Did they really say it? Quote checker against primary sources

Did they really say it?

Paste a quote in any language. We search 9 million passages from 13,826 books: the Tanakh, Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash, Zohar, the Qur’an, Chinese classics and the 400 most-read books of world literature. The answer is either a source with its place in the text, or an honest “not found”.

Why it matters

Thousands of lines are credited online to Einstein, Gandhi, the Bible or the Talmud. Many were never written by anyone. A check takes seconds and shows the text itself, not a paraphrase.

How it works

The text is normalised: no vowel points, punctuation or spelling variants. It is then searched in a full-text index. Every passage found comes with the book, its location, a link to the source and the licence.

What it cannot do

It finds words, not meaning. If a quote exists only in a translation that is not in the corpus, the answer is “not found”. That does not prove nobody said it; it means our books do not contain it.

Who it is for

Readers who want to know where a line comes from. Writers and editors before publishing. AI systems that need an answer they can verify: the same search is open through an API.

FAQ

Where do the texts come from?

The Leningrad Codex (OSHB, CC BY 4.0), open texts from Sefaria, Project Gutenberg, and open editions of the Qur’an and the Chinese classics. Every result states its licence.

Can I check a quote in Hebrew?

Yes. Vowel points and spelling variants do not get in the way: “ואהבת לרעך כמוך” is found in Leviticus 19:18.

Is it free?

Yes. The check on the site, in the Telegram bot (/quote) and through the API is free.

Famous quotes already checked

• “Be the change you wish to see in the world” — Mahatma Gandhi · Not found in the corpus
• “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” — Albert Einstein · Not found in the corpus
• “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” — Edmund Burke · Not found in the corpus
• “Religion is the opium of the people” — Karl Marx · Not found in the corpus
• “I think, therefore I am” — René Descartes · Found word for word
• “Let them eat cake” — Marie Antoinette · Not found in the corpus
• “Elementary, my dear Watson” — Arthur Conan Doyle · Found word for word
• “God helps those who help themselves” — Bible · Found word for word
• “Cleanliness is next to godliness” — Bible · Found word for word
• “The love of money is the root of all evil” — Bible · Found word for word
• “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” — Bible · Found word for word
• “To be, or not to be, that is the question” — William Shakespeare · Found word for word
• “All the world's a stage” — William Shakespeare · Found word for word
• “The course of true love never did run smooth” — William Shakespeare · Found word for word
• “Brevity is the soul of wit” — William Shakespeare · Found word for word
• “To thine own self be true” — William Shakespeare · Found word for word
• “Et tu, Brute” — William Shakespeare · Found word for word
• “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” — William Shakespeare · Found word for word
• “Now is the winter of our discontent” — William Shakespeare · Found word for word
• “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” — Jane Austen · Found word for word
• “Call me Ishmael” — Herman Melville · Found word for word
• “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” — Charles Dickens · Found word for word
• “All happy families are alike” — Leo Tolstoy · Found with small differences
• “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” — Henry David Thoreau · Found word for word
• “The unexamined life is not worth living” — Plato · Found word for word
• “Know thyself” — Socrates · Found word for word
• “The only thing I know is that I know nothing” — Socrates · Not found in the corpus
• “Man is by nature a political animal” — Aristotle · Found word for word
• “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” — Aristotle · Not found in the corpus
• “It is better to be feared than loved” — Niccolò Machiavelli · Found with small differences
• “The end justifies the means” — Niccolò Machiavelli · Found word for word
• “God is dead” — Friedrich Nietzsche · Found word for word
• “That which does not kill us makes us stronger” — Friedrich Nietzsche · Not found in the corpus
• “What does not kill me makes me stronger” — Friedrich Nietzsche · Not found in the corpus
• “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of” — Blaise Pascal · Found with small differences
• “Survival of the fittest” — Charles Darwin · Found word for word
• “Workingmen of all countries unite” — Karl Marx · Found word for word
• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” — Thomas Jefferson · Found word for word
• “Give me liberty, or give me death” — Patrick Henry · Found word for word
• “These are the times that try men's souls” — Thomas Paine · Found word for word
• “A house divided against itself cannot stand” — Abraham Lincoln · Found word for word
• “Four score and seven years ago” — Abraham Lincoln · Found word for word
• “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” — Mahatma Gandhi · Not found in the corpus
• “An eye for an eye” — Bible · Found word for word
• “Love thy neighbour as thyself” — Bible · Found word for word
• “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” — Bible · Found word for word
• “Let there be light” — Bible · Found word for word
• “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity” — Bible · Found word for word
• “There is no new thing under the sun” — Bible · Found word for word
• “The truth shall make you free” — Bible · Found word for word
• “If I am not for myself, who will be for me” — Hillel · Found word for word
• “The world stands on three things” — Pirkei Avot · Found word for word
• “Whoever saves a single life saves an entire world” — Talmud · Not found in the corpus
• “Who is wise? He who learns from every person” — Pirkei Avot · Found with small differences
• “Who is rich? He who is happy with his portion” — Pirkei Avot · Found with small differences
• “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it” — Pirkei Avot · Not found in the corpus
• “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” — Hillel · Found word for word
• “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor” — Abigail Adams · Not found in the corpus
• “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” — Lao Tzu · Found with small differences
• “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting” — Sun Tzu · Not found in the corpus
• “Know your enemy and know yourself” — Sun Tzu · Found with small differences
• “Learning without thought is labor lost” — Confucius · Found word for word
• “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop” — Confucius · Not found in the corpus
• “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” — Dante Alighieri · Found with small differences
• “All hope abandon, ye who enter in” — Dante Alighieri · Found word for word
• “Veni, vidi, vici” — Julius Caesar · Found word for word
• “Arma virumque cano” — Virgil · Found word for word
• “Carpe diem” — Horace · Found word for word
• “Cogito, ergo sum” — René Descartes · Found word for word
• “The pen is mightier than the sword” — Edward Bulwer-Lytton · Found word for word
• “Knowledge is power” — Francis Bacon · Found word for word
• “I have a dream” — Martin Luther King · Found word for word
• “Imagination is more important than knowledge” — Albert Einstein · Not found in the corpus
• “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration” — Thomas Edison · Not found in the corpus
• “Well-behaved women seldom make history” — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich · Not found in the corpus
• “Play it again, Sam” — Casablanca · Not found in the corpus
• “Houston, we have a problem” — Apollo 13 · Not found in the corpus
• “Beam me up, Scotty” — Star Trek · Not found in the corpus
• “Luke, I am your father” — Star Wars · Found with small differences
• “Nice guys finish last” — Leo Durocher · Not found in the corpus
• “The customer is always right” — Harry Gordon Selfridge · Found word for word
• “Hell is other people” — Jean-Paul Sartre · Not found in the corpus
• “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” — George Santayana · Found word for word
• “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” — Lord Acton · Found word for word
• “Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge · Found word for word
• “No man is an island” — John Donne · Found word for word
• “For whom the bell tolls” — John Donne · Found with small differences
• “Hope springs eternal in the human breast” — Alexander Pope · Found word for word
• “To err is human, to forgive divine” — Alexander Pope · Found word for word
• “A little learning is a dangerous thing” — Alexander Pope · Found word for word
• “Curiouser and curiouser” — Lewis Carroll · Found word for word
• “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” — George Orwell · Not found in the corpus
• “The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being” — Plato · Not found in the corpus
• “I came, I saw, I conquered” — Julius Caesar · Found word for word
• “The die is cast” — Julius Caesar · Found word for word
• “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau · Found word for word
• “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him” — Voltaire · Found word for word
• “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” — Voltaire · Not found in the corpus
• “We must cultivate our garden” — Voltaire · Found word for word
• “Hitch your wagon to a star” — Ralph Waldo Emerson · Found word for word
• “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind” — Ralph Waldo Emerson · Found word for word
• “Money is the root of all evil” — Bible · Misquoted: the original is longer
• “Красота спасёт мир” — Фёдор Достоевский · Found word for word
• “Все счастливые семьи похожи друг на друга” — Лев Толстой · Found word for word
• “В человеке всё должно быть прекрасно” — Антон Чехов · Found with small differences
• “Человек — это звучит гордо” — Максим Горький · Found word for word
• “Тварь я дрожащая или право имею” — Фёдор Достоевский · Not found in the corpus
• “Я помню чудное мгновенье” — Александр Пушкин · Found word for word
• “Если Бога нет, то всё позволено” — Фёдор Достоевский · Not found in the corpus
• “Краткость — сестра таланта” — Антон Чехов · Not found in the corpus
• “Мой дядя самых честных правил” — Александр Пушкин · Found word for word
• “Есть женщины в русских селеньях” — Николай Некрасов · Not found in the corpus
• “Белеет парус одинокой” — Михаил Лермонтов · Found word for word
• “Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point” — Blaise Pascal · Found word for word
• “Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je me battrai jusqu'à la mort pour que vous ayez le droit de le dire” — Voltaire · Not found in the corpus
• “Ladran, Sancho, señal que cabalgamos” — Miguel de Cervantes · Not found in the corpus
• “En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme” — Miguel de Cervantes · Found word for word
• “כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה” — Talmud · Found word for word
• “כל המקיים נפש אחת מישראל” — Mishnah · Found word for word
• “לא עליך המלאכה לגמור” — Pirkei Avot · Found word for word
• “גם זו לטובה” — Talmud · Found word for word
• “איזהו חכם הלומד מכל אדם” — Pirkei Avot · Found word for word
• “דע מאין באת ולאן אתה הולך” — Pirkei Avot · Found word for word
• “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken” — Oscar Wilde · Not found in the corpus
• “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well” — William Shakespeare · Found with small differences

All verified quotes by author →

API for developers and AI · GET /api/quote-check?q= · GitHub