Vladimir Lenin

1870–1924 · Russian revolutionary, first head of the Soviet state

Vladimir Lenin attracts fabricated quotations more reliably than almost any modern figure, because a cynical line about manipulating the public sounds like something he would say and few readers can check fifty-five volumes of Russian to find out. Several of the most-repeated ‘Lenin quotes’ in English were manufactured during the Cold War and have never been traced to him. This is one of them.

Traced to source

1 quote we’ve traced

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth”

Disputed

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