Back on Sept. 21, Jim Roepkce posted a quote he got from Tim Trautman’s site attributed to Julius Caesar,
Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fevered pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.
The quote looked fishy to me on a number of accounts, and a Google search turned up online discussions of the quote’s provenance that established it as a likely fake, as I noted on Jim’s site. Henry Hanks supplied a link to a page on Snopes.Com that debunks the quote (which is also occasionally attributed to Shakespeare, though it doesn’t appear any of his works either).
This particular false quote has had a life of its own. It is all but ubiquitous on left wing weblogs, and made its way into the mainstream this week when Barbara Streisand used it in a speech, and a MSNBC political cartoonist used the quote in its entirety as well. Streisand’s use of the quote was egregious since she claimed in her speech that “We have the facts on our side, the truth on our side.” It’s not a good idea to make that claim and then follow it up with a fake quote.
And then, just to show what screw-ups they are, Reuters actually attributed Streisand’s misquote to Matt Drudge. Drudge broke the story that Streisand used the fake quote, but a caption on a Reuter’s photo of Streisand claimed, “Entertainer Barbra [sic] Streisand, shown in a file photo, has been caught out by an internet prankster, in quoting what she thought was Shakespeare but turned out to be a reporter called Matt Drudge. REUTERS/ Sam Mircovich”
The bottom line is quotes that are attributed to historical leaders that seem especially applicable to current political situations should always be viewed with skepticism. There are literally hundreds of false quotes circulating that are attributed to various historical figures, including U.S. presidents (Lincoln is a particular favorite given his stature in American history), famous scientists, etc.