Don't Quote That - Quote This Instead! Quiz

Answer: "For the love of money is the root of all evil."

1 Timothy 6:10 of the King James Bible states that "For the love of money is the root of all evil." The simplified quote "Money is the root of all evil" has become a well known saying.

Although the true authorship of the first Book of Timothy is unknown, it is typically credited to Paul the Apostle, one of the most important and influential followers of Jesus. To the writer of 1 Timothy, the love of money is a sin, and he is warning against it as nothing good will come from it.

Answer: "The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place."

In an interview with a journalist from the New York Journal-American on July 6th, 1946, Leo Durocher answered a question by saying "The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place." This was in reference to the New York Giants baseball team, the team that were bitter rivals of Durocher's team, the Brooklyn Dodgers.

At the time of the interview, the Giants were sitting in seventh position on the MLB National League points ladder - seventh place being second from last on the ladder. Over time, the quote became altered to "Nice guys finish last," and has since entered everyday usage in the altered, and incorrect, form.

Answer: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily."

Yes, that's right: Shakespeare didn't say "Gild the lily." In Act Four, Scene 2 of the play "King John," Lord Salisbury, while talking to King John, says "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily," in reference to King John's insatiable desires.

Gilding is the process of applying a thin layer of gold leaf or gold paint onto something as a means of making it look more beautiful. The lily is a flower that is widely considered to one of the most beautiful of all flowers, therefore there is no need to do anything to it to increase its beauty.

Answer: "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it."

Oscar Wilde was famous for his wit, and his quotes often rank highly on lists of famous quotes. His quote about life, though, was actually "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it." The quote comes from his 1892 play "Lady Windermere's Fan," and is an example of an epigram, which is a brief statement that expresses an idea in a clever and amusing way. Wilde was well known for using epigrams in his work.

Answer: "It's the only thing."

Yes, that's right: the accurate quote "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" isn't meant to be said in consolation at all. Leaving out the last 4 words of the quote completely changes its meaning.

The quote originated during a physical exercise workshop that legendary college football coach Henry Russell ('Red') Sanders was teaching at the California Polytechnic State University in 1950. When he said the quote, Sanders left a long pause after saying "Winning isn't everything," before adding "It's the only thing," to emphasize how much importance should be placed on winning. That pause could have contributed to the shortened, and incorrect, quote entering mainstream use.

Answer: "OK, Houston, we've had a problem here."

Jack Swigert was the Command Module Pilot (CMP) of Apollo 13, and uttered the phrase "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here" during a radio message to NASA's Houston Mission Control Center upon discovering that an oxygen tank located in the Service Module had exploded during a routine stirring of the oxygen inside. The tank explosion crippled the Service Module, forcing Apollo 13's crew to survive inside the Lunar Module whilst working with NASA's ground engineers to find a solution to bring Apollo 13 back home safely. The successful recovery of Apollo 13's Command Module, with all three crewman alive and safe, has become one of humankind's greatest stories of success against the odds.

The misquote "Houston, we have a problem" comes from an alteration made to the original quote by the scriptwriters of the movie. When Swigert first contacted Houston informing them of the explosion, Houston Ground Control asked the crew to repeat the transmission, and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell responded by saying, "Uh, Houston, we've had a problem." The scriptwriters shortened it to the well known, but inaccurate, "Houston, we have a problem."

Answer: Learning

The real quote is "A little learning is a dangerous thing." In 1709, Pope wrote a poem titled "An Essay on Criticism," in which he included the aforementioned quote as the opening line of Part II of the poem. The quote is a comment on how a little bit of knowledge on a particular subject can fool people into believing they're more knowledgeable about that subject than they actually are, which could lead to them making themselves look silly when talking about something they really don't know much about.

Answer: "His verbal contract is worth more than the paper it's written on."

Samuel Goldwyn, one of the biggest film producers during the "Golden Era" of Hollywood (1913 - 1969), was well known for making humorous accidental errors when speaking, including malapropisms and paradoxes. The quote "His verbal contract is worth more than the paper it's written on" is one such example. The humour of the quote comes from the fact that a verbal contract wouldn't be written on a piece of paper!

The quote in question was said by Goldwyn in reference to a friend of his, regarding said friend's trustworthy nature. Goldwyn was saying that his friend should be less trusting.

Answer: "I have nothing to offer but blood and toil, tears and sweat."

Winston Churchill is possibly the most quoted politician in history. He was a highly gifted orator, and had a penchant for making rousing speeches. The fact that he rarely, if ever, used speechwriters puts him in a small minority; whilst most politicians have some mastery of the art of delivering speeches, they tend to employ speechwriters to actually write their speeches.

Churchill's "Blood, sweat, and tears" quote comes from a speech he made to the British Parliament's House of Commons on May 13, 1940, in the first speech he made to the House after becoming Prime Minister on May 10. The speech was made in reference to the simultaneous German invasions of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg the same day Churchill became PM. Its content describes how Churchill was willing to give all he had to lead Britain to victory no matter how long and hard the fight was.

The misquoting is a combination of simplification of the original quote, and the remaining aspects (Blood, sweat,and tears) being put into alphabetical order.

Answer: "One must consider the final result."

Indeed, the correct quote is "One must consider the final result." Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a hugely influential person in his lifetime. He is widely considered to be the father of modern political science, and the word Machiavellian, derived from his surname, has become a byword for political deceit and deviousness.

Machiavelli was a notable proponent of Consequentialism, an ethical theory which holds that the consequences of one's conduct and actions should serve as the ultimate basis for any judgement of that individual's decisions, rather than the actions themselves. The quote "One must consider the final result" stems from Machiavelli's belief in Consequentialism, and it is his way of saying that it's unfair to jump to conclusions without knowing the full effects of what someone has done.