“You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”
Like many of Jack Nicholson’s fans, I love this scorch-the-earth quote! But is this an accurate quote from Col. Nathan R. Jessep, Nicholson’s character in the movie, A Few Good Men?
The answer is No. Jack Nicholson didn’t ask the question; he only made the infamous statement.
This post is about the truth of countless misquotes many have made, and others will likely make.
A quote is the repeat of a phrase or statement in a text or speech or a repetition of someone’s exact words. We often quote the profound words and proverbs of famous people like Aristotle, William Shakespeare, and others. And over the years, we have committed to memory many of these thought-to-be-truths and clever sayings. These quotes resonate with our lives, beliefs, likes, and dislikes. Quotes about work, life, love, play, happiness, sorrow, death, and everything imaginable are accessible online.
But be careful; one person’s repetition may not accurately repeat what was said.
It’s no surprise that the Bible is the most quoted and the best-selling Book of the ages. There’s no need to find the Book, chapter, and verse of the quotes we’ve heard all our lives, right?
Not necessarily!
Just because we heard it for years doesn’t mean it’s an accurate quote. Some Bible quotes may be misquotes.
The two questions involved in misquotes from the Bible, literature, and any spoken or written word involve the following:
Are we sure that’s what was said? The quoted statement should be the exact words.
Are we sure who said it? Maybe it’s an accurate quote, but the author or speaker is incorrect.
I’m not talking about the interpretation or the context of the quote but the fact of relating what was said and who said it.
Misquotes can occur when we don’t verify the exact wording or source. To quote someone, one must repeat the actual words; otherwise, it may be misquoted.
Can one misplaced, omitted, or added word cause a misquote?
“Money is the root of all evil” is a common misquote attributed to the Bible.
Many Christians have this quote committed to memory. But 1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV) states, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.”
The omitting of love in the first quote creates a misquote.
How often have we heard, “The lion shall lay down with the lamb,” also attributed to the Bible within quotation marks?
The actual quote in Isaiah 11:6 (KJV) says: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together.”
Now let’s check out a few literature misquotes.
Is it Bubble, bubble toil, and trouble or double, double toil, and trouble?
As familiar as it is, this line in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is often misquoted. If you ever play one of the witches stirring the brew, it’s “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”
Did you know Sherlock Holmes, a fictional character, never stated these words in sequence, “Elementary, my dear Watson!” in any series Arthur Conan Doyle wrote?
The origin of the saying isn’t so elementary.
A word here and a phrase there (My dear Watson, elementary), in the conversations between Holmes and Watson, are present in The Crooked Man’s text but not sequentially.
The famous quote from the 1970 Apollo 13 explosion is a double whammy. The words, “Houston, we have a problem,” supposedly spoken by Commander Jim Lovell, are not only misworded, but Commander Lovell didn’t say them first.
The correct quote, “OK, Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” was stated by John Swigert.
When I discovered my last misquote, I smiled.
The quote taken from the internet was, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” But William Shakespeare wrote, “That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.”
Some people might say, ‘potayto, potahto!’
But even though a shorter version of the truth exists, knowing the whole truth matters and provides a greater understanding.
Be well.