What on Earth Were They Talking About? A Quote Quiz

Pablo Picasso Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images

You might know the quote, but do you know what the speaker was referring to? See how many of these famous quips or disses you recognize. Special thanks to Workman Publishing for allowing us to use quotes from the book "Who Said That?"

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QUESTION 1 OF 10

"Red meat and gin" was Julia Child's advice for what?

the perfect meal that a young woman should serve to a man she's hoping to marry

an example of a very bad food and beverage pairing

the secret to her longevity

The famous TV chef, who was almost 92 when she died, attributed her longevity to eating lots of red meat and drinking lots of gin.

QUESTION 2 OF 10

"If you still have to ask, shame on you." What was Louis Armstrong talking about?

whether it really is a wonderful world

what jazz is

Sometimes it's misquoted as "Man, if you gotta ask, you'll never know."

what a "jazz cigarette" is

QUESTION 3 OF 10

"… merely the scratching of pimples on the body of the bootboy at Claridges." Which masterpiece was Virginia Woolf scorning?

Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring"

T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"

James Joyce's "Ulysses"

Woolf was no fan of Joyce's 1922 magnum opus. In her diary she also called it "brackish" and "pretentious."

QUESTION 4 OF 10

"I can't really remember the names of the clubs we went to" was Shaquille O'Neal's response when asked about this:

whether he had visited the Parthenon while in Greece

The ever-quotable O'Neal was apparently not a fan of ancient Greek monuments like the Parthenon.

the itinerary of a charity tour of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America

how many nightclubs he had visited during a wild weekend in New York

QUESTION 5 OF 10

Gertrude Stein dissed this place with the comment, "There is no there there."

Oakland, California

The writer lived in Oakland between the ages of 6 and 17, back when it was a small town. The quote came from her 1937 autobiography.

Toronto, Canada

Cleveland, Ohio

QUESTION 6 OF 10

"We're heading into nut country today" was President John F. Kennedy's remark about:

making a 1960 campaign stop in Dougherty County, Georgia, the largest pecan producer in the U.S.

sending the first armed troops into Vietnam

arrriving in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963

Texans mostly voted Republican and didn't approve of Kennedy's initiaves. He'd gone to Dallas to heal rifts in the Democratic party and to fundraise. Sadly, Kennedy was assassinated on the very day he gave that quote.

QUESTION 7 OF 10

Frida Kahlo wrote in her diary, "Feet, why do I need them if I have wings to fly?" after this incident:

She took her first trip by plane to New York City.

Her right leg was amputated.

The Mexican painter had many health problems, and her right leg was amputated after gangrene set in. These words were in her diary under a drawing of her disembodied legs adorned with vines.

She was told her feet were too big for her to model shoes.

QUESTION 8 OF 10

"They are useless. They can only give you answers." What was Pablo Picasso disparaging?

computers

Picasso gave an interview in 1964 to the Paris Review where he was asked for his opinion of "enormous new mechanical brains or calculating machines," what would be known later as computers.

dictionaries

priests

QUESTION 9 OF 10

When did baseball player Lou Gehrig make his famous quote, "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth"?

He'd broken a record for most consecutive games played.

He was retiring due to a terminal illness.

This was part of a speech Gehrig gave when he had to retire from baseball due to a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), later known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Gehrig went on to add, "I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans."

A new baseball stadium was named after him.

QUESTION 10 OF 10

"Anyone who isn't confused doesn't really understand the situation." What situation was famed newscaster Edward R. Murrow was describing?

the Korean War

the Cold War

the Vietnam War

Murrow was referring to the escalating Vietnam War in the 1960s, but that quote could apply to any number of wars or political situations.

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What on Earth Were They Talking About? A Quote Quiz

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