12句名言总是被误传

black白夜

We've all heard Albert Einstein's famous line: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

我们都听过爱因斯坦的名句：“神经病总是将同样的事情做了一遍又一遍，却期望得到不同的结果。”

As it turns out, insanity might be crediting that quote to Einstein over and over again. He never said it

事实证明，神经病可能一遍又一遍地将这句话归于爱因斯坦。但他从来没有这样说过。

Misattributions like this happen pretty often. One person quotes someone else without a shoutout, and all of a sudden, they become the original speaker. Or we just decide a quote sounds like something Mark Twain would say.

像这样的误传发生得相当频繁。某人引用别人的话而没有大声喊出来，突然间，他们就成为原创者。或者我们只是想要使某句话听起来像是马克·吐温说的。

These 12 surprising examples are credited to people who never really said them.

这12个惊人的例子被归于那些从未真正说过它们的人。

1. "Let them eat cake." — not Marie Antoinette

1. “让他们吃蛋糕。 ” - 玛丽·安托瓦内特没说过

Not only did Marie Antoinette not utter these words, if she had, everyone probably misunderstood her.

玛丽·安托瓦内特不会说出这些话，即使她说过，大家可能也是误解了她。

In Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Book 6" of his 12-volume autobiographical work, "Confessions," he writes, "At length I recollected the thoughtless saying of a great princess, who, on being informed that the countrypeople had no bread, replied, "Then let them eat pastry!" according to Phrase Finder.

根据短语搜索结果，让·雅克·卢梭在其12卷的自传体作品“忏悔录”的第6卷中写道，“我终于回忆起了一位伟大公主的轻率言论。在被告知乡下人没有面包时，她回答道，‘那就让他们吃糕点！’”

Most people assume "great princess" refers to Marie Antoinette. But Rousseau wrote those words in 1767 — when Marie Antoinette was 12 years old. She also didn't marry Louis XVI until 1770.

大多数人认为“伟大的公主”是指玛丽·安托瓦内特。但卢梭于1767年写下这些话时，玛丽·安托瓦内特才12岁。她也还没有结婚，直到1770年嫁给路易十六。

Even if Marie Antoinette did utter the phrase, the original version in French, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche," means "Let them eat brioche" — a type of crumbly French pastry (not unlike cake but not totally the same) eaten by the upperclass. The misinterpreted quote portrays Marie Antoinette as a callous patrician, unconcerned with the plight of the poor. But she could have meant the wealthy should stop monopolizing food and share with the lower classes — if she said it.

即使玛丽·安托瓦内特确实说了这句话，原始的法语版本"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche,"的意思是“让他们吃奶油蛋糕” - 一种上层阶级吃的易碎的法国糕点((不)像蛋糕但不完全相同)。被错误解读的话将玛丽·安托瓦内特描绘成一个无情的贵族，对穷人的困境漠不关心。但也可能她的意思是有钱人应该停止垄断食品、并与下层阶级分享 - 如果她确曾说过。

Other sources credit Marie-Therese, Marie Antoinette's eldest child (and the wife of Louis XIV).

其它信源将其归于玛丽·泰蕾兹，玛丽·安托瓦内特的长女(以及路易十四之妻)。

2. "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." — not Voltaire

2. “我不同意你说的话，但我誓死捍卫你说话的权利。 ” - 伏尔泰没说过

Voltaire didn't actually speak these words, but the idea does fall in line with his ideology.

伏尔泰实际上并没有说这些话，但这个想法确实符合他的思想。

In her well-known biography of the French philosopher, "Friends of Voltaire," Evelyn Beatrice Hall writes, "'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,' was his attitude now."

在其著名的法国哲学家传记中，“伏尔泰的朋友”伊芙琳·比阿特丽斯·霍尔写道，“‘我不同意你说的话，但我誓死捍卫你说话的权利。’是他现在的态度。”

The author was paraphrasing how she thought Voltaire felt about a certain topic. Everyone just decided the quote was real.

作者将她所认为的伏尔泰对某个话题的想法意译出来了。每个人都判定这句引言是真实的。

3. "Standing on the shoulders of giants" — not Sir Isaac Newton

3. “站在巨人的肩膀上” - 艾萨克·牛顿爵士没说过

Perhaps the most well-known phrase attributed to Sir Isaac Newton, these words appeared in a letter Newton wrote to Robert Hooke, another English philosopher and mathematician. But Newton didn't coin the phrase himself. He was alluding to a simile said much earlier by Bernard of Chartres, a 12th-century man.

也许是归于艾萨克·牛顿爵士的最有名的格言，这句话出现在一封写给罗伯特·胡克的信中，后者是另一位英国哲学家和数学家。但牛顿自己并没有提出这句格言。他是在暗示早得多的沙特尔的伯纳德，一个12世纪的人，所说的一个比喻。

John of Salisbury wrote that Bernard of Chartres used to say that "we [the Moderns] are like dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants [the Ancients], and thus we are able to see more and farther than the latter."

索尔兹伯里的约翰写道，沙特尔的伯纳德过去曾说““我们[现代人]就像矮人栖息在巨人[古人]的肩膀上，因此我们能够比后者看得更多、更远。”

4. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." — not Nelson Mandela

4. “我们最深的恐惧并非是我们力不能及。我们最深的恐惧是我们的力量无可限量。” - 纳尔逊·曼德拉没说过

This fanciful excerpt from the former South African president's 1994 inaugural address has floated around the Internet for years. The passage goes on:

来自南非前总统1994年就职演说的这份奇特的摘录在互联网上浮沉多年。文章继续写道:

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world ... As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

是我们的光芒、而不是我们的黑暗，最令我们恐惧。我们问自己：我是谁？怎样才能灿烂夺目、才华横溢?事实上，你不想成为什么人?你是神的孩子。自甘渺小对世界无益...因为我们从自身的恐惧中解放出来，我们的存在就自然而然地解放了其他人。

But crediting Mandela for these words right after getting out of prison seems downright ridiculous. Brian Morton puts it best in The New York Times:

但将其归于走出监狱后不久的曼德拉，显得非常荒谬。布莱恩·莫顿将其放在《纽约时报》最好的位置：

"Picture it: Mr. Mandela, newly free after 27 years in prison, using his inaugural platform to inform us that we all have the right to be gorgeous, talented and fabulous, and that thinking so will liberate others," Morton writes.

“想像一下：在27年监禁后新获自由，曼德拉先生用他的就职平台告诉我们，我们每个人都有灿烂夺目、才华横溢的权利，这种思想也会解放他人，”莫顿写道。

In reality, self-help guru Marianne Williamson wrote these words in her 1989 spiritual best-seller, "A Return To Love." The front page of her website even boasts about the excerpt.

事实上，自救大师玛丽安·威廉姆森在其1989年的精神类畅销书“回归爱”写下了这些话。她的网站首页甚至吹嘘这段摘录。

5. "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter." — not Mark Twain/Jack Benny/Muhammad Ali

5. “年龄是个精神高于物质的问题。如果你不介意，那就没关系。” - 马克·吐温/杰克·班尼/穆罕默德·阿里都没说过

People throw this quote around all the time, accompanied by arbitrary attributions. With a little help from Quote Investigator, the problem becomes clear: No one knows who said it. The first reference found comes from an anonymous government researcher in 1968. "Aging is a matter of mind. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter."

人们把这句话随时抛出来，同时将其归于任何人。得益于名言研究员的一点帮助，问题变得清楚：谁也不知道是谁说的。第一个引用被人发现来自于1968年的一个匿名的政府研究人员。“衰老是个心态问题，如果你不介意的话，就不要紧。”

Since then, the quote morphed to include "mind over matter." Comedian Jack Benny said it on his 80th birthday. A South Carolina newspaper credited Twain in 1970. And in 1981, Muhammad Ali flipped the phrase at a journalist while preparing for his last fight.

从那时起，演变的格言包括“精神高于物质。”这是喜剧演员杰克·本尼在他80岁生日时说的。南卡罗来纳州1970年将其归于马克·吐温。而在1981年，穆罕默德·阿里在准备他的最后一战时对记者翻出了这句话。

6. “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” — not Dr. Seuss

6. “做你自己、说你所想，因为那些在意的人不重要、重要的人不在意。” - 苏斯博士没说过

QI also debunked this famous misconception. We'd like to think Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, would wholly support the concept, but the reality feels a little more depressing: No evidence of the phrase exists in any of his books, and a snarky engineer coined the original.

齐也揭穿了这个著名的误解。我们想要认为西奥多·盖泽尔·苏斯，称呼苏斯博士更为人所熟知，会完全支持这一概念，但现实让人感觉有点沮丧：没有证据表明这句话存在于他的任何一本书中，而是某个尖刻的工程师原创了它。

The quote first appeared in 1938 in a London journal for municipal and county engineers. An ambiguous "Mr. Davies" directed the words toward people who criticized his housing designs.

该格言最早于1938年出现在伦敦的一家面向市、县工程师的杂志。一个不明其详的“戴维斯先生”将这些话指向那些批评他的住宅设计的人。

The phrase morphed into advice about seating arrangements and a poem used in The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Seuss didn't come into play until the 2000s, mostly in high school yearbooks.

这句话演变成有关座位安排的建议，变成《华尔街日报》上的一首诗。苏斯博士开始没有发挥作用，直到21世纪初才主要用于高中年鉴上。

7. "Well-behaved women rarely make history." — not Marilyn Monroe

7. “乖乖女很少创造历史。” — 玛丽莲·梦露没说过

In 2007, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a celebrated female historian, wrote a book titled, "Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History." Some suspect she swiped the title of her best-seller from the 1950s' favorite buxom blonde: Marilyn Monroe.

2007年，著名的女历史学家劳雷尔·撒切尔·乌尔里希写了一本书，名为“乖乖女很少创造历史。”有人怀疑她从1950年代最受欢迎的金发女郎玛丽莲·梦露那里偷了她的畅销书标题。

But they're wrong. Ulrich first wrote the phrase in 1976 for an issue of "American Quarterly," according to The New York Times. The original version refers to colonial woman in a very literal way. We know almost nothing about well-behaved, quiet women from that time period.

但他们错了。根据《纽约时报》，乌尔里希在1976年为 “美国季刊”的一个发行物首先写了这句话。原始版本以非常文学化的方式指向旧殖民地女人。我们对来自那个时期的彬彬有礼的安静女性几乎一无所知。

8. "There's a sucker born every minute." — not P.T. Barnum

8. “每分钟都有一个笨蛋出生。” - P.T.巴纳姆没说过

One of Barnum's biggest competitors and critics actually said this, according to "P.T. Barnum: The Legend And The Man," a biography by A.H. Saxon.

根据A.H.撒克逊的一本传记《 P.T.巴纳姆：传说和男人》，这实际上是巴纳姆最大的竞争对手和批评者之一说的。

In a 1948 article in the "Bridgeport Post," the anonymous author asked Adam Forepaugh if he could quote him on the "sucker" statement.

在1948年的“布里奇波特邮报”的一篇文章里，匿名作者问亚当·福泡，他是否能引用其“笨蛋”声明。

"Just say it's one of Barnum's slogans which I am borrowing for the occasion. It sounds more like him than it does me anyway," Forepaugh replied.

“就说这是巴纳姆的口号之一，我只是偶然借用。反正这听起来更像他、而非我说的。”福泡答道。

Barnum did, however, say, "The people like to be humbugged," which somehow doesn't seem as rude.

然而，巴纳姆的确说过，“人们喜欢被骗，”这在某种程度上似乎并不粗鲁。

9. "If you have to ask how much they are, you can't afford one." — not J.P. Morgan

9. “如果你要问他们值多少，(我只能说)你买不起。” - J.P.摩根没说过

No evidence exists that Morgan actually spoke these words, typically referenced as his response to an inquiry about the price of his lavish yachts. Biographer Jean Strouse doesn't think the quote fits Morgan's language style either, according to the The Quote Verifier.

没有证据显示摩根实际上说过这些话，而这通常被传为他对别人询问他的豪华游艇价格的回应。根据引言验证器，传记作家吉恩·斯特劳斯认为这些话并不符合摩根的语言风格。

Strouse did, however, stumble upon a recording of Morgan's response to Henry Clay Pierce's question about his yacht's price. "You have no right to own a yacht if you ask that question," he said. Different words. Still uppity.

然而，斯特劳斯确实偶然发现摩根对亨利·克莱·皮尔斯的游艇价格问题的回应记录。他说：“你问这种问题表明你就没有权利拥有自己的游艇。”单词不同、傲慢依然。

10. "If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." — not Winston Churchill

10. “25岁时不是自由主义者，说明你没有心；35岁时不是保守主义者，说明你没有脑。”- 温斯顿·丘吉尔没说过

Churchill never said this, according to the Churchill Centre and Museum in London. In fact, Paul Addison of Edinburgh University mentions this: "Surely Churchill can't have used the words attributed to him. He'd been a Conservative at 15 and a Liberal at 35! And would he have talked so disrespectfully of Clemmie, who is generally thought to have been a lifelong Liberal?"

根据丘吉尔中心和伦敦的博物馆，丘吉尔从未说过这个。事实上，爱丁堡大学的保罗·艾迪生提到：“丘吉尔当然不可能说过这些归于他的话。他在15岁时是保守主义者，35岁时却成了自由主义者！并且他怎么可能这么无礼地跟克莱米说话、而后者却被普遍认为是一个终生的自由主义者？”

Instead, Francois Guizot coined the phrase in the 19th century. "Not to be a republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head."

相反，弗朗索瓦·基佐在19世纪创造了这句话。“20岁时不成为共和党人证明需要心；30岁时成为共和党人证明需要脑。”

11. "The ends justify the means." — not Niccolo Machiavelli

11. “只问目的不问手段。” - 尼科洛·马基雅维利没说过

In "Heroides II," the Roman poet Ovid writes, "Exitus acta probat," which translates as "the outcome justifies the means." The closest Machiavelli comes to this idea, according to the Christian Science Monitor, occurs in "The Prince." He argues that people will always consider a prince's means as honest and praise him.

罗马诗人奥维德在“英雄书简2”写道，"Exitus acta probat," 这可以译为“只问目的不问手段。”根据《基督教科学箴言报》，马基雅维利最接近的想法出现在《王子》中。他认为，人们总是会认为王子的手段诚实并赞美他。

Considering he dedicated the book to the Medici family, who later arrested and tortured him, Machiavelli may have written the entire book satirically.

考虑到他把这本书献给美第奇家族，而后者后来逮捕和折磨他，马基雅维利可能整本书都在反讽。

12. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." — not Albert Einstein

12. “神经病总是将同样的事情做了一遍又一遍，却期望得到不同的结果。” - 爱因斯坦没说过

Different versions of this quote appear everywhere (doing the same thing twice, expecting the same result, etc.), and we owe none of them to Einstein.

本说法的不同版本似乎无处不在（两次做同样的事情，期待同样的结果等等），我们不把任何这些归于爱因斯坦。

After Michael Becker, an editor at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle (a local paper in Montana), let the wrong version slide into an editorial, he did some research on his personal blog.

《博兹曼每日纪事报》(蒙大拿州一份当地报纸)的编辑迈克尔·贝克尔让错误的版本溜进社论中之后，他在其个人博客上做了一些调查。

Becker traced the original back to Rita Mae Brown, the mystery novelist. In her 1983 book "Sudden Death," she attributes the quote to a fictional "Jane Fulton," writing, "Unfortunately, Susan didn’t remember what Jane Fulton once said. 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.'"

贝克尔回溯到神秘小说家瑞塔·梅· 布朗。在其1983年出版的书《突然死亡》中，她将这句话归于一个虚构的“简·富尔顿”所写，“不幸的是，苏珊不记得简·富尔顿曾经说过些什么。神经病总是将同样的事情做了一遍又一遍，却期望得到不同的结果。”

Now, go throw away half your coffee mugs and inspirational posters.

现在，去扔掉一半的咖啡杯和激励海报。
评论翻译:
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：zhenve 转载请注明出处
论坛地址：http://www.ltaaa.com/bbs/thread-244218-1-1.htmlJeff77450 on Oct 7, 6:19 PM said:
Christina, you've ruined my day. (Just kidding).

克里斯蒂娜，你毁了我的一天。（开个玩笑） 。

km on Oct 7, 7:46 PM said:
9. "If you have to ask how much they are, you can't afford one." — not J.P. Morgan
A fool says such things that make no sense. Maybe Christina Sterbenz can correct him on his logic. She has done a good job teaching us all spelling and grammar.
If I was to buy a car I would ask prices to determine value before purchasing. I could quite easily have enough money for the most expensive but decide to go for something a bit cheaper because it was much better value.

9. “如果你要问他们值多少，(我只能说)你买不起。” - J.P.摩根没说过
傻瓜讲这样的事情毫无意义。也许克里斯蒂娜 ·斯特本兹可以纠正他的逻辑。她在教我们所有人的拼写和语法方面已做了很好的工作。
如果我要买一辆车，我会在购买之前问价，以确定购买价值。我可以很轻易用足够多的钱买最昂贵的，但决定时会买便宜一点的东西，因为这样价值更高。

SAL-e on Oct 7, 8:39 PM said:
@12
The actual quote from Albert Einstein is: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." And I find it more accurate than: "Insanity quote" about the same wisdom.
@ 12

来自爱因斯坦的实际说法是：“当我们创造问题时，我们不能用同一种思维解决他们。”我觉得这在同一智慧方面比“神经病格言”更准确。

Cindy on Oct 7, 8:45 PM said:
Marie Therese was the daughter of Louis XVI, so she couldn't have been the wife of Louis XIV. She was the sister of Louis XVII (not proclaimed) and the wife of Louis XVIII.

玛丽·泰蕾兹是路易十六的女儿，所以她不可能是路易十四的妻子。她是路易十七（未宣称）的妹妹和路易十八的妻子。

ukmanleong on Oct 8, 3:05 AM said:
Don't Believe Everything You Read On The Internet is not Abraham Lincoln but Edgar J Hovver

不要相信你在互联网上看到的一切。 - 亚伯拉罕·林肯没说过，但埃德加·J·胡佛说过

Louis on Oct 9, 9:45 PM said:
You make an interesting point above on how Marie-Therese, Marie-Antoinette's oldest child, was also Louis XIV's wife. This would mean that Marie-Antoinette's and Louis XVI's daughter ended up marrying her great, great great grand-father (as Louis XV was the great grandson of Louis XIV and Louis XVI the great great grandson of Louis XIV). Leaving aside the obvious inbreeding concerns, the timeline looks challenging. I think what you meant to write was that Marie-Therese married her cousin, the Duc D'angouleme, who would end up being crowned Louis XVIII...

你有个有趣的观点：玛丽·安托瓦内特最大的孩子玛丽·泰蕾兹也是是路易十四的妻子。这将意味着，玛丽·安托瓦内特和路易十六的女儿到头来嫁给了她的曾、曾、曾祖父（因为路易十五是路易十四的曾孙，而路易十六是十四的玄孙）。撇开明显的近亲繁殖问题，时间轴看起来很有挑战性。我认为你所写的意思是，玛丽·泰蕾兹嫁给了其表哥德安古兰公爵，他最终被加冕成为路易十八...