5 Misattributed Quotes From Great Philosophers (And Explaining Who Said What)

#2 — “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

Misattributed quotes appear everywhere. Medium articles. YouTube videos. Facebook posts. Name any social media platform and they’re on there.

While conducting research, I’ve discovered many misattributed quotes; particularly from philosophers. And whether you’re a reader or a writer, it’s important to know the truth behind these popular, well-referenced quotes.

This article will uncover five quotes, here they are:

1. “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” -Plato

If you’ve examined philosophy at a basic level, you’ve seen this quote.

Despite the quote’s fame, Plato never mentioned anything resembling this. The premise for this quote isn’t too far-fetched, as this is most likely from a misinterpretation of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, a story about a man being freed from the literal darkness surrounding him. It’s perfectly reasonable.

With investigation, this quotation has it’s origins in a book called On The Nature Of Things by Lucretius, an Epicurean poet. He says:

For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true.

This quote is more nuanced. It reveals something else: The truth can be as punishing and demanding for adults as not knowing the truth is for children.

2. “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

This quote is quintessential in Nietzschean philosophy. It’s perhaps a gateway to understanding Nietzsche himself and, in a grandiose manner, his writings.

However, Nietzsche has never said this. Yet, Nietzsche considered himself an outcast from society, as mentioned heavily in his masterpiece, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. (His mouthpiece being Zoroaster, the creator of Zoroastrianism.)

As relatable to Nietzsche as this quote is, the expression originated from an article published by ‘The Times’ of London in 1927. The article mentions:

They who dance are thought mad by those who hear not the music. The truth of the old proverb was never more surely borne out that it is just now.

In 1929, this expression was labeled in “English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases: A Historical Dictionary” with reference to ‘The Times’ article.

The source for this ‘old proverb’ remains anonymous. And despite this dead-end, perhaps the author of this quote was dancing to music we couldn’t hear.

3. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle

This quote is immensely popular (and as it should be, it’s one of my favorites!) throughout productivity videos. Although Aristotle believed that excellence did derive from habit, he never summarized this idea so simplistically.

Instead, this was the work of Will Durant in his book, The Story of Philosophy. Published in 1926. (A fantastic read!) In the book, Durant is summarizing Aristotle’s philosophies and in particular, a part in the Nicomachen Ethics.

Durant wrote:

“‘These virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions; we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit…”

The summarization of Aristotle’s words provoke excitement and empowerment, regardless of who authored them. If you’re looking to become excellent, develop excellent habits and excellence comes naturally.

4. “Life is suffering.” -Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha)

The most frustrating misattribution in my research I have found is this quote. As someone who has studied Buddhism for some time, this portrays Buddhism as a ‘pessimistic’ and ‘cynical’ philosophy and this is false.

It doesn’t help that Buddha is perhaps one of the most misattributed and mistranslated philosophers on the internet.

A misinterpretation of one of Buddha’s Four Noble Truths seems to have driven the popularity of this quote. Buddha actually wrote:

Suffering, as a noble truth, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with the loathed is suffering, dissociation from the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering — in short, suffering is the five categories of clinging objects.

In this quote, the Buddha mentions that life has suffering and to continue existing, we must experience life’s more unfavorable aspects. However, the Buddha believed we could remove suffering from our lives with meditation and compassion. Clearly, Buddha saw that life was worth fighting for.

5. “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” -Voltaire

This quote is everywhere on the internet. If there’s a heated discussion, someone will bring this quote up.

Regardless, Voltaire has never said this. Even though he contemplated on ideas like democracy, freedom of speech, and liberty.

According to Salon, this quote was created by Evelyn Beatrice Hall in her book, The Friends of Voltaire, published in 1906. She created the quote is summarize the essence of Voltaire’s philosophy, which is accurate in that aspect. However, it was written in a first person perspective and thus, the misattribution was born.

The quote most accurate to this misattribution is from Voltaire’s Treatise on Tolerance in which he says:

“Think for yourself, and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.”

I find this quote more pronounced than the misattributed quote. Because in philosophy, thinking for yourself is a superpower and we, as free thinkers, should teach others to unlock this amazing superpower.

After deconstructing these quotes, it’s evident that the internet doesn’t always have credibility when quoting philosophers. However, despite some misinterpretations, the empowerment of the quotes remain true.