Shakespeare makes life better.
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.
I find no evidence that Shakespeare wrote this. I see no use of “ascertain” in his work, and only three unrelated uses of the word “resolutely.”
The question remains, however – who said it, if Shakespeare didn’t?
How about Aesop, the guy from all the fables?
This is the only reference I can find that suggests Aesop, and even then the context is a little weird – the quote in question stands out in the middle of the page, somewhat unrelated to the rest of the context.
The origin of this quote, in this form at least, is unknown – but it is not Shakespeare. No one has been able to find a reference in Shakespeare’s works to these words, though it is a matter of opinion whether you might find something similar that Shakespeare said, that has evolved into the above.
Actually, this quote closely resembles the Second Noble Truth of Buddhism, which is often expressed as “Desire is the root of all suffering.” What is expectation but desiring a certain outcome? If we do ever find an actual “source” for this quote it will be difficult to argue that they’re not just paraphrasing (or maybe even just translating) Buddha.
If you’d like to pursue that thread some more, you wouldn’t be the first person to consider a Shakespeare/Buddhism connection.
You probably see it quoted all the time: “Shakespeare invented the words assassination and bump!”
It is…inaccurate. What does it mean to invent a word? Can history ever really trace the first person to string together a series of letters in a way that no one else ever did?
It is more correct to say that Shakespeare represents the first recorded use of the word. In that case, the statement is true: assassination appears in Macbeth, and bump (as a noun, not like to bump into somebody) appears in Romeo and Juliet.
For the curious, here’s one of many lists of words that Shakespeare is first credited with using. I choose this list because it attempts to clarify how Shakespeare used each word when he used it in a way different than we do now. “Import”, for example, was just a different way for him to say “importance,” and that is not how we use it today.
Best research I can come up with at the moment suggests that this Twitter “Top Retweet” comes not from Shakespeare, but from someone named Steve Rubenstein. I have no idea who this is, perhaps someone could tell me. A magazine editor of some reputation?
What I find amusing in cases like this is to see when the quote shows up on Yahoo! Answers. If you’ve ever needed a reason to prove why community-sourced answers are as good as you pay for, check it out. The user is smart enough to ask, “If this is by Shakespeare, somebody tell me the source citation.” Best answer, chosen by voters, is a simple “It’s by Shakespeare.” An entirely wrong, by definition, answer. I don’t know what’s more annoying, the person who answers the question incorrectly just to get whatever points are offered (depending on the engine), or the people voting for it as a good answer.
Personally I’ve never seen this one attributed to Shakespeare, but when the topic came up today at lunch this is the one my new boss pulled up to test me.
“The pen is mightier than the sword” actually shares a bit of infamy with “It was a dark and stormy night.” Both, you see, were by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The latter actually inspired a contest to write in his rather unique style.
Just to regain my cred a bit (since I did not have the answer off the top of my head), I had to show my boss that Shakespeare Geek covered the topic back in April of this year, and it was reader Alexi who offered up the appropriate comment:
The one I always hear is "The pen is mightier than the sword" which is not from Shakespeare but from the 19th century novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, whose other contribution to literature is the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night," which is also usually attributed to someone else. In this case, Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts.