I came across this quote on the internet the other day: “The problem with quotes on the internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity.”
The quote was attributed to Abraham Lincoln and I burst out laughing because there are many sites on the internet that cannot be trusted, and Lincoln should know as he was a clever lawyer before he became president.
I was looking for quotes or some smart sayings by great thinkers to lend some seriousness to a tongue-in-cheek article I was writing on how to research on the internet, when I came across this horribly unfunny quote: “Man who run behind car get exhausted”.
This absurd quote in terrible English was attributed to Confucius, the fourth century Chinese philosopher who deeply influenced thought and life in his country and beyond.
Confucius actually said this: “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
Taking that theme further about never giving up what you wish to achieve, no matter how long or how hard the journey, a joker came up with that fake quote about car and exhaust and dogs that fruitlessly chase cars, and attributed it to him.
As it always happens on the internet you tend to get distracted and go off in a different direction, and that’s how I went searching for more fake quotes.
I wanted to impress my friends on the social media who come up with uplifting quotes every day.
I came across this one, but I didn’t think it would make me more friends: “Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their sufferings. Some suffer too much, others too little.” It was attributed to Buddha.
Mahatma Gandhi, another believer in non-violence is said to have said this: “I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.”
The Mahatma [or Great Soul] as we know was an Indian expatriate lawyer in South Africa who returned to India and led the fight against British rule.
I am not sure whether the earlier one is true or not, but this one is surely a fake and is attributed to Gandhi: “I once killed a man for snoring too loudly.”
Things got worse as I trawled the internet and found George Washington, America’s first president, talking about the one place where we all go to share: “The greatest thing about Facebook is that you can quote something and totally make up the source.”
Mark Twain’s words of wisdom
The one person Facebook people love besides the Dalai Lama, is Mark Twain, the American author and humourist. He has said many funny things such as: “Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company.”
Much before the advent of social media he knew the power of falsehood and lies and is quoted as saying: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
But this one quote I am sure he never said: “When in doubt, attribute quotes to Mark Twain.”
He also never said this: “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” Or this:“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”
Check out some of the silly things people really said:
“More and more of our imports are coming from overseas.” — George W. Bush (politician)
“You know the one thing that’s wrong with this country? Everyone gets a chance to have their fair say.” — Bill Clinton (politician)
“If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life.” — Brook Shields (actor)
“If your parents never had children, chances are you won’t either.” — Dick Cavett (TV talk show host)
“In an action film you act the action, in a drama film you act in the drama.” — Jean-Claude Van Damme (actor)
