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American History Quotes #1

Fill the blanks in these famous quotes from U.S. history.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 4, 2018
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First submittedFebruary 25, 2010
Times taken85,698
Average score64.7%
Rating4.35
4:00
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Who Said It
Quote
Neil Armstrong
One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself
Horace Greeley
Go west, young man
Harry Truman
The buck stops here
Ronald Reagan
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall
Patrick Henry
Give me liberty, or give me death
George Bush, Sr.
Read my lips: No new taxes
Richard Nixon
I am not a crook
Abraham Lincoln
A house divided against itself cannot stand
Martin Luther King
I have a dream
Thomas Jefferson
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal
Teddy Roosevelt
Speak softly and carry a big stick
Malcolm X
It's got to be the ballot or the bullet
Franklin D. Roosevelt
December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy
Unknown (Battle of Bunker Hill)
Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes
Ben Franklin
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a
little temporary safety deserve neither
Joe Namath
We're going to win Sunday. I guarantee it
+2
Level 16
May 10, 2013
I got all of them! I love history.
+7
Level 61
Jun 28, 2013
"i want to kiss you" - joe namath
+5
Level 25
May 16, 2014
i couldnt care less about the team strugg-a-ling
+5
Level 63
Jan 19, 2018
Wasn't that awful. Poor Suzy Kolber. But I guess that was the beginning of his turning sober.
+1
Level 75
Sep 9, 2021
Watched that live. Yikes.
+3
Level 51
Jul 17, 2013
"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" is attributed to William Prescott, though he might have said "color" rather than "whites."

(according to Answers.com)

+3
Level 62
Nov 14, 2013
Either that or Israel Putnam.

(amazing what you can learn from Assassin's Creed!)

+4
Level 88
Sep 28, 2015
Well, according to Johnny Horton, it was definitely Andrew Jackson (Old Hickory)! ;)
+2
Level 63
Jan 19, 2018
Or Dr. Warren.
+3
Level 75
Jan 19, 2018
Johnny Horton sang, "Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise if we didn't fire our muskets till we looked 'em in the eyes." He didn't mention the color. (But I started singing the song in my head as soon as I saw the clue.) "We held our fire till we see'd their faces well, then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave 'em...well, we..." Darn, now I'll be singing that all day.
+2
Level 81
Jan 19, 2018
Usually attributed Prescott, but also to others at the battle that took place on Breed's Hill. Quizmaster is right that it is unknown as historians disagree on who actually said it at this battle. Prescott is the natural assumption as the commander in charge. It is also not an original statement and was used previously in military battles.
+2
Level 74
Oct 17, 2013
100%, and no one is more surprised than me! I guessed the Namath one and got the Nixon one thanks to Point Break.
+7
Level 44
Dec 12, 2013
The "House Divided" quote is originally from the bible.
+4
Level 89
Apr 25, 2020
Lincoln is God to some Americans.
+2
Level 48
Jul 11, 2014
Ugh--I also kept trying liberties...:(
+4
Level 62
Jul 13, 2014
For the Horace Greeley quote, I was just trying anything:

Go: deep, long, wide, home, away, fish!

+2
Level 55
Sep 30, 2015
Same! I tried go forth, live, love, hence, fight, dream, out, on, back, speak, sing, play, then, thence......but not "west."
+2
Level 63
Jan 19, 2018
thank you. A little levity on a site riddled with anality.
+2
Level 68
Jan 19, 2018
Go away?! I actually got it on my second guess. Pretty pleased, being from New Zealand an' all.
+1
Level 58
Sep 10, 2021
I would have got it, if only the clue had been "Go ____, in the open air"...

But I don't believe, that Horace Greeley ever said that.

+3
Level 51
Jul 27, 2014
Why is Malcolm X included among Jefferson, Lincoln, Reagan, and Truman?
+23
Level 62
Jun 1, 2015
The better question is, why on Earth is Reagan included among Jefferson, Lincoln, Malcolm X, and Truman?
+8
Level 71
Sep 28, 2015
Because he was one of the greatest Presidents of all time.
+2
Level 60
Apr 10, 2023
This comment is from 2015. Adam is still waiting on trickle down economics
+18
Level 50
Mar 21, 2017
^^^LOL
+5
Level 63
Jan 19, 2018
I have no problem with Malcolm the Tenth being here.
+6
Level 37
Feb 18, 2019
Caribdevist: Exactly! Lousy actor, forgettable spokesman, mediocre president.
+28
Level 72
Jul 3, 2015
So, just to be clear, you don't have a problem with Joe Nameth, but you draw the line at an important civil rights leader. Do we understand that correctly?
+6
Level 37
Oct 28, 2017
Kudos to you, Kinjapan!

Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!

And the state of affairs in the US are ripe for another Malcolm X.

+2
Level 16
Apr 6, 2021
Because he was a big part of the African Americans gaining rights
+3
Level 48
Sep 10, 2021
Precisely because people like you ask questions like that.
+4
Level 82
Sep 27, 2015
If you are an athlete, coach, sports announcer etc. you can say something completely trite/stupid/cliche and people will treat it like it's brilliant.
+4
Level 56
Sep 28, 2015
Ain't that the truth? For example, "Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up." That would be a perfectly good answer on an elementary schooler's essay about obstacles, but it's somehow important because Michael Jordan said it. (Full disclosure, I'm not picking on Jordan. I think he's a darn decent man.)
+4
Level 67
Jan 19, 2018
Well if you're referring to the Namath quote, it's not that what he said is brilliant, it's the context of the quote that makes it memorable. There are very few other sports quotes that I think people deem memorable. I can only think of Muhammad Ali's and Yogi Berra's quotes, which are memorable for their vivid and colorful expressions.
+2
Level 89
Apr 25, 2020
Every athlete intervied before competition: "I'm gonna win."

So apparently this guy won a game in a field of only 2 competitors once after always being determined to win.

+6
Level 67
Sep 9, 2021
Yes, but this is from the 60s, when athletes did not have the bravado they have today. Part of Joe Namath's fame was that he was the "bad boy" quarterback, and a philosophical counter to Johnny Unitas, the straight-laced quarterback of the opposition. Players back then did not guarantee victory, and, in addition, it is considered one of the biggest upsets in American sports history. The AFL (Jets' league) was considered a joke by the NFL (Colts' league), so when the Jets won, it gave the AFL legitimacy for the first time. So, as I said, it's not just what he said. It's the context surrounding what he said.
+2
Level 82
Jan 19, 2018
jmellor, what about:

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. (gag)

Winners never quit and quitters never win. (snore)

You will always miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. (okay not terrible, but still pretty obvious)

Courage doesn't mean you don't get afraid. Courage means you don't let fear stop you. (again, not terrible, but self-evident)

“The most valuable player is the one that makes the most players valuable.” (eyeroll)

"I just come do what I've got to do, play my game. And I don't worry if anybody likes it." (wow, inspiring)

It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up.

Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.

Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

(Vince Lombardi is a treasure trove of awful quotes)

+3
Level 63
Jan 19, 2018
"Nice guy finish last," Leo Durocher.
+3
Level 67
Sep 9, 2021
I made my point in my response to someone else above, but just to repeat it for the sake of completion: the context surrounding what Joe Namath said is what makes it memorable. The words themselves are nothing special. All the quotes you cited are cliched aphorisms. Namath's isn't famous for that reason. It's famous because it's a distillation of what is considered an important moment in American sports history.
+1
Level 82
Sep 12, 2021
Then it's too bad he couldn't come up with something more interesting to say.
+3
Level 82
Jan 19, 2018
or... this isn't even from a real coach I think it's just from a TV show: "Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose." .... Mitt Romney found this so inspirational in the context of a television show about high school football that he started saying it during his campaign for US president. But it's just such a trite and meaningless quote, people only have such a response to it because they get so emotional about sports.
+2
Level 84
Jan 27, 2018
Its adapted from Friday Night Lights the movie, for the TV show. I loved that speech and used to play it for my students right before their final exams.
+2
Level 82
Jan 31, 2018
I know which show it's from I just wasn't sure if any real people other than Mitt Romney ever said it. The fact that you found it inspirational enough to play for your students helps shore up my point.
+5
Level 53
Mar 11, 2020
imagine getting heated over people feeling inspired by quotes from legendary sports figures
+2
Level 82
Apr 25, 2020
why don't you tell us what that's like? I'm having a hard time imagining such a thing happening.
+2
Level 65
Sep 27, 2015
17/17 3:09 remaining. Good quiz!
+2
Level 37
Oct 31, 2015
Yeah I thought this was about the movie American history X I am tired and slightly retarted
+2
Level 47
Feb 26, 2016
The guy who said dont fire until you see the whites of their eyes was named israel prescott
+2
Level 37
Nov 21, 2017
A much more representative of Theodore Roosevelt would be his motto:"When you've got them by the b*lls their hearts and minds will follow".
+5
Level 43
Jan 19, 2018
It's a little bizarre to have 100% of the quotes attributed to men.

Here are some suggestions!

Susan B Anthony

Harriet Tubman

Amelia Earhart

Maya Angelou

Eleanor Roosevelt

Rosa Parks

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Marilyn Monroe

Helen Keller

+2
Level 63
Jan 19, 2018
Which quotes would you use? These magnificent women are a great credit to humanity, womanhood, and their country, but I can't recall a particular quote usable on a trivia site.
+5
Level 68
Jan 19, 2018
"Life is either a great adventure or nothing."

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow."

"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."

"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us." - Helen Keller.

+4
Level 37
Jan 30, 2018
Try: "No one can make you feel inferior without your permission", (Eleanor Roosevelt)
+3
Level 82
Feb 26, 2019
I see this one attributed to Monroe and quoted all the time usually in girl's online dating profiles: "if you can't handle me at my worst you don't deserve me at my best." I don't know if that attribution is accurate or not.
+2
Level 57
Jan 19, 2018
Either I have to learn the new Common Core math, or something weird happened. I did one quiz, earned 4/5 points, and it added one point to the total points. Then I did this one and got 5/5, and it added two points. Has the formula changed?
+3
Level 69
Jan 20, 2018
If you previously played this quiz and got 3 points, then playing again and getting 5 points will add 2 additional points (not 5 more). At least as I understand it. Also, I believe when quizzes get updated your points on them are removed, so you can play the updated quiz and get points again. (At least I think that's how it works.)

So either of those things might have happened. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken.

+2
Level 93
Oct 7, 2019
its probably that the points for all quizzes were updated so some other quiz lost 3 points and you got 5 more here.
+2
Level 47
Jan 23, 2018
3:14 left, very nice.
+3
Level 44
Sep 9, 2021
Can you accept "white" for "whites"?
+1
Level 67
Nov 22, 2021
Agreed