Some Memorable Quotes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alexander Pope

This quotation comes from a poem written by Alexander Pope in 1711. It is not the only phrase from the poem which has passed into common usage. Pope also gave us 'A little learning is a dang'rous thing' and 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread' in the same poem. It is a long poem, though, so there are plenty of wise words to choose from.

Pope wrote in rhyming couplets and his other works include 'Essay on Man' and 'The Rape of the Lock'.

Answer: Harold Macmillan

Macmillan was Prime Minister of the UK from 1957 to 1963 at a time when Britain still had some colonies in Africa. Many of them declared independence in 1960 and Macmillan was addressing the South African Parliament that year when he made the comment. It went on to say 'Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact'.

It did not go down well with the audience, since South Africa was still in the apartheid era. Macmillan had already made the same speech in Ghana, but it was the Cape Town version that became famous and provided an expression still in common use.

Answer: W. Clement Stone

This quotation and its author were new to me, but the words caught my eye. W. Clement Stone was an American who lived from 1902 until 2002. He was an early creator of 'self-help' principles and wrote books with an emphasis on a positive frame of mind. The quotation certainly fits into this philosophy.

Stone was a generous man, said to have given away over 250 million dollars to charities, including the Boys Clubs of America and other Christian organisations. Apparently he said 'all I want to do is change the world'.

Answer: Juvenal

Poets can often be relied upon to come up with just the right expression and this one is attributed to a Roman author named Juvenal. He wrote in Latin, of course, so his expression was 'panem et circenses', as he deplored the fact that the people of Rome were easily distracted by the provision of free food and entertainment.

Juvenal was writing towards the end of the first and beginning of the second centuries and was pointing out how easy it was for politicians to divert attention from their actions by giving the public the bare minimum.

Answer: Nelson Mandela

If anyone had the right to feel resentment, Mandela would qualify. Having spent nearly thirty years in prison, he found himself having to work alongside many of those who sent him there. Mandela himself admitted that he was an angry man in his youth when fighting against the injustices of apartheid in South Africa.

What made him stand out for many of us was his ability to understand his fellow men and his refusal to allow bitterness to cloud his judgement. The quote used is typical of his approach even if, as some sources say, it wasn't original. Other quotes from Mandela are 'People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart' and 'If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner'.

Answer: C. Northcote Parkinson

Cyril Northcote Parkinson was born in County Durham, in north west England, and was primarily a naval historian. He included the phrase quoted in an article written in 1955 and published in 'The Economist', a weekly publication devoted to news and current affairs.

The words were the opening line of the essay, and Parkinson expanded upon it in a book which he called 'Parkinson's Law'. The book was aimed at the amount of bureaucracy needed to get a simple task completed, and often badly. It appears not much has changed.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Churchill was well known for his rhetoric, although my research found several quotations attributed to him for which there is no evidence. This one is genuine, though, and was Churchill's response to the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact agreed between Germany and the Soviet Union just before World War II broke out. It is sometimes known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Churchill was not Prime Minister at the time - that didn't happen until May 1940 - and his gift for words did much to keep morale high. As for the pact, it didn't last but it did buy the Soviets time to rearm and be in a better position to defend themselves when Hitler turned on them.

Answer: Hippocrates

There are variations in the English translation, but the expression is generally attributed to Hippocrates, the 'father of medicine'. Seneca also used the phrase, but reversed it, in Latin, to 'Ars longa; vita brevis', but the meaning is the same, and most sources say that Seneca borrowed the phrase from Hippocrates.

The usual meaning given to the words is that man's time alive is short but the art created by humans lasts much longer. Since we still admire works created hundreds, even thousands, of years ago the saying remains apt.

Answer: W B Yeats

Trust a poet to come up with beautiful words. These are the closing lines of a short poem written by Yeats in 1899 and often called 'He wishes for the cloths of Heaven'. The words of the poem are addressed to his love by a poor young man, who ends by saying he can only lay his dreams at her feet, and begging her to be gentle.

Yeats has been a good source for writers, songwriters, and film makers. Among his contributions are 'No country for old men' from 'Sailing to Byzantium' while a 'Terrible beauty is born' originates in 'Easter, 1916'.

Answer: Laurence Peter

Laurence Peter brought up this concept in his book called 'The Peter Principle', published in 1968. The idea behind the saying is that employees who are more than capable of carrying out tasks lower down the chain of command in a business can find themselves out of their depth when they are promoted to a higher position for which they are not necessarily qualified. Peter also suggested an amendment to the saying that 'cream always rises to the top' by adding 'until it sours'.

Peter was not being as cynical as it may sound. He was pointing out that businesses need to properly assess a person's suitability for a higher role. Poor managers, promoted because they are next in line, will demoralise those under them.