撰文、演讲、交谈时引用格言警句、名人语录，往往可以起到事半功倍的效果，平添几分力量或文采。但是，那些随手拈来的经典名句，究竟是不是某人所说，引用时很少有人质疑，尤其是流传已久的历史名人语录。
Five historical quotes that we probably misquote
Quoting a famous saying is often a quick (and impressive) way to communicate what we’re thinking to someone else.
引用格言警句、名人语录通常是一种快速且令人印象深刻的表达思想的方式。
But are you sure that the quote you’re repeating is actually correct?
但是你是否想过，这些名人语录究竟是不是出自某人之口？
Here are five popular quotations from famous historical figures that are inaccurate, or maybe even plain made up.
下面是五则此类被后世频繁引用的名言，这些名言是不准确的，有些甚至是杜撰的。
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“要想改变世界，就先改变自己。” —— 甘地
Mahatma Gandhi, who was the leader of the independence movement against British rule in India, is the source of many often quoted lines. Among them is this one, which emphasises that global change begins with personal responsibility.
圣雄甘地（Mahatma Gandhi）是英国殖民统治时期印度民族英雄，独立运动领袖。他有很多警世名言流传后世。这句话是被引用最多的之一。强调凡事应大处着眼、小处着手。
The problem is that there’s no record of him ever actually saying or writing it. The nearest thing he did say was published in 1913 in the newspaper Indian Opinion (which he had founded): “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.”
问题是，没有找到确凿的记录证明这句话是甘地所说或所写。他说的最接近的话是 1913 年发表在他所创办的《印度意见》报纸上：“我们只不过是世界的镜像。外部世界的所有倾向都能在我们自身所在的世界里找到。如果可以改变自己，那么外部世界的倾向也会相应改变。”
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Voltaire
“我不同意你的观点，但我会誓死捍卫你表达自己观点的权利。” —— 伏尔泰
This quotation, supposedly by French writer and philosopher Voltaire, is often cited by free speech advocates. In a nutshell, it's saying that if you believe strongly in people’s right to express what they believe in, you will defend it even when they’re saying something you really don’t want to hear, or find offensive.
这句话一直被认为是法国文豪、哲学家伏尔泰的名言，经常被后人引用来倡导、争取言论自由。这句话的核心意思是，如果你坚信表达信念的权利，那么即使别人所言令你极度反感，完全反对，甚至觉得构成冒犯，你也会为之辩护。
Voltaire, who lived between 1694 and 1778, certainly believed in free speech. Much of his writing attacked the Catholic Church’s attempts to restrict people’s liberty at the time. But he almost certainly never expressed his views in his most often ‘quoted’ line.
伏尔泰（1694 - 1778）当然信奉言论自由。他的许多作品都在抨击当时的天主教会对人性自由的压制、束缚。但是，几乎可以肯定，他没有说过或写过这句世代流传、被广泛引用的名言。
The quote has its roots in a biography by Evelyn Beatrice Hall published in 1906, more than a century after Voltaire’s death. In it, she tries to sum up Voltaire’s thoughts on freedom of speech and wrote the line to help do that.
这句话的根源可以追溯到1906年出版的一本传记，作者是伊芙琳·比阿特丽丝·霍尔（Evelyn Beatrice Hall）。那时伏尔泰已经离开人世一个多世纪。霍尔在书中尝试对伏尔泰关于言论自由的思想加以总结概括，于是写下了这句话。
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke
“邪恶获胜的唯一必要条件是好人什么都不做。—— 埃德蒙·伯克
Edmund Burke was an 18th-Century philosopher, statesman and writer who was an MP for the Whig Party for over 20 years. Among his most regularly referenced quotations is this one.
埃德蒙·伯克（Edmund Burke）是英国18世纪哲学家、政治家和作家，当过20多年辉格党国会议员。这句话是最经常被提及、最广为人知的一句格言。
What Burke did say, in 1770, was, “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
1770年，伯克确实说过一句话：“当坏人抱团时，好人必须联合，否则他们会一个一个倒下，成为一场卑鄙的斗争中无人同情的牺牲品。”
The quote seems to have been warped soon after, and was even referenced by President John F. Kennedy in a famous speech in 1961.
这段话很快广为流传，不知不觉中扭曲了本来面目。1961年时任美国总统肯尼迪在一次著名的演说中还引用了这句“伯克名言”。
“I cannot tell a lie. I cut down the cherry tree.” - George Washington
“我不能撒谎。是我砍了樱桃树。”—— 乔治·华盛顿
Among his supporters George Washington, who was the first president of the United States, was famed for his honesty. This was often illustrated by a story in which the 6-year-old Washington chopped down his dad’s prized cherry tree but, when his vandalism was discovered, he immediately admitted to the crime.
美国开国总统乔治·华盛顿（George Washington）广为人称颂的优点之一是诚实。关于这一点有一个广为人知的典故：华盛顿六岁时有一次把父亲引以为傲的一颗樱桃树砍了。被发现后，他没有隐瞒，痛快地承认了。
It’s a beloved and oft-told tale, which became a symbol of Washington's virtues. It first appeared in biographer Mason Locke Weems’s account of Washington’s life, which was published a year after Washington’s death in 1799.
这个深受喜爱且经常被人津津乐道的小故事代代相传，也成了华盛顿人品美德的一个象征。它最初见于作者梅森·洛克·维姆斯（Mason Locke Weems）笔下的华盛顿传记，发表于1799年华盛顿去世一年后。
But the story wasn't even included in Weems’s book until the fifth edition in 1806. With no other evidence prior to that, some argue the story could have been completely made up.
但是，维姆斯的华盛顿传记前四版里都没有这个故事，第一次出现是在1806年第五版，而之前没有其他佐证，因此有人怀疑那根本就是纯属杜撰。
“Let them eat cake!” - Marie Antoinette
“让他们吃蛋糕！”—— 玛丽·安托瓦内特
Marie Antoinette was queen of France during the period leading up to the French Revolution of 1789. When she was informed that her starving subjects had no bread to eat, she is supposed to have declared, “Let them eat cake!”. The quote is either meant to show how she was so out of touch with the real lives of poor people, or that she just didn’t care.
玛丽·安托瓦内特（Marie Antoinette）是1789 年法国大革命之前的法国王后。据说，有一天她听说民间闹饥荒，百姓没有面包果腹。王后听闻此言脱口而出：“让他们吃蛋糕！” 这个典故的寓意是讽刺皇后对平民百姓的生活一无所知，或者毫不关心。
The story seems to have surfaced in the writings of Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau around 1767, but he just attributes if to ‘a great princess’. But since Antoinette was a child at the time, it’s unlikely she was the princess he was talking about. Also, similar stories about different uncaring aristocrats had been floating around for years.
这个桥段似乎最早出现在1767年前后，文艺复兴时期哲学家卢梭（Jean-Jacques Rousseau）的笔下。但是，他只提到说这句话的是“一位公主”，而当时玛丽还是个孩子，不大可能是卢梭笔下的那位公主。更何况，多年来民间一直流传着类似讽刺贵族冷漠无情的传闻。
It was first specifically connected to Marie Antoinette in a pamphlet by writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr published 50 years after her death, and even then that was to say that the rumour about her saying it was untrue.
这个蛋糕典故与玛丽·安托瓦内特第一次明确挂钩，是在她死后 50 年发行的一本小册子上，作者是让-巴蒂斯特·阿尔方斯·卡尔（Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr）。不过，那本小册子实际上说的是关于她的那个蛋糕典故实际上是谣传，不是真的。
