If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.

This line circulates as a sardonic, cautionary maxim about motivated reasoning and propaganda: when evidence contradicts a preferred narrative, one can “solve” the problem by manipulating or suppressing the evidence rather than revising the theory. It is widely repeated in political commentary, discussions of pseudoscience, and critiques of institutional self-justification, typically without attribution. Although it is sometimes linked in popular culture to totalitarian information control or to satirical takes on bureaucratic thinking, I cannot confidently trace it to a specific first appearance, speaker, or publication. In quotation databases it is therefore often treated as anonymous or of uncertain origin.

A sardonic inversion of the scientific method, the line mocks the temptation to protect a favored theory by manipulating or ignoring inconvenient evidence. It points to motivated reasoning: when conclusions are emotionally, politically, or professionally invested, people may “adjust” reality—through selective reporting, cherry-picking, or outright fabrication—rather than revise their model. Used in debates about science, ideology, and bureaucracy, the quote functions as a warning about confirmation bias and the corruption of inquiry. Its punch comes from presenting a blatantly unethical practice as if it were a reasonable procedural rule, thereby exposing how absurd such rationalizations are.