"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy" - Martin Luther King Jr. This is suddenly a familiar quote after the death of Osama Bin Laden. Only King never said it. Test yourself on made-up and misattributed quotations.
"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy" - Martin Luther King Jr. This is suddenly a familiar quote after the death of Osama Bin Laden. Only King never said it. Test yourself on made-up and misattributed quotations.
1.) Multiple Choice Question
1.) Multiple Choice Question
That Martin Luther King Jr quote-that-isn't has gone viral. But which one of his famous phrases is a quotation itself?
That Martin Luther King Jr quote-that-isn't has gone viral. But which one of his famous phrases is a quotation itself?
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
Free at last, free at last...
Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
Free at last, free at last...
Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant
2.) Multiple Choice Question
2.) Multiple Choice Question
"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution" - anarchist Emma Goldman. Did she actually say or write this?
"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution" - anarchist Emma Goldman. Did she actually say or write this?
Yes
No
It's a paraphrase of her writings on various topics
Yes
No
It's a paraphrase of her writings on various topics
3.) Multiple Choice Question
3.) Multiple Choice Question
"Crisis? What crisis?" Three words that helped bring down the Labour government in 1979. But Jim Callaghan never said this. The phrase's first usage?
"Crisis? What crisis?" Three words that helped bring down the Labour government in 1979. But Jim Callaghan never said this. The phrase's first usage?
Headline in The Sun newspaper
Supertramp album title
Quote from The Day of the Jackal
Headline in The Sun newspaper
Supertramp album title
Quote from The Day of the Jackal
4.) Multiple Choice Question
4.) Multiple Choice Question
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervour, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword." Who said this?
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervour, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword." Who said this?
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare, in his play Julius Caesar
Neither
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare, in his play Julius Caesar
Neither
5.) Multiple Choice Question
5.) Multiple Choice Question
"I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt." So said George W Bush.
"I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt." So said George W Bush.
True
False
True
False
6.) Multiple Choice Question
6.) Multiple Choice Question
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire?A famous and oft-quoted saying, but is it one of his?
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire?A famous and oft-quoted saying, but is it one of his?
Yes
No
Yes
No
7.) Multiple Choice Question
7.) Multiple Choice Question
"Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it." An unusual commencement speech at MIT in 1997, famously - and falsely - attributed to whom?
"Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it." An unusual commencement speech at MIT in 1997, famously - and falsely - attributed to whom?
Talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey
Sci-fi writer Kurt Vonnegut
UN's Kofi Annan
Film director Baz Luhrmann
Talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey
Sci-fi writer Kurt Vonnegut
UN's Kofi Annan
Film director Baz Luhrmann
Answers
Answers
It's "Free at last, free at last/Thank God almighty, we are free at last" - a quotation from an old Negro spiritual. In his 1992 book on made-up quotations, author Ralph Keyes noted that "famous dead people make excellent commentators on current events".
It's a paraphrase. In her memoirs, Goldman recounts being admonished "that it did not behoove an agitator to dance". She also wrote: "I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy." But that doesn't fit on a T-shirt, hence the paraphrase.
It's a line from 1973's The Day of the Jackal. In 1975, Supertramp used it for their album title. It became attached to Callaghan during the Winter of Discontent after he told reporters: "I don't think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos." The Sun headlined its article: "Crisis? What crisis?"
It's neither, but it has been widely attributed to Caesar - odd, as there are no records of this quote prior to 2001.
It's true. Newsweek reported the then US president's words as he spoke to four senators in the Oval Office just days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001.
It's not Voltaire, but coined by one of his followers, Beatrice Hall, to describe his attitudes in The Friends of Voltaire (1906). She claimed she'd been paraphrasing his words in his Essay on Tolerance: "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too."
It was claimed to be Vonnegut's speech to MIT students. Only it wasn't. Kofi Annan was the speaker that year, and he did not talk about sunscreen. It was actually a column by the Chicago Tribune's Mary Schmich. In 1998, Baz Luhrmann turned her text into a hit single, Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen).
It's "Free at last, free at last/Thank God almighty, we are free at last" - a quotation from an old Negro spiritual. The fake MLK quote about not mourning the death of one enemy started out as the Facebook status update of a 24-year-old English teacher in Japan, to which she added her favourite King quote on non-violence. Presumably thanks to repeated cut-and-pastings, the two were inadvertently combined - and went viral.
It's a paraphrase. In her memoirs, Goldman recounts being admonished "that it did not behoove an agitator to dance". She also wrote: "I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy." But that doesn't fit on a T-shirt, hence the paraphrase.
It's a line from 1973's The Day of the Jackal. In 1975, Supertramp used it for their album title. It became attached to Callaghan during the Winter of Discontent after he told reporters: "I don't think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos." The Sun headlined its article: "Crisis? What crisis?"
It's neither, but it has been widely attributed to Caesar - odd, as there are no records of this quote prior to 2001.In his 1992 book on made-up quotations, author Ralph Keyes noted that "famous dead people make excellent commentators on current events".
It's true. Newsweek reported the then US president's words as he spoke to four senators in the Oval Office just days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001.
It's not Voltaire, but coined by one of his followers, Beatrice Hall, to describe his attitudes in The Friends of Voltaire (1906). She claimed she'd been paraphrasing his words in his Essay on Tolerance: "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too."
It was claimed to be Vonnegut's speech to MIT students. Only it wasn't. Kofi Annan was the speaker that year, and he did not talk about sunscreen. It was actually a column by the Chicago Tribune's Mary Schmich. In 1998, Baz Luhrmann turned her text into a hit single, Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen).
For past quizzes including our weekly news quiz, 7 days 7 questions, expand the grey drop-down below - also available on the Magazine page (and scroll down).
For past quizzes including our weekly news quiz, 7 days 7 questions, expand the grey drop-down below - also available on the Magazine page (and scroll down).
