How Did a Quote by Marianne Williamson Get Misattributed to Nelson Mandela?

Photo credit: SAUL LOEB - Getty Images
Photo credit: SAUL LOEB - Getty Images

From Town & Country

Last night, self-help author Marianne Williamson introduced herself to the public on the Democratic debate stage. She quickly outlined her strategy to beat Donald Trump in the 2020 election, coming out strongly against "plans" and in favor of "harnessing love," and noted that her first act as president would be to call the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

In recent weeks, Williamson has come under fire for comments promoting unfounded skepticism of vaccinations, and prior to last night, she was polling at just 1 percent. Unless you're an avid watcher of Oprah-related programming-Williamson is often referred to as the TV queen's personal spiritual adviser-you might not have known who she was.

But even if you're unfamiliar with Williamson, you've almost certainly read Williamson's words before. You just maybe thought Nelson Mandela said them.

As Slate pointed out this morning, Williamson is the author of a quote often misattributed to the late South African activist and political leader, which begins: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."

It's unclear exactly when the first time the text was incorrectly ascribed, but it is the kind of pithy motivational language that just proliferates on social media platforms like Pinterest, so once one person said it was by Mandela, that just spread like wildfire.

Snopes, the internet fact-checking site, confirms that Williamson, not Mandela, wrote those words in her 1992 book A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles.

"Several years ago, this paragraph from A Return to Love began popping up everywhere, attributed to Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural address," Williamson said of the confusion about the text, according to Snopes.

"As honored as I would be had President Mandela quoted my words, indeed he did not. I have no idea where that story came from, but I am gratified that the paragraph has come to mean so much to so many people."

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