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Quiz about The TAO of Mark Twain
Quiz about The TAO of Mark Twain

The TAO of Mark Twain Trivia Quiz


Those familiar with Samuel Clemens should have no problem linking the topics and the opinions (TAO) of Mark Twain.

A multiple-choice quiz by uglybird. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
uglybird
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
186,845
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
1229
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Upstart3 (8/10), patrickk (10/10), bradez (6/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. On the Topic of truth "Mark Twain's Notebook" had this to say, "Familiarity breeds contempt. How accurate that is. The reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it." In his autobiography, what sardonic opinion did Twain express regarding the telling of untruths? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Mark Twain often functioned as a critic and could be both scathing and graphic. About a little known author he had this to say: "There is humor in Dod Grile, but for every laugh that is in his book there are five blushes, ten shudders and a vomit. The laugh is too expensive." About which well-known author did Twain express a desire "to dig (the author) up and beat (the author) over the skull with (the author's) own shin-bone"? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Mark Twain generally expressed opinions in a frank, direct, humorous fashion. With that in mind, which of the following opinions regarding education is NOT Twain's? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Writing on the topic of manners in an essay entitled "On the Decay of the Art of Lying Speech", the usually plainspoken Twain demonstrates his ability to assume a loftier tone without losing his "bite". What he has to say on the subject of manners should still allow you to distinguish Twain's quotation from those of Lord Chesterfield, Jonathan Swift and Emily Post. Which of the follow quotes is attributable to Mark Twain? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Have you noticed that when an author compares "man" to "animal(s)" that man usually comes out the loser? See if you can pick out which of the following man-animal comparisons Mark Twain penned. (Hint: Which one places man in the most unfavorable light?) Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. As a critic and satirist, Mark Twain could appreciate human folly. Which of the following did Twain describe as "not merely food for laughter, but an entire banquet?" Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. In "Pudd'nhead Wilson", Twain observed, "Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits." Which of the following did Mark Twain indicate was a reason to reform, or at least to pause and reflect? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Mark Twain lived during the era in which scientists became more trusted than clergymen. The unflattering quotations below are from Dave Barry, Madame Curie, Terry Pratchett and Mark Twain. Which one is Mark Twain's? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Mark Twain paid women occasional compliments. "What, Sir, would the people of the earth be without woman? They would be scarce, sir, almighty scarce," he conceded. Twain also wrote, "There is nothing comparable to the _________ of a woman. What womanly virtue was Twain recognizing in the preceding quote? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Mark Twain more willingly paid compliments to cats than to women. He even felt it was possible to train cats. In his notebook Twain wrote, "A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught _______. Which of the following did Twain believe cats could be taught? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 15 2024 : Upstart3: 8/10
Mar 13 2024 : patrickk: 10/10
Mar 07 2024 : bradez: 6/10
Feb 20 2024 : Guest 107: 8/10
Feb 07 2024 : Guest 107: 4/10
Feb 05 2024 : Quiz_Beagle: 6/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. On the Topic of truth "Mark Twain's Notebook" had this to say, "Familiarity breeds contempt. How accurate that is. The reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it." In his autobiography, what sardonic opinion did Twain express regarding the telling of untruths?

Answer: Carlyle said "a lie cannot live." It shows that he did not know how to tell them.

The "terminological inexactitude" quote that Alexander Haig uttered may represent the "dead on arrival" sort of lie about which Carlyle spoke. I doubt that Sam Clemens would ever have written an affected metaphor such as Aleister Crowley's "child of fear".

It seemed to me that Twain could plausibly have written the Steven Soderbergh's "alcoholism" quote; therefore it served as my distracter for this question.
2. Mark Twain often functioned as a critic and could be both scathing and graphic. About a little known author he had this to say: "There is humor in Dod Grile, but for every laugh that is in his book there are five blushes, ten shudders and a vomit. The laugh is too expensive." About which well-known author did Twain express a desire "to dig (the author) up and beat (the author) over the skull with (the author's) own shin-bone"?

Answer: Jane Austen

Jane Austen's carefully crafted and elegantly phrased accounts of England's privileged class would seem to be the antithesis of Twain's rough and tumble novels. The creator of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer no doubt loathed Austen's Elisabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. Twain avowed, "Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone." Twain also opined, "Jane is entirely impossible.

It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death."
3. Mark Twain generally expressed opinions in a frank, direct, humorous fashion. With that in mind, which of the following opinions regarding education is NOT Twain's?

Answer: The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.

Mark Twain left school at the age of 12. Although it is tempting to assume that Twain was hostile toward formal education, in 1917 one of Twain's opinions was posthumously published. He wrote, "The self taught man seldom knows anything accurately, and he does not know a tenth as much as he could have known if he had worked under teachers, and besides, he brags, and is the means of fooling other thoughtless people into going and doing as he himself has done."
4. Writing on the topic of manners in an essay entitled "On the Decay of the Art of Lying Speech", the usually plainspoken Twain demonstrates his ability to assume a loftier tone without losing his "bite". What he has to say on the subject of manners should still allow you to distinguish Twain's quotation from those of Lord Chesterfield, Jonathan Swift and Emily Post. Which of the follow quotes is attributable to Mark Twain?

Answer: The highest perfection of politeness is only a beautiful edifice, built, from the base to the dome, of graceful and gilded forms of charitable and unselfish lying.

In his notebook Mark Twain tells us, "Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person." In 1923, in "Marienbad--A Health Factory", Twain suggests a method for dealing with unmannerly behavior in others. Twain writes, "It is a mistake that there is no bath that will cure people's manners. But drowning would help."
5. Have you noticed that when an author compares "man" to "animal(s)" that man usually comes out the loser? See if you can pick out which of the following man-animal comparisons Mark Twain penned. (Hint: Which one places man in the most unfavorable light?)

Answer: [Man] is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight.

In evaluating any author, particularly Mark Twain, I think one does well to distinguish between an author's view of religious theology and the author's attitude toward the religious beliefs of ordinary people. The latter may be wholly respected at the same time that the former is abhorred. Mark Twain wrote, "The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. I would not interfere with any one's religion, either to strengthen it or to weaken it. I am not able to believe one's religion can affect his hereafter one way or the other, no matter what that religion may be. But it may easily be a great comfort to him in this life--hence it is a valuable possession to him."

Note: the incorrect use of "which" with an absence of a comma in the animal/medicine quote has been duly noted but was present in the original.
6. As a critic and satirist, Mark Twain could appreciate human folly. Which of the following did Twain describe as "not merely food for laughter, but an entire banquet?"

Answer: The political and commercial morals of the United States

Mark Twain touched on the topic of refinement in "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" where he wrote, "She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot." Regarding the press, Twain quipped, "There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press." He expressed the following view of people who indulge in practical jokes as adults: "They have lived narrow, obscure, and ignorant lives, and at full manhood they still retain and cherish a job-lot of left-over standards and ideals that would have been discarded with their boyhood if they had then moved out into the world and a broader life."
7. In "Pudd'nhead Wilson", Twain observed, "Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits." Which of the following did Mark Twain indicate was a reason to reform, or at least to pause and reflect?

Answer: When you find yourself on the side of the majority

In saying, "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect)," Mark Twain expressed his distrust of conformity rather than his views on reform. Twain better delineated his views on reform as it applies to the individual in his autobiography where he wrote "In my early manhood and in middle life I used to vex myself with reforms every now and then. And I never had occasion to regret these divergencies for, whether the resulting deprivations were long or short, the rewarding pleasure which I got out of the vice when I returned to it always paid me for all that it cost."
8. Mark Twain lived during the era in which scientists became more trusted than clergymen. The unflattering quotations below are from Dave Barry, Madame Curie, Terry Pratchett and Mark Twain. Which one is Mark Twain's?

Answer: Scientists have odious manners, except when you prop up their theory; then you can borrow money of them.

Marie Curie made the comment about sadistic scientists; Dave Barry enlightened us regarding mammary function; and Terry Pratchett reminded us of a type of gullibility not unique to scientists.
9. Mark Twain paid women occasional compliments. "What, Sir, would the people of the earth be without woman? They would be scarce, sir, almighty scarce," he conceded. Twain also wrote, "There is nothing comparable to the _________ of a woman. What womanly virtue was Twain recognizing in the preceding quote?

Answer: Endurance

Mark Twain expressed his view on feminine consistency in the "Gilded Age" saying, "The reason novelists nearly always fail in depicting women when they make them act, is that they let them do what they have observed some woman has done at some time or another. And that is where they make a mistake; for a woman will never do again what has been done before." With respect to agree ability Twain remarked, "Women cannot receive even the most palpably judicious suggestion without arguing it; that is, married women."
10. Mark Twain more willingly paid compliments to cats than to women. He even felt it was possible to train cats. In his notebook Twain wrote, "A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught _______. Which of the following did Twain believe cats could be taught?

Answer: Any crime

Barbara Holland has said, "A catless writer is almost inconceivable." Doubtless, Mark Twain would agree. He admitted to finding felines irresistible. "I simply can't resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course." The sometimes misanthropic author also maintained, "If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat."
Source: Author uglybird

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor fringe before going online.
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