Advanced Search

Drill down into our database of quotes.

Currently showing 10,076 quotes

The true conservative seeks to protect the system of private property and free enterprise by correcting such injustices and inequalities as arise from it. The most serious threat to our institutions comes from those who refuse to face the need for change. Liberalism becomes the protection for the far-sighted conservative.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

More information about this quote

Topic

Conservatism

Speaker

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. Campaign address. Democractic State Convention. 29 Sept. 1936, Syracuse, NY, USA.

There is in God, some say,
A deep but dazzling darkness.

Henry Vaughan

Silex Scintillans

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of God God

Author

Henry Vaughan

Source

Silex Scintillans

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1655 1650s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Vaughan, Henry. "The Night." Silex Scintillans. London: H. Blunden, 1655.

What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.

Charles Bukowski

More information about this quote

Topic

Adversity

Author

Charles Bukowski

Language

English

Time

1994 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bukowski, Charles. How Is Your Heart. c. 1994.

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Langston Hughes

Read The Negro Speaks of Rivers at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Rivers Life experience Acquiring wisdom

Author

Langston Hughes

Source

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hughes, Langston. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." The Crisis, June 1921, I. 1.

Current Citation

Hughes, Langston. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." The Weary Blues. Alfred A. Knopf, 2015, I. 1.

War is capitalism with the gloves off.

Tom Stoppard

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of war Military industrial complex

Speaker

Tristan Tzara

Author

Tom Stoppard

Source

Travesties

Medium

Play

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1974 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Stoppard, Tom. Travesties. Royal Shakespeare Company, 10 June 1974, Aldwych Theatre, London, England, UK, act 1.

Current Citation

Stoppard, Tom. Travesties. Grove Press, 1994, act 1.

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

Jesus

Luke 23:46

Buy the Bible (KJV) at Amazon Buy the Bible (KJV) at Amazon
Read this verse at Bible Hub

More information about this quote

Topic

Jesus's death The crucifixion

Speaker

Jesus

Source

Gospel of Luke The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

61 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Luke 23:46).

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

John Adams

More information about this quote

Topic

Facts

Speaker

John Adams

Medium

Speech

Genre

Courtroom speech

Language

English

Time

1770 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Adams, John. Spoken at the argument in defense of the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials. Boston Massacre Trials. 4 Dec. 1770, Queen Street courtroom, Boston, MA, USA.

Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again a foretaste of the resurrection.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Psychological Remarks

Read Psychological Remarks at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Saying goodbye

Author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Source

Psychological Remarks Parerga and Paralipomena

Language

German

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Psychologische Bemerfungen [Psychological Observations]." Parerga und Paralipomena. Vol. 2, Berlin: Druck und Verlag von U. W. Haan, 1851.

Current Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Psychological Remarks." Parerga and Paralipomena, translated by Adrian Del Caro and Christopher Janaway. Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 2017.

A culture is in its finest flower before it begins to analyze itself.

Alfred North Whitehead

More information about this quote

Topic

Culture

Author

Alfred North Whitehead

Language

English

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Whitehead, Alfred North. Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, edited by Lucien Price. David. R. Godine, 2008, ch. 22. Originally from dialogue with Lucien Price, 30 Aug. 1941.

The best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and of Love.

William Wordsworth

Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey

More information about this quote

Topic

Serving others Loving others The little things

Author

William Wordsworth

Source

Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1798 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wordsworth, William. "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey." Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems. London: J. and A. Arch, 1798, I. 33.

Current Citation

Wordsworth, William. "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey." William Wordsworth: The Major Works: including The Prelude, edited by Stephen Gill. Oxford University Press, 2008, I. 33.

The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

Wayne LaPierre

More information about this quote

Topic

Gun rights

Speaker

Wayne LaPierre

Medium

Press conference

Language

English

Time

2012 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

LaPierre, Wayne. News conference addressing meaningful contributions on how to prevent more mass killings. 21 Dec. 2012, Washington, DC, USA.

Fanaticism is always a sign of repressed doubt.

Carl Jung

More information about this quote

Topic

Fanaticism

Speaker

Carl Jung

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jung, Carl. Lecture five of the Tavistock lectures. 1935, Tavistock Clinic, London, England, UK.

Current Citation

Jung, Carl. The Symbolic Life: Miscellaneous Writings. Routledge, 2014, pt. 1, lecture 5.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Michael Palin

Monty Python's Flying Circus

More information about this quote

Topic

The unexpected

Speaker

Cardinal Ximinez

Actor

Michael Palin

Source

The Spanish Inquisition Monty Python's Flying Circus

Medium

TV show

Genre

Comedy (TV)

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"The Spanish Inquisition." Monty Python's Flying Circus, written by Graham Chapman and John Cleese and Eric Idle, directed by Ian MacNaughton, season 2, episode 2, BBC, 1970.

What do you mean, less than nothing? I don't think there is any such thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go. It's the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would be something-even though it's just a very little bit of something. But if nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it is.

E. B. White

Charlotte's Web

Buy Charlotte's Web at Amazon Buy Charlotte's Web at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Nothingness

Speaker

Wilbur

Author

E. B. White

Source

Charlotte's Web

Genre

Children's literature

Language

English

Time

1952 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

White, E. B. Charlotte's Web. Harper & Brothers, 1952, ch. 4.

Death in itself is nothing, but we fear
To be we know not what, we know not where.

John Dryden

Aurenge-Zebe

Read Aureng-Zebe at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Fear of death Mystery of death Death

Speaker

Aureng-zebe

Author

John Dryden

Source

Aurenge-Zebe

Medium

Play

Genre

Drama (play)

Language

English

Time

1675 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dryden, John. Aureng-Zebe. King's Company, 1675, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, England, UK, act 4, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Dryden, John. "Aureng-Zebe." The Works of John Dryden, edited by Vinton A. Dearing. Vol. 12, University of California Press, 1995, act 4, sc. 1.

My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel—it is, before all, to make you see. That—and no more, and it is everything.

Joseph Conrad

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of literature

Author

Joseph Conrad

Source

The Nigger of the Narcissus

Language

English

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Conrad, Joseph. The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Forecastle. Heinemann, 1897, preface.

Current Citation

Conrad, Joseph. "The Nigger of the '"Narcissus.'" The Secret Sharer and Other Stories. W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, preface.

In the life of each of us, I said to myself there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness.

Sarah Orne Jewett

More information about this quote

Topic

Inner life

Author

Sarah Orne Jewett

Language

English

Time

1896 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jewett, Sarah Orne. The Country of the Pointed Firs. Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1896, ch. 15.

Current Citation

Jewett, Sarah Orne. "The Country of the Pointed Firs." The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories. Signet, 2009, ch. 15.

Anything you can do, I can do better, I can do anything better than you.

Irving Berlin

Anything You Can Do

Listen to Anything You Can Do at Amazon Listen to Anything You Can Do at Amazon
Read the lyrics to Anything You Can Do

More information about this quote

Topic

Men and women

Author

Irving Berlin

Source

Anything You Can Do

Medium

Song

Genre

Great American songbook

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Berlin, Irving. "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)." Annie Get Your Gun. Directed by Joshua Logan. Performed by Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton. 16 May 1946, Imperial Theatre, New York City, NY, USA.

Every black dude in this room is a qualified paralegal and shit. He knows the law. If one of us even start to do something wrong, an old black man would pop out of nowhere. Nigga, don’t do that. That’s 5 to 10.

Dave Chappelle

Killin' Them Softly

Watch Killin' Them Softly at Amazon Watch Killin' Them Softly at Amazon
Read the full transcript of this special at scrapsfromtheloft.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Black people and police Black experience Criminal law

Speaker

Dave Chappelle

Source

Killin' Them Softly

Medium

Comedy special

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Language

English

Time

2000 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chappelle, Dave. Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly. HBO, 26 July 2000.

Justice is not to be taken by storm. She is to be wooed by slow advances.

More information about this quote

Topic

Justice Incremental progress Political theory

Speaker

Benjamin Cardozo

Source

The Function and the Ends of Law

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1923 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cardozo, Benjamin Nathan. "The Function and the Ends of Law." Dec. 1923, Yale University Law School, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.