The governor of Florida Ron DeSandis withdrew his bid for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination on Sunday, announcing his decision in a video message in which he used a quote wrongly attributed to Winston Churchill.

During a four-minute speech in a video he posted on the X platform (formerly Twitter), Republican Gov. wrongly attributed to Churchill the phrase: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: What counts is the courage to continue.”

The International Churchill Society has previously pointed out that this quote is often misattributed to the British former prime minister. The Churchill Project at Hillsdale College includes this phrase as one of many made-up Churchill quotes.

Spencer Jones, a senior lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton, said there was no evidence that Churchill ever said the phrase, adding that “it is often shared as an inspirational quote on social media”.

Kevin Ruane, a professor at Canterbury Christ Church University and author of a book on Churchill, said: “Churchill was an incredible manipulator of words and coined so many memorable phrases during his long career, but probably more quotes have been attributed to him than what he invented himself”.

“Any way you look at it, Governor DeSandis retired on a blunder,” he added.