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God the first garden made, and the first city, Cain.

Abraham Cowley

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Topic

Garden of Eden Gardens

Author

Abraham Cowley

Source

The Garden

Language

English

Time

1668 1660s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cowley, Abraham. "The Garden." Works. c. 1668.

Anything awful makes me laugh. I misbehaved once at a funeral.

Charles Lamb

More information about this quote

Topic

Laughter

Author

Charles Lamb

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1815 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lamb, Charles. Letter to Robert Southey. 9 Aug. 1815.

Much as we might wish to believe otherwise, universal love and the welfare of the species as a whole are concepts which simply do not make evolutionary sense.

Richard Dawkins

The Selfish Gene

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Topic

Evolution

Author

Richard Dawkins

Source

The Selfish Gene

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1976 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, 1976, ch. 1.

The successful criminal brain is always superior. It has to be.

Dr. No

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Topic

Criminals

Speaker

Dr. No

Actor

Joseph Wiseman

Source

Dr. No

Medium

Film

Genre

Spy (film) Action (film) Spy Action

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dr. No. Directed by Terence Young, Eon Productions, 1962.

Narratives can make us understand. Photographs do something else: they haunt us.

Susan Sontag

More information about this quote

Topic

Photography Stories

Author

Susan Sontag

Source

Regarding the Pain of Others

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, ch. 5.

There is no vice so simple but assumes
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts.

William Shakespeare

The Merchant of Venice

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Read The Merchant of Venice at The Folger Shakespeare Library

More information about this quote

Topic

Deception Virtue and vice Vice Virtue

Speaker

Bassanio

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

The Merchant of Venice

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1598 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. c. 1598, The Theatre, London, England, UK, act 3, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Merchant of Venice." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 3, sc. 2.

This is the quintessence of wisdom: not to kill anything. Know this to be the legitimate conclusion from the principle of the reciprocity with regard to non-killing.

Jaina Sutras

More information about this quote

Topic

Nonviolence Man and animals Wisdom

Source

Jaina Sutras

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

Ardhamagadhi

Time

300 BC 300s BC 2nd century BC

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sudharmasvami, Gandhara. Sutrakranga. 2nd century BC, bk. 1, lecture 1, ch. 4, no. 10.

Current Citation

Jaina Sutras, part 2, translated by Herman Jacobi. Gyan Publishing House, 2021, Sutrakritanga sutra, lecture 1, lesson 1, ch. 4, no. 10.

Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things are either what they appear to be; or they are neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.

Epictetus

Discourses

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Topic

Appearance vs. reality Perception

Author

Epictetus

Source

Discourses

Medium

Lecture

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

108 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐπικτήτου διατριβαί, Epiktētou diatribai [The Discourses of Epictetus]. c. 108, bk. 1, ch. 27.

Current Citation

Epictetus. "The Discourses." Discourses and Other Writings, edited and translated by Robert Dobbin. Penguin Classics, 2008, bk. 1, ch. 27.

Who knows but the world may end tonight?

Robert Browning

More information about this quote

Topic

Living in the moment Tomorrow The future

Author

Robert Browning

Source

Last Ride Together

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1855 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Browning, Robert. "The Last Ride Together." Men and Women. London: Chapman and Hall, 1855, st. 2.

Current Citation

Browning, Robert. "The Last Ride Together." Robert Browning's Poetry, edited by James F. Loucks and Andrew M. Stauffer. W. W. Norton & Company, 2007, st. 2.

To trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge; the poor cannot afford it.

E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster)

Howards End

More information about this quote

Topic

Poverty Wealth Rich vs. poor

Author

E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster)

Source

Howards End

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1910 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Forster, E.M. Howards End. Edward Arnold, 1910, ch. 5.

I say violence is necessary. Violence is a part of America's culture. It is as American as cherry pie.

H. Rap Brown

More information about this quote

Topic

Violence in America America

Speaker

H. Rap Brown

Medium

News conference

Language

English

Time

1967 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Brown, H. Rap. News conference. 27 July 1967, Washington, DC, USA.

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

Thich Nhat Hanh

More information about this quote

Topic

Open-mindedness Revelation Acceptance

Author

Thich Nhat Hanh

Source

Being Peace

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hanh, Thich Nhat. Being Peace. Parallax Press, 1987.

Keeping time,
Keeping the rhythm in their dancing
As in their living in the living seasons
The time of the seasons and the constellations
The time of milking and the time of harvest
The time of the coupling of man and woman
And that of beasts. Feet rising and falling. Eating and drinking. Dung and death.

T.S. Eliot

Four Quartets

More information about this quote

Topic

Rhythm of life

Author

T.S. Eliot

Source

East Coker Four Quartets

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Eliot, T. S. "East Coker." New English Weekly, Mar. 1940.

Take the life-lie away from the average man and straight away you take away his happiness.

Henrik Ibsen

More information about this quote

Topic

Delusion Happiness The masses

Speaker

Relling

Author

Henrik Ibsen

Source

The Wild Duck

Medium

Play

Genre

Drama (play)

Language

Norwegian

Time

1884 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Ibsen, Henrik. Vildanden [The Wild Duck]. Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, 1884, act 3.

Current Citation

Ibsen, Henrik. "The Wild Duck." An Enemy of the People; The Wild Duck; Rosmersholm, translated by James McFarlane. Oxford University Press, 2009, act 3.

It is through Art, and through Art only, that we can realize our perfection; through Art, and through Art only, that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.

Oscar Wilde

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Topic

Power of art Art

Speaker

Gilbert

Author

Oscar Wilde

Source

The Critic as Artist Intentions

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1891 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wilde, Oscar. "The Critic as Artist." Intentions. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1891, pt. 2.

Current Citation

Wilde, Oscar. "The Critic as Artist Part II." Oscar Wilde: The Major Works, edited by Isobel Murray. Oxford University Press, 2008.

That sign of old age: extolling the past at the expense of the present.

Sydney Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Kids these days The past Old age

Speaker

Sydney Smith

Genre

Biography

Language

English

Time

1845 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Sydney. Quoted in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by Saba Holland. Vol. 1, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855, ch. 11.

Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.

William Wordsworth

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry

Author

William Wordsworth

Source

Lyrical Ballads

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1802 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical ballads, with Other Poems. Vol. 1, Philadelphia: James Humphreys, 1802, preface.

Current Citation

Wordsworth, William. "Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800/1802)." Lyrical Ballads & Other Poems. Wordsworth Editions, 2002.

Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid.

Jack Sparrow

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

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More information about this quote

Topic

Dishonesty

Speaker

Jack Sparrow

Actor

Johnny Depp

Source

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Medium

Film

Genre

Adventure (film) Fantasy (film) Adventure Fantasy

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Directed by Gore Verbinski, Walt Disney Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, 2003.

Thunder is the voice of God, and, therefore, to be dreaded.

Increase Mather

More information about this quote

Topic

Thunder Weather God and nature

Author

Increase Mather

Language

English

Time

1684 1680s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mather, Increase. An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences. Boston: Joseph Browning, 1684, ch. 4.

He who says there is no such thing as an honest man, you may be sure is himself a knave.

George Berkeley

More information about this quote

Topic

Honesty Personal integrity

Author

George Berkeley

Source

Maxims Concerning Patriotism

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1750 1750s 18th century

Era

Colonial America

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Berkeley, George. "Maxims Concerning Patriotism." A Miscellany, Containing Several Tracts on Various Subjects. By the Bishop of Cloyne. London: J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper, 1752.