Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Attribution ·70 of 348
"Eppur si muove. (And yet it moves.)"
They never said that.
What people say
"Eppur si muove. (And yet it moves.)"
What was actually said
"No verified Galileo source at the 1633 trial." Galileo Galilei (attributed) — Attributed — first printed in Giuseppe Baretti's Italian Library (1757)
Why it stuck
There is no contemporary record of Galileo saying this. Baretti wrote it a century and a quarter after Galileo's death. A 17th-century painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo shows the phrase on a dungeon wall, but the painting's authentication is contested.
Even if Galileo had muttered it, his inquisitors would have noted it. They did not.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.