Pages

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Tolkien or Not? A Quotation Quiz

Here's one more game I whipped up for this week.  Playing is simple:  you get to decide if each of these quotations was written by Tolkien... or not.  Put your guesses in the comments, and I'll post the answers at the end of the week.



#1 All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

#2  All that is gold does not glitter.

#3  The better part of valor is discretion.

#4  Short cuts make long delays.

#5  Though this be madness, yet there is a method in it.

#6  Happy is the man who finds wisdom.

#7  The hands of a king are the hands of a healer.

#8  Stolen water is sweet, and food eaten in secret is delicious.

#9  Twice blessed is help unlooked-for.

#10  Courage is found in unlikely places.

19 comments:

  1. Another great game idea!

    I believe #1, #2, #4, #5?, #7, and #10 are Tolkien's.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. Tolkien
    2. I'm guessing not
    3. Shakespeare, Henry IV (part 2 maybe) Falstaff
    4. I'm guessing not
    5. Tolkien, I think
    6. Proverbs
    7. Tolkien, regarding Aragorn
    8. Proverbs
    9. Is this Tolkien, Two Towers?
    10. Tolkien, probably Gandalf about Bilbo or the Hobbits
    Okay, this was really fun. I like all the other quotes too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had to look to look up #2 after I took the quiz. Trick question, I guess. Tolkien did use it, but it is NOT original to him.

      Delete
    2. Livia Rachelle -- I looked it up too, before I posted the quiz and also just now. "All that is gold does not glitter" IS original to Tolkien. It is an inversion of the common phrase "All that glitters is not gold," which is generally attributed to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. You can read a Wikipedia article about it here, but basically, Tolkien switched it around and made it mean precisely the reverse of the common saying. Shakespeare's "All that glitters is not gold" means that not everything that looks valuable IS valuable, while Tolkien's "All that is gold does not glitter" means that not everything that is valuable LOOKS valuable.

      Nothing I can find online attributes "All that is gold does not glitter" to anyone other than Tolkien.

      Delete
    3. Haha, blonde moment. I saw the words were not the same, but I didn't stop to closely consider the meaning. Eeep.

      I think Tolkien (well, and Shakespeare too) seems to take a lot of things and make them his own. I want to research more this time around reading, and really get into the background.

      Delete
  3. #'s 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10 I KNOW are Tolkien, the other 3 don't look familiar.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a creative game! Well done, Hamlette!

    Here goes nothin' O_o

    1. yes, 2. yes, 3. no, 4. yes, 5. no, 6. no, 7. yes, 8. no, 9. yes, 10. yes

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have no idea. I'm guessing 1, 4, and 7, ARE his.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd say Tolkien's are numbers 1,2,4,7 and 10. Nice game!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ooh, cool! I love these quizzes you come up with, Hamlette!

    1. Tolkien
    2. Tolkien
    3. Not Tolkien
    4. Tolkien
    5. Tolkien
    6. Not Tolkien
    7. Tolkien
    8. Not Tolkien
    9. Not Tolkien
    10. Tolkien

    Wow, that was hard :D. I'm interested to see how many I got right!

    ~ Savannah
    scattered-scribblings.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love this, cuz I haven't seen one like it. I did this in like 10 seconds without truly thinking about the answers, so I suspect I will get about half right.

    1. yes
    2. yes
    3. no
    4. yes
    5. no (HAH!)
    6. no
    7. yes
    8. no
    9. no (though I want to say yes on this one)
    10. yes

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ooh, this looks hard. All these quotes are so good. :)

    1. Yes
    2. Yes.
    3. Yes.
    4. Yes.
    5. No.
    6. No.
    7. Yes.
    8. No.
    9. No.
    10. Yes.

    Thanks, this was a neat idea!

    ReplyDelete
  10. #1 Tolkien

    #2 Not Tolkien

    #3 Not Tolkien

    #4 Tolkien

    #5 Tolkien

    #6 Not Tolkien

    #7 Not Tolkien

    #8 Not Tolkien

    #9 Tolkien

    #10 Tolkien

    ReplyDelete
  11. I decided I'll have to wait until next year to join in. My knowledge of anything related to Tolkien is still too sketchy. Thanks for the encouragement anyhow & have fun :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carol, this is my 4th year hosting this blog event, and I have every intention of doing one again next year. Please join when you can!

      Delete
  12. 1. Yes
    2. Yes
    3. No
    4. Yes
    5. No
    6. No
    7. yes
    8. No
    9. Yes
    10. Yes.
    Thanks for the game! I'm sad that I missed most of the week, but happy that I found it now.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ooohh, how fun! :D

    #1. Yes - it WAS written by Tolkien.

    #2. Yes - it WAS written by Tolkien.

    #3. No, I don't think it was.

    #4. Oh, yes, I think he might have written that. (Eeekk, really testing my knowledge here... :P)

    #5. No, I don't think he did.

    #6. Well, this sounds more like the Bible, so I don't think he wrote it. ;)

    #7. Not sure - I'll go with 'yes'.

    #8. Err... no?

    #9. Yes, I think he did write it.

    #10. Yes - Tolkien wrote that!

    Rather interested to see how I do. :P

    ~Miss Meg

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for playing, everyone! I've posted the answers right here.

    ReplyDelete

What do you think?

Comments on old posts are always welcome! Posts older than 7 days are on moderation to dissuade spambots, so if your comment doesn't show up right away, don't worry -- it will once I approve it.

(Rudeness and vulgar language will not be tolerated.)