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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35567
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35567
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I do not, to my knowledge **_ever_**. I am not a lawyer but I believe copyright applies: If the sentence or fragment you want to use is **original** (meaning it cannot be found in multiple sources or from a time prior to its publication) then that author holds the "copyright", and you are violating it. This has been held up in court for even three notes of a song ("My Sweet Lord").

Further, I think it has been held that using it in a commercial work is not "fair use", that is for instructional or educational purposes, or an example.

For example, I would not use the phrase **_"You can't handle the truth!"_** in a commercial work (but think it is okay in this instructional message).

IMO (and perhaps the law's opinion) you are stealing somebody else's creative work for the purpose of making a profit. Finding the phrase in several venues is one way to show that specific attribution of its origin is indeterminate, thus nobody can own the copyright. Even if you cannot, the court might hold that the phrase is not original enough to prevent other authors from stumbling upon it. (edit: Or if many sources are found, I believe the court may hold the copyright was not sufficiently protected and has become public domain.)

But that does not sound like the case here.

Original score: 4