Political misquotes: The 10 most famous things never actually said

Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty!" Ilsa Laszlow never said, "Play it again, Sam," and Sherlock Holmes never said, "Elementary, my dear Watson." But these misquotes remain firmly lodged in the public consciousness, even though they appear nowhere in the original works.

The same is true for things "said" – that is, widely attributed to, but not actually said – by political figures. Sometimes a misquote is cooked up by opponents or parodists as a way of discrediting or mocking the figure. Sometimes a line is attributed to a widely admired person as a way of making it sound more authoritative, like when someone co-signs a loan. And sometimes it's just a mistake.

Here are 10 of the most widely believed – but completely bogus – things ever "said" by political figures.

- Eoin O'Carroll, CSMonitor.com

Enlarge

Mirrorpix/Newscom/File

8. 'First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win.' - Mohandas Gandhi

This line is probably the best summary of Gandhi's philosophy of satyagraha as you can get in 16 words. But there's no evidence that the Great Soul ever said this.

We don't know where this quote came from, but it is strikingly similar to something that the trade unionist Nicholas Klein gave in a 1914 address to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in Baltimore:

"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you. And that, is what is going to happen to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America."