Episodes 1-6      Episodes 7-12

Chiastic Quiz Show (Episodes 7-12)

Quiz Show 7     (December 1999)     Political Chiasmus

This American humorist said about Congress, "Every time they make a joke it's a law. And every time they make a law it's a joke."

"Who is Will Rogers?"

This former Republican president said about his departure from the Democratic Party: "I didn't desert my party. It deserted me."

"Who is Ronald Reagan?"

In a WWII speech about rebuilding a bomb-damaged Parliament, this British leader said, "We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us."

"Who is Winston Churchill?"

In his inaugural address, this U.S. president said, "Let us never negotiate out of fear; but let us never fear to negotiate."

"Who is John F. Kennedy?"

This U. S. president justified his decision to bomb Iraq by saying: "Instead of the inspectors disarming Sadaam, Sadaam has disarmed the inspectors."

"Who is Bill Clinton?"

This former Nixon speechwriter turned language maven said of his column-writing efforts, "Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks."

"Who is William Safire?"

This U. S. vice president (and famous duelist) said his goal was "to make business a pleasure, and pleasure my business."

"Who is Aaron Burr?"

Harry Truman was referring to this when he said, "Here is one instance in which it is the man who makes the office, not the office the man."

"What is the Vice-Presidency?"

This U. S. Supreme Court justice said, "If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable."

"Who is Louis D. Brandeis?"

This Irish politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner said of the Good Friday Peace Accord, "This is about principled compromise, not compromised principles."

"Who is John Hume?"

Quiz Show 8     (January 2000)     Implied Chiasmus

The motto of this popular Muppet character is, "Time's fun when you're having flies."

"Who is Kermit the Frog?"

In the 1948 presidential election, this candidate "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory."

"Who is Thomas E. Dewey?"

According to the popular saying, this is "the wrath of grapes."

"What is a hangover?"

This cartoon character created by Tom Wilson said, "The waist is a terrible thing to mind."

"Who is Ziggy?"

The advertising slogan for this popular A & E television series is, "The best lives of our years."

"What is A & E's Biography?"

This Irish playwright said, "A drama critic is a man who leaves no turn unstoned."

"Who is George Bernard Shaw?"

This Anglo-Irish writer and wit said, "Work is the curse of the drinking classes."

"Who is Oscar Wilde?"

Comedian Danny Thomas was referring to this when he said it is "a place where windows clean people."

"What is a race track?"

Will Rogers was referring to this place when he said, "It's a great place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit there."

"What is Hollywood?"

This critic and columnist defended his practice of praising opening Broadway shows by asking, "Who am I to stone the first cast?"

"Who is Walter Winchell?"

Quiz Show 9     (February 2000)     Chiasmus in the World of Sports

This fiery (and often-fired) New York Yankees manager said, "A ballplayer could … be a sportswriter. But what writer could be a ballplayer?"

"Who is Billy Martin?"

This Puerto Rican-born professional golfer said, "I want to live like a millionaire and die poor; I don't want to live poor and die like a millionaire."

"Who is Chi Chi Rodriguez?"

This former Oakland A's manager said, "I'm not the manager because I'm always right, but I'm always right because I'm the manager."

"Who is Gene Mauch?"

Columnist Herb Caen was referring to this when he wrote, "We get baseball weather in football season, and football weather in baseball season."

"What is San Francisco weather?"

This New York Yankee baseball manager said, "Good pitching will always stop good hitting, and vice versa."

"Who is Casey Stengel?"

This father and mentor of a golfing superstar said, "You learn very little about golf from life, but you learn a lot about life from golf."

"Who is Earl Woods?"
(Father of Tiger Woods)

This outspoken heavyweight champ said, "Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars on poverty are fought to map changes."

"Who is Muhammad Ali?"

This legendary coach of the UCLA Bruins basketball team said, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."

"Who is John Wooden?"

This former major league baseball pitcher said at the end of his career, "In the 70s I threw in the 90s; in the 90s I threw in the 70s."

"Who is Frank Tanana?"

This famous American writer wrote, "Boys would be big leaguers, as everybody knows, but so would big leaguers be boys."

"Who is Phillip Roth?"

Quiz Show 10     (March 2000)     Chiasmus in Black Life & Literature

In 1965, this fiery Black Muslim leader said, "The press is used to make the victim look like the criminal and make the criminal look like the victim."

"Who is Malcolm X?"

In her novel The Bluest Eye, this Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner wrote, "Which do you want?  A whipping with no turnips or turnips and no whipping?"

"Who is Toni Morrison?"

In Notes of a Native Son, he wrote, "People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them."

"Who is James Baldwin?"

This civil rights leader and frequent presidential candidate said, "There is no such thing as a parental aide to teachers. The teacher is an aide to the parents."

"Who is Jesse Jackson?"

In his 1968 obituary, The New York Times quoted him as saying, "The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt."

"Who is Martin Luther King, Jr."

In his influential 1845 autobiography, this former slave wrote, "You have seen how a man was made a slave, you shall see how a slave was made a man."

"Who is Frederick Douglass?"

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, she wrote, "Women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget."

"Who is Zora Neale Hurston?"

In In Search of our Mother's Gardens, she wrote, "It has been proved that the land can exist without the country … it has not been proved that the country can live without the land."

"Who is Alice Walker?"

This poet of the Harlem Renaissance wrote:

"As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you're older—and white—
and somewhat more free."

"Who is Langston Hughes?"

In an 1897 speech, he said, "The black man who cannot let love and sympathy go out to the white man is but half free. The white man who retards his own development by opposing the black man is but half free."

"Who is Booker T. Washington?"

Quiz Show 11     (April 2000)     Chiasmus in Shakespeare

At the very beginning of this play, The Weird Sisters set the stage by chanting,

"Fair is foul,
and foul is fair."

"What is Macbeth?"

In the play within this play, an actor gives these instructions to the players:

"Suit the action to the word,
the word to the action."

"What is Hamlet?"

In Sonnet 154, Shakespeare was referring to this when he said:

"(It's) fire heats water,
water cools not (it)."

"What is love?"

Imprisoned in Pomfret Castle, King Richard II is referring to this when he says:

"I wasted (it),
and now doth (it) waste me."

"What is time?"

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare writes, "Better a witty fool than a (what?)."

"What is a foolish wit?"

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare says,

"(This), in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven."

"What is 'The Poet's eye'?"

In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare is referring to this when he writes:

"O powerful (what),
that in some respects makes a beast a man,
in some other, a man a beast."

"What is 'love'?"

In this play, Touchstone says:

"The fool doth think he is wise,
but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

"What is As You Like It?"

In the play within a play in Hamlet, Shakespeare is referring to this when he writes:

"For 'tis a question left us yet to prove,
Whether love lead to (it), or else (it) to love."

"What is fortune?"

In Measure for Measure, the Duke of Vincentio is referring to this when he says:

"(It) oft have such a charm
To make bad good, and good provoke to harm."

"What is music?"

Quiz Show 12     (May 2000)     Chiasmus in French Life & Literature

This existentialist writer and philosopher said:

"If God exists, man does not exist;
if man exists, God does not exist."

"Who is Jean-Paul Sartre?"

In his 1952 book The Rebel, he wrote:

"Absolute freedom mocks at justice.
Absolute justice denies freedom."

"Who is Albert Camus?"

This beautiful French actress said:

"Age doesn't protect you from love.
But love, to some extent, protects you from age."

"Who is Jeanne Moreau?"

In an immortal chiastic suggestion, this French philosopher said:

"If God created us in his own image we have more than reciprocated."

"Who is Voltaire?"

This writer, artist, and filmmaker said:

"When a work of art appears to be in advance of its period,
it is really the period that has lagged behind the work of art."

"Who is Jean Cocteau?"

This 17th century mathematician and philosopher said:

"There are only two kinds of men:
the just who believe themselves sinners;
the sinners who believe themselves just."

"Who is Blaise Pascal?"

In one of his essays, Montaigne was referring to this when he said:

"It may be compared to a cage,
the birds without try desperately to get in,
and those within try desperately to get out."

"What is marriage?"

In one of the classics of world literature, this writer wrote:

"When we are at the end of life, to die means to go away;
when we are at the beginning, to go away means to die."

"Who is Victor Hugo?
"What is Les Misérables?"

This former president of France said:

"A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation.
A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service."

"Who is Georges Pompidou?"

This female writer who dressed and acted like a man wrote:

"Life resembles a novel more often
than novels resemble life."

"Who is George Sand?"

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