What can be the guideline for modifying quote?
God does not play roulette
— Albert Einstein
There are cases that I feel like a change in the original quote would make it more rhythm, poetic, or reflect the spirit of the quote better. How should I approach this? Should I:
just cite the author as if they actually said it?
go lengthy with an explanation that this is not the original quote, but I feel like my version is better?
or cite the author of the newer version (which can happen to be me)?
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If you want to make it a quote, your only choice is to give the exact words. The only leeway lies in quotes from a foreign language, where you can pick and choose translations, or proverbs, where you can see if there is a variation that says what you want.
A paraphrasing requires at the very least, "Einstein said that this is true," and it may be wiser to say, "To paraphrase Einstein, this is true."
Your quote is incomplete.
What you should do is phrase it like this:
Take: Einstein said "God does not play dice with the universe "
and
Change to: Like Einstein indicated: God does not gamble
or
change gamble to roulette if you must, but it will lose credibility with people who know the correct statement when you make a specific change like that.
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