1930s

Explore 357 quotes from the 1930s

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Topic

Economic inequality Rich vs. poor

Speaker

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Source

Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "Second Inaugural Address." 20 Jan. 1937, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "Second Inaugral Address: Washington, DC, January 20, 1937." Great Speeches, edited by John Grafton. Dover, 1999.

Refuse to be an accomplice.

Simone Weil

More information about this quote

Topic

Political courage Standing up for what's right Courage Politics

Author

Simone Weil

Source

Journals of Simone Weil

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

French

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Weil, Simone. Personal notebook entry. c 1933.

The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.

Dashiell Hammett

Black Mask

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Topic

Talking too much

Speaker

Sam Spade

Author

Dashiell Hammett

Source

The Maltese Falcon Black Mask

Medium

Novel Magazine

Genre

Detective fiction

Language

English

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hammett, Dashiell. "The Maltese Falcon." Black Mask, Sept. 1929 - Jan. 1930.

Current Citation

Hammett, Dashiell. "The Maltese Falcon." The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, Red Harvest. Everyman's Library, 2000, ch. 12.

Between grief and nothing I will take grief.

William Faulkner

More information about this quote

Topic

Grief Experiencing things

Author

William Faulkner

Source

If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Faulkner, William. The Wild Palms. Random House, 1939.

Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.

Winston Churchill

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Topic

Dictators Authoritarianism

Author

Winston Churchill

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Churchill, Winston. Letter. 11 Nov. 1937.

Nobody sees a flower-really-it is so small-we haven't time-and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time.

Georgia O'Keeffe

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Topic

Slowing down Paying attention Observation

Author

Georgia O'Keeffe

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

O'Keeffe, Georgia. "About Myself." Georgia O'Keeffe: Exhibition of Oils and Pastels at An American Place. An American Place, 1939.

Human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.

T.S. Eliot

Burnt Norton

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Topic

Facing the truth Delusion Human nature

Author

T.S. Eliot

Source

Burnt Norton Four Quartets

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

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

I went to the crossroad,
fell down on my knees.
Asked the Lord above,
"Have mercy, save poor Bob if you please."

Robert Johnson

Cross Road Blues

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Topic

God's mercy

Speaker

Robert Johnson

Source

Cross Road Blues

Medium

Song

Genre

Blues

Statement Type

Prayer

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Johnson, Robert. Cross Road Blues. Vocalion Records, 1937.

It isn't what you earn but how you spend it that fixes your class.

Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here

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Topic

Social class

Speaker

Doremus Jessup

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

It Can't Happen Here

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. It Can't Happen Here. Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1935, ch. 20.

Nothing matters very much and very few things matter at all.

Arthur James Balfour

More information about this quote

Topic

Things that don't matter

Speaker

Arthur James Balfour

Source

Discreet Memoirs

Language

English

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Balfour, Arthur James. Quoted in Discreet Memoirs, written by Lady Clodagh Anson. G. Bateman Blackshaw, 1931.

It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs—and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it. It takes off a lot of anxiety.

George Orwell

Down and Out in Paris and London

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Topic

Freedom in poverty Poverty

Author

George Orwell

Source

Down and Out in Paris and London

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Orwell, George. Down and Out in Paris and London. Victor Gollancz, 1933, ch. 3.

If you had asked me why I had joined the militia I should have answered: "To fight against Fascism," and if you had asked me what I was fighting for, I should have answered: "Common decency."

George Orwell

Homage to Catalonia

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Topic

Spanish Civil War Political progress Fascism

Author

George Orwell

Source

Homage to Catalonia

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1938 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Orwell, George. Homage to Catalonia. Secker and Warburg, 1938, ch. 5.

I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.

Henry Miller

Tropic of Cancer

More information about this quote

Topic

Freedom in poverty

Author

Henry Miller

Source

Tropic of Cancer

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1934 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Miller, Henry. Tropic of Cancer. Obelisk Press, 1934.

Every man is a king so long as he has someone to look down on.

Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here

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Topic

Social hierarchy Domination and subordination

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

It Can't Happen Here

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. It Can't Happen Here. Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1935, ch. 17.

The innocent and the beautiful
Have no enemy but time.

W.B. Yeats

More information about this quote

Topic

Effects of time

Author

W.B. Yeats

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "In Memory of Eva Gore Booth and Con Markiewicz." The Winding Stair and Other Poems. The Macmillan Company, 1933, I. 24.

Current Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "In Memory of Eva Gore Booth and Con Markiewicz." W. B. Yeats: The Major Works, edited by Edward Larrissy. Oxford University Press, 2008, I. 24.

No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.

Rhett Butler

Gone with the Wind

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Topic

Kisses

Speaker

Rhett Butler

Actor

Clark Gable

Source

Gone with the Wind

Medium

Film

Genre

Epic (film) Historical romance (film) Epic Historical romance

Statement Type

Sexual innuendo

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gone with the Wind. Directed by Victor Fleming. Selznick International Pictures/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939.

In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Topic

Non-intervention American foreign policy Foreign policy International politics

Speaker

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Source

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1933, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "First Inaugral Address: Washington, DC, March 4, 1933." Great Speeches, edited by John Grafton. Dover, 1999.

Chastity—the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions.

Aldous Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Chastity Sex

Speaker

Anthony Beavis

Author

Aldous Huxley

Source

Eyeless in Gaza

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Aldous. Eyeless in Gaza. Chatto & Windus, 1936, ch. 27.

The sky is darkening like a stain;
Something is going to fall like rain,
And it won't be flowers.

W.H. Auden

More information about this quote

Topic

Foreboding

Author

W.H. Auden

Source

The Witnesses

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Auden, W. H. "The Witnesses." Listener’s poetry supplement, 12 July 1933.

War is like love, it always finds a way.

Bertolt Brecht

More information about this quote

Topic

Inevitability of war War

Speaker

The Chaplain

Author

Bertolt Brecht

Source

Mother Courage and Her Children

Medium

Play

Language

German

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Brecht, Bertolt. Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder [Mother Courage and Her Children]. 1941, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Current Citation

Brecht, Bertolt. Mother Courage and Her Children, translated by Eric Bentley. Grove Press, 1991.