Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Advanced Search
  • Explore Categories
  • Suggested Tags
  • Blog
  • Contact
Bon Mots
  • Quote Text
  • Topic
  • Person
  • Source
  • Medium
  • Genre
  • Statement
  • Language
  • Time
  • Occupation
  • From
  • Quote Text
  • Topic
  • Person
  • Source
  • Medium
  • Genre
  • Statement
  • Language
  • Time
  • Occupation
  • From

Advanced Search

Drill down into our database of quotes.

Currently showing 10,076 quotes

Whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives. But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken-and notwithstanding all your wise laws and maxims we have it in our power not only to be free ourselves but to subdue our masters, and without violence throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet.

Abigail Adams

Letter to John Adams, 1776

There are no other quotes from this source in the Bon Mots database.
Read this letter at the National Archives website
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Oppression of women

Author

Abigail Adams

Source

Letter to John Adams, 1776 Letters of Abigail Adams

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Threat Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1776 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Adams, Abigail. Letter to John Adams. 7 May 1776.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Adams, Abigail. My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams, edited by Margaret A. Hogan and C. James Taylor. Belknap Press, 2010.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale,
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.

William Shakespeare

The Life and Death of King John

Buy King John at Amazon Buy King John at Amazon
Read King John at The Folger Shakespeare Library
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Life The human condition

Speaker

Lewis

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

The Life and Death of King John

Medium

Play

Genre

History (play)

Language

English

Time

1616 1610s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Life and Death of King John." Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. London: Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1623, act 3, sc. 4.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "King John." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 3, sc. 4.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Gift, like genius, I often think, only means an infinite capacity for taking pains.

Ellice Hopkins

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Persistence

Author

Ellice Hopkins

Source

Work Amongst Working Men

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Hopkins, Jane Ellice. Work Amongst Working Men. Strahan and Company, 1879, ch. 4.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Richard Franck

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Invention Creativity

Author

Richard Franck

Language

English

Time

1694 1690s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Franck, Richard. Northern Memoirs: Calculated for the Meridian of Scotland. London: Henry Mortclock, 1694.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

Our children have been taught to be ashamed of their country, ashamed of their parents, ashamed of America's record at home and of its role in the world. At every turn, we have been beset by those who find everything wrong with America and little that is right. But I am confident that this will not be the judgment of history on these remarkable times in which we are privileged to live.

Richard Nixon

Second Inaugural Address of Richard Nixon

Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon
Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

America's sins America

Speaker

Richard Nixon

Source

Second Inaugural Address of Richard Nixon Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Nixon, Richard. "Second Inaugural Address." 20 Jan. 1973, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

Eeyore was saying to himself, "This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated, if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it."

A.A. Milne

Winnie-the-Pooh

There are no other quotes from this source in the Bon Mots database.
Read Winnie-the-Pooh at Project Gutenberg
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Writing

Author

A.A. Milne

Source

Winnie-the-Pooh

Medium

Children's book

Genre

Children's literature

Language

English

Time

1926 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Milne, A. A. Winnie-the-Pooh. Methuen/Dutton, 1926.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Milne, A. A. Winnie-the-Pooh. Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2017.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

You’ve been given a great gift, George, a chance to see what the world would be like without you.

It's a Wonderful Life

Watch It's a Wonderful Life at Amazon Watch It's a Wonderful Life at Amazon
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Counterfactual history

Speaker

Clarence

Actor

Henry Travers

Source

It's a Wonderful Life

Medium

Film

Genre

Christmas (film) Drama (film) Christmas Drama

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

It's a Wonderful Life. Directed by Frank Capra, Liberty Films, 1946.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

We wove a web in childhood,
A web of sunny air;
We dug a spring in infancy
Of water pure and fair;
We sowed in youth a mustard seed,
We cut an almond rod;
We are now grown up to riper age —
Are they withered in the sod?

Charlotte Brontë

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Aging Youth Impermanence Effects of time

Author

Charlotte Brontë

Source

We wove a web in childhood

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1835 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Brontë, Charlotte. "We wove a web in childhood." 1835.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Brontë, Charlotte. "From 'Retrospection.'" Brontës: Selected Poems, edited by Pamela Norris. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2023.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

What we are doing in Korea is this: we are trying to prevent a third world war.

Harry Truman

Explaining why he had fired General Douglas MacArthur.

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Korean War Cold War

Speaker

Harry Truman

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Truman, Harry S. "Report to the American People on Korea." 11 Apr. 1951, Washington, DC, USA.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed; and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.

Samuel Johnson

Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, by James Boswell

Buy The Life of Samuel Johnson at Amazon Buy The Life of Samuel Johnson at Amazon
Read The Life of Samuel Johnson at Project Gutenberg
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Jokes

Speaker

Samuel Johnson

Author

James Boswell

Source

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D

Genre

Biography

Language

English

Time

1784 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in journal entry, written by James Boswell. c. June 1784.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, written by James Boswell, edited by David Womersley. Penguin Classics, 2008.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Costs of war War

Speaker

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Eisenhower, Dwight D. "Chance for Peace." American Society for Newspaper Editors meeting. 16 Apr. 1953, Washington, DC, USA.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

There has been something crude and heartless and unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great. Our thought has been "Let every man look out for himself, let every generation look out for itself," while we reared giant machinery which made it impossible that any but those who stood at the levers of control should have a chance to look out for themselves.

Woodrow Wilson

First Inaugural Address of Woodrow Wilson

Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon
Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Downsides of progress Economic development

Speaker

Woodrow Wilson

Source

First Inaugural Address of Woodrow Wilson Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1913 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Wilson, Woodrow. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1913, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

The more foreigners I saw, the more I loved my homeland.

Pierre-Laurent Buirette de Belloy

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Foreigners Xenophobia Patriotism

Author

Pierre-Laurent Buirette de Belloy

Source

Le Siège de Calais

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragic play

Language

French

Time

1765 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Belloy, Pierre-Laurent Buirette de. Le Siège de Calais. 1765, Comédie‐Française, Paris, France, act 2, sc. 3.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

The World in which we live and move
Outlasts aversion, outlasts love.
Outlasts each effort, interest, hope,
Remorse, grief, joy.

Matthew Arnold

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

The world

Author

Matthew Arnold

Language

English

Time

1849 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Arnold, Matthew. "Resignation." The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems. London: B. Fellowes, 1849, I. 213.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Arnold, Matthew. "Resignation." Dover Beach and Other Poems. Dover Publications, 2012, I. 213.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Societies need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil, and attaches blame to its "victims".

Susan Sontag

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Scapegoats AIDS

Author

Susan Sontag

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Sontag, Susan. AIDS and its Metaphors. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989, ch. 1.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

The Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of his holy word.

John Robinson

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.

Address to the English puritans before the departure from England for America.

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Divine revelation The Bible

Speaker

John Robinson

Medium

Sermon Speech

Language

English

Time

1620 1620s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Robinson, John. Robinson's farewell address to the pilgrims. 1620, The Mayflower, England, UK.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

Do you know how popular I am? I am so popular everybody loves me so much at this school.

The Breakfast Club

Watch The Breakfast Club at Amazon Watch The Breakfast Club at Amazon
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Popularity High school

Speaker

Claire Standish

Actor

Molly Ringwald

Source

The Breakfast Club

Medium

Film

Genre

Teen (film) Coming of age (film) Teen Coming of age

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

The Breakfast Club. Directed by John Hughes, A&M Films/Channel Productions, 1985.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

A hundred times I have thought: New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: it is a beautiful catastrophe.

Le Corbusier

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

New York City

Author

Le Corbusier

Source

When the Cathedrals Were White

Genre

Historical literature

Language

French

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Corbusier, Le. Quand Les Cathedrales Etaient Blanches [When the Cathedrals Were White]. Librairie Plon, 1937.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Corbusier, Le. When the Cathedrals Were White. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1964.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.

Theodore Roosevelt

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Environmental destruction Environmental protection

Speaker

Theodore Roosevelt

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1907 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr. "Seventh Annual Message." Joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. 3 Dec. 1907, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

A pistol let off at the ear, not a feather to tickle the intellect.

Charles Lamb

On puns.

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Jokes

Author

Charles Lamb

Medium

Essay

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1833 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Lamb, Charles [published as Elia]. "Popular Fallacies: IX, That the Worst Puns Are the Best." The London Magazine, 1826.

Citation text copied to clipboard.
  • Load Next 20 Quotes
Go to top
bomots
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Contact

© 2023 Bon Mots LLC — Terms and conditions