15. Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (1937)
The Misquote: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"
The Real Quote: "Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?"
Why It Was Misquoted: Two variations made to the quote here. As Disneys breakthrough feature, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs has become incredibly iconic and this line with it. The first variation, Magic to Mirror, is an odd one and likely is just due to it being more lyrical, popularised thanks to Snow White being a childrens film and thus being prone to repetition. The second likely comes from a desire to formalise the quote, making it feel more suitable for a fairytale land.
14. Field Of Dreams
The Misquote: "If you build it, they will come."
The Real Quote: "If you build it, he will come."
Why It Was Misquoted: Its almost weary how many times a personal pronoun change leads to a misquote on this list. However, for Field of Dreams the quote is one of the most integral to the film, its whispered words setting the whole plot of Kevin Costners baseball field in motion, making it all the more bizarre. As always, it could be fair to assume it has happened to make the line general, applying the scenarios outside the context of the movie, but a similar quote from Waynes World 2 (If you book them, they will come) released a few years later could be the cause.
13. A Few Good Men (1992)
The Misquote: "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"
The Real Quote: "You want answers?" "I want the truth." "You can't handle the truth!"
Why It Was Misquoted: In the latest EE advert, when Kevin Bacon proclaims You cant handle the truth, the line feels odd. And not because Bacon never said it. Its because were used to hearing a longer version of that quote. Which is ridiculous, as the line itself is just that. Coming as part of a long tirade delivered with venom by Jack Nicholsons Colonel Jessop, the line is still misquoted when being
praised for its quotability. The big cause for this is that the misquote sounds cooler in isolation; its easier to say it when its just one persons line. A Simpsons moment, where Homer rants at Marge, merging classic movie lines together, certainly wont have helped matters.