What the Saints Never Said by Trent Horn

What the Saints Never Said Reviews

• 
  Jeff Miller

  One of my many annoying habits is that I am a bit of a “quote nazi”, that is I look for opportunities to point out that something quoted was never actually said by the person cited. I keep pages full of not only quotes, but also misattributions.
  
  Social media is especially bad at passing on misattributed quotes or just plain fake quoted. Meme are really bad concerning this. I have found it to be almost a certainty that any time something is quoted and placed on a picture background and then posted – that it is wrong. Quite annoying when I find I like a quote and then try to get the source. I am almost always disappointed to find the quote was not valid.
  
  So when I found that Trent Horn of Catholic answers had released [What the Saints Never Said: Pious Misquotes and the Subtle Heresies They Teach You][book], this was an instant buy. Although that it pretty much the case regardless of topic when it comes to Trent Horn.
  
  This book goes farther than just to point out that a quote from a saint is actually not one. His methodology has multiple facets in identification. Making distinctions between quotes we have no citations of, ones that were almost certainly never said, or ones that came from a different source. In doubtful, but popular quotes, he delves into the substance of the quote and why they fail theologically or logically. I really enjoyed this analysis. Especially considering quotes that at first blush seem to portray some truth in a winsome way. That on further analysis fail at doing this and are in fact misleading.
  
  So besides adding to my collection of quotes that are misattributed, it was the analysis that I enjoyed the most.
• 
  Steven R. McEvoy

  In the last year I have read 12 books by Trent Horn, I have appreciated all of them, and I loved 'Why We're Catholic: Our Reasons for Faith, Hope, and Love' and this book is just as good and am important read. The introduction to this book alone will cause you to question your own memory, and quotes that are considered famous. Horn starts with this:
  
  "The villain clad in black raises his fist at the hero and says, "Luke, I am your father!" The dashing captain unfolds his communicator and gives the order, "Beam me up, Scotty." A mysterious jungle man sets down the woman he's rescued and she teaches him to say, "Me Tarzan, you Jane." What do these three things have in common?
  
  You might say they're lines from famous movies: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Trek, and Tarzan the Ape Man respectively. But then you remembered this is a book about fake quotations and you changed your answer: they're misquotations from famous movies.
  
  In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker accuses Darth Vader of killing his father. Vader responds, "No, I am your father"-not "Luke, I am your father." The crew of the Starship Enterprise often asked Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott to beam them up via the transporter, but no one in the Star Trek films or television shows ever said, "Beam me up, Scotty."2 Finally, in the 1932 classic Tarzan the Ape Man, Tarzan only says "Tarzan. Jane. Tarzan. Jane," not "Me Tarzan, you Jane.""
  
  And then addressing the question of why it matter he states:
  
  "Before I continue, I need to address readers who might be rolling their eyes or muttering the word "nitpicker." Does it really matter if people get one word wrong in a line from a Star Wars film? Who cares if the cute story about George Washington and the cherry tree never happened? Why can't you just leave the saints alone and write about something important? But accurately recording the wisdom of saints and other well-known Catholics is important because truth is important."
  
  He then goes on to say:
  
  "But the most important reason we should challenge false quotes from saints is because in some cases they contradict the Faith these saints embraced. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the saints are charitably yelling from heaven, "No! I actually said the opposite of that!" The major fake quotes in this book are not merely paraphrases of saintly wisdom or harmless pieces of advice that have been falsely attributed to the saints, although I do cover those kinds of quotes, too. Instead, each chapter in this book addresses a theme embodied in a well-known quote that is contrary to our Faith."
  
  And after reading this book I am even more convinced about the power of words, and yes getting a quote correct really does matter. The chapters in this volume are:
  
  Introduction
  1. "Preach the gospel always; if necessary, use words."
  2. "People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered . . . Love them anyway."
  3. "You don't need to believe in God to be a good person."
  4. "Pray as though everything depended on God, act as if everything depended on you."
  5. "God helps those who help themselves."
  6. "The truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself."
  7. "I believe because it is absurd."
  8. "Rome has spoken, the case is closed."
  9. "The road to hell is paved with the bones of priests."
  10. "God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them."
  What the Saints DID Say
  
  Each chapter does not deal with just a single quote, but quotes along themes. And the last chapter is one of the most powerful and important for us to read today. Trent Horn tackles some pretty controversial topics in that last chapter and in the whole book. The reason he does so is because truth matters. Horn tackles over 40 quotes in this book, some are close to the original source, some are well meaning and along the lines of the thought of the source. Some are so warped the original meaning is lost or manipulated. A few are misattributed, and some are just fabrications.
  
  Back when I worked for a non-denomination campus ministry, I kept a database of quotes. It was searchable by topic, author, and key words. I wonder if I were to be as diligent as Trent how many would need to be dropped from the list. Different staff members would send me quotes when they were read, from book, the web, or that they heard in talks and lectures. We used them for promotional material and in creating our own talks for retreats or conferences. It never really occurred to be to track down and verify sources, especially when taking a quote of a quote from a secondary or tertiary source. I know that going forward I will be far more diligent in what quotes I uses, and am thankful to Trent Horn for opening my eyes. This book was an excellent read!
  
  Read the review on my blog
  Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Trent Horn.
  
  Note: This book is part of a series of reviews:
  2018 Catholic Reading Plan!
• 
  Ann-Marie

  This book was a great, easy read. It's was super fast and easy to pick up and put down and read in little chunks. It was fascinating to read the history behind some super famous Saint quotes that they never said. The historian in me really enjoyed hearing origins of the quotes. I also appreciated the details that Trent Horn went through to explain the theology behind the quotes and why they don't actually conform to the gospel.
• 
  Sarah

  I learned so much from this book! While I had already read Why Were Catholic before, What the Saints Never Said has me hooked on Trents writing style. It’s easy to hear his voice in his books. This makes the information less drab and more interesting. The book is lots of fun facts and things you wouldn’t learn just by going to church. The book is a true showcase of how explaining false truths can teach one more about the faith.
• 
  Jason Townsend

  This certainly took me longer then it should have, but once I got into it, I was pleasantly surprised by how informative it was.
  
  The structure of each chapter seems a bit disorganized, but finding out just how many popular saintly quotes were never said, or were misattributed, is eye opening and informative. Especially for fact oriented people like myself.
• 
  Kevin Beach

  Much deeper than the title implies
  
  I found this inspiring and easy to read. The author not only explains how sayings have been misquoted or misattributed, but also reflects on the parts of the Faith referred to in them.
• 
  Don Klotz

  Great read, helped clear up misconceptions
  
  Very clear and readable book. The author researches common mis-quotes and clears them up giving you better quotes that saints have said to help understand why the mis-quote is not helpful and should be challenged when you hear it.
• 
  Will

  A priceless reference, which should be on the shelf beside
  They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions,
  Hemingway Didn't Say That: The Truth Behind Familiar Quotations, and, of course,
  The Misquotable C.S. Lewis: What He Didn’t Say, What He Actually Said, and Why It Matters