Words for the Wise Trivia Quiz

Answer: The pen is mightier

"The pen is mightier" is the answer. "The pen is mightier than the sword" means the written word has more power than brute force or rank. Many a writing radically changed attitudes where threat or violence failed. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and Anne Frank's diary, for instance. The idiom suggests that a pen levels the playing field, giving a person of less rank or power a weapon of great influence.
"Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword". "Richelieu" (1839) Act II
"I'll make thee famous by my pen, And glorious by my sword".
Sir Walter Scott "The Legend of Montrose" 1819

Answer: A bird in hand

"A bird in hand" is the answer. This saying goes back some centuries, appearing often in slightly varied form. It tells us to value the obtained more than the desired or imagined. Perhaps there are more birds (girls, jobs, treasures) just over that hill, but you have hold of a real one already.

"Better one bird in hand than ten in the wood". -John Heywood 1546
"One bird in the hand is worth two in the wood". -Thomas Lodge "Rosalynde" 1590
"A bird in hand is worth two in the bush". -Cervantes, "Don Quixote" 1605

Answer: Mind over matter

"Mind over matter" is the word to the wise here. This expression reminds us that our minds are powerful, and can be utilized to overcome any obstacle.

Virgil in the "Aeneid" (19 BC) said, "Mens agitat molem" (mind moves matter). We can use the mind to calm emotions, turn from cravings or design a spaceship. As space marine Relic from "Warhammer 4000: Dawn of War" often said, "Get hold of yourself!".

Answer: Home is where the heart is

"Home is where the heart is". Everyone knows the longing to be home, whether that is your country, city, dwelling, family or the one that you love. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, your "heart" is at home.
A similar expression "Home sweet home" was written by American John Howard Payne (1822) for a song first heard in a London opera. It touched the hearts of soldiers at war who found it a great relief, sweet indeed, to make it back home. Home is safe, comforting, and ours. It's where the heart is.

Answer: To take it lying down

"To take it lying down" is an expression meaning when life knocks you flat, your best course is to endure without retaliation. It may be an insult, injustice or a setback one decides to "take". Jesus, Ghandi and Martin Luther King are famous greats who advised it, meaning in no way are you to be a doormat, but use other strengths and strategies; choose your battles wisely, hold to your composure and your values. We find this echoed in many religions. The Bible: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves..." Romans 12:19. From the Koran, "Repel evil with peace", Chapter 41, verse 34. From Buddhism, "Happily live the peaceful..." Dhammapada 201. The idea is you maintain your own goodness and serenity, achieve your greater ends, without "stooping to their level" or harming another just because they've acted the fool.

Interesting perhaps is that the opposite idiom--"Don't take it lying down" but stand up and fight, became a common expression in the early 1800s.

Answer: never looked back

We say, "Never looked back!" when speaking of a choice or action about which we have no regrets, typically but not always because it worked out well. "I left that city and never looked back". The idiom can also refer to cutting something or someone out of our lives in a sudden and complete way; no "looking back" with nostalgia or indecision.

Answer: Look before you leap

"Look before you leap" is the answer. This idiom reminds us that taking action without considering outcome may land us in a heap of trouble. It might be literal trouble, such as leaping a fence only to see from midair there's a danger on the other side. We might give money to someone we didn't investigate, or marry someone we know little about. All kinds of life choices turn out better if we look forward first, such looking for cars before you cross the street! The quotation below advises both "you sow what you reap" and look carefully before you leap forward. Butler writes it beautifully:
As the ancients
Say wisely, have a care o' th' main chance,
And look before you ere you leap;
For as you sow, ye are like to reap. -Samuel Butler (1663) "Hudibras" pt. II

Answer: One thing after another

We say "one thing after another" when we feel unfairly flooded by cascading problems. There are lots of idioms about problems piling on, such as "Bad luck comes in threes" and "Trouble never comes alone".

Answer: Not on your life

"Not on your life!" This expression means no way, that isn't going to happen. It's an emphasized or forceful way of saying no. The origin is the 1800s when one would swear "on my life" to fulfill an oath or obligation. If you thereafter didn't, your very life could be demanded. So a person is saying, "Not even if you pledge your life, the answer is still no". "Not on your Nelly!" "Over my dead body", and the affirmative, "You bet your life!" are related sayings.

Answer: Put on a long face

"Put on a long face". This is an everyday expression often heard in movies, cartoons and sitcoms, when one character notices sadness, dejection or general misery on the face of another. Often the saying suggests purposeful manipulation as in pouting or sulking.

Then we may accuse someone of "putting on" or "pulling" a long face. One may also "wear" a long face. The phrase originated about 1780.