Several people have told me, either in person or via the internet, that they’re a little shy about putting up possible quotations for fear that they might be fauxtations. I realize not everyone is interested in chasing down every quote’s source before posting it, but here are a few things you can do quickly to cut down your chances of appearing on Fauxtations:
- Check the fauxtations blog. It’s got a handy search box, tags, and other such amenities.
- Apply the ear test. If it sounds like a modern-day motivational speaker, it probably wasn’t said by a saint. If it sounds like a greeting card, it probably wasn’t said by a saint (St. Mother Teresa and St. Thérèse can sound a little Hallmark-y at times, especially if taken out of context).
- Check Wikiquote, and make sure you didn’t hit one of the pages where someone used secondary sources (“quoted by Joe Smith in Things St. Francis Said“). To be double sure, you can go to the discussion tab (not visible on the mobile site) and see if it’s discussed there.
It takes more to guarantee a non-fauxtation, but those three tests will catch a good number of fauxtations.
Special bonus:
If the alleged quote is from C. S. Lewis, try this page: http://www.essentialcslewis.com/confirming-c-s-lewis-quotations-series-overview/
If it’s from St. Mother Teresa, try this page (but be aware that the bottom half of the page contains paraphrases, and it’s hard to know how far the alleged paraphrase varies from what she actually said): https://www.motherteresa.org/08_info/Quotesf.html
They didn't say it 