Quotes from the 1946–1999

Churchill did say this in Parliament in 1947, but in longer words and with a twist most people miss. He introduced it as something “that has been said,” not as his own invention.

One of the most quoted sayings in politics, but it does not appear in Burke's works. Burke and John Stuart Mill both wrote similar, longer thoughts.

A coach's line that only victory counts. UCLA coach Red Sanders said it first; Lombardi used it later and said he regretted how it was understood.

A line that sums up Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence, but it has not been found in anything he wrote or said. Martin Luther King Jr. used a close version in 1958, and the 1982 film Gandhi made it famous.

A call to public service at the height of the Cold War. The very next sentence widens the same challenge to the whole world, which is the half most people never quote.

King's answer to clergymen who called him an outside agitator. Because all communities are tied together, he argued, he had every right to be in Birmingham.

A business professor's 1963 summary of Darwin's ideas, applied to management. It was later shortened and credited to Darwin himself.

A promise that justice wins in the long run, even when progress is slow. King's compact wording condenses a longer image from an abolitionist sermon of 1853.

Armstrong's first words as he stepped onto the Moon. He said he meant “one small step for a man,” and the missing word has been debated ever since.

The calm radio call from Apollo 13 after an oxygen tank exploded. The real words were “we've had a problem,” said first by Jack Swigert and repeated by Jim Lovell.

A line from an academic article about forgotten Puritan women. Its author meant that ordinary, dutiful women are left out of history books, not that women should misbehave.

A saying from the recovery movement of the early 1980s. There is no trace of it in Einstein's papers, letters or interviews.

If you never try, you are guaranteed to fail, so take your chances. Gretzky said it to a hockey journalist in 1983, and the wording has shifted slightly since.

A direct challenge to the Soviet leader to prove his reforms were real by opening the Berlin Wall. Many of Reagan's own advisers wanted the line removed.

A line from a 1997 newspaper column written as an imaginary commencement speech. The column became the hit song “Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” and its lines were credited to famous people.

Jordan lists his missed shots and lost games and says those failures are the reason for his success. The words were spoken by Jordan in a Nike ad written by its agency.

A witty push to be authentic. It is not found anywhere in Wilde's works; the earliest known exact match is anonymous and from 1999, a century after his death.