Nobel laureate

Explore 235 quotes by Nobel laureates

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

John C. Polanyi

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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.

No man has ever been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that-one in an awkward, the other in a more intelligent way, each as best he can.

Hermann Hesse

Demian

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Topic

Personal growth Authenticity

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Demian

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

German

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hesse, Herman. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend [Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth]. Fischer Verlag, 1919.

Current Citation

Hesse, Herman. Demian, translated by Damion Searls. Penguin Classics, 2013.

For time is the medium of narration, as it is the medium of life. Both are inextricably bound up with it, as inextricably as are bodies in space. Similarly, time is the medium of music; music divides, measures, articulates time, and can shorten it, yet enhance its value, both at once.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

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Topic

Time Music

Author

Thomas Mann

Source

The Magic Mountain

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mann, Thomas. Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1924, ch. 7.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 7.

Once literature is contrived as the hymn of the nation, the flag of the race, the mouthpiece of a political party or the voice of a class or a group it can be employed as a mighty and all-engulfing tool of propaganda. However, such literature loses what is inherent in literature, ceases to be literature, and becomes a substitute for power and profit.

Gao Xingjian

The Case for Literature

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Topic

Literature

Speaker

Gao Xingjian

Source

The Case for Literature

Medium

Nobel Prize Lecture Speech

Language

Chinese

Time

2000 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gao Xingjian. "The Case for Literature." Nobel Lecture. 7 Dec. 2000, Swedish Academy, Stockholm, Sweden.

We come out of the dark and go into the dark again, and in between lie the experiences of our life. But the beginning and end, birth and death, we do not experience; they have no subjective character, they fall entirely in the category of objective events, and that's that.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

More information about this quote

Topic

The human condition Life and death

Author

Thomas Mann

Source

The Magic Mountain

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mann, Thomas. Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1924, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 6.

New York makes one think of the collapse of civilization, about Sodom and Gomorrah, the end of the world. The end wouldn't come as a surprise here. Many people already bank on it.

Saul Bellow

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Topic

Decline of New York City New York City

Speaker

Uncle Sammler

Author

Saul Bellow

Source

Mr. Sammler's Planet

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bellow, Saul. Mr. Sammler's Planet. Viking Press, 1970, pt. 6.

The treatment of the Negro is America's greatest and most conspicuous scandal.

Gunnar Myrdal

More information about this quote

Topic

Race relations

Author

Gunnar Myrdal

Source

An American Dilemma

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Myrdal, Gunnar. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. Vol. 2, Harper & Brothers, 1944, ch. 45, sect. 9.

It is even harder to realize that this present universe has evolved from an unspeakably unfamiliar early condition, and faces a future extinction of endless cold or intolerable heat. The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.

Steven Weinberg

More information about this quote

Topic

The universe

Author

Steven Weinberg

Source

The First Three Minutes

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Weinberg, Steven. The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe. Basic Books, 1977, epilogue.

Buildings will collapse, power plants will stop generating electricity. Generals will drop atomic bombs on their own populations. Mad revolutionaries will run in the streets, crying fantastic slogans. I have often thought that it would begin in New York. This metropolis has all the symptoms of a mind gone berserk.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

The New Yorker

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Topic

End of the world New York City

Author

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Source

The Cafeteria The New Yorker

Medium

Short story Magazine

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Singer, Isaac Bashevis. "The Cafeteria." The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 1968.

One of the great achievements of science has been, if not to make it impossible for intelligent people to be religious, then at least to make it possible for them not to be religious. We should not retreat from this accomplishment.

Steven Weinberg

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Topic

Science and religion

Speaker

Steven Weinberg

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Weinberg, Steven. "A Designer Universe." Conference on Cosmic Design. 1999, Washington, DC, USA. Speech.

We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama

More information about this quote

Topic

Political progress Progress Change Politics

Speaker

Barack Obama

Source

Speeches of Barack Obama

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

2008 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Obama, Barack. Senator Barack Obama’s speech to supporters after the nominating contests. 5 Feb. 2008, Chicago, IL, USA.

Our original guiding stars are struggle and hope.

Pablo Neruda

More information about this quote

Topic

Hope Fighting for justice Justice Progress Politics

Speaker

Pablo Neruda

Source

Toward the Splendid City (Speech)

Medium

Nobel Prize Lecture Speech

Language

Spanish

Time

1971 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Neruda, Pablo. "Towards the Splendid City." Acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature. 13 Dec. 1971, Stockholm, Sweden.

Current Citation

Neruda, Pablo. "Towards the Splendid City." Nobel Lectures in Literature, 1968-1980. World Scientific Publishing Co., 2007.

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.

Theodore Roosevelt

More information about this quote

Topic

Hard work Idleness

Speaker

Theodore Roosevelt

Source

The Strenuous Life (speech) Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr. "The Strenuous Life." Hamilton Club of Chicago meeting. 10 Apr. 1899, Chicago, IL, USA.

Current Citation

Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr. "The Strenuous Life." Selected Speeches and Writings of Theodore Roosevelt, edited by Gordon Hutner. Vintage, 2014.

You will never be free until we are free.

Desmond Tutu

Read the full transcript of this interview at PBS.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Interconnectedness of all people Liberation Freedom

Speaker

Desmond Tutu

Source

Bill Moyers' Journal

Medium

Interview TV program

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tutu, Desmond. "Bill Moyers Talks with Archbishop Desmond Tutu." Bill Moyers Journal. PBS, 27 Apr. 1999.

Do not wait for me to do something for your rights. It's your world and you can change it.

Malala Yousafzai

More information about this quote

Topic

Changing the world Taking action Activism Progress Politics

Speaker

Malala Yousafzai

Source

Glamour Magazine

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

2013 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Yousafzai, Malala. "Malala Yousafzai: The Girls' Hero." Glamour Magazine, 30 Oct. 2013.

I don't wait to be struck by lightning and don't need certain slants of light in order to write.

Toni Morrison

More information about this quote

Topic

Inspiration Creative process Writing

Speaker

Toni Morrison

Source

The New Republic

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

1981 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morrison, Toni. "The Language Must Not Sweat." Interviewed by Thomas LeClair. The New Republic, 21 Mar. 1981.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control and the nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

Barack Obama

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Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website

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Topic

Unfettered capitalism Free market Economic inequality 2008 Financial Crisis

Speaker

Barack Obama

Source

First Inaugural Address of Barack Obama

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

2009 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Obama, Barack. "First Inaugural Address." 20 Jan. 2009, West Front, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name.

Woodrow Wilson

More information about this quote

Topic

World War I Foreign policy

Speaker

Woodrow Wilson

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1914 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Wilson, Woodrow. An address on neutrality. US Senate meeting. 19 Aug. 1914, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Wilson, Woodrow. "An Appeal for Neutrality in World War I." Woodrow Wilson: Essential Writings and Speeches of the Scholar-President, edited by Mario R. DiNunzio. NYU Press, 2006.

Modern life is both complex and intense, and the tremendous changes wrought by the extraordinary industrial development of the last half century are felt in every fiber of our social and political being.

Theodore Roosevelt

Second Inaugural Address of Theodore Roosevelt

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More information about this quote

Topic

Modern life Economic development Change

Speaker

Theodore Roosevelt

Source

Second Inaugural Address of Theodore Roosevelt Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Roosevelt, Theodore. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1905, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.

Toni Morrison

More information about this quote

Topic

Culture Reconciliation Civilization

Author

Toni Morrison

Source

No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear The Nation

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

2015 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morrison, Toni. "No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear." The Nation: 150th Anniversary Special, 23 Mar. 2015.