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Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.

Christopher Hampton

More information about this quote

Topic

Critics

Speaker

Christopher Hampton

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Hampton, Christopher. Quoted in Sunday Times Magazine. 16 Oct. 1977.

There are more dead people than living. And their numbers are increasing. The living are getting rarer.

Eugene Ionesco

More information about this quote

Topic

Dead people

Speaker

Berenger

Author

Eugene Ionesco

Source

Rhinoceros

Medium

Play

Language

French

Time

1959 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ionesco, Eugene. Rhinoceros. 1959, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany, act 1.

To have common glories in the past, a common will in the present; to have done great things together, to will to do the like again-these are the essential conditions for the making of a people.

Ernest Renan

More information about this quote

Topic

Political community

Author

Ernest Renan

Source

What is a Nation?

Medium

Lecture

Language

French

Time

1882 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Renan, Ernest. "Qu’est-ce qu’une nation? [What is a Nation?]" 11 Mar. 1882, University of Sorbonne, Paris, France, pt. 3.

Current Citation

Renan, Ernest. "What is a Nation?" What is a Nation and Other Political Writings, translated by M. F. N. Giglioli. Columbia University Press, 2018, ch. 10, pt. 3.

This universe is not hostile, nor yet is it friendly. It is simply indifferent.

John H. Holmes

The Sensible Man's View of Religion

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of the universe The universe

Author

John H. Holmes

Source

The Sensible Man's View of Religion

Genre

Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Holmes, John H. The Sensible Man's View of Religion. Harper & Brothers, 1932, ch. 4.

Hamlet is a name: His speeches and sayings but the idle coinage of the poet's brain. What then, are they not real? They are as real as our own thoughts. Their reality is in the reader's mind. It is we who are Hamlet.

William Hazlitt

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of literature

Author

William Hazlitt

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hazlitt, William. "Hamlet." Characters of Shakespear's Plays. London: Rowland Hunter and Charles Ollier and James Ollier, 1817.

Whoever hath an absolute authority to interpret any written, or spoken laws; it is He, who is truly the Law-giver to all intents and purposes, and not the Person who first wrote, or spoke them.

Benjamin Hoadly

More information about this quote

Topic

Legal theory Law

Speaker

Benjamin Hoadly

Medium

Sermon

Genre

Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1717 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hoadly, Benjamin. "The Nature of the Kingdom, or Church, of Christ." 31 Mar. 1717, The Royal Chapel at St. James's, London, England, UK. Sermon.

Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others; that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to see some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage.

Albert Schweitzer

More information about this quote

Topic

Interconnectedness of all people

Author

Albert Schweitzer

Source

Memoirs of Childhood and Youth

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

German

Time

1949 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Schweitzer, Albert. Aus Meiner Kindheit und Jugendzeit [Memoirs of Childhood and Youth]. C. H. Beck, 1924.

Current Citation

Scweitzer, Albert. Memoirs of Childhood and Youth, translated by Kurt Bergel and Alice R. Bergel. Syracuse University Press, 1997.

I can't prove you are a Communist. But when I see a bird that quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, has feathers and webbed feet and associates with ducks-I'm certainly going to assume that he is a duck.

Emil Mazey

More information about this quote

Topic

Communism

Speaker

Emil Mazey

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mazey, Emil. Spoken at labor meeting of the United Automobile Workers. Labor meeting. 1946, Detroit, MI, USA.

The conception of political equality from the Declaration of Independence, to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, to the Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth Amendments can mean only one thing—one person, one vote.

William O. Douglas

Gray v. Sanders

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More information about this quote

Topic

Voting rights Equality

Author

William O. Douglas

Source

Gray v. Sanders

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Douglas, William O. United States, Supreme Court. Gray v. Sanders. United States Reports, vol. 372, 17 June 1963, pp. 368-372. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/372/368/.

Culture shock is relatively mild in comparison with a much more serious malady that might be called "future shock." Future shock is the dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future.

Alvin Toffler

The Future as a Way of Life

More information about this quote

Topic

The future

Author

Alvin Toffler

Source

The Future as a Way of Life

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Toffler, Alvin. "The Future as a Way of Life." Horizon Magazine, Summer 1965.

It seems reasonable to envision, for a time 10 or 15 years hence, a "thinking center" that will incorporate the functions of present-day libraries together with anticipated advances in information storage and retrieval... The picture readily enlarges itself into a network of such centers, connected to one another by wide-band communication lines and to individual users by leased-wire services.

J.C.R. Licklider

More information about this quote

Topic

The internet

Author

J.C.R. Licklider

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Licklider, J. C. R. "Man-Computer Symbiosis." IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, Mar. 1960.

The most preposterous notion that Homo sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.

Robert A. Heinlein

Time Enough for Love

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More information about this quote

Topic

God and man Nature of God Religion

Author

Robert A. Heinlein

Source

Time Enough for Love

Medium

Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Heinlein, Robert A. "Intermission." Time Enough for Love. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973.

Men flourish only for a moment.

Homer

The Odyssey

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More information about this quote

Topic

Ephemeral nature of life

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 19, l. 328.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 19, l. 328.

If you are very valiant, it is a god, I think, who gave you this gift.

Homer

The Iliad

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More information about this quote

Topic

Bravery

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 1, l. 178.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 1, l. 178.

Moral force never dwells in solitude; it will always bring neighbors.

Confucius

Quoted in Analects

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More information about this quote

Topic

Moral progress Social phenomena Interconnectedness of all people

Speaker

Confucius

Source

Analects

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Chinese

Time

221 BC 220s BC 3rd century BC

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Confucius. 論語 [The Analects]. c. 479 BCE.

Current Citation

Confucius. The Analects, edited and translated by Annping Chin. Penguin Classics, 2014.

The Olympian is a difficult foe to oppose.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

God's will God and man

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 1, l. 589.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 1, l. 589.

You ought not to practice childish ways, since you are no longer that age.

Homer

The Odyssey

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More information about this quote

Topic

Childishness Maturity

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 1, l. 296-297.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk.1, l. 296-297.

It is not unseemly for a man to die fighting in defense of his country.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

Dying for one's country

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 15, l. 496-497.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 15, l. 496-497.

Gaul as a whole is divided into three parts.

Julius Caesar

The Gallic Wars

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Topic

France

Author

Julius Caesar

Source

The Gallic Wars

Genre

Historical literature Autobiography and memoir

Language

Latin

Time

49 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Caesar, Julius. Commentarii de Bello Gallico [Commentaries on the Gallic War]. c. 58, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Caesar, Julius. The Gallic War, translated by Carolyn Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 1.

Wisdom is the principal thing.

Proverbs 4:7

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More information about this quote

Topic

Wisdom

Source

Proverbs The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

686 BC 680s BC 7th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Proverbs 4:7).