Witty, Humorous Comments Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bob Dole

Senator Dole's reputation prior to his unsuccessful presidential run in 1996 was largely the image he acquired in his 1976 vice presidential campaign, that of an attacker, somewhat ruthless and vicious. However, he made several appearances on late-night television after his defeat, demonstrating a gentler, more humorous side of Bob Dole.

He since has published multiple books demonstrating the use of humor by himself and American presidents in their public lives.

Answer: How can they tell?

Parker's witty remarks continue to be remembered decades later. She coined the phrase "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses." On another occasion, she commented in a book review that "this is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

Answer: Bob Hope

Hope's USO efforts to entertain the troops overseas begain in 1942 and lasted for over 50 years. His line "I just want you boys to see what you're fighting for, that's all," referring to dancer Patty Thomas, was one of the best known comedic one-liners from WWII.

Answer: Donation for the blind

During an 8-5 Chicago victory over Cincinnati in 1991, Cubs outfielder Andrew Dawson bumped home plate umpire Joe West and received a one game suspension and a $1,000 fine. The argument followed a strike call made by West and which Dawson disputed.

Answer: Albert Einstein

For all his genius, Einstein has an impressive amount of witty one-liners attributed to him. Still, his most cutting remarks are comments on the potential misuses of the very insights he gave to the world; for example, he gave this subtle commentary on the potential destructive power of the next world war: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

Answer: Winston Churchill

Churchill's wit was legendary. He is reported to have commented on former Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's acumen with the comment "he occasionally stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened," and on Clement Atlee, "an empty taxi arrived at 10 Downing Street, and when the door opened, Atlee got out." But some of his best salvos were personal.

When Bessie Braddock MP told him he was drunk, he replied "Bessie, you're ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober." And when Lady Nancy Astor told him that "if I were your wife, I should flavour your coffee with poison," Churchill is reported to have responded "If I were your husband, madam, I should drink it."

Answer: Will Rogers

Rogers is acknowledged by most people as the greatest American comedic talent of the first third of the 20th century. His humor was very topical, which he acknowledged with his famous line "Well, all I know is what I read in the papers." He was widely quoted and admired, and he was well liked, which he returned in kind; his most famous quote was "I joked about every prominent man in my lifetime, but I never met one I didn't like," and was a statement which summarized the man to the extent that he publicly proposed that it should become his epitaph.

Answer: Adlai Stevenson

Stevenson's intelligence gave him a reputation of being an intellectual which endeared him to many, but alienated many others who considered Richard Nixon's commentary of "egghead" to be an accurate description. He was quoted often, having made statements such as "In America, anyone can become president. That's one of the risks you take," and "Flattery is all right-- if you don't inhale." His most famous use of oratory, however, came as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Cuban missile crisis, as he accused Soviet ambassador Zorin of the Soviet missile placement in Cuba, following which he provided photographic evidence to the rest of the U.N. audience.

Answer: Mark Twain

Mark Twain's influence in American arts cannot be overestimated. Rudyard Kipling one wrote of Twain, "To my mind Mark Twain was beyond question the largest man of his time, both in the direct outcome of his work and more important still, if possible, in his direct influence as a protesting force in an age of iron philistinism." Hemingway wrote of Twain, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that.

There is nothing before.

There has been nothing as good since." His use of wit and humor allowed him to moralize on politics, religion, and other forms of American culture in a way not seen before -- the New York Times estimated at the end of his career that he was quoted in common conversation more than any other American.

He once said of humorists in general, and including himself in particular, that they had one serious purpose, "the deriding of shams, the exposure of pretentious falsities, the laughing of stupid superstitions out of existence."

Answer: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Hegel's ultimate legacy will be debated for a very long time. He has been a formative influence on a wide range of thinkers, impacting not only existentialism, but also Marx's historical materialism. Hegel's philosophy offers the most obvious alternative to modern liberal thought in direct opposition to the conceptions of individual rights and existentialism which most modern-day intellectuals take for granted.