Post by upfromsumdirt on Apr 28, 2008 12:17:07 GMT -5
"Because it was there"
Sir Edmund Hillary on why he climbed Mount Everest
The actual quote was "Because I was there". A joke.
"It's a funny old game"
Jimmy Greaves' autobiography "Greavsie" insists that, despite this quote regularly being attributed to him, he has never used it. The misquotation may arise from a trailer for the Central Television programme Spitting Image during the mid-1980s.
"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.* "
Notes: This misquote hearkens back to the British Lord Acton, a 19th century English historian who was commenting about tyrant monarchs (Caesar, Henry VIII, Napoleon, various Russian Tsars, etc.). It is probably the single most misquoted statement in the English language. Lord Acton actually wrote: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
"Beam me up, Scotty" - James T. Kirk
From the Star Trek science fiction television series. Several variants of this do occur in the series, such as "Energize", "Beam me aboard," "Beam us up home," or "Two to beam up," but "Beam me up, Scotty" was never said during the run of the original Star Trek series. However, the quote "Beam me up, Scotty" was uttered in Star Trek: The Animated Series. The movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home included the closest other variation: "Scotty, beam me up."
"Damn it, Jim! I'm a doctor not a..." - Leonard McCoy
From the Star Trek science fiction television series. McCoy had several lines of this sort, except that he never said "damn it". Only one "swear word" was used on the original Star Trek series (prior to the movies): "hell." It was most famously spoken at the end of the episode entitled City on the Edge of Forever: "Let's get the hell out of here" - J. T. Kirk.
"Religion is the opiate of the masses." - Karl Marx
Correct quote: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
"Blood, Sweat, and Tears" - Winston Churchill
Correct quote: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
The quote appeared in the book Metropolis, written by Thea von Harbou (wife of Metropolis director Fritz Lang), first published in 1926. The text, describing Freder Fredersen who has just finished his first day working to keep the machines of Metropolis alive, states, "He tasted a salty taste on his lips, and did not know if it was from blood, sweat, or tears."
Notes: A similar quote from Winston Churchill can be found in a recorded speech he gave to the House of Commons where he says " I have never promised anything but blood, sweat and tears, now however we have a new experience. We have victory. a..a remarkable victory. A bright gleam has caught the helmets of our soldiers and warmed and cheered all our hearts."
The song from the movie The Longest Day says : " [...] Filled with hopes and filled with fears. Filled with blood and sweat and tears [...]"
"Elementary, my dear Watson" - Sherlock Holmes
This phrase was never uttered by the character in any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's written works. Though "Elementary," and "...my dear Watson." both do appear near the beginning of The Crooked Man (1893), it is the "...my dear Watson" that appears first, and "Elementary" is the succinct reply to Watson's exclamation a few lines of dialogue later. This is the closest these four immortal words ever appear together in the canon.
The association of this quote with the Sherlock Holmes character likely comes from the closing lines of the 1929 film The Return of Sherlock Holmes:
Watson: Amazing, Holmes.
Holmes: Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears." - William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
Note: The quote is often attributed to Julius Caesar; it was actually said by the character Antony in the play. The next line "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" makes it clear that Caesar is not the speaker.
"God helps those who help themselves"
The saying is not biblical, although it is an ancient proverb that shows up in the literature of many cultures, including a 1736 edition of Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac.
"Lead on, Macduff"
Correct quote: "Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him who first cries "Hold! enough!"- William Shakespeare (Macbeth)
"Bubble bubble, toil and trouble."
Correct quote: "Double, double toil and trouble." - William Shakespeare (Macbeth)
Notes: It is worth mentioning that the line following this quote reads "Fire burn and cauldron bubble"; if the first line had indeed read "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble", the second line would sound redundant. If this is kept in mind, accidental misquotations can be avoided.
The quotation is also often mispunctuated, with a comma after the second "double". This alters the meaning, as in the original (which lacks this comma) the word "double" is fairly clearly intended as an adjective rather than a verb imperative.
"Bubble bubble" was popularized in the hit Disney cartoon "DuckTales" - "Much Ado About Scrooge." The witches on the island chanted "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Leave this island on the double." Here the words from the Macbeth rhyming scheme are reversed.
"Methinks the lady doth protest too much"
Correct quote: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - William Shakespeare (Hamlet) This quote comes from Hamlet, Act 3, scene 2, line 230 (line accuracy may differ in varying versions of the play). In this case, "protest" means more of "proclaim" than "argue against". Gertrude says it when Hamlet asks her if she's enjoying the play, in which the Player King and Player Queen act out what Hamlet believes was the murder of his father. On one level, she's critiquing the play by saying the Player Queen has too much to say. On another level, knowing what Hamlet is doing, she's critiquing her son by telling him very subtly that he's got it wrong - at least as matters pertain to her. However, she might not for certain have made the connection with her story yet. It is early in the play and what has happened so far really isn't very much like her story at all. She could simply be making an observation on human behaviour in general. Someone who is telling the truth is usually doing so rather plainly and shortly. Someone who is assuring too much is usually lying either to herself or to the audience. Therefore Gertrude implies that she predicts the Player Queen will break her word. Hamlet seems to interpret her statement in this way since in the next line Hamlet says: "O, but she'll keep her word".
"Money is the root of all evil."
In context: "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." (I Timothy 6:10 King James Version)
Many translations render what the KJV renders as "the root" (originally ῥίζα) as "a root" or "at the root" and "all evil" (πᾶς κακός) as "all sorts of evil" or "all kinds of evil". (See also translations in New International Version, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation.) All translations agree that it is the love of money, rather than money itself, that is associated with evil.
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven."
One interpretation is that "the eye of a needle" refers to a particular gate into the city of Jerusalem known to be extremely constricted. Merchants who used this gate were forced to strip their camels of their burdens and gear before they could fit through the narrow passage.
However, the above itself is a common misconception, seeing as such a gate has yet to be found in Jerusalem. Reading the actual text in Matthew chapter 19, verses 25 and 26 (following this quote in verse 24), makes it clear that the disciples themselves thought Jesus was saying it was impossible. "When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?" Verse 26 gives us Jesus' answer, "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." showing that He meant that it is only possible for God to save, since nothing is impossible for God. Since the man was trying to do something to save himself, Jesus said it was impossible, but for God all things are possible.
A more likely issues is the original translation itself. In Hebrew, without vowels, the word for "camel" is the same as the word for a thick, heavy yarn (this point is made in "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver). This makes the association with the eye of a needle far more appropriate in the first place (although it should be noted that Matthew's Gospel was written in Greek, not Hebrew).
"Now is the winter of our discontent."
In context: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York." - William Shakespeare (Richard III)
Notes: This is not a misquotation but, in one reader's opinion, a selective quotation, because the grammar of the quotation is different from the grammar of the original, and hence the meaning may be lost on some. As misquoted, is is the main verb, and the phrase means, "The winter of our discontent is happening now." In the full quote, is is an auxillary verb, and might be rephrased according to modern usage, to clarify the meaning: "Now the winter of our discontent is made into a glorious summer by this sun of York."( this sun of York and not son, a punning reference to the coat of arms of Edward IV)
"Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him well."
Correct quote: "Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio - a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." - William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act V, Scene I)
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
Alternative: "We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us."
In his 1945 "Notes on Nationalism", Orwell did state that, for the pacifist type of a nationalist, the notion that "Those who ‘abjure’ violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf." is impossible to accept. "Notes on Nationalism"
Notes: allegedly said by George Orwell although there is no evidence that Orwell ever wrote or uttered either of these versions of this idea. They do bear some similarity to comments made in an essay that Orwell wrote on Rudyard Kipling, when quoting from one of his poems.
"Yes, making mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep" - Rudyard Kipling (Tommy)
"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it." - Jack Nicholson (A Few Good Men)
Alternative: "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." - Winston Churchill (miscellaneous quotation, no date)
"Play it again, Sam"
Actual quote: "Play it Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'." - Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca)
Actual quote: "You played it for her, you can play it for me. ... If she can stand it, I can! Play it!" - Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca)
Note: Woody Allen paid homage to Casablanca under the title Play It Again, Sam, which is likely the source of much such misquotation.
The line first occurred in the Marx Brothers' film A Night in Casablanca (1946), another possible source of the misquotation.
"Someone set us up the bomb"
Correct quote: "Somebody set up us the bomb"
The spoken words are "Someone set us up the bomb" in the flash animation which made the phenomenon popular.
Notes: From a Japanese video game, Zero Wing, with a very unskilled and amusing English translation. Similar to "all your base are belong to us", which occurs in the same game.
"The rest is science"
Correct quote: "The rest is silence" - William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
Notes: This phrase may also be used as a play on words, or even plain prose, as when Steve Swallow, the jazz musician, said about jazz composition, "Eventually, an idea always comes, and then the rest is science."
"To gild the lily"
Correct quote: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily" - William Shakespeare (The Life and Death of King John, Act IV, Scene II, line 13) Shakespeare was himself playing with the biblical story that says that one does not need to add to what God has already done for the lily (Matt 6:28) "See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."
"Why don't you come up and see me sometime?"
Correct quote: "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?" - Mae West (She Done Him Wrong)
She switched the word order in her next film, I'm No Angel, where she does say "Come up and see me sometime", but without the "Why don't you".
A mechanical mouse in a Tom and Jerry cartoon repeated "come up and see me sometime".
"I am not a crook" Richard Nixon
Often attributed to his denial of any foreknowledge of the Watergate break-in, when in fact the question raised in a Press Conference was about his personal finances.
"Luke, I am your father."
Correct quote: "No. I am your father." - Darth Vader, Star Wars Episode V:The Empire Strikes Back
Notes: Said in response to Luke Skywalker's accusation about his father's death: "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!" Although the accent is on the I, it is also often misquoted with the am having the accent. The dialogue is also often misquoted as Luke saying, "l'll never join you! You killed my father!" and Vader saying, "No Luke, I am your father." (The first correct quote with 'No. I am your father' is from the movie; NPR radio adaption used 'No Luke, I am your father.')
"You dirty rat!"
Never said by James Cagney in any film. However, in Blonde Crazy (1931) he says that another character is a "dirty, double-crossing rat".
Also quoted in the 1934 Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes"
"The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash."
Winston Churchill's personal secretary, Anthony Montague-Browne, said that although Churchill did not say this, he wished he had.
"A language is a dialect with a Navy."
This was not said by Otto von Bismarck, but rather by the linguist Max Weinreich or his student Joshua Fishman
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality", or a variation on that.
This was stated by John F. Kennedy and attributed by him to Dante [2]. However, in the Divine Comedy those who "non furon ribelli né fur fedeli" — neither rebelled against nor were faithful to God — are located directly inside the gate of Hell, a region neither hot nor cold (Inferno, canto 3); the lowest part of Hell, a frigid lake of ice, was for traitors.
Sir Edmund Hillary on why he climbed Mount Everest
The actual quote was "Because I was there". A joke.
"It's a funny old game"
Jimmy Greaves' autobiography "Greavsie" insists that, despite this quote regularly being attributed to him, he has never used it. The misquotation may arise from a trailer for the Central Television programme Spitting Image during the mid-1980s.
"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.* "
Notes: This misquote hearkens back to the British Lord Acton, a 19th century English historian who was commenting about tyrant monarchs (Caesar, Henry VIII, Napoleon, various Russian Tsars, etc.). It is probably the single most misquoted statement in the English language. Lord Acton actually wrote: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
"Beam me up, Scotty" - James T. Kirk
From the Star Trek science fiction television series. Several variants of this do occur in the series, such as "Energize", "Beam me aboard," "Beam us up home," or "Two to beam up," but "Beam me up, Scotty" was never said during the run of the original Star Trek series. However, the quote "Beam me up, Scotty" was uttered in Star Trek: The Animated Series. The movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home included the closest other variation: "Scotty, beam me up."
"Damn it, Jim! I'm a doctor not a..." - Leonard McCoy
From the Star Trek science fiction television series. McCoy had several lines of this sort, except that he never said "damn it". Only one "swear word" was used on the original Star Trek series (prior to the movies): "hell." It was most famously spoken at the end of the episode entitled City on the Edge of Forever: "Let's get the hell out of here" - J. T. Kirk.
"Religion is the opiate of the masses." - Karl Marx
Correct quote: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
"Blood, Sweat, and Tears" - Winston Churchill
Correct quote: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
The quote appeared in the book Metropolis, written by Thea von Harbou (wife of Metropolis director Fritz Lang), first published in 1926. The text, describing Freder Fredersen who has just finished his first day working to keep the machines of Metropolis alive, states, "He tasted a salty taste on his lips, and did not know if it was from blood, sweat, or tears."
Notes: A similar quote from Winston Churchill can be found in a recorded speech he gave to the House of Commons where he says " I have never promised anything but blood, sweat and tears, now however we have a new experience. We have victory. a..a remarkable victory. A bright gleam has caught the helmets of our soldiers and warmed and cheered all our hearts."
The song from the movie The Longest Day says : " [...] Filled with hopes and filled with fears. Filled with blood and sweat and tears [...]"
"Elementary, my dear Watson" - Sherlock Holmes
This phrase was never uttered by the character in any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's written works. Though "Elementary," and "...my dear Watson." both do appear near the beginning of The Crooked Man (1893), it is the "...my dear Watson" that appears first, and "Elementary" is the succinct reply to Watson's exclamation a few lines of dialogue later. This is the closest these four immortal words ever appear together in the canon.
The association of this quote with the Sherlock Holmes character likely comes from the closing lines of the 1929 film The Return of Sherlock Holmes:
Watson: Amazing, Holmes.
Holmes: Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears." - William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
Note: The quote is often attributed to Julius Caesar; it was actually said by the character Antony in the play. The next line "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" makes it clear that Caesar is not the speaker.
"God helps those who help themselves"
The saying is not biblical, although it is an ancient proverb that shows up in the literature of many cultures, including a 1736 edition of Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac.
"Lead on, Macduff"
Correct quote: "Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him who first cries "Hold! enough!"- William Shakespeare (Macbeth)
"Bubble bubble, toil and trouble."
Correct quote: "Double, double toil and trouble." - William Shakespeare (Macbeth)
Notes: It is worth mentioning that the line following this quote reads "Fire burn and cauldron bubble"; if the first line had indeed read "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble", the second line would sound redundant. If this is kept in mind, accidental misquotations can be avoided.
The quotation is also often mispunctuated, with a comma after the second "double". This alters the meaning, as in the original (which lacks this comma) the word "double" is fairly clearly intended as an adjective rather than a verb imperative.
"Bubble bubble" was popularized in the hit Disney cartoon "DuckTales" - "Much Ado About Scrooge." The witches on the island chanted "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Leave this island on the double." Here the words from the Macbeth rhyming scheme are reversed.
"Methinks the lady doth protest too much"
Correct quote: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - William Shakespeare (Hamlet) This quote comes from Hamlet, Act 3, scene 2, line 230 (line accuracy may differ in varying versions of the play). In this case, "protest" means more of "proclaim" than "argue against". Gertrude says it when Hamlet asks her if she's enjoying the play, in which the Player King and Player Queen act out what Hamlet believes was the murder of his father. On one level, she's critiquing the play by saying the Player Queen has too much to say. On another level, knowing what Hamlet is doing, she's critiquing her son by telling him very subtly that he's got it wrong - at least as matters pertain to her. However, she might not for certain have made the connection with her story yet. It is early in the play and what has happened so far really isn't very much like her story at all. She could simply be making an observation on human behaviour in general. Someone who is telling the truth is usually doing so rather plainly and shortly. Someone who is assuring too much is usually lying either to herself or to the audience. Therefore Gertrude implies that she predicts the Player Queen will break her word. Hamlet seems to interpret her statement in this way since in the next line Hamlet says: "O, but she'll keep her word".
"Money is the root of all evil."
In context: "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." (I Timothy 6:10 King James Version)
Many translations render what the KJV renders as "the root" (originally ῥίζα) as "a root" or "at the root" and "all evil" (πᾶς κακός) as "all sorts of evil" or "all kinds of evil". (See also translations in New International Version, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation.) All translations agree that it is the love of money, rather than money itself, that is associated with evil.
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven."
One interpretation is that "the eye of a needle" refers to a particular gate into the city of Jerusalem known to be extremely constricted. Merchants who used this gate were forced to strip their camels of their burdens and gear before they could fit through the narrow passage.
However, the above itself is a common misconception, seeing as such a gate has yet to be found in Jerusalem. Reading the actual text in Matthew chapter 19, verses 25 and 26 (following this quote in verse 24), makes it clear that the disciples themselves thought Jesus was saying it was impossible. "When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?" Verse 26 gives us Jesus' answer, "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." showing that He meant that it is only possible for God to save, since nothing is impossible for God. Since the man was trying to do something to save himself, Jesus said it was impossible, but for God all things are possible.
A more likely issues is the original translation itself. In Hebrew, without vowels, the word for "camel" is the same as the word for a thick, heavy yarn (this point is made in "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver). This makes the association with the eye of a needle far more appropriate in the first place (although it should be noted that Matthew's Gospel was written in Greek, not Hebrew).
"Now is the winter of our discontent."
In context: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York." - William Shakespeare (Richard III)
Notes: This is not a misquotation but, in one reader's opinion, a selective quotation, because the grammar of the quotation is different from the grammar of the original, and hence the meaning may be lost on some. As misquoted, is is the main verb, and the phrase means, "The winter of our discontent is happening now." In the full quote, is is an auxillary verb, and might be rephrased according to modern usage, to clarify the meaning: "Now the winter of our discontent is made into a glorious summer by this sun of York."( this sun of York and not son, a punning reference to the coat of arms of Edward IV)
"Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him well."
Correct quote: "Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio - a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." - William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act V, Scene I)
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
Alternative: "We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us."
In his 1945 "Notes on Nationalism", Orwell did state that, for the pacifist type of a nationalist, the notion that "Those who ‘abjure’ violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf." is impossible to accept. "Notes on Nationalism"
Notes: allegedly said by George Orwell although there is no evidence that Orwell ever wrote or uttered either of these versions of this idea. They do bear some similarity to comments made in an essay that Orwell wrote on Rudyard Kipling, when quoting from one of his poems.
"Yes, making mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep" - Rudyard Kipling (Tommy)
"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it." - Jack Nicholson (A Few Good Men)
Alternative: "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." - Winston Churchill (miscellaneous quotation, no date)
"Play it again, Sam"
Actual quote: "Play it Sam, for old times' sake, play 'As Time Goes By'." - Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca)
Actual quote: "You played it for her, you can play it for me. ... If she can stand it, I can! Play it!" - Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca)
Note: Woody Allen paid homage to Casablanca under the title Play It Again, Sam, which is likely the source of much such misquotation.
The line first occurred in the Marx Brothers' film A Night in Casablanca (1946), another possible source of the misquotation.
"Someone set us up the bomb"
Correct quote: "Somebody set up us the bomb"
The spoken words are "Someone set us up the bomb" in the flash animation which made the phenomenon popular.
Notes: From a Japanese video game, Zero Wing, with a very unskilled and amusing English translation. Similar to "all your base are belong to us", which occurs in the same game.
"The rest is science"
Correct quote: "The rest is silence" - William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
Notes: This phrase may also be used as a play on words, or even plain prose, as when Steve Swallow, the jazz musician, said about jazz composition, "Eventually, an idea always comes, and then the rest is science."
"To gild the lily"
Correct quote: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily" - William Shakespeare (The Life and Death of King John, Act IV, Scene II, line 13) Shakespeare was himself playing with the biblical story that says that one does not need to add to what God has already done for the lily (Matt 6:28) "See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."
"Why don't you come up and see me sometime?"
Correct quote: "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?" - Mae West (She Done Him Wrong)
She switched the word order in her next film, I'm No Angel, where she does say "Come up and see me sometime", but without the "Why don't you".
A mechanical mouse in a Tom and Jerry cartoon repeated "come up and see me sometime".
"I am not a crook" Richard Nixon
Often attributed to his denial of any foreknowledge of the Watergate break-in, when in fact the question raised in a Press Conference was about his personal finances.
"Luke, I am your father."
Correct quote: "No. I am your father." - Darth Vader, Star Wars Episode V:The Empire Strikes Back
Notes: Said in response to Luke Skywalker's accusation about his father's death: "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!" Although the accent is on the I, it is also often misquoted with the am having the accent. The dialogue is also often misquoted as Luke saying, "l'll never join you! You killed my father!" and Vader saying, "No Luke, I am your father." (The first correct quote with 'No. I am your father' is from the movie; NPR radio adaption used 'No Luke, I am your father.')
"You dirty rat!"
Never said by James Cagney in any film. However, in Blonde Crazy (1931) he says that another character is a "dirty, double-crossing rat".
Also quoted in the 1934 Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes"
"The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash."
Winston Churchill's personal secretary, Anthony Montague-Browne, said that although Churchill did not say this, he wished he had.
"A language is a dialect with a Navy."
This was not said by Otto von Bismarck, but rather by the linguist Max Weinreich or his student Joshua Fishman
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality", or a variation on that.
This was stated by John F. Kennedy and attributed by him to Dante [2]. However, in the Divine Comedy those who "non furon ribelli né fur fedeli" — neither rebelled against nor were faithful to God — are located directly inside the gate of Hell, a region neither hot nor cold (Inferno, canto 3); the lowest part of Hell, a frigid lake of ice, was for traitors.
