Got a favorite quote you can't stop thinking about? đ
You're in the right place. "I Mae Be Wrong, But..." is the podcast hosted by writer Caroline Mae Woodson, who's as obsessed with words as you are.
Each episode, she dives into a single, classic quote, unearthing its history and linking its message to the modern media and life. It's a book club without the homework, designed for anyone who wants a new perspective on the worldâone word at a time.
Follow her and her words elsewhere:
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In this episode, Caroline takes you from a surprise 24-hour hosting notice from her grandfather to Ovid's ancient theories on the decay of humanity. She explores the bittersweet realization of adulthood's "iron age," weaving together the painful nostalgia of Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings, the rise and fall of Daisy Jones & The Six, and the perfect breakup album from Suki Waterhouse. This episode is a comforting look at the anxiety of change, and a reminder to recognize the golden eras we might be standing in.
16 Jul 2026
Am I the Idiot? x Dostoevsky & Elif Batuman
In this episode, Caroline takes you on a journey through the agonizing, beautiful, and deeply frustrating experience of being a sincere person in a cynical room. From the Russian tradition of the "Holy Fool" in Dostoevsky's 1869 classic to the hyper-intellectual, painfully relatable alienation of university life in Elif Batumanâs 2017 novel of the same name, she unpacks why society so often mistakes absolute kindness and sincerity for stupidity. Along the way, she explores the crushing weight of being perceived in Apple TVâs Margoâs Got Money Troubles, the emotional crisis of a heavy-hitting crush set to Olivia Rodrigo's "The Cure," and why we are all secretly terrified of being the idiot.
22 Jan 2026
My Mom Made Me This Way x Debbie Woodson
This episode is a love letter to shared stories. Caroline and her mom talk about growing up immersed in books, theatre and music; and how those shared experiences became their favorite stories. From sneaking into sketchy purse buildings in New York to crying at concerts, revisiting Wicked, and reading The Penderwicks out loud, this conversation is about how culture becomes family tradition.
11 Dec 2025
Doers Vs. Talkers x Virginia Woolf
In this episode, Caroline takes you from her college commencement speech to Virginia Woolf to summer camp crushes.
This monthâs theme is tradition: the lovely parts we inherit, the darker parts we try not to repeat, and the bizarre fact that women couldnât get approved for their own credit cards until fifty years ago. Caroline unpacks a line from To the Lighthouse, spirals lovingly through Woolf trivia, and talks about how our lives stack on top of each other like messy little family heirlooms.
She reviews God of the Woods (no spoilers, she hasnât finished it), explains why she watched Minx exclusively for Nick Miller, and shares why the play God of Carnage might be the truest thing ever written about âcivilizedâ adults.
And then, of course, a story about a summer camp crush named Ianâbecause whatâs tradition without a rite of passage?
Full of books, plays, TV, nostalgia, and tiny human illuminations, this episode is a reminder that all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees and changing leaves⌠but she may be wrong.
4 Dec 2025
I'm a Hick, I'll Kill You: Tradition x Marcus Aurelius
Caroline kicks off a month on tradition with a trio of touchstones that somehow make perfect sense together: the grounded wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, the chaotic comfort of apocalyptic cartoons, and the heart-thumping emotional messiness of Sally Rooneyâs novels. These become her compass points as she digs into why we crave routine, community and the tiny rituals that keep us steadyâeven when the world feels like itâs tilting. (A waitress shouting âIâm a hick, Iâll kill youâ makes a cameo, but only to prove the point.)
External Sources Highlighted:
Meditations â Marcus Aurelius
Carol and the End of the World
Beautiful World, Where are You? by Sally Rooney
âIn the Airplane Over the Seaâ by Neutral Milk Hotel
27 Nov 2025
Dissecting the Bird (and Other Ways to Miss the Point) x Charles Dickens
At a unicorn pajama party in California, Caroline finds herself running games, managing cupcakes, and teaching seven-year-olds the power of a good thank-you note. From Peppyâs birthday to Dickensâ ghosts, this episode is about gratitude, presence, and remembering how much we already haveâstuffed ravens and all.
This week's episode finishes out our month focusing on gratitude and talks about the TV show "Beef", Ocean Vuong's "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous", and the song "Dissect the Bird".
20 Nov 2025
Tiny Spaces, Big Hearts x A.A. Milne
What starts as a Facebook Marketplace rescue mission for a $30 pink chair turns into a reflection on how (and with what) we fill our lives â and our hearts. This week, Caroline traces a very college-theater-kid kind of furniture saga back to Pigletâs reminder that even a small heart can hold a large amount of gratitude. Thereâs a little Winnie-the-Pooh lore, a little Sally Rooney, a song, a movie, a poem about lactose, and a lot of talk about how friends, furniture, and feelings end up furnishing our lives.
13 Nov 2025
The Mouse, the Monologue, and the Good Eye x Sally Rooney
So what do you do when thereâs a mouse on a sticky trap? No, really, what do you do? If youâre an acting student, apparently you bring it to class.
This week, Caroline unpacks a campus legend about one empathetic theater major, a live mouse, and the chaos that ensued, all to arrive at a surprisingly tender point: what it means to look at the worldâand the people in itâwith a good eye.
From Sally Rooneyâs Intermezzo to Bob Dylanâs âDonât Think Twice, Itâs All Right,â to a new film about grief and gratitude (A Real Pain), Caroline traces a thread through stories of compassion, heartbreak, and human decency.
Along the way, there are sentimental dads, careful moms, and the painful but necessary art of not hating your ex.
Because sometimes, showing goodness starts with seeing itâeven in the stickiest of situations.
But I may be wrong.
6 Nov 2025
The Afterparty of Love (Grief) x Thornton Wilder
In this November installment of I Mae Be Wrong, ButâŚ, Caroline Mae Woodson engages with the notion that grief is âlove with nowhere to go,â using Thornton Wilderâs line âthe highest tribute to the dead is not grief, but gratitude.â
We talk about a grandmotherâs engagement ring, a kitchen recipe card, and to broader themes of remembrance and living well, rather than simply mourning.
Interweaving pop-culture examinations of the show âLong Story Shortâ, the series âWandaVisionâ, and the song âThe Luckiestâ âshe explores how grief and gratitude can sift into our everyday lives, not by vanishing, but by transforming. This episode invites listeners to reconsider how gratitude can become a practice, a lens through which we honor past love and continue forward, carrying both memory and motion.
30 Oct 2025
The Misquote Trick-or-Treat x Halloween Special
Happy Halloween!
On this very spooky Thursday, Caroline has a trick-or-treat special episode of the podcast with famous quotes that we have been tricked into thinking are by someone else or mean something entirely different than their original intent. After recounting a chilling investor lunch about the real scariest creature on Earth (spoiler: it might be us), she takes us wandering door-to-door through a haunted neighborhood of famous quotes that have been totally, wildly, hilariously misattributed.
Marie Antoinette?
Sherlock Holmes?
Einstein?
And fun twist⌠âblood is thicker than waterâ originally meant the opposite of what you think.
Together we peek behind the mask of cultural memory to see how stories morph, how language plays tricks, and how people make history whether they behave or not. Itâs a light-hearted candy bag full of fact checking, nostalgia, and the occasional existential jump scare about humanity itself.
Caroline leaves you with a watchlist of her favorite Halloween films, a plastic pumpkin full of curiosity, and one final reminder: humans may be the scariest species out there⌠but she may be wrong.
23 Oct 2025
I Feared My Own Strength (and My SATs) x Victor Hugo
One day more, one episode on fear more. Caroline Mae Woodson unpacks fear â the kind that drives us, the kind that traps us, and the kind thatâs just trying to keep us safe. From Les Mis to Severance, she dives into how fear shapes our art, our choices, and our lives.
16 Oct 2025
Dumpster Diving x Stephen King
Itâs October, so of course weâre talking fear, guilt, and scary thingsâand how could we not include Stephen King himself? In this episode, Caroline Mae Woodson dives into one of Kingâs most iconic quotes: âIf a fear cannot be articulated, it cannot be conquered.â From dumpster diving for a camperâs Invisalign (yes, really), to the unseen villains of horror films and White Lotus monologues about uncomfortable truths, this week is all about naming the weird so we can move through it.
Also covered: the value of bad first drafts, Maya Angelouâs fear-fighting poem, Pinegrove lyrics, the dual POV structure of The Girlfriend, and Carolineâs own âjanitor era.â Weâre talking about what happens when we finally say the scary thing out loudâand whatâs waiting on the other side. But... I may be wrong.
9 Oct 2025
The Cowardâs Conscience x Shakespeare
Caroline Mae Woodson dives into a dear friend of hers, William Shakespeare's, work, exploring the Hamlet quote: "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all." She kicks things off with the deepest guilt of her lifeâa childhood crime involving a Sharpie, a cheap party magazine, and a very expensive sectional couch. From that anxious spiral, Caroline connects her story to the self-sabotaging mindsets in Lorde's "Liability," the resilience of Shawshank Redemption, and the true nature of thought from I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
Caroline may might be wrong, but she argues that the only way to silence your inner critic is to stop overthinking and just start doing.
2 Oct 2025
Lassoing Fear x Louisa May Alcott
Jo? Amy? Nope, you're a Meg. This week, we start the month of October by tackling the themes of fear, guilt, and being scared with a quote from Little Women.
Then we pivot to fear-conquering tools, from the surprisingly deep wisdom of Ted Lasso to the emotional raw power of Pinegrove's "Aphasia." It's a journey from 19th-century literature to modern-day streaming.
25 Sept 2025
A Greek Beginning x T.S. Eliot
Do beginnings and endings feel completely different to you? Host Caroline Mae Woodson chats through the T.S. Eliot quote, "what we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning."
Giving you quite a few song recommendations, and even an audition song rec for lower musical theatre voices, and other pieces of media, Caroline discusses cyclical narratives (where beginnings feel like endings and vice versa).
Join us for the final episode in this month's collection of quotes focusing on the theme of beginnings. Next month, onto something a bit more spooky.
18 Sept 2025
The Art of a Goodbye x Ernest Hemingway
Centered around Ernest Hemingway's quote, "âevery true story ends in death," this episode talks about the proper way to approach endings (from ooey gooey butter cakes to the legacy of a six-toed cat).
Caroline talks about a TV show that changed her life (that you ought to watch), Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, and one of the best concerts she has ever been to. If you want to talk about how to feel you have earned the ending in your life and what that means for the way you live, this might be a good listen.
11 Sept 2025
Gatsby, Gladys, and Ghosts x F. Scott Fitzgerald
In this episode of I May Be Wrong, ButâŚ, join host Caroline Mae Woodson as she reflects on the ghosts of our pastâboth literal and literary. From the haunted halls of her college dorm to the timeless words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Caroline explores how our history ceaselessly pulls us back, shaping who we are today.
If you want to talk about the heart-wrenching film Past Lives, the dreadfully relatable Flea Bag, or the new Tyler Childers album, this episode is for you.
2 Sept 2025
Mind the Gap (and the Wall) x Mary Shelley
Other than telling the story of how she got a concussion from a cement wall, Caroline Mae Woodson talks about beginnings using the beloved quote "the beginning is always today," by Mary Shelley in this opening episode of "I Mae Be Wrong, But...".
Join her as she connects this idea to modern life and media, from the hit novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow to the classic film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and explores the profound and messy ways we all start again.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
10 ratings
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