Check before you share

Before you attach a name, ask four questions. Which work? Whose English? Does the badge on the card say misattributed, or only paraphrase? Do many sites repeat it only because they copied each other? The misquote detector on this site turns three of the badges into a short game and leaves questionable lines out, so the buttons stay honest. Socrates on the examined life is a paraphrase of the Apology, which is a different problem from a sentence he never said.

“The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.”

Socrates · Socratic

knowledgeselfmeaning

Paraphrase or translation

Meaning & application

Mini check

"If a quotation appears on many websites, it is safe to attribute it to the person named." Which assumption is required for that to follow?

Sites are taken to copy good sources more often than each other.Mere repetition is taken to be able to create a historical fact.Printers and sites are taken never to introduce an error.Only one person is taken to have been able to think the thought.

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.

Try it today

The next line you want to post, find the work or do not post the name.

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