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Quotes Quiz

Quotes Quiz

Free Famous Quotes quiz: 75 trivia questions and answers — who said what?. Easy to hard, with explained answers. No sign-up.

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🖨️ Printable version (19 questions + answers)

From Gandhi to Wittgenstein, by way of George Bernard Shaw, this quiz explores famous quotes, their authors and sometimes the myths around them. A fun way to test your general knowledge.

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This quiz currently has 75 questions, ranging from easy to hard, available in French, English and Spanish when the Spanish translation is available.

Famous Quotes quiz: trivia questions and answers

Warm up before the quiz with these 15 trivia questions and their explained answers: click a question to reveal the answer.

Easy questions

Who wrote: 'To be, or not to be, that is the question.'?

Answer: William Shakespeare. This is the opening of Hamlet's famous soliloquy (Act III, Scene 1), written around 1600. It is arguably the most quoted line in all of world literature.

'A warned man is worth two.' And how much is an unwarned man worth?

Answer: One — French proverb. This 16th-century French proverb simply means that being warned of a danger allows you to better prepare for it. An unwarned man is therefore still worth one, just with a blindfold on. The 'zero' answer was tempting but mathematically cruel.

'Imagination is more important than knowledge.' Who dared say this, despite knowing a thing or two himself?

Answer: Albert Einstein. Einstein again! It must be said that for someone who revolutionized physics by imagining thought experiments from his desk, with no lab or instruments, the line had a certain legitimacy. Nobel laureate and poet of the abstract.

Hard questions

Who said: 'Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.'?

Answer: Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein wrote this line in a letter to his son Eduard in 1930. A simple, vivid image typical of how he made profound truths accessible.

Who said: 'Hell is other people.'?

Answer: Jean-Paul Sartre. This famous line is from Sartre's play 'No Exit' (1944). It is often misunderstood: Sartre wasn't saying other people are bad, but that it is their gaze that traps us.

'The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.' Who said this?

Answer: Albert Einstein. This Einstein quote goes far beyond physics. It illustrates his ethical thinking and his stand against indifference, shaped by what he experienced as a German Jew under Nazism.

'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.' Who said this?

Answer: Marcel Proust. This beautiful line is taken from 'In Search of Lost Time', Marcel Proust's sprawling masterwork. It sums up his vision of literature as a tool for transforming how we see.

'He who opens a school door closes a prison.' Who said this?

Answer: Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo spoke this line during a speech on education. It remains one of the most displayed quotes in French schools, so much so that many attribute it to Jules Ferry.

'Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.' Who said this?

Answer: Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb and holder of over 1,000 patents, liked to emphasize hard work over innate talent. A lesson in productive humility.

'The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the realist adjusts the sails.' Who said this?

Answer: William Arthur Ward. American author and writer William Arthur Ward is behind this sharp analysis of human psychology in the face of adversity.

'If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood... teach them to long for the endless sea.' Who wrote this?

Answer: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The author of 'The Little Prince', ever the visionary, reminds us here that passion must come before technique. It's the basis of all modern management (and of any good cruise).

'Truth is often the prettiest of stories.' Who said this?

Answer: Jean Cocteau. Poet, filmmaker, and jack-of-all-trades, Cocteau loved playing with appearances. He reminds us here that reality is sometimes far more surprising than fiction.

'It is forbidden to forbid.' Which slogan appeared on the walls of Paris in May 1968?

Answer: Jean-Paul Sartre. Although the movement was collective, Sartre was one of the most influential intellectuals to support these provocative slogans that marked a generation.

'Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.' Who said this?

Answer: Robert Louis Stevenson. An invitation to patience: immediate results aren't the only measure of success. Gardeners and creators alike know that time is an essential ingredient.

'Happiness is often the only thing one can give without having it, and it is by giving it that one gains it.' Who is the author?

Answer: George Sand. George Sand, that free woman and prolific writer, had a very altruistic view of happiness. A fine lesson for our sometimes overly self-centered egos.

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