Quote Verification
Quote Verification
Investigating whether sayings attributed to religious teachers, philosophers, scientists, writers and public figures are authentic, misquoted, paraphrased, unsupported or fabricated.
Each investigation separates two questions: whether the person actually said or wrote the words, and whether the words accurately represent that person's documented views.
The rule
A familiar saying is not evidence of authorship.
TBR separates the wording of a quotation from its attribution. Primary texts, authoritative editions and identifiable translations are preferred over quote websites, memes and unsourced compilations.
Browse verified voices
People in the quotation archive
Select a name to see the quotations currently associated with that person.
The Buddha
11 verified quotes
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Aristotle
10 verified quotes
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Epictetus
10 verified quotes
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Marcus Aurelius
10 verified quotes
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Marcus Tullius Cicero
5 verified quotes
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Plato
5 verified quotes
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Socrates
5 verified quotes
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Quotation library
Search the evidence
“Some things are in our control and others not.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“Don't be prideful with any excellence that is not your own.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“Don't demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“With every accident, ask yourself what abilities you have for making a proper use of it.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“Never say of anything, "I have lost it"; but, "I have returned it."”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“Remember that you are an actor in a drama, of such a kind as the author pleases to make it.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in your own control to conquer.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
“You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.”
Epictetus
Elizabeth Carter translation, MIT Internet Classics Archive
Verification method
What TBR checks before calling a quotation verified
Find the source
Locate the primary text, speech, recording, canonical text or authoritative scholarly edition.
Check the wording
Identify the exact passage and record the translator or edition when the words originated in another language.
Check the attribution
Separate authorship, reported speech and traditional or canonical attribution from later paraphrase or invention.
Continue researching
Move from a quotation to the evidence around it
A quote should be an entry point into a person's ideas, source texts and the wider evidence—not an isolated slogan.
ThinkersExplore philosophers, religious figures and influential minds.
SourcesTrace claims to texts, documents and source records.
GuidesRead durable explanations and foundational TBR conclusions.
FindingsSee evidence-led conclusions reached elsewhere on TBR.
ArticlesFollow current analysis, investigations and developing ideas.
Belief SystemsPut religious quotations into the tradition that preserved them.