"It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive. There are people who think that honesty is always the best policy. This is a superstition; there are times when the appearance of it is worth six of it"
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State. [Falsely attributed to Joseph Goebbels]
Monday, August 16, 2021
Mark Twain on Fake Quotations
Mark Twain, who himself is regularly credited with things he did not say, could do it himself.
The excellent Quote Investigator blog reports how he won an argument by inventing a quotation.
As he said:
I was wondering if you had encountered a quote that I found of Einstein's (allegedly) on WikiQuote. Namely,
ReplyDelete"I'm not a Communist but I can well understand why they destroyed the Church in Russia. All the wrongs come home, as the proverb says. The Church will pay for its dealings with Hitler, and Germany, too."
It is sort of buried on his wikiquote page, but its there- along with even more scathing anti-Church quotes. If you know abit about the guy, then you know he played his cards (or dice) close to the chest. He knew being publicly critical of the Church would destroy his political capital (same with Thomas Jefferson - it almost cost him the election) So this may be a matter of public/private opinion. I await your reply. Thanks!
-Yes
I think its unreliable, based on this analysis:
Deletehttps://quotepark.com/quotes/1866847-albert-einstein-being-a-lover-of-freedom-when-the-revolution-came/