20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

The happy ending is our national belief.

Mary McCarthy

America the Beautiful

On Americans.

More information about this quote

Topic

American culture

Author

Mary McCarthy

Source

America the Beautiful Commentary Magazine

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

McCarthy, Mary. "America the Beautiful: The Humanist in the Bathtub." Commentary Magazine, Sept. 1947.

To abolish the fences of laws between men—as tyranny does—means to take away man's liberties and destroy freedom as a living political reality; for the space between men as it is hedged in by laws, is the living space of freedom.

Hannah Arendt

The Origins of Totalitarianism

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More information about this quote

Topic

Rule of law

Author

Hannah Arendt

Source

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Schocken Books, 1951, pt. 3, ch. 13.

The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities.

Allan Bloom

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Topic

Tyranny Overton window Freedom of thought

Author

Allan Bloom

Source

The Closing of the American Mind

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students. Simon & Schuster, 1987, pt. 3.

I'm funny how? I mean, funny like I'm a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh? I'm here to fuckin' amuse you?... How the fuck am I funny? What the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny.

Joe Pesci

Goodfellas

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More information about this quote

Topic

Being funny

Speaker

Tommy DeVito

Actor

Joe Pesci

Source

Goodfellas

Medium

Film

Genre

Crime (film) Crime

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Goodfellas. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Warner Bros., 1990.

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.

Al Gore

Click here to read the full transcript of this interview at cnn.com.

More information about this quote

Topic

The internet

Speaker

Al Gore

Source

CNN

Medium

Interview

Statement Type

Political gaffe

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Gore, Al. Interviewed by Wolf Blitzer. CNN, 9 Mar. 1999.

There is no such thing as justice-in or out of court.

Clarence Darrow

More information about this quote

Topic

Elusiveness of justice Justice

Speaker

Clarence Darrow

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Darrow, Clarence. Interview in Chicago. Apr. 1936.

Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of life Life

Speaker

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1911 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "The Class of '61." Fiftieth Anniversary of Graduation of the Harvard Class of 1861. 28 June 1911, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Current Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "The Class of '61." The Essential Holmes, edited by Richard A. Posner. University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Every tool carries with it the spirit by which it has been created.

Werner Heisenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Tools

Author

Werner Heisenberg

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Heisenberg, Werner. "An Old and a New Tradition." Gifford Lectures. Winter term 1955-1956, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK.

This is the greatest generation any society has ever produced.

Tom Brokaw

More information about this quote

Topic

Greatest generation

Speaker

Tom Brokaw

Source

Meet the Press

Medium

TV broadcast TV program

Language

English

Time

1994 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Brokaw, Tom. "Meet the Press." NBC, Normandy, France, 6 June 1994.

Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.

Patton

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Topic

American character Americans War World War II

Speaker

General George S. Patton

Actor

George C. Scott

Source

Patton

Medium

Film

Genre

Biography (film) War (film) Biography War

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Patton. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. 20th Century Fox, 1969.

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty-never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.

Winston Churchill

Speech at Harrow School, October 29, 1941

More information about this quote

Topic

Never giving up Persistence

Speaker

Winston Churchill

Source

Speech at Harrow School, October 29, 1941

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Churchill, Winston. "Never Give In." 29 Oct. 1941, Harrow School, Harrow, England, UK. Speech.

Current Citation

Churchill, Winston. "'Never give in!', 29 October 1941, Harrow School." Never Give In!: Winston Churchill's Speeches. A&C Black, 2013.

The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night-she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question-"Is this all?"

Betty Friedan

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More information about this quote

Topic

Middle class life Feminism Ennui

Author

Betty Friedan

Source

The Feminine Mystique

Genre

Feminist literature

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. W. W. Norton & Company, 1963, ch. 1.

I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise, they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a. M. Of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends.

Joan Didion

On Keeping a Notebook

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More information about this quote

Topic

Personal growth

Author

Joan Didion

Source

On Keeping a Notebook Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Didion, Joan. "On Keeping a Notebook." Holiday, 1966.

Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.

Mignon McLaughlin

The Neurotic's Notebook

More information about this quote

Topic

Hope Definition

Author

Mignon McLaughlin

Source

The Neurotic's Notebook

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

McLaughlin, Mignon. The Neurotic's Notebook. ‎The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1963, ch. 5.

I think the main thing a musician would like to do is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe. That's what music is to me-it's just another way of saying this is a big, beautiful universe we live in, that's been given to us, and here's an example of just how magnificent and encompassing it is. That’s what I would like to do. I think that’s one of the greatest things you can do in life, and we all try to do it in some way. The musician’s is through his music.

John Coltrane

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of music Music The universe

Speaker

John Coltrane

Source

DownBeat

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Coltrane, John. "John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy Answer the Jazz Critics." Interviewed by Don DeMichael. DownBeat, 12 Apr. 1962.

Current Citation

Coltrane, John. Quoted in Freedom Is, Freedom Ain't: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties, written by Scott Saul. Harvard University Press, 2003.

Who knows what true loneliness is—not the conventional word, but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion. Now and then a fatal conjunction of events may lift the veil for an instant. For an instant only. No human being could bear a steady view of moral solitude without going mad.

Joseph Conrad

Under Western Eyes

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More information about this quote

Topic

Existential solitude Loneliness

Author

Joseph Conrad

Source

Under Western Eyes

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1911 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Conrad, Joseph. Under Western Eyes. Harper & Brothers/Methuen Publishing, 1911, pt. 1, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Conrad, Joseph. Under Western Eyes. Dover Publications, 2003, pt. 1, ch. 2.

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Philip K. Dick

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of reality

Speaker

Philip K. Dick

Medium

Speech

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dick, Phillip. "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later." 1978, Disneyland, Anaheim, CA, USA. Speech.

We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.

Richard Dawkins

More information about this quote

Topic

Atheism

Author

Richard Dawkins

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. "Snake Oil and Holy Water." Forbes ASAP, 4 Oct. 1999.

You've gotta remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the New West. You know—morons.

Gene Wilder

Blazing Saddles

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Topic

Farmers Salt of the earth

Speaker

Jim "Waco Kid"

Actor

Gene Wilder

Source

Blazing Saddles

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy (film) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1974 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Blazing Saddles. Directed by Mel Brooks, Crossbow Productions, 1974.

A library doesn't need windows. A library is a window.

Stewart Brand

How Buildings Learn

More information about this quote

Topic

Libraries Power of literature

Author

Stewart Brand

Source

How Buildings Learn

Language

English

Time

1994 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Brand, Stewart. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built. Viking Press, 1994, ch. 3.