History BeamMeUpScotty / Politics

** During a famous debate moment in which an audience member asked the candidates how the national debt had affected each of them personally [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ffbFvKlWqE]], Clinton is commonly remembered as having said "I feel your pain." He never used those words or anything close.

** She did once say something similar - to a courtier who was telling a dirty joke in the presence of a group of young children. And she wasn't using the RoyalWe, by "we are not amused", she meant "The courtiers and I are not amused." The idea that she was constantly gloomy comes both from [[TheMourningAfter her many years in mourning after her husband died]] and from the fact that having one's picture taken was considered a very serious matter, and people normally didn't smile in photos. Even then there are more pictures of Victoria laughing than of all nine of her children combined.

* The last words of Creator/ThomasMore are usually quoted as "I die the king's good servant, ''but'' God's first". In reality, he actually said "and". This is the faithful translation of the Paris Newsletter providing the account of his execution (''"Qu’il mouroit son bon serviteur '''et''' de Dieu premierement."''), but it is also faithful to More's character. He wrote in one of his letters:

* The last words of Creator/ThomasMore are usually quoted as "I die the king's good servant, ''but'' God's first". In reality, he actually said "and". This is not only a faithful translation of the Paris Newsletter providing the account of his execution, but it is also faithful to More's character. He writes in one of his letters:

* The last words of Lord Chancellor St. Creator/ThomasMore are usually quoted as "I die the king's good servant, ''but'' God's first". In reality, he actually said "and", so his last words are actually "I die the king's good servant, ''and'' God's first". This is not only a faithful translation of the Paris Newsletter providing the account of his execution[[note]]The newsletter translates his last words as "Qu’il mouroit son bon serviteur ''et'' de Dieu premierement." "Et" is French for "and".[[/note]], but it is also faithful to St. Thomas More's character. He never saw a disconnection between serving God and the king. He writes in one of his letters:
-->"I had always, from the beginning [of my service to Henry VIII, in 1518], truly conducted myself by looking first upon God and next upon the King according to the lesson that his Highness taught me at my first coming to his noble service, the most virtuous lesson that ever prince taught his servant..."

** Ironically for Mexico, the ''conquistador'' himself, UsefulNotes/HernanCortez said the very similar "It is better to die with honor than to live with dishonor." Though he was [[OlderThanTheyThink quoting]] from a chivalry book.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_will_bury_you "We Will Bury You!"]] speech Soviet leader UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev gave to a group of Western politicians in 1956. Partly [[LostInTranslation poor translation]], partly because West-East tensions were already increasing in this stage of the Cold War, the comment was interpreted as a direct nuclear threat against the United States. The complete quote is "Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will dig you in" (Нравится вам или нет, но история на нашей стороне. Мы вас закопаем ''Nravitsya vam ili nyet, no istoria na nashey storone. My vas zakopayem.''), in reference to the common Marxist saying "The proletariat[[note]]working class[[/note]] is the undertaker [mortician] of capitalism". Khrushchev was actually expressing the communist theory that capitalism was [[BecauseDestinySaysSo historically predetermined]] to eventually be supplanted by communism. He meant that [[HilariousInHindsight the Soviet Union would long]] outlast the Western powers, as in "we'll attend your funeral", not ''cause it''. "We will still be here when they bury you!" might be more to the point.

* [[UsefulNotes/PrimeMinistersOfIreland Charlie Haughey]] did not refer to the 1982 Malcolm [=MacArthur=] case ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUBU described more fully here]], the upshot of which was that a double-murderer who at that moment was Ireland's most wanted man was arrested while a houseguest in the home of the Attorney General) as "grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented" (GUBU). Rather, he said, "It was a '''bizarre''' happening, an '''unprecedented''' situation, a '''grotesque''' situation, an almost '''unbelievable''' mischance."

-->At the dances I was one of the most untiring and [[HaveAGayOldTime gayest]]. One evening a cousin of Sasha [Alexander Berkman], a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the Cause. I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business, I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. '''I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy.''' I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement should not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everyboy's right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world--prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own comrades I would live my beautiful ideal.

--> "When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled 'made in Germany'; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, 'Americanism'. The high-sounding phrase 'the American way' will be used by interested groups, intent on profit, to cover a multitude of sins against the American and Christian tradition, such as lawless violence, teargas and shotguns, denial of civil liberties." – "[[http://technoccult.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Fascism.png Disguised Fascism Seen as a Menace]]," ''New York Times'', September 12, 1938.

--->We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

--->We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard

* Deng Xiaoping never said, "To get rich is glorious." Another one commonly attributed to him goes, "To get rich ''is not a sin''," which might more accurately reflect his beliefs because under his administration China adopted more capitalist policies, allowing individual citizens to get more wealthy, but it was also under his direction that the Tiananmen Square incident later occurred, quashing demand for further capitalist reforms. Saying something is not evil is not the same thing as saying it is good.
* A fanous quote by Zhou Enlai is probably the result of a misunderstanding with the translator. He is frequently quoted as saying about the French Revolution (the one of 1789) that it was "too early to tell" what it had meant. However, it is more likely that he understood the question to instead refer to the (then recent) 1968 French protests. And given that they involved a fair numnber of people who saw themselves as Maoists and/or took inspiration from the "Red Book", it is not unreasonable to assume Zhou was speaking about current events, not making an IceCreamKoan statement about early modern history.

* Empress Dowager Cixi never said "We would rather give our state to "neighboring friends" (foreigners), not to our household slaves ̈(Han Chinese)." In fact, it was never attributed to her until the Internet era.

* UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton's infamous "basket of deplorables" comments wasn't aimed at half of all Americans, as is often claimed (or at least implied). It was aimed at half of ''Trump's supporters''; she stated explicitly that the other half of Trump's supporters had legitimate views and grievances. While many may take offense at even the accurate version of what she said, it has still been frequently distorted.

* UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton's infamous "basket of deplorables" comments wasn't aimed at half of all Americans, as is often claimed (or at least implied). It was aimed at half of ''Trump's supporters''; she stated explicitly that the other half of Trump's supporters had legitimate views and grievances. While many may take offense at even the accurate version of what she said, it was still frequently distorted.

* UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton's infamous "basket of deplorables" comments wasn't aimed at half of all Americans, as is often claimed (or at least implied). It was aimed at half of ''Trump's supporters''; while being offended by such a generalization is understandable, it was intended to be a description of people who supported one of her political opponents, not at people who failed to support her.

* UsefulNotes/BarackObama is often quoted as saying that the US has 57 states. What he actually said was "I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go [Oregon]. Alaska and Hawaii...I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it." He should have said "47 states", but in his speech mistakenly implied that there were 60 in total, probably by doing the math in his head as he was speaking (50 minus 3) and not noticing what he was saying.

* Not only did UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette never say "let them eat cake" (''Qu'ils mangent de la brioche''), she would likely have been horrified by the accusation, as she was deeply involved in charity work for the poor and gave a significant portion of her income to feed them (more than the rest of the French royal family combined). French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote that a "great princess" said ''"S'ils n'ont plus de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche"'', commonly translated as "If they have no bread, let them eat cake", when told peasants were starving, but wrote this in 1765, five year before Marie Antoinette married into the French royal family--and besides, Rousseau ''died'' well before UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution (in 1778). The quote may have satirised Marie Leszczyńska, wife of Louis XV, or perhaps the Austrian Empress UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa, before it was transferred to Marie Antoinette (Maria Theresa's daughter). Note that ''brioche'' is not really cake but a rich variety of bread with a higher egg and butter content than normal bread.

* Not only did UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette never say "let them eat cake" (''Qu'ils mangent de la brioche''), she would likely have been horrified by the accusation, as she was deeply involved in charity work for the poor and gave a significant portion of her income to feed them (more than the rest of the French royal family combined). French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote that a "great princess" said ''"S'ils n'ont plus de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche"'', commonly translated as "If they have no bread, let them eat cake", when told peasants were starving, but wrote this when Marie was a child--and besides, Rousseau ''died'' well before UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution (in 1778). The quote may have satirised Marie Leszczyńska, wife of Louis XV, or perhaps the Austrian Empress UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa, before it was transferred to Marie Antoinette (Maria Theresa's daughter). Note that ''brioche'' is not really cake but a rich variety of bread with a higher egg and butter content than normal bread.

** Bush didn't say, "...then the terrorists have won", or "...then the terrorists win". The meme originates from the comments of Frank Pierson, then-head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, after he refused to postpone the Oscar ceremonies following 9/11:"If we give in to fear, if we aren't able to do these simple and ordinary things, the terrorists have won the war." Similar wording and sentiments had already been said about a number of other topics.

* Georgia Representative John Lewis gets flack for saying that the slave trade changed the migratory paths of sharks in the Atlantic. The bad part is that it was actually New Jersey Representative Donald M. Payne, Jr. who said it. The worse part is that the misattribution (along with other colorful exaggerations) could have [[http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/2012/01/09/thrown-to-the-sharks/ originated in a rather poorly worded reply in Yahoo! Answers]].

** Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway infamously gaffed by referring to the the non-existent "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_massacre Bowling Green massacre]]," misremembering a full-blown terror attack when what actually occurred was the arrest of two Iraqi refugees in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 2011 for allegedly trying to send money and weapons to al-Qaeda. Some people mistakenly believe Trump himself made the gaffe.
** Trump never denied the existence of the virus that caused the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic, despite both Democrats and Republicans who thought he called it a “hoax”. While he did downplay its seriousness, comparing it to the common cold when it soon proved itself significantly worse, the “hoax” he was referring to was the accusation of Congressional Democrats that he was mismanaging the nascent crisis, soon after Congress failed to remove him over a scandal involving a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart.

* Creator/JohnSteinbeck is often quoted as having said, "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." This actually paraphrases part of an essay he wrote for ''Esquire'' magazine in 1960, in which the "deluded" people he was talking about weren't the poor at all.

* Emma Goldman was quoted on a T-shirt, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be in your revolution," but actually said the more verbose:

* UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson is supposed to have offered this notorious endorsement of the film ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}}'' (whose intertitles approvingly quote his writings on the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar and Reconstruction): "It is like writing history with Lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." That Wilson was a white supremacist who worked to re-segregate the Federal government makes the quote plausible. However, evidence suggests that it was actually [[http://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/index.php/2014/07/01/woodrow-wilsons-unintentional-rave-for-the-birth-of-a-nation/ an invention of a publicist for the film]]. While Wilson did host a White House screening of the movie, he actually criticized ''Nation'' as an "unfortunate production" and (correctly) anticipated that it would intensify racial resentment and violence.

* UsefulNotes/CalvinCoolidge said "After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.", usually shortened to the less meaningful "The business of America is business."

* 1930s Texas governor Miriam A. Ferguson is often quoted as having said, in opposition to bilingualism in Texas schools, "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas." However, the quote predates her first gubernatorial term by over forty years and there's no evidence she actually said it.

* 1930s Texas governor Miriam A. Ferguson is often quoted as having said, in opposition to bilingualism in Texas schools, "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas." However, this quote predates her first gubernatorial term by over forty years and there's no evidence she actually said it.

* 1930s Texas governor Miriam A. Ferguson is often quoted as saying "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas" in opposition to bilingualism in Texas schools. However, this quote predates her first gubernatorial term by over forty years and there's no evidence she actually said it.