Wikiquote:Reference desk

Note: This is not a help page for problems with Wikiquote.

See the Village pump for Wikiquote-specific questions. Before posting a question here, you may also want to see if one of these pages can better answer your question:

Wikiquote:FAQ
Help:Contents
Requests for new quote articles
Previously answered questions can be found in the Reference Desk archive.

The Wikiquote Reference desk serves the same function as a library reference desk. Do you have a specific question about quotations that you want answered by volunteers at Wikiquote? Ask below!

How to ask a question

Please give questions a meaningful title so you'll be more likely to get a meaningful answer.
Be specific and clarify your question, describing specifically what you'd like answered.
Please sign your question by typing --~~~~ (that's two hyphens and four tildes) at the end. This will stamp the date and time and your user ID on your posting. (You can also sign --anon.)
Please do not list your e-mail address, as questions aren't normally answered by e-mail. Also, be aware that the content on Wikiquote is extensively copied to many websites, and so making your e-mail address public here may make it very public throughout the Internet.
Please check back for updates occasionally. A complete answer may be developed over a period of days.
To continue a question, edit your question section (by clicking the [edit] link on right side of its header line). Please do not start multiple sections about the same topic.
Please remember that readers of all ages visit this page.
Please avoid using all capital letters; not only do they make a question harder to read, but they are often interpreted as impolite or shouting.
Questions will be answered by humans, not by a computer. This page is not a search engine.

How to answer a question

Please be thorough, providing as much of the answer as you are able.
Be concise, not terse. Please write in a clear and easily understood manner. Keep your answer within the scope of the question as stated.
Link to articles on Wikiquote or Wikipedia which may have further information relevant to the question.
The Reference desk is not a soapbox. If you wish to argue a particular viewpoint, please do so on an appropriate talk page.

What is the earliest verifiable quote?

It seems like a simple question, but I haven't had much luck trying to find the answer. Maybe my google-fu is weak, but at any rate, for the purpose of clarifying the scope of the question, let’s define a “quote” as “a word or series of words, which was cited as the synthesis of, or attributed to, another speaker or writer.” Considering a quote as only a single word may seem odd, but in the case of wholly new words, new loanwords, and translations all the same, the first time something is quoted represents the moment the word(s) enters the historical record as not just a word(s) but a unit of cultural information in a way less easily lost to time than, say, the moment the word(s) is first uttered or the moment the meaning is comprehended by a whole segment of contemporary society.

Accordingly, the definition of “verifiable” must be able to be applied to both the quote and the original. For this purpose, I’ll define it narrowly, as “that which can be confirmed to have been written or spoken, by proof or evidence of a surviving copy of the text or record, or by proof or evidence of reference to the text or record by a source regarded by the majority of modern historians to be accurate.”

So, now that I’ve properly explained what it is that I’m looking for, I humbly ask any smart person reading this with even a slight interest in the subject matter to share their knowledge or any vague directions that may be helpful along my journey. If you made it this far, thank you, and I hope we can discover history together. —Szofiasaint (talk) 20:10, 27 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Joseph Campbell quote?

"Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is." ~ Joseph Campbell - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7smvO_XoAE0zf5.jpg ~ JasonCarswell (talk) 11:25, 28 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Did you mean to post this on this page? If so, why? Butwhatdoiknow (talk) 17:11, 29 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, sorry, I forgot to ask for help verifying it. (I moved this section from the Village Pump here to be more correct and more current.) ~ JasonCarswell (talk) 04:47, 4 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Søren Kierkegaard quote?

I'd also like help verifying this quote:

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." ― Søren Kierkegaard

It's been touched on, but not verified: Talk:Søren_Kierkegaard#Widely_attributed_quote

Before I repeat quotes, even if popular, as the above two are, I try to verify them on Wikiquote first as sadly far too often they are misquotes. ~ JasonCarswell (talk) 04:52, 4 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

have you verified this quote? have you tried Goodreads? Rvanleeuwen220 (talk) 16:56, 6 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Otto Von Bismarck

I found this quote in Tolstoy's Calendar of Wisdom, but I can't find any origin for it.

I'm wondering does anyone know of the source? I feel a little skeptical that it is a real quote.

"I feel sick at heart. During the entire course of my long life I have never made anyone happy – neither any of my friends, nor my family, nor even myself. I have committed so much evil.... I have been responsible for three large-scale wars. Because of me, more than 800,000 people have perished on the field of battle, they are now being mourned by their mothers brothers and widows... And all this stands between me and God"

https://books.google.ie/books?id=Mn5jDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230&dq=%22all+this+stands+between+me+and+god%22+bismarck&source=bl&ots=Nu5JDm5URO&sig=ACfU3U3X7ci5PuHGuLrylycrTjlEFUv8mg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwitmMDuwpbkAhWLWhUIHZcuAV0Q6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22all%20this%20stands%20between%20me%20and%20god%22%20bismarck&f=false —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 109.79.97.79 (talk) 09:52, 6 September 2019‎

Arsenic & Old Lace - Dialogue

(Correction) Man in window seat’s name is Spinoza. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 2604:6000:1111:4049:5d1:8511:f015:13f8 (talk) 15:51, 11 October 2019‎

Copying Edit Request in Censorship in China page

I have translated a quote in a document published by Chinese government. But the translation is not good enough and I need someone to copy edit the translation.Mariogoods (talk) 23:34, 2 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

User:Mariogoods perhaps you can ask User:DannyS712 who has Chinese language skills. --ო ~ ^#SheSaid 10:50, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

When to use BOLD?

I noticed that some articles use bold typeface to emphasize especially good parts of quotes. But is there a policy on when to use it? Because if I emphasize one part of an author's quotation, let's say about computer science, because it's too long, then it wouldn't look fair to other authors, who might have "better" and shorter quotes. --Amakuha (talk) 08:26, 20 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Amakuha: Good question: there is no consensus. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 10:43, 20 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

see also the discussion here [1] --ო ~ ^#SheSaid 10:48, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nimitz quote?

Some report Admiral Chester Nimitz saying “well, you were only five minutes, five degrees, and five miles out", which I always thought was a significant quote, but I cannot find anything like that on Wikiquote - could it be a false attribution, or - if valid - could it be added? Thanks, Mark. 2404:4404:2709:EB00:4BE:DDCE:EB4D:3746 03:27, 9 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Andrew Carnegie

Please see Talk:Andrew Carnegie#Watch what they do, not what they say. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 21:31, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Je to na hovoří kdo se má v té ajně vyznat

No coment —This unsigned comment is by 86.49.186.188 (talk • contribs) .

According to Google, the above is Czech for "It's up to you who knows what to do." HouseOfChange (talk) 17:26, 12 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Siavash Shahsavari, to be checked

Please could you check Siavash Shahsavari. If this [2] Arabic source is serious, then Wikidata entry Wikidata:Q113708516 can stay. But I am not familiar with Wikiquote notability criteria. (Sorry not logged in, coz central login problem, actually Wikidata:User:Estopedist1) --2001:7D0:87F5:8D80:C6B:9E9C:7DF2:C036 05:37, 5 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]