[Ads-l] Request Help Verifying Quote: Misquotation is, in fact, the pride and privilege of the learned

[Rich Lowenthal]

An additional note on Hesketh Pearson (compiler of "Common 
Misquotations").

Pearson was arrested in 1926 and charged with obtaining money under 
false pretenses for the publication of the book "The Whispering 
Gallery." The book, which Pearson had told publisher Allen Lane was from 
the diary of the diplomat Sir Rennell Rodd, contained anecdotes and 
conversations about many famous people. The book however had nothing to 
do with Rodd and was actually a complete fabrication invented by 
Pearson. The publisher, however, believed Pearson that the source was 
Rodd's diary.

The defense admitted that Pearson was a repeated liar, but argued that a 
liar is not necessarily a defrauder. Pearson said that he assumed the 
publisher knew there was no real diarist, and gave the name of Rodd as 
he could not think of anyone less likely to have written the book.

The jury found for the defense and agreed there was no intent to 
defraud.

Perhaps this puts a little more light on Pearson's view of the 
superiority of misquotation. (One should perhaps also take Pearson's 
references and writings with considerable salt.)


------ Original Message ------
>From "ADSGarson O'Toole" 
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>To 
ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 11/23/2025 00:14:56
Subject Re: Request Help Verifying Quote: Misquotation is, in fact, the 
pride and privilege of the learned

>Great thanks to Dave Wilton who accessed the book "Common
>Misquotations" via the Princeton University Firestone Library. Also,
>thanks to the archival storage organization ReCAP: Research
>Collections and Preservation Consortium.
>
>The book did not list a year of publication, but I determined that the
>book was discussed in "The Age" newspaper of Melbourne, Australia on
>December 22, 1934. Also, Dave noted that the library checkout card
>listed June 4, 1937 as the first checkout date.
>
>Here is a link to the new Quote Investigator article, Dave is acknowledged.
>
>Quote Origin: Misquotation Is the Pride and Privilege of the Learned
>https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/11/23/misquotation-pride/
>
>Feedback welcome,
>Garson O'Toole
>QuoteInvestigator.com
>
>On Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 1:30 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
><adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  According to "The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations" the remark
>>  in the subject line appeared in the introduction of the book "Common
>>  Misquotations" (1934) by Hesketh Pearson. I would like to verify this.
>>
>>  WorldCat states that there are 8 editions of "Common Misquotations"
>>  held in 86 libraries. If you can access this book and you wish to help
>>  then please send me an email off list. The 1934 edition would be
>>  great; the 1978 reprint edition would also be ok.
>>
>>  Below is a 1946 citation from an Irish newspaper which provides a
>>  longer excerpt:
>>
>>  [ref] 1946 August 18, Sunday Independent, There's Method in
>>  Misquotation by Thomas Kelly, Sign of Erudition, Quote Page 9, Column
>>  6, Dublin, Ireland. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
>>
>>  [Begin excerpt]
>>  An authority on the subject put his argument thus:
>>  "Misquotation is in fact the pride and privilege of the learned. A
>>  widely-read man never quotes accurately, for the rather obvious reason
>>  that he has read too widely. He can retain the thought, but seldom the
>>  structure of a phrase. There are exceptions, of course--Dr. Johnson
>>  was one--but it is broadly true to say that a person who wanders
>>  through the domain of literature cannot remember in detail any
>>  particular part of it."
>>  [End excerpt]
>>
>>  Nigel Rees indicates that Pearson's book also contains this
>>  interesting remark: "Misquotations are the only quotations that are
>>  never misquoted." Maybe this statement is in the introduction.
>>
>>  The goal is to obtain a complete citation with title, author, chapter
>>  title, page number, publisher, publication year, and copyright year.
>>  The information can be double-checked if you create scans or pictures
>>  of the pages displaying this metadata together with scans showing the
>>  target text. This may seem to be overkill, but inaccurate (or
>>  fabricated) citations are the bane of quotation research.
>>
>>  Garson
>
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