19th century

Explore 1787 quotes from the 19th century

There is grandeur in this view of life...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon
Read On the Origin of the Species at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Human evolution Creation of man Evolution Human origins

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 14.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 14.

God is dead: but as the human race is constituted, there will perhaps be caves for millenniums yet, in which people will show his shadow.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Gay Science

Buy The Gay Science at Amazon Buy The Gay Science at Amazon
Read The Gay Science at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Existence of God God Decline of religion Atheism Human nature

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

The Gay Science

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1882 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Die frohliche Wissenschaft [The Gay Science]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeitzner, 1882, bk. 3, no. 108.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Joyous Science, translated by R. Kevin Hill. Penguin Classics, 2019, bk. 3, no. 108.

The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.

Karl Marx

The Communist Manifesto

Buy The Communist Manifesto at Amazon Buy The Communist Manifesto at Amazon
Read The Communist Manifesto at marxists.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Revolution Class conflict Oppression Politics

Author

Karl Marx

Source

The Communist Manifesto

Medium

Pamphlet

Genre

Political literature Economic literature

Language

German

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels [published anonymously]. Manifest der kommunistischen Partei [Manifesto of the Communist Party]. London: Gedruckt in der Office der Bildungs-Gesellschaft für Arbeiter, 1848.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto, translated by Samuel Moore and Friedrich Engels. Penguin Classics, 2002.

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

Karl Marx

The Communist Manifesto

Buy The Communist Manifesto at Amazon Buy The Communist Manifesto at Amazon
Read The Communist Manifesto at marxists.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Class conflict Oppression History

Author

Karl Marx

Source

The Communist Manifesto

Medium

Pamphlet

Genre

Political literature Economic literature

Language

German

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels [published anonymously]. Manifest der kommunistischen Partei [Manifesto of the Communist Party]. London: Gedruckt in der Office der Bildungs-Gesellschaft für Arbeiter, 1848.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto, translated by Samuel Moore and Friedrich Engels. Penguin Classics, 2002.

The pen is mightier than the sword.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of literature

Speaker

Cardinal Richelieu

Author

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Source

Richelieu

Medium

Play

Genre

History play

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1839 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy. 7 Mar. 1839, Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 2.

The greatest country, the richest country, is not that which has the most capitalists, monopolists, immense grabbings, vast fortunes, with its sad, sad foil of extreme, degrading, damning poverty, but the land in which there are the most homesteads, freeholds-where wealth does not show such contrasts high and low, where all men have enough-a modest living-and no man is made possessor beyond the sane and beautiful necessities of the simple body and the simple soul.

Walt Whitman

More information about this quote

Topic

Economic equality National greatness

Speaker

Walt Whitman

Language

English

Time

1888 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Traubel, Horace. With Walt Whitman in Camden. Vol. 2, Mitchell Kennerley, 1915. Originally stated in a conversation with Walt Whitman, 3 Aug. 1888.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Abraham Lincoln

Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon
Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website

More information about this quote

Topic

Reconstruction American Civil War American politics

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1865 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1865, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Second Inaugral Address, March 4, 1865." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 2018.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the end of Being and ideal Grace.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

More information about this quote

Topic

Being in love Love

Author

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Source

Sonnets from the Portuguese

Medium

Sonnet Poem

Statement Type

Profession of love Question

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Sonnets from the Portuguese. London: Chapman and Hall, 1850, sonnet 43.

Current Citation

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. "Sonnets from the Portuguese." Aurora Leigh and Other Poems, edited by John Robert Glorney Bolton and Julia Bolton Holloway. Penguin Classics, 1996, sonnet 43.

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs!

Karl Marx

Read Critique of the Gotha Programme at marxists.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Redistribution of wealth Socialism Communism Political theory Politics

Author

Karl Marx

Source

Critique of the Gotha Programme

Genre

Political literature Economic literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

German

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Marx, Karl. Kritik des Gothaer Programms [Critique of the Gotha Programme]. Berlin: Friedrich Engels, 1891, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl. Critique of the Gotha Program, translated by Kevin B. Anderson. PM Press, 2022, pt. 1.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Abraham Lincoln

Buy Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings at Amazon Buy Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings at Amazon
Read the full text of this speech at umich.edu

More information about this quote

Topic

Declaration of Independence American founding Equality

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Gettysburg Address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1863 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Gettysburg Address." At the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. 19 Nov. 1863, Gettysburg, PA, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

Buy Anna Karenina at Amazon Buy Anna Karenina at Amazon
Read Anna Karenina at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Family dysfunction Family Parents and children

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

Anna Karenina

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Анна Каренина [Anna Karenina]. The Russian Messenger, 1875-1877. Serial.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Penguin Classics, 2014.

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Abraham Lincoln

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon
Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website

More information about this quote

Topic

Political division American Civil War American politics

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1861 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1861, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "First Inaugral Address, March 4, 1861." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 2018.

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias

Buy a book containing this poem at Amazon Buy a book containing this poem at Amazon
Read Ozymandias at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Arrogance Hubris

Author

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Source

Ozymandias

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1818 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Ozymandias." The Examiner. London: Leigh Hunt and John Hunt, 11 Jan. 1818, l. 11.

Current Citation

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Ozymandias." Percy Bysshe Shelley: The Major Works, edited by Zachary Leader and Michael O'Neill. Oxford University Press, 2009, I. 11.

I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one... But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.

Theodore Parker

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral progress Social progress Progress

Speaker

Theodore Parker

Source

Ten Sermons of Religion

Medium

Sermon

Language

English

Time

1853 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parker, Theodore. "Of Justice and the Conscience." Ten Sermons of Religion. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, and Company/New York: Charles S. Francis and Company, 1853.

The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.

Karl Marx

The Communist Manifesto

Buy The Communist Manifesto at Amazon Buy The Communist Manifesto at Amazon
Read The Communist Manifesto at marxists.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Ruling class Class conflict History of ideas Ideas

Author

Karl Marx

Source

The Communist Manifesto

Medium

Pamphlet

Genre

Political literature Economic literature

Language

German

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels [published anonymously]. Manifest der kommunistischen Partei [Manifesto of the Communist Party]. London: Gedruckt in der Office der Bildungs-Gesellschaft für Arbeiter, 1848.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto, translated by Samuel Moore and Friedrich Engels. Penguin Classics, 2002.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

Gettysburg Address

Read the Gettsyburg Address at the Library of Congress website

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War American politics

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Gettysburg Address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1863 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Gettysburg Address." At the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. 19 Nov. 1863, Gettysburg, PA, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

Man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted powers—Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man

Buy The Descent of Man at Amazon Buy The Descent of Man at Amazon
Read The Descent of Man at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Human origins Human nature Human evolution Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

The Descent of Man

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged!

John Wilkes Booth

"Thus always to tyrants" in Latin. Shouted immediately before assassinating Abraham Lincoln.

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War

Speaker

John Wilkes Booth

Language

English

Time

1865 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Booth, John Wilkes. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 14 Apr. 1865, Ford's Theatre, Washington DC, USA.

An invasion of armies can be resisted; an invasion of ideas cannot be resisted.

Victor Hugo

Read History of a Crime at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of ideas

Author

Victor Hugo

Source

The History of a Crime

Language

French

Time

1878 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Hugo, Victor. Histoire d'un crime [The History of a Crime]. Paris: Calmann-Levy, c. 1878, conclusion, ch. 10.

Go West, young man.

Horace Greeley

More information about this quote

Topic

American West Manifest destiny

Author

Horace Greeley

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1870 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Greeley, Horace. Quoted in New-York Daily Tribune. 13 July 1865.