1920s

Explore 345 quotes from the 1920s

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1 of 345

People have already had to rethink so many concepts of motion, and they will also gradually come to realize that what we call fate does not come into us from the outside, but emerges from us.

Rainer Maria Rilke

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Topic

Fate

Author

Rainer Maria Rilke

Source

Letters to a Young Poet

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1929 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letter to Franz Kappus. 12 Aug. 1904.

Current Citation

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters to a Young Poet, translated by Charlie Louth. Penguin Classics, 2014.

2 of 345

I think perhaps we want a more conscious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of seeing just a few people able to be individualists. We're tired of always deferring hope till the next generation. We're tired of hearing politicians and priests and cautious reformers...coax us, "Be calm! Be patient! Wait! We have the plans for a Utopia already made; just give us a bit more time and we’ll produce it; trust us; we're wiser than you." For ten thousand years they've said that. We want our Utopia now-and we're going to try our hands at it.

Sinclair Lewis

Main Street

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Topic

Political progress Progress

Speaker

Carol Milford Kennicott

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

Main Street

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. Main Street. Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920, ch. 16.

Current Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. "Main Street." Sinclair Lewis: Main Street and Babbitt, edited by John Hersey. Library of America, 1992, ch. 16.

3 of 345

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

A.A. Milne

The House at Pooh Corner

More information about this quote

Topic

Vulnerability Inner life

Author

A.A. Milne

Source

The House at Pooh Corner

Medium

Children's book

Genre

Children's literature

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milne, A. A. The House at Pooh Corner. Methuen, 1928, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Milne, A. A. The House at Pooh Corner. Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2018, ch. 6.

4 of 345

Language and our thought-grooves are inextricably interwoven, are, in a sense, one and the same.

Edward Sapir

More information about this quote

Topic

Language and thought Language

Author

Edward Sapir

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sapir, Edward. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921, ch. 10.

5 of 345

Our country has deliberately undertaken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.

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Author

Herbert Hoover

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hoover, Herbert. Letter to Senator W. H. Borah. 23 Feb. 1928.

6 of 345

Our system of government made up of three separate and independent departments, our divided sovereignty composed of Nation and State, the matchless wisdom that is enshrined in our Constitution, all these need constant effort and tireless vigilance for their protection and support.

Calvin Coolidge

Second Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge

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Topic

Separation of powers Federalism US Constitution

Speaker

Calvin Coolidge

Source

Second Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Coolidge, Calvin. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1925, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

7 of 345

The Maker of a universe with stars a hundred thousand light-years apart was interested, furious, and very personal about it if a small boy played baseball on Sunday afternoon.

Sinclair Lewis

Elmer Gantry

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Topic

Sabbath God and man

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

Elmer Gantry

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. Elmer Gantry. Harcourt Trade Publishers, 1927, ch. 17.

Current Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. Elmer Gantry. Signet, 2007, ch. 17.

8 of 345

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

H.G. Wells

More information about this quote

Topic

Education Human destructiveness

Author

H.G. Wells

Source

The Outline of History

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Wells, H. G. The Outline of History. George Newnes, 1920.

9 of 345

Since its very outset, it has been found necessary to conduct our Government by means of political parties. That system would not have survived from generation to generation if it had not been fundamentally sound and provided the best instrumentalities for the most complete expression of the popular will. It is not necessary to claim that it has always worked perfectly. It is enough to know that nothing better has been devised.

Calvin Coolidge

Second Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge

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More information about this quote

Topic

Political parties American politics

Speaker

Calvin Coolidge

Source

Second Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Coolidge, Calvin. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1925, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

10 of 345

In the realm of the emotions, the real is indistinguishable from the imaginary.

Andre Gide

The Counterfeiters

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Topic

Emotions

Author

Andre Gide

Source

The Counterfeiters

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gide, Andre. Les Faux-monnayeurs [The Counterfeiters]. Nouvelle Revue Francaise, 1925, pt. 1, ch. 8.

Current Citation

Gide, Andre. The Counterfeiters, translated by Dorothy Bussy. Penguin Books, 1990, pt. 1, ch. 8.

11 of 345

He had that nameless charm, with a strong magnetism which can only be called "it."

Elinor Glyn

More information about this quote

Topic

Charisma

Author

Elinor Glyn

Source

It

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Glyn, Elinor. "It." Cosmopolitan Magazine, Feb. - Mar. 1927.

12 of 345

There is a luring fallacy in the theory of banished barriers of trade, but preserved American standards require our higher production costs to be reflected in our tariffs on imports.

Warren G. Harding

Inaugural Address of Warren G. Harding

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More information about this quote

Topic

Protectionism Free trade

Speaker

Warren G. Harding

Source

Inaugural Address of Warren G. Harding Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Harding, William G. "Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1921, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

13 of 345

With the nation-wide induction of womanhood into our political life, we may count upon her intuitions, her refinements, her intelligence, and her influence to exalt the social order. We count upon her exercise of the full privileges and the performance of the duties of citizenship to speed the attainment of the highest state.

Warren G. Harding

Inaugural Address of Warren G. Harding

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Topic

Women's rights Voting rights

Speaker

Warren G. Harding

Source

Inaugural Address of Warren G. Harding Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Harding, William G. "Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1921, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

14 of 345

Diplomacy is to do and say
The nastiest thing in the nicest way.

Isaac Goldberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Diplomacy Foreign policy International politics

Author

Isaac Goldberg

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Goldberg, Isaac. The Reflex. Oct. 1927.

15 of 345

Chumps always make the best husbands... All the unhappy marriages come from the husband having brains.

P.G. Wodehouse

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage Husbands

Author

P.G. Wodehouse

Source

The Adventures of Sally

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wodehouse, P. G. The Adventures of Sally. Herbert Jenkins, 1922. Originally published in Collier's Magazine, 8 Oct. 1921-31 Dec. 1921.

16 of 345

A platitude is simply a truth repeated until people get tired of hearing it.

Stanley Baldwin

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More information about this quote

Topic

Platitudes and cliches Truth

Speaker

Stanley Baldwin

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Baldwin, Stanley. Speech in the House of Commons. House of Commons meeting. 29 May 1924. London, England, UK.

17 of 345

I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming... This all sounds very strenuous and serious. But now that I have wrestled with it, it's no longer so. I feel happy-deep down. All is well.

Katherine Mansfield

More information about this quote

Topic

Understanding oneself Reaching one's potential

Author

Katherine Mansfield

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mansfield, Katherine. Diary entry. 17 Oct. 1922.

Current Citation

Mansfield, Katherine. Journal of Katherine Mansfield, edited by J. Middleton Murry. Persephone, 2006.

18 of 345

Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the State was to make men free to develop their faculties; and that in its government the deliberative forces should prevail over the arbitrary. They valued liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.

Louis Brandeis

Whitney v. California

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Topic

Purpose of government Freedom

Author

Louis Brandeis

Source

Whitney v. California

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Brandeis, Louis. United States, Supreme Court. Whitney v. California. United States Reports, vol. 274, 16 May 1927, pp. 357-379. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/274/357/.

19 of 345

As for others and the world around him he never ceased in his heroic and earnest endeavor to love them, to be just to them, to do them no harm, for the love of his neighbor was as deeply in him as the hatred of himself, and so his whole life was an example that love of one's neighbor is not possible without love of one's self, and that self-hate is really the same thing as sheer egoism and in the long run breeds the same cruel isolation and despair.

Hermann Hesse

Steppenwolf

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Topic

Loving one's neighbor Self-hatred Loving oneself Love

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Steppenwolf

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hesse, Herman. Der Steppenwolf [The Steppenwolf]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1927.

Current Citation

Hesse, Herman. Steppenwolf, translated by Basil Creighton. Picador, 2002.

20 of 345

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.

Henry Beston

More information about this quote

Topic

Sound of water Rain Wind Waves Nature

Author

Henry Beston

Source

The Outermost House

Genre

Nature writing Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Beston, Henry. The Outermost House. Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1928, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Beston, Henry. The Outermost House. Holt Paperbacks, 2003, ch. 3.