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.

You say that you love rain, but you open your umbrella when it rains.

~ duane ~ 85 Comments

You say that you love rain, but you open your umbrella when it rains.
You say that you love the sun, but you find a shadow spot when the sun shines.
You say that you love the wind, but you close your windows when wind blows.
This is why I am afraid, you say that you love me too.

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I must not be hanging out in the right circles. I’d never heard this quote. Every imaginable variation of “You say that you love rain” brings traffic to this page. When I googled it, it was all over the place.  It should take two seconds to realize this isn’t Shakespeare. Just another “I don’t know who said it, so I’ll make it sound better by attaching Shakespeare’s name.”

Here’s a tip – whenever you see a supposed Shakespeare quote attributed to Shakespeare in the second person (“you do this” and “you do that”) ask yourself, “Who was he talking to?” and “Where would this make sense in his work?”  Shakespeare didn’t write Hallmark greeting cards. Rarely does one character stand there and go on and on about another, as in this quote.

Shakespeare On Rain

One of the most recognizable quotes from Shakespeare that has to do with rain comes from a song in Twelfth Night:

Clown

(Sings)

When that I was and a little tiny boy,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.

Or, the opening of Portia’s big speech in The Merchant Of Venice:

PORTIA

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath:

Who Said You Say That You Love Rain?

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The best I’ve found is the Turkish poem “I Am Afraid (Korkuyorum),” which is also sometimes attributed to William Shakespeare.  The source material has long since disappeared from the net. With help from the Wayback Machine – here it is, I Am Afraid (Korkuyorum), in both Turkish and English translation. Enjoy.  If anybody knows the actual author, please let us know.  It’s just not Shakespeare.

Not By Shakespeare

This quote is just one of many found on social media attributed to Shakespeare but not in his works. Check out our Not By Shakespeare category for more!

UPDATED

It appears that the original author’s name might very well be Qyazzirah Syeikh Ariffin.  

Hear the meaning within the word.

~ duane ~ 2 Comments

This one happens to be going around Twitter at the moment. And, as someone on Yahoo! Answers said, “This is quoted 100s of times around the net, but no one ever says where it’s from.” I’ve found similar results in all my searches. Although Shakespeare used the word “meaning” frequently, I can find no combination of meaning along with “hear” and “word” that suggests where this quote might have come from.

I’m still looking for a real source, but like so many other of these Hallmark sentiments, it’s just too simple to ever hope to find evidence for someone who said it first.

Temptation is a fire that brings up the scum of the heart.

~ duane ~ 2 Comments

I saw this one go by and thought, “Are you kidding me? Do we really want to think that the best Shakespeare could come up with is something like ‘scum of the heart’?”  It didn’t help that there’s even places on the net where people asked “What play is this from?” and were told “Merchant of Venice.”  Not true.  Shakespeare does use the word “scum” four times in his work, but never in this context.

This one took me awhile to find. It is quoted often in the history books, and always with the word “Boston” next to it.  For awhile I thought that had something to do with a collection of papers or a particular essay that was being cited.  Then it dawned on me that this is an actual person — Thomas Boston, a Scottish church leader born in 1676 (so, not too long after Shakespeare).  Here, from Google Books, is the man’s own words:

Observe your hearts all times but especially under temptation. Temptation is a fire that brings up the scum of the vile heart: Do you carefully mark the first risings of corruption.

The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Alternate / Original : The diminutive chains of habit are seldom heavy enough to be felt till they are too strong to be broken.

Saw this one go by on Twitter this morning, and it didn’t feel right.  Seems too much like advice, and not the sort of Polonial (ha, I just made that up!) advice like “To thine own self be true,” where it’s directed from one character to another. As a general rule, most of what you’ll find in Shakespeare’s body of work is something that someone said, aloud, to someone else.  (True there are soliloquies, and then there’s the sonnets and long poems, but the bulk of the canon is made up of conversation). So ask yourself whether it sounds like something that would have come up in normal conversation.

Turns out, in this case, it’s not.  However it’s closer to Shakespeare than you might think.

This quote comes from our old friend Samuel Johnson, sometime in the late 1700’s.  Though I cannot find an exact reference to Dr. Johnson’s work, others were quoting him as early as the 1880’s.

In case you missed the Shakespeare connection, you need to go here.