20 Famous Quotes That Were Never Actually Spoken

3. "Gild The Lily" - William Shakespeare

Britain's greatest-ever playwright may have coined a lot of modern-day phrases and "gild the lily" is one of them - although it is actually a misquote.

In the play King John, the Earl of Salisbury says "to gild refined gold, to paint the lily", but that has since been shortened to a phrase which means to improve something unnecessarily.

Contributor
Contributor

NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.