Obvious Quote by Hesketh Pearson

Misquotation is the pride and privilege of the learned.

— Hesketh Pearson

To mis-quote is the very foundation of original style. The success of most writers is almost entirely due to continuous and courageous abuse of…

— Natalie Clifford Barney

The most familiar quotations are the most likely to be misquoted. Some misquotations are still variable, some have settled down to false versions that…

— Carl Clinton Van Doren

Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted.

— Hesketh Pearson

Misquotation is quotology’s swamp. Amateur quoters mix and mangle Shakespeare and Scripture. Professors gaffe and printers bungle. It’s a mess we must wade into.

— Willis Regier

“[An example of misattribution:] If you don’t know the source of a quote, you can always make it sound better by attributing it to…

— Jakub Marian

I improve on misquotation.

— Cary Grant

Quotations are useful in periods of ignorance or obscurantist beliefs.

— Guy Debord

Too much traffic with a quotation book begets a conviction of ignorance in a sensitive reader. Not only is there a mass of quotable…

— Robertson Davies

An author should be delighted, not annoyed when he hears himself persistently misquoted. He could receive no higher compliment. It proves that the world…

— Hesketh Pearson

In the world of speeches and orations, especially historical ones, the persistent misquotation is understandable. You hear a speech. You misremember or mishear a…

— Maria Konnikova

I improve in misquotation.

— Cary Grant