Questions tagged [quotes]
Use this tag when the question is about whether someone said or wrote a quote.
411
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Did Oppenheimer comment about the split between Dr. Tsung Dao Lee and Dr. Chen Ning Yang?
Tsung-Dao Lee, who in 1957 became the second-youngest scientist to receive a Nobel Prize passed away on August 4
The story of his breakup with his co-recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize, Yang Chen Ning ...
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votes
2
answers
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Did James Madison say or write that the 10 Commandments are critical to the US nation?
Louisiana (the US state) recently passed a law requiring the biblical Ten Commandments be posted in every single classroom that is part of a school that receives public funding, including universities....
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0
answers
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Did Hitler say "I cannot live if one Jew is left"?
Recently, Moshe Feiglin, former deputy speaker of Israel's Knesset, said something on Israeli TV that went viral on X (Formerly Twitter): (see this and this)
"As Hitler said, 'I cannot live if ...
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6
votes
1
answer
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In what context did Netanyahu say "If we want to achieve our war goals, we give the minimal aid."?
I have seen the following quote from Netanyahu referenced in a few places: CNN, Senator Sanders, Wikipedia.
We provide minimal humanitarian aid... If we want to achieve our war
goals, we give the ...
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2
answers
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Did Einstein ever say "Then I would feel sorry for the good Lord. The theory is correct." about the theory of relativity?
According to PhysicsWorld and numerous other resources, Einstein said the following:
Then I would feel sorry for the good Lord. The theory is correct anyway. (1919, reply to his assistant, Ilse ...
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4
votes
1
answer
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Did Feynman say: “If you are getting nowhere with an old technology, having a fast technology only gets you nowhere faster!"
A 2016 journal article claims, without references that:
As pointed out by Richard Feynman, “If you are getting nowhere with an old technology, having a fast technology only gets you nowhere faster!”
...
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4
votes
0
answers
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Did Kurt Gödel say this quote about materialism?
In an interview, David Berlinski mentioned Kurt Gödel's view on materialism. He said:
Materialism succeeds to the extent that the materialists assigned to
material objects all the properties that ...
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votes
0
answers
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Is "If you want to master something, teach it." a Feynman quote?
Often, the quote
If you want to master something, teach it.
is attributed to Richard Feynman (for example, [1, 2, 3] and many more).
However, some claim the quote is attributed to Singh Yogi [5, 6] (...
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10
votes
1
answer
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Did President Richard Nixon say that the Warren Report was a hoax?
David Talbot writes in The mother of all coverups:
On a White House tape recording, President Nixon is heard telling
aides that the Warren Report "was the greatest hoax that has ever been
...
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19
votes
1
answer
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Did Goethe say this quote praising the Prophet Muhammed?
Posted on Islam Online:
Goethe, a famous German writer, artist, and politician of the 1800s,
marveled over the achievements and status of the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) saying: “We ...
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3
votes
1
answer
354
views
What is the correct version of Iraq's prime minister Nuri al-Said's quote?
Benny Morris claims:
Already before the war, Iraq’s prime minister had warned British diplomats that if the United Nations decided on a solution to the Palestine problem that was not “satisfactory” ...
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-3
votes
1
answer
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Is the quote "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs" by Henry Ford?
Widely quoted and attributed to Henry Ford (e.g. in the Civilization game series):
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
Did Ford say this?
(And if not, who first said/wrote ...
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0
answers
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Did Nikola Tesla say that 3,6,9 are the key to the universe?
I have seen the following quote at numerous places:
“If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have the key to the universe.”
~Nikola Tesla
For example, this Youtube video ...
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19
votes
2
answers
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Did Henry Kissinger say "it may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal"?
It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend
is fatal.
This quote is attributed to Henry Kissinger.
I did find many references such as this WSJ article that further this ...
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2
answers
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Did Netanyahu say (apparently in 2001) "I actually stopped the Oslo Accords"?
There are a few sources claiming he said this ("I actually stopped the Oslo Accords"), but all of those I found are rather left-wing. E.g. a 2012 opinion piece in Haaretz or a piece in ...
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2
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1
answer
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Is this quote/poem by Mahmoud Darwish? "if they ask you about Gaza.."
A quote about Gaza has become a meme on social media:
And if they ask you about Gaza, tell them that it has a martyr, a martyr helps him, a martyr takes pictures of him, a martyr bids him farewell, ...
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votes
1
answer
1k
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Did Plato say “we can change reality by changing our mind”?
The complete quote is:
Reality is created by the mind. We can change our reality by changing our mind.
I found this quote on Goodreads and on this blog and on Pinterest. However, none of these cites ...
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1
vote
0
answers
152
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Did US president Theodore Roosevelt call Democrats "prison vermin"?
According to two very non-primary references, the President called Democrats "prison vermin".
The first is the 1902 Political X-rays, saying that it is quoting from an 8 November 1901 letter ...
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5
votes
1
answer
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Would US president Theodore Roosevelt refer to his political enemies as "vermin"?
A publication of the Library of Congress says:
Mr. Foulke in his letters reveals an unusual frankness in letting President Roosevelt know of the attitudes of his political enemies -- "small ...
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votes
2
answers
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Did Netanyahu express support of Hamas in 2019?
When discussing the ongoing Israel/Hamas war, the following quotes occasionally come up.
Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and ...
0
votes
2
answers
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Did B. R. Ambedkar say it is shameful for women to enter politics?
B. R. Ambedkar was an Indian politician in the 1940s-50s who helped write the Indian constitution.
The Indian government hosts a web-page of his writings and speeches. Vol. 40, Page No. 467 is in ...
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1
answer
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Did Stalin say in 1940 that "the action of the Red Army is also a matter of world revolution"?
The quote appears in a 2001 paper in English... and only there in that exact formulation.
[Stalin's] policies during and after World War II amounted to “National Bolshevism”—the use of the Soviet ...
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5
votes
2
answers
2k
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Did a soldier who confirmed babies decapitated by Hamas previously call for "wiping out entire Palestinian villages"?
According to Anandolu Agensi [Oct, 12]:
To this day, only one soldier has said he saw babies were beheaded. David Ben Zion of Unit 71, an extremist settler who earlier this year called for “wiping ...
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28
votes
2
answers
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Did Netanyahu say "We will turn Gaza into a deserted island" in early October 2023?
According to a October 7, 2023 Al-Jazeera article, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:
“We will take mighty vengeance for this black day,” the Israeli leader said in a televised address. “...
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24
votes
1
answer
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Did John Steinbeck say "It means very little to know that a million Chinese are starving unless you know one Chinese who is starving"?
I often see the quote attributed to John Steinbeck, "It means very little to know that a million Chinese are starving ...", when explaining the difference between sympathy and empathy, e.g. ...
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3
votes
1
answer
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views
Did Richard Dawkins say Pope John Paul II was a hypocrite about Darwinism?
Multiple sources (including Richard Dawkin's own web-site) quote the following from an article by Michael Ruse, which he supposedly wrote for the Playboy magazine.
We who love science must realize ...
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1
answer
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Did Einstein say "Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you that mine are greater"?
I've seen the quote below attributed to Einstein in several places
Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you that mine are greater.
Even on sites where several other Einstein ...
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votes
1
answer
555
views
Did Bertrand Russell say, "Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, ..."?
Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence,
it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.
—Bertrand Russell
Many books and websites attribute this ...
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votes
1
answer
1k
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Did Voltaire say/write "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."?
There is a popular saying:
Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be
said.
On the internet, many pages attribute this quote to Voltaire - however, I could not find any ...
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votes
0
answers
700
views
Did Charles Schulz say, "All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt"?
The following saying is often attributed to Charles M. Schulz, or to one of the characters in his famous comic strip, Peanuts.
All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.
...
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29
votes
1
answer
14k
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Did Richard Feynman say that if all of mathematics disappeared, physics would be set back by exactly one week?
The following quip is often attributed to the physicist Richard Feynman:
If all of mathematics disappeared, physics would be set back by exactly one week.
See for example Quote Master, quotefancy, ...
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5
votes
1
answer
837
views
Did Tsar Nicholas II really call for a "short, victorious war"?
Back in 2018, an article in the Political Studies Association blog quoted Tsar Nicholas II as saying that what his people needed was a "short, victorious war" prior to the Russo-Japanese War ...
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votes
1
answer
936
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Did the Joint Intelligence Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff claim the USSR would convince all Japanese?
An opinion piece posted on 10.05.2016 08:46 by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey on Pravda states that Peter Kuznick claimed:
The Japanese leaders did not know that at Yalta Stalin had agreed to
come into the ...
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votes
2
answers
7k
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Did Hitler say that "private enterprise cannot be maintained in a democracy"?
There are a bunch of sources claiming he said it, but the earliest one I was able to find is a 1968 book The Arms of Krupp, which also gives it in German as "privates Unternehmertum könne in der ...
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2
votes
1
answer
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Is there documented evidence that George Kennan opposed the establishment of NATO?
I have no trouble believing George Kennan opposed NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe; quotes about that are easy to find, e.g. on Wikipedia, using relatively recent thus accessible sources.
On the ...
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votes
1
answer
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Did Time Magazine publish an article in 1931 explaining how to prepare and roll marijuana?
According to a Feb 3, 2021 blog entry ("Why Is Marijuana Called Reefer?") of Kushfly, a medical cannabis company, Time Magazine published an article in 1931 explaining how to roll a "...
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votes
3
answers
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Did Napoléon Bonaparte ask his wife Josephine not to bathe for several days in a letter before his arrival?
According to British historian Andrew Roberts, Napoléon Bonaparte wrote a letter to his wife Joséphine, in which he wrote "to her, ‘don’t wash for three days’" to spice up their reunion. ...
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votes
2
answers
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Did Richard Feynman say that anyone who claims to understand quantum physics is lying or crazy?
Theoretical physicist, Richard Feynman is often attributed with the quote
Anyone who claims to understand quantum theory is either lying or crazy.
Example of the claim.
Is this apocryphal, or did ...
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25
votes
2
answers
8k
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Did Lincoln say, "When we buy steel made in America, we get the steel and the money too"?
In "Industrial Policy Comes Full Circle" (Dec. 15), Clyde Prestowitz (Wall Street Journal, 2022-12-11, 2022-22-15 print edition p. R17):
Lincoln said: "I don't know much about tariffs, ...
user62611
4
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0
answers
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Did Julius Caesar say "If you can't defeat your enemy, have him as your friend"?
In my country (Italy) there's a popular saying that goes "Se non puoi sconfiggere il tuo nemico, fattelo amico", translated to english as "If you can't defeat your enemy, have him as ...
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Did Ferdinand Foch say "This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years"?
It is often said (e.g. [1], [2]) that, around the time of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch said "This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty ...
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2
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Did Voltaire say/write "In 100 years, the Bible would be a forgotten and unknown book?"
The phrase "In 100 years, the Bible would be a forgotten and unknown book" is attributed to Voltaire in a bunch of Christian sites.
Examples:
Sermon Illustrator
The Destin Log
Does anyone ...
3
votes
0
answers
595
views
Did herbalist Maria Treben really systematically confuse inulin with insulin?
The widely read Austrian herbalist Maria Treben is frequently said to have fundamentally confused a number of biochemical concepts, theories, or at least names of substances.
As seen with the always ...
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1
answer
3k
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Did Plato and Socrates discuss picking the largest ear of wheat in a wheat field?
There is a widely shared story about Plato and Socrates finding wheat in a field, and using it as a metaphor, generally for love. Examples: Actorsfit.com, David Ding and Love, Marriage, Happiness, ...
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13
votes
1
answer
953
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Did Alexander Graham Bell suggest that “Ahoy!” (or some variation of it) be the standard telephone greeting?
This claim is found all over the place. Sometimes the phrase is “Ahoy-hoy!”, sometimes simply “Ahoy!”. In Wikipedia's article about “Ahoy”:
Alexander Graham Bell initially suggested that the standard ...
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1
answer
9k
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Did Louis Pasteur admit on his deathbed "Bernard [the inventor of terrain theory] was right"?
On many 'health' sites defending terrain theory (the theory that the state of the body, not just germs, is the primal factor for disease development) one finds quotes that Louis Pasteur is said to ...
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votes
1
answer
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John Nash quote from A Beautiful Mind
Did John Nash actually said the following?
Alicia: How big is the universe?
Nash: Infinite.
Alicia: How do you know?
Nash: I know because all the data indicates it's infinite.
Alicia: But it hasn't ...
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4
votes
1
answer
1k
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Did Konrad Adenauer claim that Europe and Asia encounter at the Elbe?
According to James Hawes1,
Konrad Adenauer, its first postwar chancellor and founding father, made Westbindung (“binding to the West”) the heart of West German politics. Adenauer came from the deeply ...
32
votes
2
answers
15k
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Did Henry Kissinger say this about forced vaccinations?
I found a quote online in the form of a photo from what looks like some newspaper:
The photo contains an alleged quote from Henry Kissinger's speech to the WHO Council on Eugenics on February 25, ...
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9
votes
1
answer
3k
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Did Churchill say "Generals are always prepared to fight the last war"?
I've seen the quote "Generals are always prepared to fight the last war" be attributed to Winston Churchill by several sources, but none of them actually give a primary source (such as a ...
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