What the badges mean

This library uses badges so that doubt is not forced into one bin. Well attested means the sentence is securely the author's, in their words or a close translation of a named passage. Paraphrase or translation means the thought is in the source but the English is a rendering. Questionable means a real doubt. Misattributed means the sentence was not theirs. Bacon's line on studies is here as a well attested example of a sentence you can point at a book.

“Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.”

Francis Bacon · Empiricism

knowledgemind

Well attested

Meaning & application

Mini check

A quotation is shared with a famous name and no source. What is the soundest way to check it?

Look for the original work and the earliest dated appearance of the wording.Check how many quotation websites repeat it, and trust whichever count is larger.Ask whether the wording sounds like them, and decide the credit from the tone alone.Accept the credit if the sentence also appears on a printed poster or a designed card.

"Seneca's Letter 13 says we suffer more often in imagination than in reality." What kind of claim is this?

It reports what Letter 13 contains, which can be checked.It is only a mood, and there is nothing in it to look up.It commands someone to act, and it does not report a fact.It predicts how your own coming week is going to feel.

Try it today

Pick one line you have shared and write which badge you would give it, and why.

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