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American History Quotes #2

Fill the blanks in these famous quotes from U.S. history.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 22, 2019
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First submittedMarch 5, 2013
Times taken36,692
Average score62.5%
Rating4.28
4:00
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Who Said It
Quote
Ben Franklin
Nothing is certain but death and taxes
Lou Gehrig
Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth
John Paul Jones
I have not yet begun to fight!
Thomas Paine
These are the times that try men's souls
Douglas MacArthur
I shall return
Nathan Hale
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country
Neil Armstrong
The Eagle has landed
Various (Texas Revolution)
Remember the Alamo
Andrew Carnegie
The man who dies rich dies disgraced
Robert Oppenheimer
I am become death, the destroyer of worlds
Muhammad Ali
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
Allen Ginsberg
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness
Dwight Eisenhower
We must guard against... the military-industrial complex
John F. Kennedy
Ask not what your country can do for you
Joseph McCarthy & pals
Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?
Abraham Lincoln
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth
on this continent a new nation
+7
Level 82
May 15, 2013
McCarthy & Pals.. haha.. :) Got 100%
+4
Level 90
May 15, 2013
You call that hard?
+2
Level 37
May 15, 2013
not very hard, but fun quiz. more please :)
+3
Level 61
Jun 25, 2013
eisenhower's is the best
+1
Level 84
Jun 30, 2014
Uhhh no. Lincoln, Kennedy, Hale: all timeless.
+11
Level 66
Nov 10, 2017
Perhaps, but Eisenhower's WAS darn good advice that we unfortunately failed to heed.
+2
Level ∞
Jun 5, 2019
We did heed his advice. Military spending as a percentage of GDP has decreased by about 2/3rds since Eisenhower gave his speech.
+2
Level 74
Oct 17, 2013
15/16 and guessed some of those. Missed the Eisenhower one; who would have thought an American ex-general president would be warning against the "military-industrial complex"? What was he, some sort of pinko?!
+7
Level 66
Nov 10, 2017
Far from it. But he DID recognize the dangers of the government becoming a perpetual war machine motivated more by profit than justice.
+2
Level 85
Mar 28, 2015
100% with 1:37 left, pretty straightforward. nice quiz!
+3
Level 43
May 22, 2015
It's Ginsberg, not Ginsburg.
+2
Level 70
Sep 1, 2015
100% with 2:30 left.
+2
Level 79
Sep 11, 2016
As a Brit, I'm glad to complete with 1.52 to spare. Had to guess two.
+2
Level 66
Nov 10, 2017
I haven't heard the Carnegie quote before, but given his move toward philanthropy later in life, it wasn't too hard to guess.
+1
Level 72
Mar 1, 2024
Yeah I saw it was a short word and Carnegie, so I guessed poor and then rich.
+8
Level 86
Jul 8, 2018
Joseph McCarthy & Pals was the worst children's television show ever.
+2
Level 66
Jun 23, 2019
It was programmed in response to Pinky Lee.
+2
Level 37
Aug 25, 2018
Never occurred to me until now, nut Scharzenegger's "I'll be Back" is just play on MacArthur's : "I shall return".
+3
Level 66
Jun 23, 2019
There were many influential women and people of color throughout American history as well. This is the second American History Quotes quiz to feature zero quotes from women and almost none from people of color. It wasn't just a bunch of white dudes that have had something important to say throughout the entire history of the United States. Just sayin', broaden your horizons mate.
+16
Level 82
Jun 23, 2019
If the first thing you think about when you are authoring or taking a quiz on famous quotes is not the quotes but rather the color of the person saying them, or the shape of their genitalia, then you're doing it the wrong way. And, it's just a fact, throughout most of American history most people making most historically noteworthy contributions (and saying noteworthy things) were male, and they were also people whom racists would label as without color. Unless you specifically set out to produce a list of quotations from American history with a specific racist or sexist agenda, then you should expect a distribution similar to what appears on this quiz. This in no way implies that women, or people that racists would label as "of color," have not contributed to US history or have never had anything important to say; it's merely the product of making a quiz without bias about a traditionally patriarchal country colonized by Europeans.
+7
Level 75
Jun 23, 2019
For me personally, both sports quotes could be replaced with something said by a woman to make the list more inclusive and to remind us that women have said important things in history even if it is difficult for them to be heard. I have no problems with Ali or Gehrig, but I think something from Rosa Parks, "No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in," is memorable, as is Eleanor Roosevelt's, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Your comment might be true about earlier American history when women often weren't heard or considered equal, but many of the quotes on this one are from modern times. I'm not a militant feminist, but even I have a problem with the lack of female inclusion here.
+3
Level 82
Jun 23, 2019
Again, it's not that no woman has ever said something noteworthy in American history, it's just that the amount of representation above is reflective of the percentage of quotes out there attributable to them. I'm fine with removing quotes from sports figures, but there's no denying that they are famous and well-known quotes.
+3
Level 72
Jul 1, 2019
What if the first thing you think of is the answers to the question, and then you go back through the list and then note a lack of diversity. I just guessed the Carnegie quote based on his level of philanthropy. I did not know it. I think that there are several quotes from women that are more famous, such as "women's rights are human rights," "remember the ladies," "just say no," and "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
+3
Level 88
Jul 31, 2019
^^No one knows those and they're pretty mediocre.
+3
Level 82
Sep 4, 2019
The last two are Nancy Reagan and Eleanor Roosevelt, and personally I like the last one. Wouldn't know the first two without looking them up.
+2
Level ∞
May 13, 2021
The Eleanor Roosevelt one is almost certainly fake.
+2
Level 60
Feb 25, 2022
I think the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is an appropriate answer to Jmarie13's original comment.
+1
Level 43
Jun 23, 2019
I'm a huge fan of Carnegie's but it surprises me.
+4
Level 64
Jun 24, 2019
Oppenheimer's quote perfectly captures the feeling they must have had upon seeing the first ever nuclear fission explosion. It's hard to imagine being the first people ever to see such destruction.
+3
Level 37
Aug 25, 2019
someone2018: Eleanor Roosevelt's quote (No one can make you feel inferior without your consent) resonates with me. I don't consider it mediocre at all. It is far more edifying than one which, (thankfully), does not appear here: "We will win on Sunday, I guarantee it". - Joe Namath,
+2
Level 79
Jan 31, 2021
I tried 'my life' instead of 'one life'. So close!!
+2
Level 69
Dec 14, 2021
I think, it's sad, that only so few knew the quotes of Oppenheimer and Eisenhower. These are important ones.
+2
Level 63
Feb 24, 2022
And to think, Gehrig didn’t plan to speak until he stepped up to the microphone and had no notes. He mainly lists how grateful he is to have the respect and love of not only of his family, the Yankees, and their fans, but of the entire sport as well. It’s a more fantastic speech in retrospect because we know he’d be dead less than 2-years later.

Also, Gehrig likely didn’t have ALS (which is now also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease). It’s more likely he suffered from CTE. The symptoms are nearly identical, the difference being that ALS is bad luck while CTE is caused by repeated brain trauma. Gehrig played in the era before batters wore helmets and was hit in the head by pitches repeatedly. He was knocked unconscious on the field of play several times (we know from newspaper reports on those games) and would always play the very next day instead of resting because of his legendary streak of consecutive games played.

+5
Level 54
Feb 25, 2022
Actually Oppenheimer was himself quoting another source, the Hindu sacred text the "Bhagavad-Gita".
+1
Level 58
Feb 27, 2022
I got them all and I'm not even an American. Had to guess on a couple of them until I got them right.
+1
Level 55
Jun 14, 2023
oppenheimer quote is misattributed, he himself was quoting the gita
+1
Level 67
Jul 12, 2023
oppen heimer style
+1
Level 64
Dec 1, 2023
Some jokesters like to call the character * a "Nathan Hale", after the quote "I only regret that I have but one asterisk for my country".