How to play Who Said It?
Each round shows you ten real quotes, one at a time. Read the quote, then pick the person who said or wrote it from four choices. You can tap an answer or press the keys 1 to 4, and press Enter to go on. After every answer a card tells you who really said it, what they did, the year, and where the words come from: a speech, a book, a letter or an interview. It also gives a line of background and a link to the source, so you can read more.
Pick a category before you start if you like: speeches and politics, science and inventors, writers, activists and changemakers, sports, or philosophers from ancient China and Greece to the twentieth century. Choose All for a mix. The quotes come from many countries, and from women and men.
Three levels in every round
The round gets harder as you go. Questions 1 to 3 are level 1: quotes many people have met in class or in the news. Questions 4 to 6 are level 2, and questions 7 to 10 are level 3, with lines that even quote fans may not know. The wrong answers are never random. They are people from the same time and the same field, so a civil rights quote comes with other civil rights leaders and a physics quote with other physicists. You have to know the voice, not just the era.
Right answers score more on harder levels, and a streak of right answers adds a bonus. Turn on Timer bonus for extra points when you answer fast. At the end you get a review of all ten quotes with their sources.
Why so many quotes online are wrong
Quote websites, posters and social media copy each other, so a mistake can spread to millions of pages. Famous names attract lines they never said, because a quote sounds wiser with Einstein or Lincoln attached. Words also drift as people repeat them from memory, and sayings that began as anonymous proverbs get pinned on someone well known.
To check a quote, ask where it first appeared. A real quote can be traced to a specific speech, book, letter or interview, with a date. Search for the exact words along with the person's name and look for the original text, a library or archive, or a careful research site such as Quote Investigator. Be suspicious of a quote with no source, one that sounds too modern for its speaker, or one that only appears on quote collections. If you are using a quote in a debate or essay, cite where it came from.
Questions
Are the quotes real?
Yes. Every quote in the game was checked against a reliable source, such as the original speech transcript, the book, a museum or archive page, an encyclopedia article that cites the original, or Quote Investigator. Each answer card links to the source we used.
Why are some famous quotes missing?
Many of the most shared quotes online were never said by the person they are credited to. If we could not trace a line back to a real speech, book, letter or interview, we left it out, even if it is popular.
How is the score worked out?
A right answer earns 100 points on level 1, 200 on level 2 and 300 on level 3. Each answer in a row after the first adds a streak bonus of 50 points, up to 200. With Timer bonus on, faster answers earn up to 100 extra points.
Why do some quotes sound different from what I have heard?
Quotes change as they are passed around. We use the earliest reliable wording we could find. Quotes first written in another language, such as Russian, French, Greek or Chinese, are shown in a published English translation.
Will I see the same quotes again?
The game remembers the quotes you have seen recently in this browser and tries to give you new ones first. Your best score is saved in this browser only, with no account.