)Vanaf 1941 zoemden er al verkeerd geadresseerde citaten rond. De kans lijkt het grootst dat een vergelijkbare uitspraak van Maurice Maeterlinck komt.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/08/27/einstein-bees/
Leuke variant uit 1887 gebaseerd op Darwin:
The safety of England depends on the number of cats she keeps. He proves his proposition thus: Without the aid of bumble-bees the red clover could not be fertilised. Bumble-bees make their nests on the ground, where they are the prey of mice. Cats destroy the mice and give the bees a chance to live. Hence he reasons, no cats, many mice; many mice, no bumble-bees; no bees, no clover; no clover, no cattle; no cattle, no beef; and without beef where would the Englishman be?—Prof. W. W. Cooke—(American Bee Journal.)