Beware the quote. Our favourite social media platforms are awash with them.

I can think of two big reasons to be careful with quotes:

1.  They can feel really repetitive and clichéd as the same thoughts appear over and over again.

2.  Quotes need checking. Misattribution is common.

For instance, Maya Angelou is often credited with this quote:

‘They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.’

It seems the actual author was Carl W Buehner. Beware the quote source.

Quote Investigator is a good online place to start checking quotes, especially those you find on the Internet rather than read yourself in an original book.

In my recent TEDxTalk, the early drafts ended with this quote:

‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has’ (Margaret Mead).

I eventually replaced Margaret Mead’s words with my own anchor phrase – ‘Loneliness shatters. Community matters’. It’s memorable and the audience joined me in the connection sweet spot by chorusing the last word of my talk with me.

If giving talks and presentations is an act of thought leadership and changing what people think, feel and do, then beware the quote.

Your original thoughts and words have greater sincerity and power to make a difference than trotting out other people’s quotes we’ve probably heard before.

Thanks to The Knowledge for the Dorothy Sayers quote.