Category: Not By Shakespeare

Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language. His works, which include plays, sonnets, and poems, have been read, performed, and studied for centuries. However, it’s a well-known fact that many things on the internet are attributed to Shakespeare to improve their popularity, even though there is no evidence that Shakespeare was the original author.

While Shakespeare’s influence on English literature is undeniable, it’s important to remember that not everything on the internet that is attributed to him was actually written by him. Many works, including poems, quotes, and sayings, are falsely attributed to him in order to increase their popularity or perceived value. As with any information found on the internet, it’s important to do your own research and verify the sources before accepting something as true.

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.

~ duane ~ 2 Comments

I wonder if somebody confused “drums of war” for “dogs of war” when they attributed this quote to Julius Caesar?  Nothing about this quote shows up in the play, of course. I suppose there’s at least some possibility that it appears in actual Caesar’s actual writings, since I’m not an expert in those.  But others before me have researched this question and apparently nope, not real Caesar either.  This quote doesn’t appear to exist before 2001.

For more details I’ll let the About.com Urban Legends page have the last word:

It’s odd, to say the least, to find a passage attributed to Julius Caesar (born 100 B.C., died 44 B.C.) that never appeared anywhere in print before 2001. It’s equally odd that while the quotation is cited in dozens of Internet discussions concerning post-9/11 political developments, it never turns up in any articles or books about Julius Caesar himself. If it’s to be found among his own writings, no one has yet been able to pinpoint where.

I also think it’s funny that we get to credit a specific person for incorrectly assigning this one to Shakespeare — Barbra Streisand!?  Quick, what’s the difference between Barbra Streisand and every quote-collecting message board on the Internet?  Streisand acknowledged she was wrong.

 

The greatest question is not whether you have failed, it is whether you are content with failure.

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

I saw this quote race through multiple versions on Reddit earlier today, and obviously no one really cares to attribute it correctly since I don’t expect anybody truly believes that Shakespeare said it. There’s nothing about this that suggests Shakespeare.  In fact, it’s quite easy to find it attributed both to Abraham Lincoln as well as “ancient Chinese wisdom” if those make you think it’s got more or less credibility.

If you still want to believe it’s by Shakespeare, let me offer another bit of evidence :  The word “failure” did not enter the English language until 1641. It very literally never shows up in Shakespeare’s works.

 

If you love and get hurt, love more. If you love more and hurt more, love even more. If you love even more and get hurt even more, love some more until it hurts no more…

~ duane

“If you love and get hurt, love more.
If you love more and hurt more, love even more.
If you love even more and get hurt even more, love some more until it hurts no more…”

No. Just no. Even if you love Shakespeare, you can’t just say he said things he didn’t say.

If you love Shakespeare, remember to attribute him correctly Don't put his names on things he didn't say.
If you love Shakespeare, quote him correctly.

I saw this on a page attributed to Shakespeare, on top of a picture of Christopher Marlowe, no less.

As always, it’s in several databases attributed to WS but never with an actual play, sonnet, or poem. So, no. It’s not Shakespeare. Shakespeare never used the expression “get hurt”, and rarely did he directly speak in the second person like that, as if he, the author, is talking to someone.

If anybody can actually show me some variation of this quote that makes it into Shakespeare, I’ll happily update this post. But I don’t think you’re going to find anything close.

Sorry not to be of better service. I know many people come here knowing it’s not Shakespeare and looking for the original source. So far, I don’t have anything for this one.

If You Love Actual Shakespeare Quotes

I have a whole category of Not By Shakespeare posts like this if you’re interested in more similar content. Sometimes, we do find an actual original source to attribute. But far too often, it sounds like something that came out of a Hallmark card or a Tumblr post that has no real original author other than “somebody on the Internet.”

Time is Too Slow for those who Wait, Too Swift for those who Fear

~ duane ~ 1 Comment

Instagram is killing me.  By far, *most* of the quotes that people are circulating as Shakespeare are, in fact, not.   Here’s the latest:

“Time is
Too Slow for those who Wait,
Too Swift for those who Fear,
Too Long for those who Grieve,
Too Short for those who Rejoice;
But for those who Love,
Time is not.”

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/14286-time-is-too-slow-for-those-who-wait-too-swift

That’s Henry van Dyke, an American author born in 1852.  So to call it Shakespeare is off by almost 300 years and a continent.

 

Love to faults is always blind, always is to joy inclined. Lawless, winged, and unconfined, and breaks all chains from every mind.

~ duane ~ 2 Comments

Something new!  I’d not seen this one before, and had to go look it up.  Sounds a little bit like Shakespeare, but I don’t know, something about the meter (DUH da DUH da DUH da DUH) was too bouncy to be Shakespeare’s style, even in the long poems where sometimes quotes hide that don’t have the same feeling as those that come from the plays.

Anyway, this one is from William Blake if Google Books is any indicator:

 

[Source]

I think that my favorite source of misinformation comes from the two-fer on this Yahoo! Answers page.

First we have the answer that, “William Blake borrowed it from Shakespeare, who wrote it in one of his sonnets.”  No mention of which sonnet, of course, and it’s not iambic pentameter.  It’s very easy to check and cite references.  But under “source” the person wrote, “I am a Shakespeare teacher.” Just not a good one I guess.

The second bit of genius comes from the well-meaning person who writes, “I searched and couldn’t find it as anything but a quote so maybe it’s something he never wrote down, only said.”  That’s not the first time I’ve heard that, and it conjures up this hysterical image in my brain of the town drunk passing down his story over the centuries.  “So there I am, sitting next to the Bard of Avon himself William Shakespeare, telling him my problems with women. And you know what he does? He turns to me and says, he says, ‘Love to faults is always blind, always is to joy inclined.’ And I says to him I says, ‘Pal, you need to write that down.’  Well I guess he plum forgot because it doesn’t show up in any of his recorded works, but I swear to you, he said it. I was there.”  Imagine Bill Murray telling his Dalai Lama story in Caddyshack. 🙂