One late night of internet surfing, I was searching for new
post ideas. I was looking for something new and fun to write about. I came
across a website which debunked many historical myths or legends. Song lyrics
are often misheard and misquoted for years that the wrong words are so
ingrained in our memory that we can’t help but sing the wrong words. Movie
lines are misquoted and become a part of the movie’s legacy when the words were
never actually said as quoted. I started thinking about the famous quotes which
people still believe and they were never said.
First, “Let them eat cake” was never said by Queen Marie
Antoinette of France (1755-1795). This quote was claimed to have been said when
she learned of the invasion of the Bastille Prison on July 14, 1789. It was actually
written by Jean Jacques Rousseau in his autobiography “Confession” which was
about his life up to 1765. The book was completed in 1769 and published in
1783. He was writing about an incident with “a great princess” when she was
informed the peasants had no bread, she reportedly said, “Let them eat cake.” Many
historians speculate that the princess Rousseau was referring to was Maria
Theresa of Spain and that the French Revolutionaries falsely assumed it was
Queen Marie Antoinette and used it to show the apathy of the monarchy and
further support for the revolution. It worked because the queen and her
husband, King Louis XVI, both lost their heads in 1793.
Second, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” is
paraphrased from the William Congreve 1697 play The Mourning Bride. The play is
a tragedy about Zara, a queen held captive by Manuel, King of Granada and a web
of love and deception that results in the mistaken assassination of Manuel and
Zara’s suicide as a result. The actual quote is “Heaven had no rage like love
to hatred turned/Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” The quote is about how
love turned to hatred has greater power than the wrath of heaven and that even
hell can’t compare to a woman who has been betrayed. Either way it is quoted,
the line does not paint a pretty picture.
Third, “Theirs but to do or die!” is a misquote from “The
Charge of the Light Brigade,” a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The actual quote
is “Their’s not to reason why,/Their’s but to do and die.” The poem is about
the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War (1853-1856). The quote is about
a soldier’s willingness to follow orders. They must not question why or how but
to do and often die following their orders. Tennyson wrote this poem as a
celebration of those soldiers who heroically gave their lives in the battle. In
Saving Private Ryan, Corporal Upham paraphrases this quote when he says “ours
is not to reason why, but ours is to do and die.” The misquote says “do or die”
when the actual quote is “do and die.” The changing of the word from “and” to
“or” changes the whole meaning of the phrase.
In conclusion, it is funny how one wrong quote can
take a life of its own that some are unaware or don’t believe it when they are
corrected with the actual quote. What quote can you think of that are often
misquoted?
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