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Currently showing 10,076 quotes

But what is Freedom? Rightly understood,
A universal licence to be good.

Hartley Coleridge

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Topic

Nature of freedom Freedom

Author

Hartley Coleridge

Source

Liberty

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1833 1830s 19th century

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Citation

Coleridge, Hartley. Liberty. c. 1833, I. 13.

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Yet I doubt not thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widen'd with the process of the suns.

Alfred Tennyson

Poems

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Read Locksley Hall at Poetry Foundation
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Topic

Nature of history Inevitability of progress Progress

Author

Alfred Tennyson

Source

Locksley Hall Poems

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1842 1840s 19th century

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Original Citation

Tennyson, Alfred. "Locksley Hall." Poems. Vol. 2, London: Edward Moxon, 1842, I. 137.

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Current Citation

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. "Locksley Hall." Alfred Tennyson: The Major Works, edited by Adam Roberts. Oxford University Press, 2009, I. 137.

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Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as "the truth" exists.... The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, "It never happened"—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs.

George Orwell

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Topic

Totalitarianism

Author

George Orwell

Source

Looking Back on the Spanish War New Road

Medium

Essay Anthology

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1943 1940s 20th century

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Original Citation

Orwell, George. "Looking Back on the Spanish War." New Road, June 1943, pt. 4.

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Current Citation

Orwell, George. "Looking Back on the Spanish War." The Collected Essays, Journalism And Letters Of George Orwell, vol. 2: My Country Right or Left 1940-1943, edited by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus. David R. Godine, 2007, no. 41, pt. 4.

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Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.

Anatole France

The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

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Topic

Leisure Staying busy Human nature

Author

Anatole France

Source

The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1881 1880s 19th century

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Citation

France, Anatole. Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard [The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard]. Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1881, pt. 2, ch. 4.

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But the artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom: to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition—and, therefore, more permanently enduring. He speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives: to our sense of pity, and beauty, and pain.

Joseph Conrad

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Topic

Artists Power of art

Author

Joseph Conrad

Source

The Nigger of the Narcissus

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

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Original Citation

Conrad, Joseph. The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Forecastle. London: Heinemann, 1897, preface.

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Current Citation

Conrad, Joseph. "The Nigger of the '"Narcissus.'" The Secret Sharer and Other Stories. W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, preface.

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Are you scared of the fuckin' boogeyman? I'm not.

John Wick

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Boogeyman

Speaker

Isosef Tarasov

Actor

Alfie Allen

Source

John Wick

Medium

Film

Genre

Neo-noir Action (film) Action

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

2014 2010s 21st century

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Citation

John Wick. Directed by Chad Stahelski, Thunder Road Pictures/87Eleven Productions/MJW Films/DefyNite Films, 2014.

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The trouble with a kitten is
THAT
Eventually it becomes a
CAT.

Ogden Nash

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Topic

Cats

Author

Ogden Nash

Source

The Kitten

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

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Citation

Nash, Ogden. "The Kitten." The Face Is Familiar: The Selected Verse of Ogden Nash. Garden City Publishing Company, 1941.

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That toil of growing up;
The ignominy of boyhood; the distress
Of boyhood changing into man;
The unfinished man and his pain.

W.B. Yeats

Read A Dialogue of Self and Soul at Poetry Foundation
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Topic

Growing up

Author

W.B. Yeats

Source

A Dialogue of Self and Soul

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

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Original Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "A Dialogue of Self and Soul." The Winding Stair and Other Poems. The Macmillan Company, 1933, pt. 2, st. 1.

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Current Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "A Dialogue of Self and Soul." W. B. Yeats: The Major Works, edited by Edward Larrissy. Oxford University Press, 2008.

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Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.

Elizabeth Bowen

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The House in Paris

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Jealousy

Author

Elizabeth Bowen

Source

The House in Paris

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

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Citation

Bowen, Elizabeth. The House in Paris. Gollancz/Knopf, 1935.

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Suffering is only intolerable when nobody cares.

Cicely Saunders

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Suffering

Author

Cicely Saunders

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

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Citation

Saunders, Cicely. "The Management of Patients in the Terminal Stage." Cancer. Vol. 6, Butterworth and Company, 1960.

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Right now, everything is great, everyone is happy, everyone is in love, and that's wonderful. But you gotta know that sooner or later you're gonna be screaming at each other about who's gonna get this dish. This eight dollar dish will cost you a thousand dollars in phone calls to the legal firm of that's-mine-this-is-yours.

When Harry Met Sally…

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Topic

Broken relationships

Speaker

Harry Burns

Actor

Billy Crystal

Source

When Harry Met Sally…

Medium

Film

Genre

Romantic comedy (film) Comedy (film) Romantic comedy Comedy

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

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Citation

When Harry Met Sally... Directed by Rob Reiner, Nelson Entertainment/Castle Rock Entertainment, 1989.

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How small, of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!

Oliver Goldsmith

Read The Traveller at Project Gutenberg
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Topic

Activist government Government Political theory Politics The human condition

Author

Oliver Goldsmith

Source

The Traveller

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1765 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

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Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. The Traveller; or, a Prospect of Society. London: John Newbery, 1764.

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It is the object only of war that makes it honorable. And if there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engaged.

Thomas Paine

The American Crisis

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American Revolution Just war End justifies the means

Author

Thomas Paine

Source

The American Crisis

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1778 1770s 18th century

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Original Citation

Paine, Thomas. The American Crisis: Number 5. Lancaster: John Dunlap, 1778.

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Current Citation

Paine, Thomas. "The American Crisis, Number V, March 21, 1778." Common Sense, The Crisis, & Other Writings from the American Revolution. Library of America, 2015.

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In God's wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.

John Muir

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Topic

Wilderness Man and nature Nature

Author

John Muir

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

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Citation

Muir, John. Journal entry. July 1890.

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It was a dark and stormy night.

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

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Paul Clifford

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Author

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

Source

Paul Clifford

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Opening lines

Language

English

Time

1830 1830s 19th century

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Original Citation

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. Paul Clifford. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830.

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Current Citation

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. Paul Clifford. Penguin Classics, 2010.

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A relationship, I think, is like a shark, you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies, and I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark.

Annie Hall

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Topic

Failed relationships Relationships

Speaker

Alvy Singer

Actor

Woody Allen

Source

Annie Hall

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy drama (film) Romantic comedy (film) Comedy drama Romantic comedy

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

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Citation

Annie Hall. Directed by Woody Allen, A Jack Rollins and Charles H. Joffe Production, 1977.

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You ask if they were happy. This is not a characteristic of a European. To be contented-that's for the cows.

Coco Chanel

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Topic

Happiness Europeans

Speaker

Coco Chanel

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

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Citation

Coco Chanel. Quoted in Coco Chanel: A Biography, written by Axel Madsen. Bloomsbury Publishing, 1990, ch. 35.

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What experience and history teach is this-that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.

G.W.F. Hegel

Read Lectures on the Philosophy of History at marxists.org
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Topic

Learning from the past History

Author

G.W.F. Hegel

Source

Lectures on the Philosophy of Wold History: Introduction

Medium

Lecture

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1830 1830s 19th century

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Original Citation

Hegel, G. W. F. Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte [Lectures on the Philosophy of World History]. c. 1830, University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

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Current Citation

Hegel, G. W. F. Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, translated by H. B. Nisbet. Cambridge University Press, 1981.

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It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of your life, like busboys in a restaurant.

Stand By Me

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Topic

Friends

Speaker

The Writer

Actor

Richard Dreyfuss

Source

Stand By Me

Medium

Film

Genre

Coming of age (film) Coming of age

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

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Citation

Stand By Me. Directed by Rob Reiner, Act III Productions, 1986.

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The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction. On either side it is pride, but understood in a different way.

Alexis de Tocqueville

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Topic

England and France England France

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1835 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

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Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Voyage en Angleterre et en Irlande de 1835 [Journeys to England and Ireland]. c. 1835.

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Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Journeys to England and Ireland, translated by George Lawrence and K. P. Mayer. Routledge, 2017.

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