press-nice-guys

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” If you want to find out how some of us have broken our heads to find the coiner of that, get “Nice Guys Finish Seventh”: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations by Ralph Keyes. William Safire

Icon-busting. William Safire

I am indebted to Ralph Keyes’s new quotation corrector. Edmund Morris

Often pithy sayings we’ve always attributed to various famous figures, such as Winston Churchill, didn’t really come from their mouths. Ralph Keyes calls this “the flypaper effect.” Robert Siegel

Ralph Keyes has come up with what he calls an immutable law of misquotation. Here it is: “Misquotes drive out real quotes.” And he’s researched and put together a book to prove it. Noah Adams