Famous Quotes — Writers & Poets

Question 1

Question 1 : "To be, or not to be, that is the question." — Who wrote this line?

Possible answers:

Shakespeare
Molière
Racine
Corneille

Answer

Hamlet's soliloquy (Act III, Scene 1), one of the most famous lines in Western theatre.

Question 2

Question 2 : "Madame Bovary, that's me." — To whom is this quote attributed?

Possible answers:

Balzac
Zola
Flaubert
Maupassant

Answer

A quote attributed to Gustave Flaubert, expressing his total identification with his character.

Question 3

Question 3 : "For a long time, I went to bed early." — Who wrote this opening line?

Possible answers:

Stendhal
Flaubert
Proust
Gide

Answer

Opening line of Swann's Way (1913), the first sentence of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.

Question 4

Question 4 : "We must cultivate our garden." — Who is the author of this quote?

Possible answers:

Rousseau
Montesquieu
Diderot
Voltaire

Answer

The closing line of Candide (1759) by Voltaire: after all adventures, practical work takes precedence over speculation.

Question 5

Question 5 : "One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes." — Who wrote this?

Possible answers:

Saint-Exupéry
Hugo
Apollinaire
Prévert

Answer

Words of the fox in The Little Prince (1943) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, one of the most translated books in the world.

Question 6

Question 6 : "I is someone else." — Who is the author of this statement?

Possible answers:

Mallarmé
Rimbaud
Verlaine
Baudelaire

Answer

A statement by Arthur Rimbaud in his Lettre du voyant (1871), foundational to modern poetry.

Question 7

Question 7 : "Families, I hate you!" — Who wrote this exclamation?

Possible answers:

Albert Camus
André Gide
Paul Éluard
Rimbaud

Answer

From The Fruits of the Earth (1897) by André Gide, a cry of revolt against bourgeois conformism.

Question 8

Question 8 : "The long sobs of autumn violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor." — Who is the poet?

Possible answers:

Rimbaud
Verlaine
Hugo
Baudelaire

Answer

Chanson d'automne by Paul Verlaine. These verses were also the BBC coded message announcing D-Day in 1944.

Question 9

Question 9 : "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." — Who wrote this?

Possible answers:

H.G. Wells
Ray Bradbury
George Orwell
Aldous Huxley

Answer

The pigs' maxim in Animal Farm (1945), a satire of Stalinist totalitarianism.

Question 10

Question 10 : "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." — Who is the author?

Possible answers:

Tolstoy
Chekhov
Dostoevsky
Turgenev

Answer

Opening line of Anna Karenina (1877) by Leo Tolstoy, one of the most famous novel openings.

Question 11

Question 11 : "One should eat to live, not live to eat." — Who wrote this line?

Possible answers:

Corneille
La Fontaine
Rabelais
Molière

Answer

A line by Harpagon in The Miser (1668) by Molière, which has become a proverb.

Question 12

Question 12 : "Beauty will save the world." — Who is the author?

Possible answers:

Gorky
Dostoevsky
Chekhov
Tolstoy

Answer

A line by Prince Myshkin in The Idiot (1869) by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Question 13

Question 13 : "All for one, one for all." — Who wrote this motto?

Possible answers:

Walter Scott
Victor Hugo
Balzac
Alexandre Dumas

Answer

The musketeers' motto in The Three Musketeers (1844) by Alexandre Dumas.

Question 14

Question 14 : "Please... draw me a sheep!" — Who wrote this?

Possible answers:

Saint-Exupéry
Prévert
Giono
Marcel Pagnol

Answer

The Little Prince's first request to the narrator, opening the story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943).

Question 15

Question 15 : "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains." — Who is the author?

Possible answers:

Voltaire
Diderot
Rousseau
Montesquieu

Answer

Opening line of The Social Contract (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a foundational text of democratic thought.

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The 15 quiz questions

Question 1 : "To be, or not to be, that is the question." — Who wrote this line?

Question 2 : "Madame Bovary, that's me." — To whom is this quote attributed?

Question 3 : "For a long time, I went to bed early." — Who wrote this opening line?

Question 4 : "We must cultivate our garden." — Who is the author of this quote?

Question 5 : "One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes." — Who wrote this?

Question 6 : "I is someone else." — Who is the author of this statement?

Question 7 : "Families, I hate you!" — Who wrote this exclamation?

Question 8 : "The long sobs of autumn violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor." — Who is the poet?

Question 9 : "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." — Who wrote this?

Question 10 : "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." — Who is the author?

Question 11 : "One should eat to live, not live to eat." — Who wrote this line?

Question 12 : "Beauty will save the world." — Who is the author?

Question 13 : "All for one, one for all." — Who wrote this motto?

Question 14 : "Please... draw me a sheep!" — Who wrote this?

Question 15 : "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains." — Who is the author?

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