Wisdom Passed On exists to pass real words from real people down to whoever needs them next. That only works if the words — and who said them — can be trusted. Here's exactly how we handle that.

Where our quotes come from

Every quote in the library falls into one of two categories:

• Public domain — the person died long enough ago (or the work is old enough) that their words belong to everyone. Most of our library is this: classical philosophers, historical poets, figures from centuries past.
• Fair use — for more recent figures, we quote a single short line, briefly, for educational and inspirational commentary — never a full passage or an entire poem. This is the same kind of quotation you'd see in a book review or a classroom discussion.

How we mark certainty

Quotation is a messy business — the internet is full of famous lines that were never actually said by the person they're credited to. Rather than pretend otherwise, every quote on this site carries an honest label:

"Verified" means we can point to the original speech, book, or letter. "Attributed" means it's widely credited to that person but we can't pin down the exact original source. "Disputed" or "Misattributed" means the popular version likely isn't accurate, or isn't theirs at all — we say so rather than hide it, because a quotes site's whole value is being honest about what it doesn't know.

What "fair use only" means for downloads

Some quotes are marked for fair-use display only. Those quotes are never offered in the wallpaper generator's downloadable images, and never used in anything we sell. Only quotes marked public domain (or ones we own the rights to) are available to turn into a wallpaper or any other product. Fair use covers reading and sharing context on this site — not building a product around someone else's exact words.

Corrections and takedown requests

If you're a rights holder, a quoted person, or their representative, and you believe a quote here is used inappropriately or attributed incorrectly, please tell us. We review every request and will correct or remove content promptly.

Contact us here — the same form we use for quote suggestions and corrections.