List of common misconceptions
Marie Antoinette did not actually use the words "let them eat cake" when she heard that the French peasantry was starving because they did not have bread to eat. The phrase was first published in Rousseau's Confessions when Marie was only 10 years old. Marie Antoinette was unpopular, and many attributed the phrase "let them eat cake" to her, in keeping with her reputation as being hard-hearted and disconnected from her subjects.