20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.

Thomas Pynchon

Gravity's Rainbow

Buy Gravity's Rainbow at Amazon Buy Gravity's Rainbow at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Questions Questioning authority The man Politics

Author

Thomas Pynchon

Source

Gravity's Rainbow

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Pynchon, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. Viking Press, 1973.

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchased in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats that you've spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life...but why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

Trainspotting

Watch Trainspotting at Amazon Watch Trainspotting at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Middle class respectability Heroin Drugs Modern life

Speaker

Mark Renton

Actor

Ewan McGregor

Source

Trainspotting

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy drama (film) Comedy drama

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Trainspotting. Directed by Danny Boyle, Channel Four Films/Figment Films/Noel Gay Motion Picture Company, 1996.

Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas v. Collector of Internal Revenue

Read this opinion at supreme.justia.com.

More information about this quote

Topic

Taxes

Author

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Source

Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas v. Collector of Internal Revenue

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. Dissenting Opinion. Compania de Tabacos de Filipinas v. Collector of Internal Revenue. United States Reports, vol. 275, 21 Nov. 1927, pp. 99-101. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/275/87/.

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.

Atticus Finch

To Kill a Mockingbird

Watch To Kill a Mockingbird at Amazon Watch To Kill a Mockingbird at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Empathy Different perspectives

Speaker

Atticus Finch

Actor

Gregory Peck

Source

To Kill a Mockingbird

Medium

Film

Genre

Drama (film) Drama

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

To Kill a Mockingbird. Directed by Robert Mulligan, Brentwood Productions, 1962.

There's no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves.

Frank Herbert

More information about this quote

Topic

Balance Flexibility Adaptability Waves

Speaker

Darwi Odrade

Author

Frank Herbert

Source

Chapterhouse: Dune

Genre

Science fiction

Statement Type

Advice Zen koan

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Herbert, Frank. Chapterhouse: Dune. Putnam, 1985.

Success is relative:
It is what we can make of the mess we have
made of things.

T.S. Eliot

More information about this quote

Topic

Success

Speaker

Agatha

Author

T.S. Eliot

Source

The Family Reunion

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Eliot, T. S. The Family Reunion. Performed by Michael Redgrave, Helen Haye, and Catherine Lacey. 1939, Westminster Theatre, London, England, UK, pt. 2, sc. 3.

There it is, ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning.

Howard Cosell

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of New York City New York City

Speaker

Howard Cosell

Medium

TV program

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Cosell, Howard. Reporting a fire during the World Series. World Series. 12 Oct. 1977, Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY, USA.

Current Citation

Cosell, Howard. Quoted in The Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, written by Jonathan Mahler. Picador, 2007, ch. 64.

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

Dulce et Decorum Est

A Latin phrase, originally from Horace's Odes, meaning "it is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland."

Read Dulce et Decorum Est at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Dying for one's country Self-sacrifice Patriotism War

Author

Wilfred Owen

Source

Dulce et Decorum Est

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." Poems by Wilfred Owen. Chatto & Windus, 1920.

Current Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." The War Poems Of Wilfred Owen. Random House UK, 2018.

You dipped the chip. You took a bite. And you dipped again. That’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip! From now on, when you take a chip-just take one dip and end it.

Seinfeld

Watch Season 4 of Seinfeld at Amazon Watch Season 4 of Seinfeld at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Manners

Speaker

Timmy

Actor

Kieran Mulroney

Source

Seinfeld

Medium

TV program

Genre

Sitcom Comedy (TV) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"The Implant." Seinfeld, written by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld and Peter Mehlman, directed by Tom Cherones, season 4, episode 19, Shapiro/West Productions and Castle Rock Entertainment, 1993.

The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one’s own.

Willa Cather

The Professor's House

More information about this quote

Topic

Limits of knowledge Inscrutability Connecting with others Intimacy

Author

Willa Cather

Source

The Professor's House

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cather, Willa. The Professor's House. Alfred A. Knopf, 1925, bk. 1, ch. 8.

Always let your conscience be your guide.

Pinocchio

Watch Pinocchio at Amazon Watch Pinocchio at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Decisions and choices Conscience

Speaker

Jiminy Cricket

Actor

Cliff Edwards

Source

Pinocchio

Medium

Film

Genre

Animation (film) Musical (film) Animation Musical

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Pinocchio. Directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, Walt Disney Productions, 1940.

Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever!

George Wallace

More information about this quote

Topic

Jim Crow Segregation Civil rights

Speaker

George Wallace

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Era

Civil Rights Movement

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Wallace, George. "Inaugural Speech." 14 Jan. 1963, Alabama State Capitol, Montgomery, AL, USA.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of human rights.

Desmond Tutu

More information about this quote

Topic

Equality Human rights

Speaker

Desmond Tutu

Medium

Interview TV program

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Tutu, Desmond. The Today Show, NBC, 9 Jan. 1985.

Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.

Roger Miller

More information about this quote

Topic

Being present Experiencing things Rain

Author

Roger Miller

Medium

TV program

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Miller, Roger. Roger Miller and His Friends. ABC, 1 Jan. 1973.

We had found the secret of life!

Francis Crick

On the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953.

More information about this quote

Topic

DNA Genetics Biology

Author

Francis Crick

Source

The Double Helix

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Crick, Frances. Quoted in The Double Helix, by James D. Watson. Atheneum Press/Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968, ch. 26.

Truth is the first casualty in war.

Ethel Snowden

Women and War

More information about this quote

Topic

War and truth

Author

Ethel Snowden

Source

Women and War

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Snowden, Ethel. "Women and War." Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Education Association. 1915.

A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.

Adlai Stevenson

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of freedom Freedom Political theory

Speaker

Adlai Stevenson

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1952 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stevenson, Adlai. "Safeguards Against Communism." 7 Oct. 1952, Masonic Temple, Detroit, MI, USA.

Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.

T.S. Eliot

Burnt Norton

Buy a book containing Burnt Norton at Amazon Buy a book containing Burnt Norton at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

The road not taken Grass is always greener Counterfactual history

Author

T.S. Eliot

Source

Burnt Norton Four Quartets

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Eliot, T. S. “Burnt Norton.” Collected Poems 1909–1935. Harcourt, Brace And Company, 1936, pt. 1.

The very touch of the letter was as if you had taken me all into your arms.

Anaïs Nin

More information about this quote

Topic

Letters

Author

Anaïs Nin

Source

Letters of Anaïs Nin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Nin, Anaïs and Henry Miller. "August 6, 1932." A Literate Passion: Letters of Anaïs Nin & Henry Miller, 1932-1953, edited by Gunther Stuhlmann. Harcourt Brace & Company, 1987.

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dying.

Woody Allen

More information about this quote

Topic

Immortality through art Artistic legacy Immortality Death

Speaker

Woody Allen

Source

On Being Funny: Woody Allen and His Comedy

Language

English

Time

1975 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Allen, Woody. Quoted in On Being Funny: Woody Allen and Comedy, written by Eric Lax. Charterhouse, 1975.