208 Fun Facts About Who Said It? Famous Quotes

Who said 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'?

Neil Armstrong said it on July 20, 1969, as he stepped off the Apollo 11 lunar module and became the first person to walk on the Moon.

Which US president declared 'the only thing we have to fear is fear itself'?

He said it in his first inaugural address in 1933, at the depth of the Great Depression.

Who urged Americans to 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country'?

It came in his 1961 inaugural address.

Which US president said 'Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far'?

He first used the West African proverb publicly in 1901 to describe his foreign policy.

Who pledged 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat'?

It was his first speech as prime minister, delivered to the House of Commons in May 1940.

Which prime minister told a 1980 party conference 'The lady's not for turning'?

Margaret Thatcher said 'The lady's not for turning' at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton on October 10, 1980, refusing to reverse her economic policy.

Which speech opens 'Four score and seven years ago'?

The Gettysburg Address opens with those words; Abraham Lincoln delivered it on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the soldiers' cemetery at Gettysburg.

Who delivered the 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963?

He spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.

Which American patriot is famous for the cry 'Give me liberty, or give me death!'?

He is said to have spoken it at the Second Virginia Convention in 1775.

Whose reputed last words were 'I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country'?

Nathan Hale, a Continental Army spy, is reputed to have said it before the British hanged him in New York on September 22, 1776.

Who reported to mission control, 'Okay, Houston, we\'ve had a problem here'?

He said it during the Apollo 13 crisis, and commander Jim Lovell repeated it moments later.

Which US president demanded 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!'?

He spoke at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin in 1987.

Which US president declared 'Our long national nightmare is over' upon being sworn in?

Gerald Ford said 'Our long national nightmare is over' in his swearing-in remarks on August 9, 1974, hours after Richard Nixon resigned.

Which US president said 'The chief business of the American people is business'?

Calvin Coolidge said it in a January 17, 1925 speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington.

The Latin boast 'Veni, vidi, vici' - 'I came, I saw, I conquered' - is attributed to whom?

He reportedly wrote it to the Roman Senate after a swift victory at the Battle of Zela around 47 BC.

Which French philosopher wrote 'I think, therefore I am' (cogito, ergo sum)?

Rene Descartes made 'cogito, ergo sum' the first principle of his philosophy, stating it in the Discourse on the Method in 1637.

Who confessed 'If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants'?

Isaac Newton wrote the line in a February 1675 letter to his rival Robert Hooke.

The saying 'I know that I know nothing' is associated with which ancient Greek philosopher?

It captures his habit of disavowing knowledge while questioning others.

The famous exclamation 'Eureka!' - 'I have found it!' - is credited to which ancient thinker?

Archimedes, by Vitruvius's account, shouted it after seeing the water rise in his bath, the insight behind his principle of buoyancy.

Which abolitionist gave the 1851 speech remembered as 'Ain't I a Woman'?

Sojourner Truth gave the speech at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, on May 29, 1851.

Yogi Berra is famous for the paradox that a game or race is not finished until what?

Yogi Berra's line was 'It ain't over till it's over', meaning it really is over only at the end; he said it of the 1973 Mets, who came from behind to win their division.

Which Soviet cosmonaut cried 'Poyekhali!' - 'Let\'s go!' - as he launched into space in 1961?

He became the first human to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 1.

Which line did the American Film Institute rank the most memorable movie quotation of all time?

'Frankly, my dear, I do not give a damn', Clark Gable's Rhett Butler line in Gone with the Wind (1939), topped the American Film Institute's 2005 list of 100 movie quotes.

The catchphrase 'I'll be back', from the 1984 film The Terminator, is associated with which actor?

Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered 'I'll be back' as the T-800 in The Terminator (1984) and reused variations of it in later films.

The valediction 'May the Force be with you' comes from which film franchise?

'May the Force be with you' comes from Star Wars, first heard in the original 1977 film, and has passed into everyday use.

Which US president kept a sign reading 'The buck stops here' on his Oval Office desk?

It meant that the responsibility for decisions ended with him.

'Let them eat cake' is traditionally but wrongly attributed to whom?

There is no evidence she ever said it; it is now seen as a journalistic cliché.

Who actually wrote 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'?

Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote it in The Friends of Voltaire (1906), under the pen name S. G. Tallentyre, to summarise Voltaire's attitude rather than quote him.

Sherlock Holmes never actually says which phrase in any of Arthur Conan Doyle's sixty stories?

'Elementary, my dear Watson' never appears in Doyle's canon; Holmes says 'Elementary' in The Crooked Man and 'my dear Watson' often, but never together.

Which US admiral is credited with 'Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!' at Mobile Bay?

David Farragut is credited with the order at the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, as his Union fleet pushed past Confederate mines, then called torpedoes.

Which Greek philosopher declared 'Man is the measure of all things'?

Protagoras, the 5th-century BC sophist, opened his work Truth with 'Man is the measure of all things', as Plato quotes him in the Theaetetus.

Who told the UN in 2013 that 'one book and one pen can change the world'?

Malala Yousafzai said it at the United Nations in New York on July 12, 2013, her 16th birthday, in her first major speech after the Taliban shot her.

Whose 1964 dock speech ended 'an ideal for which I am prepared to die'?

Nelson Mandela closed his statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial on April 20, 1964, with those words; he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Who told the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit 'How dare you'?

Greta Thunberg said 'How dare you' to world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23, 2019.

The German pastor Martin Niemoller wrote a famous confessional piece that begins with which words?

'First they came...' opens Martin Niemöller's postwar confession, which warns of staying silent while socialists, trade unionists and Jews were taken by the Nazis.

The line 'Here's looking at you, kid' is spoken by Humphrey Bogart in which 1942 film?

Casablanca (1942) has Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine say 'Here's looking at you, kid' to Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa at his nightclub in wartime Morocco.

In which film does Arnold Schwarzenegger say 'Hasta la vista, baby'?

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) has Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 say 'Hasta la vista, baby' before shattering the frozen T-1000.

Which film closes with the line 'After all, tomorrow is another day'?

Gone with the Wind (1939) ends with Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara resolving to win Rhett back: 'After all, tomorrow is another day!'

Which president's 2008 campaign rallied around the refrain 'Yes we can'?

Barack Obama made 'Yes we can' the refrain of his 2008 presidential campaign; his New Hampshire primary speech on January 8, 2008, turned it into a chant.

Which US president told Congress 'The world must be made safe for democracy'?

Woodrow Wilson said 'The world must be made safe for democracy' in his April 2, 1917 address asking Congress to declare war on Germany.

In which 1976 film does a TV anchorman shout 'I'm as mad as hell'?

Network (1976) has Peter Finch's anchorman Howard Beale urge viewers to shout 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!'

Which character says 'I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse' in The Godfather?

Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando, says the line in The Godfather (1972); the AFI ranked it the second-greatest movie quote.

Who says 'Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore' in The Wizard of Oz?

Judy Garland's line ranks fourth on the AFI list.

Which actor delivers 'Go ahead, make my day' as Harry Callahan in Sudden Impact?

Clint Eastwood says 'Go ahead, make my day' as Harry Callahan in Sudden Impact (1983); the AFI ranked it sixth.

Who says 'You talkin' to me?' in Taxi Driver?

Travis Bickle, Robert De Niro's cabbie, says it to his mirror in Taxi Driver (1976); the AFI ranked the line tenth.

Which character delivers 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning' in Apocalypse Now?

Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall, says it after a beach assault in Apocalypse Now (1979); the AFI ranked it twelfth.

Which character says 'There's no crying in baseball' in A League of Their Own?

Jimmy Dugan, the manager played by Tom Hanks, shouts 'There's no crying in baseball!' at a weeping player in A League of Their Own (1992).

Which character famously says 'Rosebud' in the 1941 Orson Welles film?

Charles Foster Kane, played by Orson Welles, utters 'Rosebud' as he dies in Citizen Kane (1941), and the search for its meaning drives the film.

Who tells the census-taker story with 'a nice Chianti' in The Silence of the Lambs?

Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, tells Clarice he ate a census taker's liver 'with some fava beans and a nice Chianti'; the AFI ranked the line 21st.

Which character gives the famous surname-first introduction in Dr. No?

James Bond, played by Sean Connery, introduces himself 'Bond. James Bond.' to Sylvia Trench at a casino table in Dr. No (1962).

Who says 'Show me the money!' in Jerry Maguire?

Rod Tidwell, the receiver played by Cuba Gooding Jr., coins 'Show me the money!' in Jerry Maguire (1996); the AFI ranked it 25th.

Which character shouts 'You can't handle the truth!' in A Few Good Men?

Col. Nathan R. Jessup, played by Jack Nicholson, shouts it under cross-examination in A Few Good Men (1992); the AFI ranked the line 29th.

Who says 'You're gonna need a bigger boat' in Jaws?

Chief Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider, says it after first seeing the shark in Jaws (1975); the AFI ranked the line 35th.

Which character says 'Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth'?

Lou Gehrig said it at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939; Gary Cooper's version in The Pride of the Yankees (1942) is 38th on the AFI list.

Who says 'My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates'?

Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, says it on a park bench in Forrest Gump (1994); the AFI ranked the line 40th.

Which character says 'I see dead people' in The Sixth Sense?

Cole Sear, the boy played by Haley Joel Osment, whispers it in The Sixth Sense (1999); the AFI ranked the line 44th.

Which character declares 'Greed, for lack of a better word, is good' in Wall Street?

Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, says it to Teldar Paper shareholders in Wall Street (1987); the AFI ranked the line 57th.

Who advises 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer' in The Godfather Part II?

Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, says it to Frank Pentangeli in The Godfather Part II (1974); the AFI ranked the line 58th.

Which character says 'Say hello to my little friend!' in Scarface?

Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino, shouts it during the final shootout in Scarface (1983); the AFI ranked the line 61st.

Who says 'Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!'?

Peter Sellers played the president in Dr. Strangelove.

Which character says 'Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape'?

Astronaut George Taylor, played by Charlton Heston, snarls it when he regains his voice in Planet of the Apes (1968); the AFI ranked the line 66th.

Who says 'Here's Johnny!' in The Shining?

Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, says it through the splintered bathroom door in The Shining (1980); Nicholson improvised it, and the AFI ranked it 68th.

Which character says 'Soylent Green is people!'?

Detective Robert Thorn, played by Charlton Heston, shouts it at the end of Soylent Green (1973); the AFI ranked the line 77th.

Who says 'Open the pod bay doors, HAL' in 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Dave Bowman, played by Keir Dullea, says it to the ship's computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); the AFI ranked the line 78th.

Which character says 'and don't call me Shirley' in Airplane!?

Dr. Rumack, played by Leslie Nielsen, answers 'Surely you can't be serious' with 'I am serious, and don't call me Shirley' in Airplane! (1980); the AFI ranked it 79th.

Who shouts 'Yo, Adrian!' in the 1976 boxing film?

Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone, shouts it after the final bout in Rocky (1976); the AFI ranked the cry 80th.

Which character says 'My precious' in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers?

Gollum, voiced by Andy Serkis, hisses 'My precious' in The Two Towers (2002); the AFI ranked the line 85th.

Who says 'Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys' in Dead Poets Society?

Robin Williams's teacher speech ranks 95th.

Which character says 'Nobody puts Baby in a corner' in Dirty Dancing?

Johnny Castle, played by Patrick Swayze, says it before the final dance in Dirty Dancing (1987); the AFI ranked the line 98th.

Who declares 'I'm the king of the world!' in Titanic?

Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, shouts it from the bow in Titanic (1997); the AFI ranked the line 100th.

Which character actually says 'You had me at hello' in Jerry Maguire?

Renée Zellweger's line ranks 52nd on the AFI list.

Who really says 'Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By' in Casablanca?

The line is often misquoted as 'Play it again, Sam'.

Which character orders 'Round up the usual suspects' in Casablanca?

Captain Renault, played by Claude Rains, orders 'Round up the usual suspects' after Rick shoots Major Strasser at the airport in Casablanca (1942); the AFI ranked it 32nd.

Who says 'I'll have what she's having' in When Harry Met Sally...?

An older deli customer, played by director Rob Reiner's mother Estelle, says it to a waiter after Sally's fake orgasm at Katz's Deli; the AFI ranked the line 33rd.

Which character keeps crying 'Inconceivable!' in The Princess Bride?

Vizzini, the Sicilian played by Wallace Shawn, says 'Inconceivable!' throughout The Princess Bride (1987), prompting Inigo's 'I do not think it means what you think it means.'

Which actor played Scotty and titled his memoir 'Beam Me Up, Scotty'?

James Doohan played Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott on Star Trek and titled his 1996 memoir Beam Me Up, Scotty, though that exact line is never spoken in the original series.

Which scientist is said to have muttered 'And yet it moves' after recanting to the Inquisition?

Galileo Galilei is said to have muttered 'Eppur si muove' after his 1633 recantation, but the story first appears in print in 1757 and is likely apocryphal.

Which Apollo flight director titled his memoir 'Failure Is Not an Option'?

Gene Kranz, lead flight director for Apollo 13, titled his 2000 memoir Failure Is Not an Option after the line screenwriters gave his character in the 1995 film.

Who wrote 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'?

Lord Acton wrote 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely' in an 1887 letter to the Anglican bishop Mandell Creighton.

Which Latin phrase is Caesar said to have uttered when crossing the Rubicon?

Alea iacta est, 'the die is cast', is what Suetonius says Caesar declared on crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC; Suetonius gives the word order as iacta alea est.

Which Spartan king reputedly replied 'Molon labe' ('come and take them') to a Persian surrender demand?

Leonidas I gave the reply 'Molon labe' at Thermopylae in 480 BC; Plutarch records it in his Sayings of the Spartans.

Who shouted 'Sic semper tyrannis' after firing the shot at Ford's Theatre in 1865?

John Wilkes Booth shouted 'Sic semper tyrannis', Virginia's state motto, after shooting Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.

General John Stark coined which US state's motto, 'Live free or die'?

New Hampshire adopted 'Live Free or Die' as its motto in 1945; General John Stark had written the words in an 1809 toast sent to veterans of the Battle of Bennington.

Which US general replied 'Nuts!' to a German surrender demand at Bastogne?

Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st Airborne at Bastogne, sent the one-word reply 'Nuts!' on December 22, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge.

Which boy asks 'Please, sir, I want some more' in a Dickens novel?

Oliver Twist asks the workhouse master for more gruel in Chapter 2 of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist (1838).

Which British PM declared 'peace for our time' after the 1938 Munich Agreement?

Neville Chamberlain said 'peace for our time' outside 10 Downing Street on September 30, 1938; Britain was at war with Germany within a year.

Who pledged 'Read my lips: no new taxes' at the 1988 Republican convention?

George H. W. Bush made the pledge accepting the nomination on August 18, 1988; speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote the line, and his 1990 tax increase turned it against him.

Which president told Congress in 1965 'And we shall overcome' while urging a voting rights bill?

Lyndon B. Johnson echoed the civil rights anthem with 'And we shall overcome' in his March 15, 1965 address to Congress proposing the Voting Rights Act.

Which poet wrote 'Do not go gentle into that good night'?

Dylan Thomas wrote the villanelle 'Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night', published in 1951, as his father was dying.

Who wrote 'The report of my death was an exaggeration' in 1897?

Mark Twain wrote the line in a May 1897 note to a journalist in London after a newspaper confused him with an ailing cousin.

Who wrote 'These are the times that try men's souls' in December 1776?

Thomas Paine opened the first of his American Crisis pamphlets with the line in December 1776; Washington had it read to his troops before crossing the Delaware.

Which author wrote 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'?

George Orwell wrote 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others' as the pigs' final commandment in Animal Farm (1945).

Which poet opened a 1916 poem with 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood'?

Robert Frost opens 'The Road Not Taken', published in his 1916 collection Mountain Interval, with 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood'.

Who gave 'The Ballot or the Bullet' speech in 1964?

Malcolm X gave 'The Ballot or the Bullet' in Cleveland on April 3, 1964, weeks after leaving the Nation of Islam.

Which British PM said 'The wind of change is blowing through this continent' in 1960?

Harold Macmillan said it to South Africa's parliament in Cape Town on February 3, 1960, signalling British acceptance of African independence.

Which fast-food chain's 1984 ad made 'Where's the beef?' famous?

Wendy's ran the 1984 'Fluffy Bun' commercial in which Clara Peller demanded 'Where's the beef?' of a rival's oversized bun.

Who spoke in front of a 'Mission Accomplished' banner on a carrier in 2003?

George W. Bush spoke beneath the banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, declaring that major combat operations in Iraq had ended.

Who concluded 'you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold' in 1896?

William Jennings Bryan ended his 'Cross of Gold' speech with the line at the 1896 Democratic convention in Chicago, winning the nomination.

Who wrote in 1789 that nothing is certain 'except death and taxes'?

Benjamin Franklin wrote the line in a November 13, 1789 letter to the French scientist Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, discussing the new US Constitution.

Who declared 'A house divided against itself cannot stand' in 1858?

Abraham Lincoln said it on June 16, 1858, in Springfield, accepting the Illinois Republican nomination for the US Senate.

Which president warned against the 'military-industrial complex' in his 1961 farewell?

Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the warning in his televised farewell address on January 17, 1961, three days before leaving office.

Who wrote 'some of us are looking at the stars' in an 1892 play?

Oscar Wilde gave the line 'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars' to Lord Darlington in his 1892 play Lady Windermere's Fan.

Which T. S. Eliot poem ends 'not with a bang but a whimper'?

The Hollow Men (1925) closes 'This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper', among Eliot's most quoted lines.

Which promoter coined 'Elvis has left the building' in 1956?

Horace Logan, the Louisiana Hayride's announcer, said it on December 15, 1956, to stop fans leaving Elvis's final Hayride show in Shreveport.

Which government produced the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster in 1939?

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Information printed 'Keep Calm and Carry On' in 1939 but never issued it widely; a copy resurfaced at Barter Books in 2000.

Who coined the 1992 campaign phrase 'It's the economy, stupid'?

James Carville hung 'The economy, stupid' on the wall of Clinton's Little Rock headquarters in 1992 as one of three messages for staff.

Which physicist wrote to Max Born in 1926 that God 'does not play dice'?

Albert Einstein wrote it in a December 4, 1926 letter to Max Born, rejecting the randomness of quantum mechanics.

Which theorist coined 'The medium is the message'?

Marshall McLuhan coined it as the title of the first chapter of his 1964 book Understanding Media.

Which Herman Melville novel opens with 'Call me Ishmael'?

Moby-Dick (1851) opens with 'Call me Ishmael', spoken by its first-person narrator.

Which Dickens novel begins 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'?

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) opens with the line; the novel is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution.

Which Shakespeare character delivers the 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy?

Hamlet delivers 'To be, or not to be' in Act 3, Scene 1, just before the 'nunnery' exchange with Ophelia.

Who says 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet'?

Juliet says it on her balcony in Act 2, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, arguing that Romeo's Montague name means nothing.

Who says 'The lady doth protest too much, methinks' in the play-within-a-play?

Queen Gertrude of Denmark says it in Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2, when Hamlet asks how she likes the play; it is often misquoted with 'Methinks' first.

In which Shakespeare history play does a king cry 'Once more unto the breach'?

Henry V has the king rally his troops at the siege of Harfleur with 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more' in Act 3, Scene 1.

Who begins a funeral oration 'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears'?

Mark Antony opens his funeral oration with the line in Act 3, Scene 2 of Julius Caesar, then turns the crowd against Brutus and the conspirators.

Which Jane Austen novel opens 'It is a truth universally acknowledged...'?

Pride and Prejudice (1813) opens with the line; it follows Elizabeth Bennet, one of five sisters.

Which US senator's silencing in 2017 popularised 'Nevertheless, she persisted'?

Elizabeth Warren was silenced under Senate Rule XIX on February 7, 2017, while reading Coretta Scott King's letter opposing Jeff Sessions; Mitch McConnell's 'Nevertheless, she persisted' became a slogan.

Which historian wrote 'Well-behaved women seldom make history'?

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote it in a 1976 article on Puritan funeral sermons, long before it became a slogan on T-shirts.

Which boxer said his style was to 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'?

Muhammad Ali, then fighting as Cassius Clay, used 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' before beating Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title in February 1964.

Which US president insisted 'I am not a crook' during Watergate?

Richard Nixon said 'Well, I am not a crook' at a televised question-and-answer session with newspaper editors in Orlando on November 17, 1973.

The line 'Just the facts, ma'am' is wrongly attributed to which TV character?

Joe Friday of Dragnet never said 'Just the facts, ma'am'; his lines were 'All we want are the facts', and Stan Freberg's 1953 parody St. George and the Dragonet cemented the misquote.

In which film does Darth Vader reveal 'No, I am your father' to Luke?

The Empire Strikes Back (1980) has Vader say 'No, I am your father' on Cloud City; the line is often misquoted as 'Luke, I am your father'.

Which US president said 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman'?

Bill Clinton said it at the White House on January 26, 1998, naming Monica Lewinsky in the same remark.

Which cartoon character is known for asking 'What's up, Doc'?

Bugs Bunny first asked 'What's up, Doc?' in the 1940 Warner Bros. short A Wild Hare, and it became his catchphrase.

Who wrote 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free'?

Emma Lazarus wrote the lines in her 1883 sonnet 'The New Colossus', cast on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty's pedestal in 1903.

Which Union general vowed 'to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer'?

Ulysses S. Grant wrote the line in a dispatch to Washington on May 11, 1864, during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.

Which naval commander reported 'We have met the enemy and they are ours' in 1813?

Oliver Hazard Perry sent the message to William Henry Harrison after winning the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813.

Who recalled 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds' at the Trinity test?

J. Robert Oppenheimer said the Bhagavad Gita line came to mind at the Trinity test of July 16, 1945, recalling it in a 1965 NBC interview.

Nike's 'Just Do It' slogan was reportedly inspired by whose last words?

Death row inmate Gary Gilmore said 'Let's do it' before his 1977 execution by firing squad in Utah; ad man Dan Wieden said the words inspired 'Just Do It' in 1988.

Which company used the slogan 'Think different' from 1997 to 2002?

Apple ran 'Think different' from 1997 to 2002, and the slogan was widely read as an answer to IBM's 'Think'.

Who narrates the original Star Trek mission 'to boldly go where no man has gone before'?

James T. Kirk, voiced by William Shatner, narrates the opening monologue of the original 1966 series; Picard's Next Generation version says 'no one'.

Who devised the Vulcan salute paired with 'live long and prosper'?

Leonard Nimoy devised the salute for the 1967 episode 'Amok Time', basing it on the hand gesture of the Jewish priestly blessing he saw as a boy.

Which villain repeatedly asks 'Why so serious?' in The Dark Knight?

The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, asks 'Why so serious?' while telling stories of his scars in The Dark Knight (2008).

From which Disney film did the Swahili phrase 'Hakuna matata' reach Western fame?

The Lion King (1994) made 'Hakuna matata', Swahili for 'no worries', famous through Timon and Pumbaa's song.

Which Toy Story character shouts 'To infinity and beyond!'?

Buzz Lightyear, the space-ranger toy voiced by Tim Allen, shouts 'To infinity and beyond!' in Toy Story (1995).

Which Big Bang Theory character says 'Bazinga!'?

Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons, says 'Bazinga!' to flag his pranks and jokes on The Big Bang Theory.

Which Simpsons character is famous for the catchphrase 'D'oh!'?

Homer Simpson's 'D'oh!', voiced by Dan Castellaneta since the show's 1989 debut, entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001.

The catchphrase 'yada yada yada' was popularised by which sitcom?

Seinfeld popularised 'yada yada yada' and titled an April 1997 episode 'The Yada Yada'.

Who wrote that a woman needs 'money and a room of her own' to write fiction?

Virginia Woolf wrote it in A Room of One's Own (1929), based on lectures she gave at Cambridge women's colleges in 1928.

Which Roman poet's Odes gives us 'carpe diem' ('seize the day')?

Horace wrote 'carpe diem' in Ode 1.11 of his Odes, whose first three books appeared in 23 BC.

Which philosopher wrote the line 'Hell is other people'?

Jean-Paul Sartre gave the line 'L'enfer, c'est les autres' to Garcin at the end of his 1944 play No Exit (Huis Clos).

Which ancient text states 'All warfare is based on deception'?

The Art of War, attributed to the Chinese general Sun Tzu around the 5th century BC, makes the claim in its opening chapter on laying plans.

Which philosopher wrote 'God is dead' in The Gay Science?

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote 'God is dead' in The Gay Science (1882), using it to describe the collapse of Christian belief as a foundation for morality.

Who wrote 'Religion is the opium of the people'?

Karl Marx wrote it in the 1844 introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right.

Which 1848 work ends with the rallying cry 'Workers of the world, unite!'?

The Communist Manifesto (1848), by Marx and Engels, ends 'Working men of all countries, unite!'; a variant is carved on Marx's tombstone in Highgate Cemetery.

Who first wrote 'the pen is mightier than the sword' in that exact wording, in 1839?

Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the line for Cardinal Richelieu in his 1839 play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy.

Which Latin proverb translates as 'Fortune favours the bold'?

Audentes Fortuna iuvat, 'Fortune favours the bold', comes from Virgil's Aeneid (Book 10) and is a common military motto.

Which US justice's writing gave us 'sunlight is the best disinfectant'?

Louis Brandeis wrote 'Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants' in Other People's Money (1914), before joining the Supreme Court in 1916.

Which newspaper printed the editorial 'Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus' in 1897?

The New York Sun printed Francis Pharcellus Church's unsigned editorial on September 21, 1897, replying to eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon.

Whose reputed last words were 'Woe, I think I'm turning into a god'?

Vespasian, Roman ruler from AD 69 to 79, joked 'Vae, puto deus fio' on his deathbed by Suetonius's account, alluding to the practice of deifying dead emperors.

Which German writer's reputed last words were 'Mehr Licht!' ('More light!')?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is reputed to have called for 'Mehr Licht!' on his deathbed in Weimar on March 22, 1832.

Which Founding Father's last words were 'Thomas Jefferson survives', unaware Jefferson had just died?

John Adams reputedly said 'Thomas Jefferson survives' as he died on July 4, 1826, not knowing Jefferson had died hours earlier at Monticello.

Which Union general's last words were 'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance'?

John Sedgwick said it while chiding soldiers who ducked Confederate sharpshooters at Spotsylvania on May 9, 1864, and was shot dead moments later.

Who greeted a missing explorer at Ujiji in 1871 with the words 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume?'

The New York Herald had sent him to find Livingstone, who reportedly replied, 'Yes'. Stanley later tore the pages about the meeting from his diary.

Which general, having escaped the Philippines in 1942, declared in Australia 'I came through and I shall return'?

Douglas MacArthur said it to reporters at Terowie railway station in South Australia on March 20, 1942, after escaping Corregidor by PT boat on March 11.

Which college football coach is credited with 'Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing'?

Red Sanders, the UCLA coach, said it at a 1950 physical-education workshop at Cal Poly; it is often wrongly credited to Vince Lombardi.

Which baseball manager's 1946 remark was condensed by journalists into 'nice guys finish last'?

Leo Durocher, managing the Dodgers in July 1946, said of the New York Giants 'The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place', which journalists condensed.

Which Liverpool FC manager is widely credited with a 1981 remark that football is 'more important' than life or death?

Bill Shankly said on Granada TV in 1981 that football was not a matter of life and death: 'it is much, much more important than that'.

The US Declaration of Independence names three unalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of what?

Happiness was not the obvious third word: just two years earlier the First Continental Congress had claimed the rights to life, liberty and property.

The King James Bible's Proverbs 16:18 says pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before what?

A fall follows the haughty spirit, while pride itself goes before destruction: the everyday saying about pride and a fall is probably a shortened form of this verse.

Robert Burns wrote in 1785 that the best-laid schemes of which pair often go astray?

Mice and men share the bad luck, in a poem Burns is said to have composed after wrecking a nest with his plough; John Steinbeck later borrowed the phrase for a novel.

Often misquoted, William Congreve's line in The Mourning Bride says music has charms to soothe a savage what?

Breast is the word Congreve wrote; the beast crept in later, and the same tragedy is also the source of the saying about hell having no fury like a woman scorned.

Unhorsed at Bosworth in Shakespeare's Richard III, the king cries out that he would trade what for a horse?

His kingdom is the price Richard offers, moments before the Earl of Richmond kills him and claims the throne for himself.

The inscription over the gate of Hell in Dante's Inferno tells everyone who enters to abandon what?

All hope is left at the gate, and just beyond it Dante meets the Uncommitted, souls who never took a side in life and now chase a wavering banner forever.

Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan describes life without government as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and what?

Short ends the list; Hobbes wrote Leviathan during the English Civil War to argue that only an absolute sovereign could prevent a war of all against all.

In John Milton's Paradise Lost, the fallen Satan declares it better to reign in Hell than to serve where?

In Heaven is where Satan refuses to serve, a defiance that led Romantic writers such as Blake, Byron and Shelley to read him as the hero of Milton's poem.

In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the Prince of Morocco reads that all that glisters is not what?

Gold is the word, and glisters is no slip: it was a 16th-century synonym for glitters, which later versions of the proverb swapped in.

Alexander Pope's 1711 poem An Essay on Criticism says that to err is human, but to forgive is what?

Divine is Pope's word, in a poem that also gave English the proverb about fools rushing in where angels fear to tread.

The Dieter of Dieter-or-Dumbledore quizzes is Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a German apostle of which faith?

Latter-day Saints sustained him as an apostle in 2004, after a first career as a fighter pilot and airline captain.

Before becoming an apostle, Dieter F. Uchtdorf spent three decades at which airline, where he rose to chief pilot?

Lufthansa made him a captain at 29, after he had trained as a fighter pilot in Texas and won the trophy for best student pilot in his class.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf built a 2011 sermon around the five petals of which tiny flower from a German legend?

Forget-me-not petals stood for five things worth remembering, and the same sermon used Willy Wonka's golden ticket as a warning against waiting on one big prize to be happy.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf's sermon Lift Where You Stand takes its title from a group of men struggling to move what?

A grand piano would not budge in a Darmstadt meetinghouse until one man suggested that everyone simply stand close together and lift from where they stood.

Which actor took over Albus Dumbledore's lines from Prisoner of Azkaban onward after Richard Harris died?

Michael Gambon got the part after Ian McKellen turned it down, having just played another wizard and having once been called a dreadful actor by Harris.

The epitaph on the Dumbledore family tomb, about treasure and the heart, comes from which book of the Bible?

Matthew 6:21 supplies the epitaph, and J. K. Rowling put a second Bible verse, from 1 Corinthians, on the grave of Harry's parents.

Albus Dumbledore rewards which Gryffindor first-year with House Cup points for daring to stand up to friends?

Neville is rewarded for trying to stop his own friends, and J. K. Rowling has said she wanted him to find true moral courage in standing up to the people on his side.

Albus Dumbledore warns Harry Potter that men have wasted their lives entranced by which magical object?

The Mirror of Erised is named for desire spelled backwards, and Dumbledore later uses it as the final protection around the Philosopher's Stone.

The surname of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore is borrowed from an old dialect word for which insect?

Bumblebee is the meaning, and J. K. Rowling chose it because Dumbledore loves music: she pictured him wandering around humming to himself.

On Friends, Joey Tribbiani's biggest acting break is playing which doctor on the real soap Days of Our Lives?

Dr. Drake Ramoray later returns from a coma thanks to a brain transplant, with guest star Susan Sarandon playing the character who supplies the brain.

After Joey Tribbiani of Friends brags that he writes his own lines, how do the angry soap writers kill his character?

Down an elevator shaft he goes, costing Joey the job and his new apartment, although the soap later brings the doctor back and rehires him.

Joey Tribbiani on Friends turns the phrase moot point into a saying about the worthless opinion of which animal?

A cow, because Joey hears the phrase as moo point, a mishearing of the kind linguists call an eggcorn, and the sitcom made his version popular.

Joey Tribbiani's rented-tuxedo scene on Friends helped popularise which phrase for wearing no underwear?

Going commando was already American campus slang in the 1970s, but Joey's use of it turned the phrase into a popular catchphrase, especially in sports media.

On Friends, Joey Tribbiani's date with one of Phoebe's friends goes wrong when she breaks his rule against sharing what?

His food is off limits, pizza above all, although as a coffee-house waiter he happily hands out free food to women he wants to impress.

On How I Met Your Mother, winning the Slap Bet lets Marshall Eriksen slap which friend without warning?

Barney Stinson is offered ten slaps at once or five at any moment Marshall chooses, picks the five, and spends the rest of the series waiting for them.

Marshall Eriksen of How I Met Your Mother grew up as the youngest of three brothers in which Midwestern state?

Minnesota shapes him: he is a devoted Vikings fan like his father, and his surname and his talk of lutefisk hint at Scandinavian roots.

Which Freaks and Geeks alumnus delivers Marshall Eriksen's lines on How I Met Your Mother?

Jason Segel played Marshall from 2005 to 2014, and in the middle of that run he wrote and starred in a film with a fitting title, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Marshall Eriksen of How I Met Your Mother has absolute faith that Sasquatch and which other legendary creature are real?

The Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch both get his total belief, an unlikely creed for a man who works as a corporate lawyer at Goliath National Bank.

Marshall Eriksen's storylines on How I Met Your Mother keep returning to his dream of practising which branch of law?

Environmental law is the dream he shelves for a corporate job, turning down the Natural Resources Defense Council so that he can provide for Lily.

Which Charles Dickens miser brushes off Christmas cheer with the catchphrase 'Bah! Humbug!' in an 1843 novella?

Ebenezer Scrooge made such a mark that his surname entered English as a byword for greed, long after three Christmas ghosts reformed him.

Which playing-card ruler in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland keeps shouting 'Off with his head!' at her subjects?

The Queen of Hearts hands out death sentences constantly, yet the Gryphon tells Alice that she executes nobody, and the King quietly pardons her victims.

Which vampire of an 1897 novel hears wolves howling in the valley and calls them 'the children of the night'?

Count Dracula says it to his guest Jonathan Harker, calls the howling music, and adds that city dwellers cannot share the feelings of a hunter.

Which Treasure Island character keeps Captain Flint, the parrot that squawks 'Pieces of eight!', on his shoulder?

Long John Silver named the bird after his old pirate captain, and his parrot and missing leg did much to fix the popular image of a pirate.

Which storybook boy, stranded on a rock in a rising lagoon, says 'To die will be an awfully big adventure'?

Peter Pan thinks it with a smile as the tide rises around Marooners' Rock, moments after sending Wendy to safety on the tail of a kite.

Which Charlotte Brontë heroine breaks off her story to tell her audience, 'Reader, I married him'?

Jane Eyre opens Chapter 38 with the line; her groom is Mr Rochester, who had lost a hand and his sight in the fire that destroyed Thornfield Hall.

Which mischievous sprite in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream exclaims 'Lord, what fools these mortals be!'?

Puck says it while watching the Athenian lovers quarrel, a muddle he caused himself by putting the love potion on Lysander instead of Demetrius.

Which Shakespeare character cries 'Out, damned spot!' while sleepwalking and rubbing at imagined blood on her hands?

Lady Macbeth goaded her husband into killing King Duncan, and the sleepwalking scene in the fifth act shows guilt driving her towards madness.

Which Dickens lawyer dies at the guillotine in another man's place, thinking it 'a far, far better thing'?

Sydney Carton looks so much like the condemned Charles Darnay that he can swap places with him, giving his life for the woman they both love.

In Wuthering Heights, Catherine Earnshaw tells the housekeeper Nelly Dean that she herself is which other character?

Heathcliff, she says, is more herself than she is, yet in the same breath she explains why she has agreed to marry Edgar Linton instead.

William Wordsworth opens his best-known poem, written after a lakeside walk past daffodils, wandering lonely as a what?

Cloud is the image, inspired by a walk with his sister beside Ullswater in 1802, when the pair came across a long belt of daffodils along the shore.

The King James Bible's 1 Timothy 6:10 names the love of what as the root of all evil?

Money itself is not condemned: the verse blames the love of it, and newer translations soften the claim further, to a root of all kinds of evil.

The Tao Te Ching, ascribed to Laozi, says a journey of a thousand miles begins with what?

A single step is the familiar version, though the Chinese is closer to saying the journey begins beneath one's feet, and the line is often wrongly credited to Confucius.

Philosopher George Santayana warned in 1905 that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to do what?

Repeat it is the warning, from Reason in Common Sense, the first of the five volumes of The Life of Reason by the Spanish-born American thinker.

Jaques in Shakespeare's As You Like It says all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely what?

Players, meaning actors: the melancholy Jaques goes on to list the seven ages of man, the parts each person plays in the course of a lifetime.

Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden that the mass of men lead lives of quiet what?

Desperation was his verdict after two years, two months and two days in a cabin he built on land owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau opens The Social Contract by declaring that man is born free yet is everywhere in what?

Chains was a provocative word in 1762: the book was banned in Paris and burned in the author's native Geneva.

Voltaire's 1759 satire Candide ends with the practical advice that we must cultivate our what?

Garden is the last word, a modest answer to Professor Pangloss, who insists through every disaster that this is the best of all possible worlds.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay Self-Reliance calls a foolish consistency the hobgoblin of what?

Little minds are the target, and Emerson adds that such consistency is adored by little statesmen and philosophers too.

John Donne's 1624 meditation says never send to know for whom the bell tolls, because it tolls for whom?

Thee, meaning every reader: Donne wrote the meditation while recovering from a serious illness, and it also contains the claim that no man is an island.

John Keats opens his 1818 poem Endymion with the claim that a thing of beauty is what?

A joy for ever is how the poem begins, yet Endymion drew scathing criticism on its release, and even Keats faulted its diffuse style.