Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·232 of 348
"Pride comes before a fall."
They never said that.
What people say
"Pride comes before a fall."
What was actually said
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18 (King James Bible, 1611)
Why it stuck
The biblical line is two parallel clauses — the fall comes after "a haughty spirit," not pride itself. The shortened version smashes the parallelism flat.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.