote this sentence to summarize Voltaire’s attitude on the matter. She even ended the sentence with “was his attitude now.” Unfortunately, this clarifying part is often omitted, leading many to believe Voltaire himself uttered these famous words. So, while he was a prolific and influential writer, he wasn’t the originator of what might be his most renowned quote.
1 “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes.”
This is one of the most iconic commands from the American Revolutionary War. It’s popularly believed to have been shouted by either Colonel Israel Putnam or Colonel William Prescott at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Johnny Horton’s 1959 song “The Battle of New Orleans” even attributes a similar line to Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812: “Old Hickory said, ‘We could take ’em by surprise if we didn’t fire our muskets ’til we looked ’em in the eye’.”
However, historians are not entirely sure if this command was given at Bunker Hill at all. And even if it was, an American colonel wasn’t the first to say it. There’s evidence that Frederick the Great of Prussia ordered his soldiers to hold their fire until they could see the enemies’ eyes. The command was also reportedly used by British officers in the Royal Navy before the American Revolution. So, if Putnam or Prescott did give this famous order, they were likely drawing on existing military tactics.
It’s fascinating how these famous lines have changed or stuck to the wrong people over the years. Sometimes it’s for better flow, sometimes it’s to add missing context, and sometimes, well, it just sounds right! Understanding the true story behind these quotations can give us a new appreciation for them. It also reminds us that history, and even pop culture, can be a bit like a game of telephone.
