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In the discovery of secret things and in the investigation of hidden causes, stronger reasons are obtained from sure experiments and demonstrated arguments than from probable conjectures and the opinions of philosophical speculators of the common sort.

William Gilbert

De Magnete

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More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific method

Author

William Gilbert

Source

De Magnete

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Latin

Time

1600 1600s 16th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Gilbert, William. De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure [On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great Magnet the Earth]. London: Peter Short, 1600, preface.

Current Citation

Gilbert, William. De Magnete, translated by P. Fleury Mottelay. Dover Publications, 1991.

What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country... Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

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Topic

Americans America and Europe

Author

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

Source

Letters from an American Farmer

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1782 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Crevecoeur, Michel Guillaume Jean [published as J. Hector St. John]. "What Is an American?" Letters from an American Farmer. London: Davies & Davies, 1782.

Current Citation

Crevecoeur, J. Hector St. John. "Letters From an American Farmer." Letters From an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America, edited by Albert E. Stone. Penguin Classics, 1981.

Kitsch is mechanical and operates by formulas. Kitsch is vicarious experience and faked sensations... Kitsch is the epitome of all that is spurious in the life of our times.

Clement Greenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Kitsch Taste

Author

Clement Greenberg

Source

Avant-Garde and Kitsch Partisan Review

Medium

Essay Magazine

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Greenberg, Clement. "Avant-Garde and Kitsch." Partisan Review, 1939.

A war regarded as inevitable or even probable, and therefore much prepared for, has a very good chance of eventually being fought.

George F. Kennan

More information about this quote

Topic

Preparing for war War

Author

George F. Kennan

Source

The Cloud of Danger

Genre

Political literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kennan, George Frost. The Cloud of Danger: Current Realities of American Foreign Policy. Little, Brown and Company, 1977, ch. 13.

The century on which we are entering-the century which will come into being after this war-can be and must be the century of the common man.

Henry A. Wallace

More information about this quote

Topic

The common man

Speaker

Henry A. Wallace

Source

Vital Speeches

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wallace, Henry. "The Century of the Common Man." Free World Association meeting. 8 May 1942, Grand Ballroom, Commodore Hotel, New York City, NY, USA.

The basic anxiety, the anxiety of a finite being about the threat of non-being, cannot be eliminated. It belongs to existence itself.

Paul Tillich

More information about this quote

Topic

Facing death The human condition

Speaker

Paul Tillich

Source

The Courage to Be

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tillich, Paul. "The Courage to Be." 1950-1951, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. Lecture.

Current Citation

Tillich, Paul. The Courage to Be. Yale University Press, 2014.

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

Carl Sagan

Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science

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More information about this quote

Topic

Genius

Author

Carl Sagan

Source

Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1979 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sagan, Carl. Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science. Random House, 1979, pt. 2, ch. 5.

I do not consider myself less ignorant than most people. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me.

Hermann Hesse

Demian

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Topic

Seeking Inner life Intuition

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.

One of the main effects…of orthodox traditional economics was…a plan for explaining to the privileged class that their position was morally right and was necessary for the welfare of society.

Joan Robinson

More information about this quote

Topic

Economics

Author

Joan Robinson

Genre

Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Robinson, Joan. "An Economist's Sermon." Essays in the Theory of Employment. Macmillan, 1937.

The history of man has just begun: in the aeons which lie before him lie limitless hope or limitless despair. The choice is his; the present choice is ours. It is worth the trial.

Learned Hand

More information about this quote

Topic

The future Progress The human condition

Speaker

Learned Hand

Source

Speeches of Learned Hand

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1945 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hand, Learned. "A Pledge of Allegiance." I Am An American Day. 20 May 1945, Central Park, New York City, NY, USA.

The religious vision, and its history of persistent expansion, is our one ground for optimism. Apart from it, human life is a flash of occasional enjoyments lighting up a mass of pain and misery, a bagatelle of transient experience.

Alfred North Whitehead

Religion and Science

More information about this quote

Topic

Religion

Speaker

Alfred North Whitehead

Source

Religion and Science

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Whitehead, Alfred North. "Religion and Science." Lowell lecture. Feb. 1925, Phillips Brooks House, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

I am for an art that tells you the time of day, or where such and such a street is. I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street.

Claes Oldenburg

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of art Art

Author

Claes Oldenburg

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Oldenburg, Claes. Statement for exhibition catalogue called Environments, Situations, Spaces. c. 1961, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York City, NY, USA.

When it's over I don't want to wonder
If I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Mary Oliver

When Death Comes

More information about this quote

Topic

Living life to the fullest

Author

Mary Oliver

Source

When Death Comes

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1992 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Oliver, Mary. "When Death Comes." New and Selected Poems. Beacon Press, 1992, I. 24.

The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.

G. K. Chesterton

Orthodoxy

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Topic

Christianity

Author

G. K. Chesterton

Source

Orthodoxy

Genre

Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chesterton, G. K. Orthodoxy. John Lane Company, 1908, ch. 6.

In the middle ages people were tourists because of their religion, whereas now they are tourists because tourism is their religion.

Robert Runcie

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of religion Modern life The Middle Ages

Speaker

Robert Runcie

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Runcie, Robert. Speech in London. 6 Dec. 1988, London, England, UK.

I am tired of tears and laughter,
And men that laugh and weep;
Of what may come hereafter
For men that sow and reap:
I am weary of days and hours,
Blown buds of barren flowers,
Desires and dreams and powers
And everything but sleep.

Algernon Charles Swinburne

More information about this quote

Topic

Tired heart

Author

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1866 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Garden of Proserpine." Poems and Ballads, First Series. London: Edward Moxon & Co., 1866, st. 2.

Current Citation

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Garden of Proserpine." Poems and Ballads and Atalanta in Calydon. Penguin Classics, 2001, st. 2.

And, precisely because it is our flag that is involved, one's response to the flag-burner may exploit the uniquely persuasive power of the flag itself. We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than waving one's own, no better way to counter a flag burner's message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by—as one witness here did—according its remains a respectful burial. We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Texas v. Johnson

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More information about this quote

Topic

American flag Freedom of speech and expression

Author

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Source

Texas v. Johnson

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Brennan, William J, Jr. United States, Supreme Court. Texas v. Johnson. United States Reports, vol. 491, 21 June 1989, pp. 397-439. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/491/397/.

Do not cast away an honest man for a villain’s accusation!

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part 2

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More information about this quote

Topic

False accusations Benefit of the doubt Trustworthiness

Speaker

Horner

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Henry VI, Part 2

Medium

Play

Genre

History (play)

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1594 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Henry the Sixth, Part 2. London: Thomas Millington, 1594, act 1, sc. 3.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Second Part of Henry the Sixth." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 1, sc. 3.

We just don't recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they're happening. Back then I thought, "Well, there'll be other days." I didn't realize that that was the only day.

Field of Dreams

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More information about this quote

Topic

Special moments Perception vs. reality

Speaker

Archie Graham

Actor

Frank Whaley

Source

Field of Dreams

Medium

Film

Genre

Sports (film) Drama (film) Sports Drama

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Field of Dreams. Directed by Phil Alden Robinson, Gordon Company, 1989.

And waiting means hurrying on ahead, it means regarding time and the present moment not as a boon, but an obstruction; it means making their actual content null and void, by mentally overleaping them. Waiting we say is long. We might just as well-or more accurately-say it is short, since it consumes whole spaces of time without our living them or making any use of them as such.

Thomas Mann

More information about this quote

Topic

Waiting Living in the present

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. 5.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 5.