
“Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.”
Variant: Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
As quoted in Murphy's Law Book Two : More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong (1980) by Arthur Bloch, p. 47; similar statements became a routine part of the comedic performances of George Burns.
Attributed
“Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.”
Variant: Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.”
Misquoted by Mitt Romney " These Hands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLZpMFbxyxU" campaign ad ()
[2012-07-19, Romney video deceptively edits Obama speech to make it sound anti-business, Greg, Sargent, The Plum Line, The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-morning-plum-romney-video-deceptively-edits-obama-speech-to-make-it-sound-anti-business/2012/07/19/gJQAoRpavW_blog.html, 2012-10-08]
The Web version of the ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lr49t4-2b8 uses a <span style="color:grey">longer misquote</span>: "If you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, "well, it must be because I was just so smart." There are a lot of smart people out there. "It must be because I worked harder than everybody else." Let me tell you something — if you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.
Splices two parts of a speech in Roanoke, Virginia on (see above). Full quote:
<p>There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn't — look, <span style="color:darkgrey">if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own.</span> <span style="color:grey">You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, "well, it must be because I was just so smart." There are a lot of smart people out there. "It must be because I worked harder than everybody else." Let me tell you something —</span> there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.</p><p>If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges; <span style="color:darkgrey">if you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.</span> The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.</p>
Misattributed
“Are you up to faking being sincere underneath faking being fake?”
Source: Mother of Storms (1994), p. 406
Song lyrics, Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Like a Rolling Stone
Source: da Like a Rolling Stone, n.° 1
Context: Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse. When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose. You're invisible now. You've got no secrets to conceal.
“That is the secret of happiness and virtue -- liking what you've got to do.”
Source: Brave New World
“Secrets are more powerful when people know you've got them.”
Source: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/01/24/cheney.transcript.pdf responding to the question, How worried are you of the Iraqi government turning against the United States? (January 24, 2007)
2000s, 2007
“The secret is the secret. Sincerity is the word.”
Breed the Unmentioned (1985)
“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”