9 Famous Quotes That Are Often Misused

There are many quotes that are constantly used at will by many of us, but do we actually know where they came from or what their full extent really is? Here are 9 famous quotes that are used in part, or even completely incorrectly:

1.  

The idea that money is inherently evil appears to stem from a quote that appears in the King James Bible, specifically in 1 Timothy 6:10. The thing is, however,  that the quote got misconstrued from the actual Bible verse, which says: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

 2.

This motivational quote also happens to be a misquote. It comes from a UCLA Bruins football coach known as “Red” Sanders. At a physical education workshop in 1950, he said: “Winning isn’t everything. Men, it’s the only thing!”  

 3.

This one is a complete misquote, because the actual quote says “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. In other words, you actually have to try food to determine whether it’s good to eat or not. “The proof is in the pudding” actually makes no sense at all.

 4.

A few hundred years back, “jack” was simply slang for “laborer”. This ghost word is still seen in phrases “lumberjack” and “steeplejack”. As a result, a “jack of all trades” was a laborer who was capable of doing a bit of everything. The “master of none” part of the quote is actually a modern addition, which contends that those can do a bit of everything have mastery over nothing.

 5.

An old belief from medieval times states that “fasting is a great remedy for fever”, but modern medicine begs to differ. Some believe that the notion of starving a fever actually comes from a mistranslation of “feed a cold, stave a fever”, meaning that it’s a well-nourished person with a cold has a better chance of staving off a fever than a person that is undernourished.

 6.

Greek philosopher Socrates left this one to the world. If he really did mean it in earnest, he probably would have written it down rather than killing himself by drinking hemlock. What you might not know about this famous quote is that it actually has a second part that’s often left out. In its entirety, it reads: “Great minds think a…and fools seldom differ.”

 7.

This quote is alternately attributed to Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller, although neither of them were actually confirmed to have said it. The full quote actually says: “when one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.” As a result, make sure you look forward and don’t dwell when one of life’s metaphorical doors slams shut on you.

8.

The first known version of this quote was popularized by William Shakespeare. It goes “care killed the cat”, with “care” meaning “worry” in this context. It appears that “care” made way for the word “curiosity” in the late 1800s, but while that is uncertain, people almost always forget that the quote actually has a second part. It actually reads: “curiosity killed the cat…but satisfaction brought it back,” and means although being nosy will ly get you in trouble, knowing the truth in the end is often worth the risk that you take to find it.

9.

Gandhi uttered many an inspiring phrase during his lifetime, however this has to be one of his most famous. In his original statement, the guru had said: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.”