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I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us... We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.

Franz Kafka

More information about this quote

Topic

Books

Author

Franz Kafka

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Kafka, Franz. Letter to Oskar Pollak. 27 Jan. 1904.

Current Citation

Kafka, Franz. "To Oscar Pollack, January 27, 1904." Letters to Friends, Family and Editors, translated by Richard and Clara Winston. Schocken, 1990.

Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance.

John Ruskin

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of beauty Beauty Lilies Flowers

Author

John Ruskin

Source

Stones of Venice

Medium

Treatise

Language

English

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ruskin, John. The Stones of Venice. Vol. 1, London: Smith, Edler & Co., 1851, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Ruskin, John. "The Stones of Venice." The Works of John Ruskin, edited by Edward Tyas Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. Vol. 9, Cambridge University Press, 2010, ch. 2.

Once I built a railroad, now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Yip Harburg

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More information about this quote

Topic

Great Depression

Speaker

Rex Weber

Author

Yip Harburg

Source

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Americana

Medium

Song Play

Genre

Musical (play) Musical

Language

English

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Harburg, E. Y. "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" Americana. Composed by Jay Gorney. 1932, Shubert Theatre, New York City, New York, USA.

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

Reinhold Niebuhr

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More information about this quote

Topic

Democracy Political theory Human nature Politics

Author

Reinhold Niebuhr

Source

The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Niebuhr, Reinhold. The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1944.

We campaign in poetry. But when we're elected we're forced to govern in prose.

Mario Cuomo

More information about this quote

Topic

Campaign promises Political campaigns Politics

Speaker

Mario Cuomo

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cuomo, Mario. "E Pur Si Muove." Chubb Fellowship lecture. 1 Feb. 1985, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.

When the white man had warmed himself before the Indians' fire and filled himself with their hominy, he became very large. With a step he bestrode the mountains, and his feet covered the plains and the valleys. His hands grasped the eastern and the western sea, and his head rested on the moon.

Speckled Snake

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More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations

Speaker

Speckled Snake

Language

English

Time

1829 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Speckled Snake. Speech delivered at a council of Indian chiefs. 20 June 1829, USA.

Current Citation

Speckled Snake. Quoted in A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present, written by Howard Zinn. Routledge, 2015, ch. 7.

A truly exciting poem has something evasive or mysterious at the core, and it succeeds in suggesting to us that the core is essential to our being.

Mark Strand

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry

Speaker

Mark Strand

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1979 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Strand, Mark. "Untelling the Hour." Acts of Mind: Conversations with Contemporary Poets. University of Alabama Press, 1983. Originally an interview called "Untelling the Hour." Interviewed by Richard Jackson. The Poetry Miscellany, c. 1979.

Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot.

James Thomson

More information about this quote

Topic

Teaching

Author

James Thomson

Source

Spring (Thomson)

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1728 1720s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Thomson, James. Spring. London: Andrew Millar, 1728.

When a man wanted to make a machine that would walk, he created the wheel, which does not resemble a leg.

Guillaume Apollinaire

More information about this quote

Topic

The wheel Anthropomorphism Human ingenuity Technological progress Innovation

Author

Guillaume Apollinaire

Source

Les Mamelles de Tirésias

Medium

Play

Language

French

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Apollinaire, Guillaume. Les mamelles de Tirésias [The Breasts of Tiresias]. 1917, Paris, France.

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,
Listen to the DON’TS
Listen to the SHOULDN’TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WONT’S
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me-
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

Shel Silverstein

Listen to the Mustn’ts

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More information about this quote

Topic

Eff the haters Taking risks Going for it

Author

Shel Silverstein

Source

Listen to the Mustn’ts Where the Sidewalk Ends

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1974 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Silverstein, Shel. "Listen to the Mustn’ts." Where the Sidewalk Ends. Harper & Row, 1974, I. 1.

These are great days we're living, bros. We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns. These people we wasted here today are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting.

Full Metal Jacket

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More information about this quote

Topic

Vietnam War

Speaker

Crazy Earl

Actor

Kieron Jecchinis

Source

Full Metal Jacket

Medium

Film

Genre

War (film) War

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Full Metal Jacket. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Natant/Harrier Films, 1987.

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made.

Robert Browning

More information about this quote

Topic

Aging

Author

Robert Browning

Source

Rabbi ben Ezra

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Browning, Robert. "Rabbi Ben Ezra." Dramatis Personae. London: Chapman & Hall, 1864, I. 1.

Current Citation

Browning, Robert. "Rabbi Ben Ezra." Robert Browning: The Major Works, edited by Adam Roberts. Oxford University Press, 2009, I. 1.

Tempt not a desp'rate man.

William Shakespeare

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Read Romeo and Juliet at The Folger Shakespeare Library

More information about this quote

Topic

Nothing to lose Desperation

Speaker

Romeo Montague

Author

William Shakespeare

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1597 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. London: John Danter, 1597, act 5, sc. 3.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Romeo and Juliet." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 5, sc. 3.

Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women.

Charles R. Johnson

Middle Passage

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More information about this quote

Topic

Dangers of women Ocean and sea

Author

Charles R. Johnson

Source

Middle Passage

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Johnson, Charles R. Middle Passage. Atheneum Publishers, 1990.

Before heaven and earth had taken form all was vague and amorphous. Therefore it was called the Great Beginning. The Great Beginning produced emptines and emptiness produced the universe... The combined essences of heaven and earth became the yin and yang, the concentrated essences of the yin and yang became the four seasons, and the scattered essences of the four seasons became the myriad creatures of the world.

Huainanzi

More information about this quote

Topic

Origin of the universe Creation of the world

Source

Huainanzi

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Chinese

Time

139 BC 130s BC 2nd century BC

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Huainanzi. c. 139 BC, essay 2, sect. 7.

Current Citation

The Huainanzi, edited and translated by John S. Major, Sarah A. Queen, et. al. Columbia University Press, 2010, essay 2, sect. 7.

The first ten million years were the worst. And the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline.

Douglas Adams

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

More information about this quote

Topic

Adversity

Speaker

Marvin the Paranoid Android

Author

Douglas Adams

Source

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Medium

Radio broadcast Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Statement Type

Irony

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, Douglas. "Fit the Fifth." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Primary Phase. BBC Radio 4, London, England, UK, 5 Apr. 1978.

Current Citation

Adams, Douglas. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Pan Books, 1980, ch. 18.

By the way, I would have voted for Obama for a third term, if I could. Best president in my lifetime, hands down.

Get Out

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More information about this quote

Topic

Race relations American politics

Speaker

Dean Armitage

Actor

Bradley Whitford

Source

Get Out

Medium

Film

Genre

Horror (film) Horror

Language

English

Time

2017 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Get Out. Directed by Jordan Peele, Blumhouse Productions/QC Entertainment/Monkeypaw Productions, 2017.

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter,
Long ago.

Christina Rossetti

More information about this quote

Topic

Winter Seasons

Author

Christina Rossetti

Source

In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1875 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Rossetti, Christina. "A Christmas Carol." Scribner's Monthly, 1872, I. 1.

Current Citation

Rossetti, Christina. "A Christmas Carol." The Complete Poems. Penguin Classics, 2001, I. 1.

Don’t worry where we end up. Ending-up’s not real. The life we build, we never stop creating.

Jimmy Eat World

Delivery

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Read the lyrics to Delivery

More information about this quote

Topic

Journey vs. destination Building a life Life

Speaker

Jimmy Eat World

Source

Delivery

Medium

Song

Genre

Rock music

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

2019 2010s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jimmy Eat World. "Delivery." Surviving. RCA Records, 2019.

If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.

E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster)

More information about this quote

Topic

Friendship Treason Patriotism

Author

E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster)

Source

What I Believe The Nation

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1938 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Forster, E.M. "What I Believe." Two Cheers for Democracy. Hogarth Press, 1951. Originally published in the Nation, 16 July 1938.