1980s

Explore 532 quotes from the 1980s

No matter how lonely you get or how many birth announcements you receive, the trick is not to get frightened. There's nothing wrong with being alone.

Wendy Wasserstein

More information about this quote

Topic

Being single

Speaker

Harriet Cornwall

Author

Wendy Wasserstein

Source

Isn't It Romantic

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1981 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wasserstein, Wendy. Isn't It Romantic. 1981, Phoenix Theater, New York City, NY, USA, act 1, sc. 6.

Civilized people must get off their high horse and learn with humble lucidity that they too are an indigenous variety.

Alain Finkielkraut

More information about this quote

Topic

Ethnocentrism Anthropology

Author

Alain Finkielkraut

Source

The Undoing of Thought

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Finkielkraut, Alain. La défaite de la pensée [The Undoing of Thought]. Gallimard, 1987.

The national park idea, the best idea we ever had, was inevitable as soon as Americans learned to confront the wild continent not with fear and cupidity but with delight, wonder, and awe.

Wallace Stegner

More information about this quote

Topic

National parks Conservation Man and nature Nature

Author

Wallace Stegner

Language

English

Time

1983 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stegner, Wallace. "The Best Idea We Ever Had." Marking the Sparrow's Fall: The Making of the American West. H. Holt, 1998, p. 137.

Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that's too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.

Julian Barnes

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Topic

History

Author

Julian Barnes

Source

A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Barnes, Julian. "Parenthesis." A HIstory of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. Jonathan Cape/Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.

The part of our moral theory... That covers how we affect future generations... Is the most important part of our moral theory, since the next few centuries will be the most important in human history.

Derek Parfit

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More information about this quote

Topic

Moral theory Moral progress The future

Author

Derek Parfit

Source

Reasons and Persons

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parfit, Derek. Reasons and Persons. Oxford University Press, 1984.

Joel, you wanna know something? Every now and then say, "What the fuck." "What the fuck" gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.

Risky Business

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More information about this quote

Topic

Questioning authority

Speaker

Miles Dalby

Actor

Curtis Armstrong

Source

Risky Business

Genre

Teen (film) Comedy drama (film) Teen Comedy drama

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1983 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Risky Business. Directed by Paul Brickman, The Geffen Film Company, 1983.

When…we fear science, we really fear ourselves. Human dignity is better served by embracing knowledge.

John C. Polanyi

More information about this quote

Topic

Science

Speaker

John C. Polanyi

Medium

Nobel Prize Lecture Speech

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Polanyi, John C. Nobel banquet speech. 10 Dec. 1986, Stockholm, Sweden.

You can't get at the truth by writing history; only the novelist can do that.

Gerald Brenan

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of truth Truth History Power of literature Novels

Author

Gerald Brenan

Source

Times Literary Supplement

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Brenan, Gerald. Times Literary Supplement. 28 Nov. 1986.

Journalists belong in the gutter because that is where the ruling classes throw their guilty secrets.

Gerald Priestland

More information about this quote

Topic

Journalism

Speaker

Gerald Priestland

Source

Observer

Language

English

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Priestland, Gerald. Radio broadcast in London. 19 May 1988, London, England, UK.

Greed is all right... Greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.

Ivan F. Boesky

More information about this quote

Topic

Greed Capitalism

Speaker

Ivan F. Boesky

Source

1986 UC Berkeley commencement address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Commencement address

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Boesky, Ivan. Commencement speech. 18 May 1986, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.

We Americans are great on fillers, as if what we have, what we are, is not enough... We have only to look at the houses we build to see how we build against space, the way we drink against pain and loneliness. We fill up space as if it were a pie shell, with things whose opacity further obstructs our ability to see what is already there.

Gretel Ehrlich

More information about this quote

Topic

American character

Author

Gretel Ehrlich

Source

The Solace of Open Spaces

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ehrlich, Gretel. The Solace of Open Spaces. Viking Press, 1985.

I enjoy being afraid of Russia. It's a harmless fear, but it makes America feel better, Russia gets an inflated sense of national worth from our paranoia. How's that?

St. Elmo's Fire

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More information about this quote

Topic

Cold War Russia

Speaker

Kevin Dolenz

Actor

Andrew McCarthy

Source

St. Elmo's Fire

Medium

Film

Genre

Coming of age (film) Coming of age

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

St. Elmo's Fire. Directed by Joel Schumacher, Channel-Lauren Shuler, 1985.

It was none the less a perfectly ordinary horse, such as convergent evolution has produced in many of the places that life is to be found. They have always understood a great deal more than they let on. It is difficult to be sat on all day, every day, by some other creature, without forming an opinion about them.

Douglas Adams

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

More information about this quote

Topic

Horses Animals Man and animals

Author

Douglas Adams

Source

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Medium

Novel

Genre

Detective fiction

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Adams, Douglas. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. William Heinemann Ltd./Pocket Books, 1987, ch. 2.

It is as wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what was done in his name.

Tony Benn

More information about this quote

Topic

Marxism Ideological excess Ideology

Speaker

Tony Benn

Source

The Benn Heresy

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1982 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Benn, Tony. Quoted in The Benn Heresy by Alan Freeman. Pluto Press, 1982. Originally stated during a TV interview, c. 1982.

Faith is something you die for; a doctrine is something you kill for: there is all the difference in the world.

Tony Benn

More information about this quote

Topic

Faith Martyrdom Fanaticism Religious extremism Religion

Author

Tony Benn

Source

The Observer

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Benn, Tony. "Sayings of the Week." The Observer, 16 Apr. 1989.

Everybody knows the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows.

Leonard Cohen

Everybody Knows

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Read the lyrics to Everybody Knows at genius.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Things are getting worse

Speaker

Leonard Cohen

Source

Everybody Knows

Medium

Song

Language

English

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cohen, Leonard and Sharon Robinson. "Everybody Knows." Performed by Leonard Cohen. I'm Your Man. Columbia Records, 1988.

Homesickness is a bit like seasickness. You don’t know how awful it is till you get it, and when you do, it hits you right in the top of the stomach and you want to die.

Roald Dahl

More information about this quote

Topic

Homesickness Home

Author

Roald Dahl

Source

Boy: Tales of Childhood

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dahl, Roald. "Homesickness." Boy: Tales of Childhood. Jonathan Cape, 1984.

The Holocaust is a central event in many people's lives, but it has also become a metaphor for our century. There cannot be an end to speaking and writing about it.

Aharon Appelfeld

More information about this quote

Topic

The Holocaust

Speaker

Aharon Appelfeld

Source

The New York Times

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Appelfeld, Aharon. Quoted in "Writing Holocaust Memories." Written by Herbert Mitgang. The New York Times, 15 Nov. 1986.

The truth is that we need invertebrates but they don't need us. If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on with little change... But if invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt that the human species could last more than a few months.

E.O. Wilson

More information about this quote

Topic

Man and animals Man and nature

Speaker

E.O. Wilson

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Wilson, Edward Osborne. "The Little Things That Run the World." The opening of the invertebrates exhibit. 7 May 1987, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, USA.

You cannot be a success in any business without believing that it is the greatest business in the world... You have to put your heart in the business and the business in your heart.

Thomas Watson

More information about this quote

Topic

Success in business Building a business

Speaker

Thomas Watson

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1981 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Watson, Thomas. Quoted in IBM: Colossus in Transition, written by Robert Sobel. Truman Talley Books, 1981.