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Who really said it

He who says he can and he who says he can't are both usually right

Not Confucius — a dressed-up version of an old English proverb Unknown Anonymous proverb · the idea in print by 1718, the Ford wording by 1940
Disputed Free to reuse

There is no Analects source and, decisively, no Chinese text — the Analects is 20 books and about 500 numbered passages, all searchable in the original, and nothing of this sense appears in any of them. What you are reading is the saying usually credited to Henry Ford: ‘Whether you think you can, or think you can’t — you’re right.’ And that one has a twist too. It is an old proverb Ford probably never said: Joseph Trapp put it into English in 1718, translating Virgil — ‘They can, because they think they can.’

Last verified 21 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“He who says he can and he who says he can't are both usually right” An anonymous proverb, in English since 1718 and usually credited to Henry Ford. Not Confucius, and not in the Analects.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Confucius. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Free to use, including in commercial and paid presentations — no permission or licence needed.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Confucius — Chinese teacher and philosopher (here, the misattributed figure). Theme: "He who says he can and he who says he can't are both usually right". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "He who says he can and he who says he can't are both usually right". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Claimed work
The Analects of Confucius
Chinese original
None — nothing corresponds
Earliest of the idea
1718, Trapp’s Virgil
Ford attribution
Sept 1947, after his death

子曰：「由！誨女知之乎！知之為知之，不知為不知，是知也。」 Analects, Book II — the nearest passage

This is what Confucius does say in the neighbourhood, from Book II. Legge: ‘You, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it — this is knowledge.’ Note the direction of travel. He is telling a student to stop overclaiming; the modern quote tells you to claim more.

Analects Book II — Chinese with Legge's translation

How we traced it

  • We searched all twenty books of the Analects in Chinese and in James Legge’s public-domain English. Nothing of this sense occurs. The nearest passage is a different lesson entirely — Book II, on knowing what you know — and it is about intellectual honesty, not self-belief Book II in Chinese and Legge ↗.
  • The English saying has a documented lineage, and it is long. 1718: Joseph Trapp’s translation of the Aeneid gives ‘They can, because they think they can’ for Virgil’s possunt quia posse videntur. 1821: The Christian Guardian prints ‘if you think you can, you can.’ 1914: a baseball manager tells the Pittsburgh Press, ‘If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t’ the full chain ↗.
  • The modern both-halves-are-right wording turns up on a 1940 Iowa State locker-room sign: ‘If you think you can, you can; if you think you can’t, you’re right.’ That is the sentence on this page, minus the Confucian costume — and it was anonymous gym-wall wisdom.
  • As for Ford: the earliest attribution to him that researchers have found is in Reader’s Digest in September 1947, five months after he died, with no documentation that he ever said it. So the ‘real’ author of the Confucius quote turns out to be another misattribution — which is a nice illustration of how these things stack.
Public domain

The genuine material on this page is free to reuse: the Chinese Analects is ancient, and James Legge’s English translation (1861–1893) is long out of copyright, so quote either without worry. The modern saying is a different matter but a simpler one — a proverb of unknown authorship in circulation for three centuries is not anyone’s property to license. What you should not do is reproduce it with Confucius’s name attached, which is a factual problem rather than a legal one. This is not legal advice.

This reflects the original work, which is public domain. If your exact English wording comes from a specific modern translation, that translation may itself still be under copyright — check the edition you quote.

Fact-check

The attribution problem

Two misattributions in one sentence, stacked. The Confucius credit is recent and baseless; the Henry Ford credit underneath it is older, more respectable, and also wrong.

Not Confucius no Chinese text

Nothing of this sense appears in any of the twenty books of the Analects, in Legge’s English or in the original. The ‘he who…’ construction is the giveaway: it is a Victorian English translator’s cadence that modern fakers imitate to make a sentence sound Chinese search the Analects ↗.

Henry Ford — also unproven posthumous attribution

Ford’s version, ‘Whether you think you can, or think you can’t — you’re right,’ is first tied to him in Reader’s Digest in September 1947, five months after he died. No speech, interview or book of his has been produced the 1947 attribution ↗.

Anonymous, and old documented

1718, Trapp’s Virgil: ‘They can, because they think they can.’ 1821, The Christian Guardian. 1905, a school superintendent’s speech. 1914, a baseball manager. 1940, a locker-room sign that reads almost word for word like this quote. The saying was public property long before it had a famous name.

Analects Book II — opposite lesson different point

‘When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it’ (Legge). Confucius is curbing a confident student. The modern saying is a pep talk. They are not versions of each other.

We do not know undated

We found no datable first instance, and Wikiquote’s Confucius page does not list it among the misattributions. Present circulation is social media, which suggests it is recent — but that is an inference, and we are not going to print a date we cannot source.

Not Confucius: there is no Chinese for it and nothing like it in the Analects. It is the Henry Ford saying rephrased — and even Ford’s claim rests on a magazine attribution printed after his death the trail ↗.

Context

Why it resonates

It is a motivational poster that sounds like a law of nature, and the symmetry does the work — both men are right, so the outcome must be inside them. Attach a 2,500-year-old name and the pep talk gets the authority of an observation.

The tell is the syntax. ‘He who…’ is not Chinese; it is nineteenth-century missionary English, the cadence Legge and his contemporaries used, and it has become the standard costume for any aphorism someone wants to make sound ancient. When you meet a ‘he who’ quote with no chapter number, assume the costume is all there is.

'He who' is not Chinese. It is Victorian missionary English — the standard costume for a fake.

The documented chain, in order

1718: Joseph Trapp’s Aeneid — ‘They can, because they think they can,’ for Virgil’s possunt quia posse videntur.

1821: The Christian Guardian — ‘if you think you can, you can.’

1905: Walter D. Wintle’s poem ‘Thinking’ is published — ‘If you think you are beaten, you are’ — later reprinted, unattributed, in Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (1937).

1914: a baseball manager, in the Pittsburgh Press — ‘If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t.’

1940: an Iowa State locker-room sign — ‘if you think you can’t, you’re right.’

September 1947: Reader’s Digest credits the saying to Henry Ford, five months after his death. The Confucius credit arrives later still, undated.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Success Doubt

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Analects, Book II (為政) — Chinese and Leggectext.org

The searchable original alongside the public-domain English; the nearest genuine passage is here.
Quote Origin: Whether You Believe You Can Do a Thing or Not, You Are Rightquoteinvestigator.com

The dated chain from 1718 to the 1947 Reader’s Digest attribution to Ford, printed after his death.
'Thinking' — the Walter D. Wintle poemen.wikipedia.org

The 1905 verse (‘the man who thinks he can’) that pushed the sentiment into American self-help, later reprinted by Napoleon Hill.
Confucius — Wikiquote, with a Misattributed sectionen.wikiquote.org

The standing list of sayings wrongly credited to him. This one is not yet on it, which is part of why it spreads.

Popularly credited author

Why it gets pinned on Confucius

Confucius

551–479 BC · Chinese teacher and philosopher (here, the misattributed figure)

Confucius (Kong Qiu, 551–479 BC) taught in the state of Lu, and what we have of him is the Analects — a compact collection of remarks and exchanges assembled by his students after his death. It is short, it is complete, and it has been indexed for two thousand years, which makes it one of the easiest bodies of quotation on earth to check. That is exactly why misattributions to him are so unusually cheap to disprove: if a saying is his, there is Chinese for it, and someone can point you to the book and the passage. If there is only English, you already have your answer.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Not in the Analects in Chinese or in translation. Modern form of an English proverb: ‘They can, because they think they can’ (Joseph Trapp, translating Virgil, 1718); the ‘you’re right’ wording by 1940; credited to Henry Ford in Reader’s Digest, September 1947, after his death.

MLA (9th ed.)

Anonymous proverb. Not in the Analects. The idea in English by 1718; credited to Henry Ford from 1947.

APA (7th ed.)

Anonymous proverb. (1718). [Earliest English form, in Trapp's Virgil]. Not Confucius; Ford attribution from 1947.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘He who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right’?” Last verified 21 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/he-who-says-he-can-and-he-who-says-he-cant-are-both

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