“As Attraction is stronger in small Magnets than in great ones in proportion to their Bulk, and Gravity is greater in the Surfaces of small Planets than in those of great ones in proportion to their bulk, and small Bodies are agitated much more by electric attraction than great ones; so the smallness of the Rays of Light may contribute very much to the power of the Agent by which they are refracted.”
Query 21
Opticks (1704)
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Isaac Newton 171
British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern c… 1643–1727Related quotes

This misquote could possibly have two possible sources: an abridged version of a paragraph in Mein Kampf regarding the Big Lie, or a report by the United States Office of Strategic Services about Hitler's psychological profile http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/h/hitler-adolf/oss-papers/text/oss-profile-03-02.html. The second version is very close to an actual quote by Joseph Goebbels.
Misattributed
Variant: The bigger/more blatant a lie, the more people will believe it.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Source: Leonardo's Notebooks

“Lofty posts make great men greater still, and small men much smaller.”
Ainsi les postes éminents rendent les grands hommes encore plus grands, et les petits beaucoup plus petits.
Aphorism 95
Les Caractères (1688), De l'Homme

Query 21
Opticks (1704)

“One is too small a number to achieve greatness.”