Who said the quote: Video game character or famous historical figure?

“What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.” Sound familiar? Perhaps from a little game called Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? You’d be wrong. Well, you’d be half wrong. See, while Castlevania does spin this phrase (and quite well), the quote is actually attributed to André Malraux in the preface of his book Antimémoires. Not a video game. But hey! At least when you dish it out, you’ll either be perceived as gaming savvy or well-educated.

But games don’t always have to borrow their writing from others. Sometimes they say the most beautiful things, and it’s straight from the horse’s mouth. Think you’re informed enough to tell the difference between what’s from a game and what’s not? Grab some paper, snag a pen, and take our handy quiz to find out. Each slide has two quotes: one from a video game character and one not. Mark down which quote you think is from a video game, and compare it to the key on the last slide. (And hey, if you're stuck,perhaps the image can help you out...)

A) “By ourselves, we are lonely, so we try to draw together to live, that’s what it means to be human, that’s how people live. A single hand cannot clap."

B) "He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying."

A) “I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.”

B) “I asked her "Why do you show this to me archangel?" "I am not a strong man, I am not a righteous man, I am not a holy man." and she told me the most remarkable thing. "You're right prophet, but if grace is within the grasp of one such as you, How can anyone else not see it within themselves?"”

A) “I breathe in. The water will wash my wounds clean. I breathe out. My mother submerged me in water when I was a baby, to give me to God. It has been a long time since I thought about God, but I think about him now.”

B) “One man goes into the waters of baptism, a different man comes out, born again. But who is that man who lies submerged? Perhaps that swimmer is both sinner and saint, until he is revealed unto the eyes of man.”

A) "What is better: to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?"

B) “If a man is not ready to risk his life, where is his dignity?”

A) "What is a man but the sum of his memories? We are the stories we live, the tales we tell ourselves."

B) “Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.”

A)“We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.”

B) “The wounded in turn wound and torment those weaker than they themselves are… There are only the killers and the killed… The sinners who are judged, and the victims that do the judging. What meaning is there to such a world?"

A)“Well, for all the talk of this being a 'revolutionary' war, it was more of a civil one.”

B) “A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.”

A) “After time adrift among open stars.
Along tides of light and through shoals of dust,
I will return to where I began."

B) “We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring,
will be to arrive where we started,
and know the place for the first time.”

A) “A statesman, we are told, should follow public opinion. Doubtless, as a coachman follows his horses; having firm hold on the reins and guiding them.”

B) “Every point of view is useful, even those that are wrong--if we can judge why a wrong view was accepted.”

A) “Call a jack a jack. Call a spade a spade, but always call a whore a lady. Their lives are hard enough, and it never hurts to be polite.

B) “It ain’t no secret I didn’t get these scars falling over in church.”

A) “It is the cruelest fate, to have written words that meant well--and see them made wicked and unwise. What was meant to encourage life--used instead to justify taking it!”

B) “It is with words as it is with sunbeams; the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.”

A)“Many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear--whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can. I’ve seen belief move cities, make men stave off death, and turn an evil hag's heart half-circle.”

B) “My lungs taste the air of time blown past falling sands.”

A) "I will live with my sorrow, I will live my own life! I will defeat sorrow in His place. I will stand my ground and be strong. I don’t know when it will be but someday, I will conquer it. And I will do it without false hope."

B) “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it.”

How’d it go? Harder than you thought? Easier? Regardless of how you did, we hope you took the time to seep in how awesome all those quotes were. As the esteemed Marlene Dietrich once said, “I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.”

Below is the key to the quiz. How’d you end up doing? Show off or lament in the comments below.

1.
A) Elhaym Van Houten, Xenogears
B) Frederick Nietzsche

2.
A) St. Francis of Asisi
B) Zachary Comstock, Bioshock Infinite

3.
A) Veronica Roth, Divergent
B) Zachary Comstock