Don't Speak Too Soon Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ken Olsen, 1977

Ken Olsen was an American engineer who co-founded the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957. DEC became a major player in the computer industry over the next three decades particularly in the minicomputer sphere.

The quote was made at the dawn of the small home computers industry, and, while Olsen admitted to making the comment, he stated that it was taken out of context - that he was referring to the large mainframe computers that DEC was working on at the time.

The computer industry was responsible for many predictions and decisions that were later proved wrong:

In 1943 Thomas J. Watson, Chairman of the Board of IBM, stated, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

Both Atari and Hewlett-Packard rejected Steve Jobs ideas and job application prior to him founding the Apple Computer Inc with fellow partners Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, is attributed with the quotes: "640K ought to be enough for anybody" and "We will never make a 32 bit operating system." He denies making either claim or says they were taken out of context but does admits to stating "Two years from now, spam will be solved" at a 2004 convention.

Answer: Sir William Preece, 1878

The invention of the modern electric telephone remains in dispute to this day. Alexander Graham Bell, however, was the first to patent it in 1876, describing it as an "apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically".

Sir Willaim Preece was an electrical engineer and inventor himself. At the time he made the above quote he was the Chief Engineer for the British General Post Office. Ironically, he went on to develop a telephone system himself in 1892, and implemented it throughout England.

A Western Union internal memo in 1876 from Briony J. Oates also stated, "This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us".

Then jumping to over a century later to 2007 and Steve Bellmer, CEO of Microsoft, stated, "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share."

Answer: Jim Keyes, 2008

Jim Keyes was the CEO of Blockbuster Video, the then premier video rental company founded in 1985 by David Cook. Netflix founders, Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, had offered to sell Netflix to Blockbuster in 2000 for $50 million. Their offer was laughingly declined. Two years after the mentioned quote Netflix was valued at over $13 billion and Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy.

In 2010 Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner, also dismissed Netflix stating, "It's a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world? I don't think so." In December 2025 Netflix announced its takeover of Warner Bros Discovery.

Future predictions in the entertainment industry have often shown lack of foresight. In 1916 Chalie Chaplin made the comment, "The cinema is little more than a fad. It's canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage." "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?", was stated by Harry M. Warner of Warner Bros Studios in 1927.

Nearly 20 years later the focus shifted to television where Darryl Zanuck of the 20th Century Fox movie studio stated, "It won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."

Answer: Irving Fisher, 1929

Irving Fisher was a renowned American economist and statistician. He made many important contributions in these fields and developed many of his own. Unfortunately his stellar reputation was tainted during his lifetime because of the above quote.

At the time he was a Professor of Economics at Yale University and the statement was made to The New York Times on the 16th of October - 13 days before the stock market crash on Black Tuesday and the beginning of the Great Depression.

Rediscovery of his mathematical models in the 1970s, particularly those on debt deflation, has since reinstated his academic reputation.

Answer: Ferdinand Foch,1911

Ferdinand Foch was a French general and Marshall of France during WWI. Throughout 1914-1916 he commandeered troops at Artois, Marne, and Flanders. When the German Spring offensive began in March 1918, he became the Supreme Allied Commander of the French, British, and American troops. He accepted the German surrender in November, and was present at the signing of the Armistice on the 11th of the month.

Foch went on to backtrack on his own statement with a quote in the aircraft Year Book of 1923 where he stated: "The military mind always imagines that the next war will be on the same lines as the last. That has never been the case and never will be. One of the great factors on the next war will be aircraft obviously."

Answer: Dick Rowe, 1962

Dick Rowe was an executor at Decca Records in 1962 who agreed to listen to a recording of The Beatles and made the above statement to their manager Brian Epstein. It is often referred to as the biggest mistake in the history of music. There are a few different versions of the quote and some doubt as to its veracity but it was substantiated by Epstein himself in his 1964 book, "A Cellarful of Noise".

Other times big agencies got things very wrong include J.K. Rowling's response from a publishing house, "Children just aren't interested in witches and wizards anymore". Rudyard Kipling also had his literary talent rebuffed by the San Francisco Examiner who stated, "I'm sorry, Mr Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language." Marilyn Monroe was advised by the Book Modelling Agency to "get secretarial work or get married."

Answer: Albert Einstein, 1932

English chemist and physicist John Dalton is credited with developing modern atomic theory in the early nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century other scientists had discovered that these atoms contained a charged nucleus and that they turned into different elements as they broke down. At this time they understood the enormous potential energy, but did not know how to access it.

For the next 30 years scientist around the world continued to make discoveries. The actual development by many of them in different spheres makes it hard to pinpoint exactly who to credit with the final product.

Ernest Rutherford created the first nuclear reaction in 1919; James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932 just prior to John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton splitting the atom. Then in 1938 Otto Hahn & Lise Meitner discovered nuclear fission by splitting uranium and opening the field of nuclear energy and weapons.

Einstein made the above quote in an article with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but was far from the only skeptic. Rutherford himself did not see the potential for his own discovery. Speaking at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1933, he stated, "The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine."

Nobel prize winner American physicist Robert Millikan is known to have quoted, "There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom. The glib supposition of utilising atomic energy when our coal has run out is a completely unscientific Utopian dream, a childish bug-a-boo."

Answer: Margaret Thatcher, 1974

Margaret Hilda Thatcher was an English barrister who became a Conservative Party MP in 1959. This quote was made to a journalist on the 26th of October 1969. Ten years later she proved her own prediction wrong.

Edward Heath appointed her as the Secretary of State for Science and Education in his 1970 government. Five years later she defeated him in a leadership election - another first for a female - and became the leader for the opposition. She then became the Prime Minister after winning the general election in 1974 - a post she would hold until 1990, making her the longest serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century.

She became known as the Iron Lady for her uncompromising stance on many issues. Britain was on the eve of a recession and her economic policies were often unpopular, as was her policy of decreasing the power of the trade unions, but with a recovering economy and a win in the Falklands War she won the 1983 election in a landslide victory.

Answer: Frank Knox, 1941

William Franklin Knox was an American politician and newspaper editor/publisher. He served as a Rough Rider in the Spanish-American War and as an artillery officer in France during WWI reaching the rank of colonel.

Roosevelt appointed him Secretary of the Navy in July 1940. Knox was an avid supporter of aid to the Allies fighting WWII. He was a staunch believer in preparedness and presided over a massive naval fleet. He remained in his position until his death in 1944.

The mentioned quote was made on the 4th of December 1941, three days prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. The Hawaiian Tourist Bureau also made a bad judgement call with regards to the attack with an advertisement in the National Geographic in October 1941 stating it was "a world of happiness in an ocean of peace".

Answer: Edward Smith, 1909

Although this quote made by Captain Edward Smith is attributed to the Titanic and her tragic maiden voyage on April 15, 1912, it was actually made 5 years earlier when he captained the "RMS Adriatic", another White Star Ship, into New York on May 16, 1907.

The full quote, given to a journalist that evening is, "... in all my experience, I have never been in any accident...or any sort worth speaking about. I will go a bit further...I will say that I cannot imagine any condition which could cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."

Four years later he brought the Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic, safely back to harbour after she collided with a British warship and sustained severe damage which only strengthened his conviction of modern shipbuilding.

The more common quote referring to her as being 'unsinkable' was made by Philip Franklin who was in charge of the White Star Line office and terminal in New York; it was made after she had already hit the iceberg. Speaking to reporters and family and friends of those on board he stated, "There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable and nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers."