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Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.

George Bernard Shaw

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Topic

Assassination Censorship

Author

George Bernard Shaw

Source

The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1909 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Shaw, George Bernard. The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet: A Sermon in Crude Melodrama. 10 Apr. 1909, Abby Theatre of Dublin, Liverpool, England, UK, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Shaw, George Bernard. "The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet." Playlets. Oxford University Press, 2021, pt. 1.

The vague, crepuscular time; the time of regrets that resemble hopes, of hopes that resemble regrets, when youth has passed, but old age has not yet arrived.

Ivan Turgenev

Fathers and Sons

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Topic

Middle age

Author

Ivan Turgenev

Source

Fathers and Sons

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Turgenev, Ivan. "Отцы и дети [Fathers and Sons]." The Russian Messenger, 1862.

Current Citation

Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons, translated by Richard Freeborn. Oxford University Press, 2008.

The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said, "This is mine," and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Discourse on Inequality

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Topic

Civil society Property rights

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source

Discourse on Inequality

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1755 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Discours sur l'origine et les fondemonts de l'inegalite parmi les hommes [Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men]. Amsterdam: Marc-Michel Rey, 1755, pt. 2.

Current Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, translated by Donald A. Cress. Hackett, 1992, pt. 2.

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.

Albert Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus

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Topic

Suicide Purpose of life Philosophy

Author

Albert Camus

Source

The Myth of Sisyphus

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Camus, Albert. Le Mythe de Sisyphe [The Myth of Sisyphus]. Éditions Gallimard, 1942.

What little girls learn is not the desire for the other, but the desire to be desired.

Naomi Wolf

The Beauty Myth

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Topic

Patriarchy

Author

Naomi Wolf

Source

The Beauty Myth

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. Chatto & Windus, 1990.

To recognise that the soul of a man is unknowable, is the ultimate achievement of wisdom. The final mystery is oneself. When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

Oscar Wilde

De Profundis

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Topic

Inner life The mysterious

Author

Oscar Wilde

Source

De Profundis

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wilde, Oscar. Letter to Lord Alfred Douglas. Jan.-Mar. 1897.

People are not always what they seem.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Nathan the Wise

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Topic

Appearance vs. reality

Speaker

Daya

Author

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Source

Nathan the Wise

Medium

Play

Language

German

Time

1783 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Nathan der Weise [Nathan the Wise]. 14 Apr. 1783, Dobbelinsches Theatre, Berlin, Germany, act 1, sc. 6.

Current Citation

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Nathan the Wise, translated by William Taylor. Dover Publications, 2015, act 1, sc. 6.

If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or being slaves.

Jupiter Hammon

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Topic

Black experience

Speaker

Jupiter Hammon

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1786 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hammon, Jupiter. "An Address to the Negroes in the State of New York." 24 Sept. 1786, New York, NY, USA.

There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion. It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventure of the Naval Treaty

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Topic

Flowers Beauty of nature Nature of God

Speaker

Sherlock Holmes

Author

Arthur Conan Doyle

Source

The Adventure of the Naval Treaty

Medium

Short story Magazine

Genre

Detective fiction

Language

English

Time

1893 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Doyle, Arthur Conan. "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty." The Strand Magazine. London, 1893.

Current Citation

Doyle, Arthur Conan. "The Naval Treaty." The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlock Holmes Collector's Library. Detective Fiction, 2023.

The sons of torture-victims make good terrorists.

Andre Malraux

Man's Fate

More information about this quote

Topic

Torture Terrorism Cycle of violence

Speaker

Suan

Author

Andre Malraux

Source

Man's Fate

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Malraux, Andre. La Condition humaine [The Human Condition]. Librairie Gallimard, 1933, pt. 4.

Current Citation

Malraux, Andre. Man's Fate. Penguin Books, 2009, pt. 4.

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.

John A. Shedd

Salt from My Attic

More information about this quote

Topic

Taking risks

Author

John A. Shedd

Source

Salt from My Attic

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Shedd, John A. Salt from My Attic. Mosher Press, 1928.

You will laugh when you learn that I thought nothing of deceiving idiots, scoundrels and fools when I needed to do so. As for my deceptions of women, these are not of the sort to be tallied, since when love has a hand in things, each party usually dupes the other.

Giacomo Casanova

Histoire de Ma Vie

More information about this quote

Topic

Men and women Deception

Author

Giacomo Casanova

Source

Histoire de Ma Vie

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

French

Time

1791 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Casanova, Giacomo. Aus den Memoiren des Venetianers Jacob Casanova de Seingalt [From the Memoirs of the Venetian Jacob Casanova de Seingalt]. Vol. 1, Leipzig: Brodhaus, 1822, preface.

Current Citation

Casanova, Giacomo. History of My Life, vols. 1-2, translated by Willard R. Trask. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966.

Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears.

Italo Calvino

Invisible Cities

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Topic

Cities

Author

Italo Calvino

Source

Invisible Cities

Medium

Novel

Language

Italian

Time

1972 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Calvino, Italo. Le citta invisibili [Invisible Cities]. Giulio Einaudi, 1972.

Of all sexual aberrations perhaps the most curious is chastity.

Remy de Gourmont

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Topic

Chastity

Author

Remy de Gourmont

Source

The Natural Philosophy of Love

Language

French

Time

1903 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Gourmont, Remy. Physique de l'Amor: Essai Sur l'Instinct Sexuel [Physics of Love - Essay on Sexual Instinct]. Mercure de France, 1903, ch. 18.

A service beyond all recompense
Weighs so heavy that it almost gives offense.

Pierre Corneille

Surena

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Topic

Favors

Speaker

Orode

Author

Pierre Corneille

Source

Surena

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Language

French

Time

1674 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Corneille, Pierre. Surena. 1674, act 3, sc. 2.

To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.

Walter Benjamin

One Way Street

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Topic

Self-knowledge Happiness

Author

Walter Benjamin

Source

One Way Street

Language

German

Time

1979 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Benjamin, Walter. Einbahnstraße [One Way Street]. Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, 1928.

Current Citation

Benjamin, Walter. One-Way Street, translated by Edmund Jephcott, edited by Michael W. Jennings. Belknap Press, 2016.

God is stupidity and cowardice; God is hypocrisy and falsehood. God is tyranny and poverty; God is evil. For as long as men bow before altars, mankind will remain damned, the slaves of kings and priests.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

The System of Economic Contradictions

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Topic

Nature of God God

Author

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Source

The System of Economic Contradictions

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

French

Time

1846 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph. Systeme des contradictions economiques ou Philosophie de la misere [The System of Economic Contractictions, or Philosophy of Misery]. Paris: Chez Guilla umin et Cie, 1846, ch. 8.

Are you lost daddy I asked tenderly.
Shut up he explained.

Ring Lardner

More information about this quote

Topic

Parents and children

Author

Ring Lardner

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lardner, Ring. "The Young Immigrunts." Ring Lardner: Selected Stories. Penguin Classics, 1997. Originally published by The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1920, ch. 10.

Lighthouses don't go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.

Anne Lamott

More information about this quote

Topic

Being a good example

Author

Anne Lamott

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1994 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions On Writing and Life. Pantheon Books. 1994.

A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car.

Kenneth Tynan

More information about this quote

Topic

Critics

Author

Kenneth Tynan

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tynan, Kenneth. Quoted in "Critic Kenneth Tynan Has Mellowed But Is Still England's Stingingest Gadfly." Written by Godfrey Smith. The New York Times, 9 Jan. 1966.