Who coined it, who made it famous, and what came before
7 phrases traced to sources you can open. Each entry keeps verified use, claimed coinage, popularization and misattribution apart — and says where the trail goes cold.
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| Earliest | Phrase | Finding | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | The medium is the message | McLuhan's own formulation — chapter one of Understanding Media. | Direct coinage |
| Reported 1974 | Be the change you wish to see in the world | Not Gandhi. A 1913 passage of his is an antecedent, not the wording. | Misattributed |
| Reported 1980s | Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results | Not Einstein. Recovery-community and fiction use carried it. | Misattributed |
| 1984 | Information wants to be free | Stewart Brand at the Hackers Conference — the slogan truncates a paradox. | Direct coinage |
| 2000 | Culture eats strategy for breakfast | Not Drucker. A Giga Information Group headline came first. | Misattributed |
| 2010 | If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product | A MetaFilter comment; a 1973 video-art line is related, not identical. | Popularized |
| 2012 | Move fast and break things | Zuckerberg's IPO letter is the earliest text we could inspect. | Claimed coinage |
- Earliest
- 1964
- Verdict
- Direct coinage
- Finding
- McLuhan's own formulation — chapter one of Understanding Media.
- Earliest
- Reported 1974
- Verdict
- Misattributed
- Finding
- Not Gandhi. A 1913 passage of his is an antecedent, not the wording.
- Earliest
- Reported 1980s
- Verdict
- Misattributed
- Finding
- Not Einstein. Recovery-community and fiction use carried it.
- Earliest
- 1984
- Verdict
- Direct coinage
- Finding
- Stewart Brand at the Hackers Conference — the slogan truncates a paradox.
- Earliest
- 2000
- Verdict
- Misattributed
- Finding
- Not Drucker. A Giga Information Group headline came first.
- Earliest
- 2010
- Verdict
- Popularized
- Finding
- A MetaFilter comment; a 1973 video-art line is related, not identical.
- Earliest
- 2012
- Verdict
- Claimed coinage
- Finding
- Zuckerberg's IPO letter is the earliest text we could inspect.
Each entry shows its lifecycle status, revision, and review date. How Origin traces a phrase.