“The idea to say that Steve Jobs didn't build Apple, that Henry Ford didn't build Ford Motor, that Papa John didn't build Papa John Pizza, that Ray Kroc didn't build McDonald's, that Bill Gates didn't build Microsoft, you go on the list, that Joe and his colleagues didn't build this enterprise, to say something like that is not just foolishness, it is insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in America and it's wrong.”

Source: Making Money

Misquoted by Mitt Romney &quot; These Hands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLZpMFbxyxU&quot; campaign ad () <br class="br">[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] <br class="br">The Web version of the ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lr49t4-2b8 uses a &lt;span style=&quot;color:grey&quot;&gt;longer misquote&lt;/span&gt;: &quot;If you&#x27;ve been successful, you didn&#x27;t get there on your own. You didn&#x27;t get there on your own. I&#x27;m always struck by people who think, &quot;well, it must be because I was just so smart.&quot; There are a lot of smart people out there. &quot;It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.&quot; Let me tell you something — if you&#x27;ve got a business, you didn&#x27;t build that. Somebody else made that happen. <br class="br">Splices two parts of a speech in Roanoke, Virginia on (see above). Full quote: <br class="br">&lt;p&gt;There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn&#x27;t — look, &lt;span style=&quot;color:darkgrey&quot;&gt;if you&#x27;ve been successful, you didn&#x27;t get there on your own.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color:grey&quot;&gt;You didn&#x27;t get there on your own. I&#x27;m always struck by people who think, &quot;well, it must be because I was just so smart.&quot; There are a lot of smart people out there. &quot;It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.&quot; Let me tell you something —&lt;/span&gt; there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;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; &lt;span style=&quot;color:darkgrey&quot;&gt;if you&#x27;ve got a business, you didn&#x27;t build that. Somebody else made that happen.&lt;/span&gt; The Internet didn&#x27;t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.&lt;/p&gt; <br class="br">Misattributed

Source: Snakehead

Xfm 11 June 2005
On Biology

Source: Frostbite

Variant: No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids - human beings built them because they're clever and they work hard. And 'Star Trek' is about those things.

Source: Factotum (1975), Ch. 71

Source: Heist Society

via twitter (October 25, 2021) https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1452666011350614020 <br class="br">2021, October 2021