Question: Did they really say that?

Answer: Yes and no.

Of course we try to be rigorous in properly attributing CoolQuotes, yet we have been known to make the occasional error. However there are some instances where a CoolQuote seems outrageous, or at least out of character, with the attributed author. Well, often authors will write something that they would not actually say and even make claims, express points of view, or use language that they would never touch in polite company. Yet, they make it into CoolQuotes only because they are a bunch of words, metaphor, little piece of irony or paradox, that is just absolutely cool. How does that even happen? Simple. The author puts the words into the mouth of a fictional character. For example, nobody would ever deprecate the genius of William Shakespeare, who jotted down the sage advice that “brevity is the soul of wit,” but then he put the words into the mouth of a character who was both witless and anything but brief. So please, don’t take every word of the Conversation Through the Ages as Gospel truth. Just enjoy the Cool.

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