I Dont Think This Church Gave Enough Thought to the Quotation on Its New Mural

[Towlie]

6. Repeating a witty saying is not endorsement of its author.

For example, Lawrence Krauss begins Chapter Two of A Universe From Nothing with this quote:

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.

—DONALD RUMSFELD

I think it's safe to assume that Lawrence Krauss is not a fan of Donald Rumsfeld, or, more importantly, that his use of this quote wasn't meant to imply that he is. He credited the author of what he found to be a useful quote out of simple courtesy.

Also, I know that many of us have repeated the quote from Voltaire that "Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer." ("If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" ), even though Voltaire was actually a believer and didn't intend any irony in his statement. We repeat it because it's a catchy expression of an objective truth, not because we represent its author as an authority.