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
“No evil can come to a good man either in life or after death.”
Socrates
Harold North Fowler translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1 (1966), Perseus Digital Library
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates
Harold North Fowler translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1 (1966), Perseus Digital Library
“I did care with all my might not to do anything unjust or unholy.”
Socrates
Harold North Fowler translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1 (1966), Perseus Digital Library
“Men of Athens, I respect and love you, but I shall obey the god rather than you.”
Socrates
Harold North Fowler translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1 (1966), Perseus Digital Library
“For to fear death, gentlemen, is nothing else than to think one is wise when one is not.”
Socrates
Harold North Fowler translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1 (1966), Perseus Digital Library
“What we require is that those who take office should not be lovers of rule.”
Plato
Paul Shorey translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5–6 (1969), Perseus Digital Library
“Only in such a state will those rule who are really rich, not in gold, but in the wealth that makes happiness—a good and wise life.”
Plato
Paul Shorey translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5–6 (1969), Perseus Digital Library
“Unless either philosophers become kings in our states or those whom we now call our kings and rulers take to the pursuit of philosophy seriously and adequately, there can be no cessation of troubles.”
Plato
Paul Shorey translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5–6 (1969), Perseus Digital Library
“He who is to exercise the art rightly never does what is best for himself, but what is best for the subject.”
Plato
Paul Shorey translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5–6 (1969), Perseus Digital Library
“The chief penalty is to be governed by someone worse if a man will not himself hold office and rule.”
Plato
Paul Shorey translation, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5–6 (1969), Perseus Digital Library
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.