
Did Einstein say that?: Testing content vs. context in quotations (2017) - samclemens
https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/x8db2/
======
mellow2020
Sorry to "hijack" this, but I wonder if someone can either debunk this being
by Rosa Luxemburg, or give me a pointer towards a source? I love this quote,
but I'm skeptical to say the least.

 _My dear,_

 _Have you noticed how those who move, move fast? And those who don’t, just
stand still; motionless?_

 _Yes, you can go ahead and rant to me about how an object in motion stays in
motion, and how an object at rest stays at rest. But, I think there’s more to
this than physics._

 _I think those in motion have seen something the others have not; their
imprisonment._

 _While those who do not move, do not notice their chains._

 _Truly yours,_

 _Rosa Luxemburg_

~~~
sparky_z
A great source for this sort of question is Wikiquote. It classifies the quote
as "misattributed"[0], and says that it "appears to be something Luxemburg
could have said or written, but searches for a source have been unsuccessful".
It cites this page[1] as evidence.

[0]
[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg#Misattributed](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg#Misattributed)
[1]
[https://librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/referenc...](https://librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/reference-
desk-unanswered-questions/)

------
stepstop
I have fallen into some incredible quotation-source searching a few times,
spending hours looking through old scans of documents that only exist in
archives. But when I think I find the original author, I'm astounded how some
people can prove that even those are a paraphrase of a more ancient example.
And then you have sites like
[https://quoteinvestigator.com/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/)

What are some of the tricks in quotation investigation?

~~~
GuB-42
Isn't it possible that quotes have simply been rediscovered many times?

There are billions of people on earth, and we all have witty things to say.
And inspirational quotes don't carry much information, so many people are
bound to say the same thing, especially if you consider the meaning instead of
the literal formulation.

The same thing happens with jokes, especially puns. For example, try making a
joke on someone's name. Even if you just made it up, there is a high chance
that the person in question have already heard it.

~~~
hiccuphippo
A simple example for this is all the equivalent proverbs that exist in
different languages which are not translations of one another.

Edit: an example is "venturing into the lion's den" in Spanish is "falling
into the wolf's mouth" (Ir a caer en la boca del lobo).

------
reedwolf
I've always been fascinated by these misattributions of wise/witty sayings to
famous figures. The words aren't allowed to stand on their own, they have to
be vouched for by a suitably impressive and high status person.

My favorite is how, even in the realm of conspiracies that Shakespeare didn't
write his plays, the posited true author is invariably another famous
Elizabethan personality, e.g. Francis Bacon.

God forbid the Shakespeare plays were actually written by some random nobody.

~~~
leephillips
I have a theory of “quotation attraction”. It explains my observations that a
good saying from someone relatively obscure often gets misattributed to
someone more famous, especially someone witty such as Dorothy Parker. Any
famous, witty person will have a bunch of cool quotations attiributed to her
that were actually said by someone else.

------
FlyMoreRockets
Likely more misattributed quotes go to Mark Twain than any other person to
ever exist.

Examples: [https://newengland.com/today/living/humor/mark-twain-
didnt-s...](https://newengland.com/today/living/humor/mark-twain-didnt-say-
that-incorrect-quotes/)

------
wavegeek
"Quotations allegedly of me on the internet are rarely legitimate"
AlbertEinstein.

~~~
a1369209993
85% of quotes on the internet are made up. - Abraham Lincoln, probably
underestimating the percentage considerably.

