20th century

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There are no atheists in the fox holes.

William Thomas Cummings

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Cummings, William Thomas. Quoted in I Saw the Fall of the Philippines, by Carlos P. Romulo. Doubleday, 1943, ch. 15.

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Like two skeletons copulating on a corrugated tin roof.

Thomas Beecham

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Beecham, Thomas. Beecham Stories, complied by Harold Atkins and Archie Newman. Robson Books, 1978.

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Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

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Thomas, Dylan. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." Botteghe Oscure, 1951.

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Politics is show business for ugly people.

Bill Miller

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Miller, Bill. Quoted in Dallas Morning News. 13 Oct. 1991.

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This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience... We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Eisenhower, Dwight D. Farewell address. 17 Jan. 1961, The White House, Washington, DC, USA. Broadcast.

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We need in love to practice only this:
Letting each other go. For holding on
Comes easily; we do not need to learn it.

Rainer Maria Rilke

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Rilke, Rainer Maria. Requiem fur eine Freundin [Requiem for a Friend]. c. 1908.

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Rilke, Rainer Maria. "Requiem for a Friend." The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell. Vintage, 1989.

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Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.

Rainer Maria Rilke

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Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letter to Emanuel von Bodman. 17 Aug. 1901.

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Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1892-1910, translated by Jane B. Greene and M. D. Herter Norton. W. W. Norton & Company, 1969.

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The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.

Hugo Black

Everson v. Board of Education

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Black, Hugo. United States, Supreme Court. Everson v. Board of Education. United States Reports, vol. 330, 10 Feb. 1947, pp. 1-74. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/330/1/.

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I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita…"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

J. Robert Oppenheimer

On the explosion of the first atomic bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16th, 1945.

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Oppenheimer, J. Robert. Quoted in NBC White Paper: The Decision to Drop the Bomb. Narrated by Chet Huntley, directed by Fred Freed and Len Giovannitti, written by Fred Freed, 5 Jan. 1965, NBC.

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I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know,
Where the treetops glisten
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow.

Bing Crosby

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White Christmas

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"White Christmas." Holiday Inn. Directed by Mark Sandrich, performed by Bing Crosby, Paramount Pictures, 1942.

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The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials, and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.

Robert H. Jackson

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

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Jackson, Robert H. United States, Supreme Court. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. United States Reports, vol. 319, 14 June 1943, pp. 624-671. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/319/624/.

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Well, the people have spoken-the bastards.

Dick Tuck

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Conceding defeat in the 1966 primary for a seat in the California state senate.

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Tuck, Dick. Spoken after being defeated in the California Senate primary. 1966. CA, USA.

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Who built the Thebes of the seven gates?
In the books you will find the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?...
Where, the evening that the wall of China was finished
Did the masons go?

Bertolt Brecht

Questions from a Worker Who Reads

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Brecht, Bertolt. "Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters [Questions of a Reading Worker]." Das Wort, 1936.

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A life in which the gods are not invited is not worth living. It will be quieter, but there won't be any stories.

Roberto Calasso

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The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony

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Calasso, Robert. Le nozze di Cadmo e Armonia [The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmonia]. Adelphi Edizioni, 1988, ch. 12.

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I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

Jack London

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London, Jack. Quoted in The Bulletin. 2 Dec. 1916.

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One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

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Original Citation

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." 16 Apr. 1963.

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King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail (1963)." A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches, edited by James M. Washington. HarperOne, 2003.

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