Tag Archives: James Madison

*Quotation Quotient

  (Published September 29, 2013 in the Monterey County Herald.)

1. “Man is a strange animal, he doesn’t like to read the handwriting on the wall until his back is up against it.”

A. Adlai Stevenson

B. Aaron Burr

C. Garfield

2. “Out, damned spot! out, I say!”

A. Dick and Jane

B. William Shakespeare

C. Edgar Allan Poe

3. “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, sinners are much more fun.”

A. Billy Joel

B. Billy Ray Cyrus

C. Billy Crystal

4. “The only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war. ”

A. John Muir

B. Henry Kissinger

C. Richard Nixon

5. “The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid.”

A. Madam Curie

B. J.D. Salinger

C. Joe Scarborough

6. “People used to complain that selling a president was like selling a bar of soap. But when you buy soap, at least you get the soap. In this campaign you just get two guys telling you they really value cleanliness.”

A. David Letterman

B. David Bowie

C. David Brooks

7. “Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.”

A. Mark Twain

B. Jane Smiley

C. Carl Sandburg

8. “The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become instruments of tyranny at home.”

A. Al Capone

B. Lindsey Graham

C. James Madison

9. “My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil’s mind, and behold, all things are changed!”

A. Angelo Dundee

B. Anne Sullivan

C. Maria Montessori

10. “Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process.”

A. John F. Kennedy

B. Barbara Bush

C. Judy Garland

Answers: 1-A, 2-B , 3-A , 4-C , 5-B , 6-C , 7-A , 8-C , 9-B , 10-A

Scoring:               10–QQQQ = Quote-Master   

(number correct)        8-9–QQQ = Scholar                       

                                   6-7–QQ = Literate

                                  4-5–Q = Semi-Literate

                                 0-3–No Q = Quote-Dunce

BONUS QUOTE:

“What’s society going to be like when the kids today are phenomenally good at text messaging and spend a huge amount of on-screen time, but have never gone bowling together?” — Clifford Stoll

(Stoll is an American astronomer and technology critic. He is speaking at the Authors & Ideas Festival in Pebble Beach this weekend.)