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Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasions for it.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Discourses on Livy

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Topic

Political theory Government Human nature

Author

Niccolo Machiavelli

Source

Discourses on Livy

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Italian

Time

1531 1530s 16th century

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Original Citation

Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio [Discourses on the First Ten of Titus Livy]. Papal Privilege, 1531, bk. 1, ch. 3

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Current Citation

Machiavelli, Niccolo. Discourses on Livy, translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 1, ch. 3.

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When a man spends the least possible number of movements over one definite action, that is grace.

Anton Chekhov

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Topic

Grace

Author

Anton Chekhov

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Russian

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

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Original Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Letter to Alexi Peshkov (Maxim Gorky). 3 Jan. 1899.

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Current Citation

Chekhov, Anton. "To Alexi Peshkov (Gorky), 3 January 1899, Yalta." A Life in Letters, translated by Rosamund Bartlett and Anthony Phillips. Penguin Classics, 2004.

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There ain't a white man in this room that would change places with me. None of ya! None of ya would change places with me...and I'm rich! That's how good it is to be white.

Chris Rock

Bigger & Blacker

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Topic

White privilege

Speaker

Chris Rock

Source

Bigger & Blacker

Medium

Comedy special

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

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Citation

Rock, Chris. Bigger & Blacker. HBO, 10 July 1999.

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Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain.

Friedrich Schiller

The Maid of Orleans

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Topic

Stupidity

Speaker

Talbot

Author

Friedrich Schiller

Source

The Maid of Orleans

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Language

German

Time

1801 1800s 19th century

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Citation

Schiller, Friedrich. Die Jungfrau von Orleans [The Maid of Orleans]. 11 Sept 1801, Leipzig, Germany, act 3, sc. 6.

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All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"

John F. Kennedy

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Topic

Cold War

Speaker

John F. Kennedy

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

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Citation

Kennedy, John F. "Ich bin ein Berliner." 26 June 1963, Rathaus Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany.

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What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment... Inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.

Thomas Jefferson

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Topic

Duality of man

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1786 1780s 18th century

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Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Jean Nicholas Demeunier. 24 Jan. 1786.

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Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private, edited by H. A. Washington. Vol. 9, Cambridge University Press, 2011.

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Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched... Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind... We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

Thomas Jefferson

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Topic

Legal theory Political theory Embracing change

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Medium

Letter

Genre

Political writing

Language

English

Time

1816 1810s 19th century

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Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Samuel Kercheval. 12 July 1816.

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Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816." The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Including the Autobiography, The Declaration of Independence & His Public and Private Letters, edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. Modern Library, 1998.

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A single sentence will suffice for modern man: he fornicated and read the papers.

Albert Camus

The Fall

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Topic

Modern life

Author

Albert Camus

Source

The Fall

Medium

Novel

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

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Citation

Camus, Albert. La Chute [The Fall]. Editions Gallimard, 1956.

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The love of wealth is therefore to be traced, as either a principal or accessory motive, at the bottom of all that the Americans do; this gives to all their passions a sort of family likeness.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

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Love of money American character America

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

Democracy in America

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

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Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 2, London: Saunders and Otley, 1840, bk. 3. ch. 17.

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Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 2, bk. 3. ch. 17.

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You could be the baddest mama on earth. I don’t give a fuck how good you are. Ain't nothing you can say more powerful than, "I’m gonna tell your daddy."

Chris Rock

Bigger & Blacker

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Topic

Fathers and children

Speaker

Chris Rock

Source

Bigger & Blacker

Medium

Comedy special

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

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Citation

Rock, Chris. Bigger & Blacker. HBO, 10 July 1999.

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We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may be so the moment after death.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter

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Topic

The afterlife

Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Source

The Scarlet Letter

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1836 1830s 19th century

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Citation

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Notebook entry. 25 Oct. 1836.

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Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks,
Shall win my love.

William Shakespeare

The Taming of the Shrew

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Topic

Pursuing women Kindness Women's attractiveness

Speaker

Hortensio

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

The Taming of the Shrew

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1594 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

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Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. London: Cuthbert Burbie, 1594, act 4, sc. 2.

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Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Taming of the Shrew." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 4, sc. 2.

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The story of our inferiority is an old dodge, as I have said: for wherever men oppress their fellows, wherever they enslave them, they will endeavor to find the needed apology for such enslavement and oppression in the character of the people oppressed and enslaved.

Frederick Douglass

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Topic

Oppressor and oppressed

Speaker

Frederick Douglass

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1865 1860s 19th century

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Original Citation

Douglass, Frederick. “What the Black Man Wants.” Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. 26 Jan. 1865, Boston, MA, USA.

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Current Citation

Douglass, Frederick. Great Speeches by Frederick Douglass. Dover Publications, 2013.

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This war did not bear the characteristics of the previous conflicts among the European nations to which we were accustomed. To an ever increasing degree it began to be generally realized that the reasons for this conflict were no longer to be sought in the usual interests even if plausible of the various nations, but that in reality it was one of those elementary struggles which shaking the foundations of the world but once in a thousand years, introduce a new millennium.

Adolf Hitler

Speech to the Reichstag, April 26, 1942

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World War II

Speaker

Adolf Hitler

Source

Speech to the Reichstag, April 26, 1942

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

German

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

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Citation

Hitler, Adolf. Speech to the Reichstag. 26 Apr. 1942, Kroll Opera House, Berlin, Germany.

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I propose to consider the question, "Can machines think?"

Alan Turing

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Computing Machinery and Intelligence

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Artificial intelligence

Author

Alan Turing

Source

Computing Machinery and Intelligence

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1950 1950s 20th century

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Citation

Turing, Alan. "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." Mind. Oxford University Press, 1950.

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I bend but do not break.

Jean de la Fontaine

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Topic

Resilience

Author

Jean de la Fontaine

Source

The Oak and the Reed Fables (de la Fontaine)

Medium

Fable and fairytale

Language

French

Time

1668 1660s 17th century

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Original Citation

La Fontaine, Jean. "Le chene et le roseau [The Oak and the Reed]." Fables. Paris, 1668, bk. 1, no. 22.

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Current Citation

La Fontaine, Jean. "The Oak and the Reed." The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, translated by Norman R. Shapiro. University of Illinois Press, 2007, bk. 1, no. 22.

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The metaphor is probably the most fertile power possessed by man.

Jose Ortega y Gasset

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Language

Author

Jose Ortega y Gasset

Medium

Essay

Language

Spanish

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

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Original Citation

Ortega y Gasset, Jose. La deshumanización del Arte e Ideas sobre la novela [The Dehumanization of Art and Ideas about the Novel]. Revista de Occidente, 1925.

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Current Citation

Ortega y Gasset, Jose. "The Dehumanization of Art." The Dehumanization of Art, and Other Essays on Art, Culture, and Literature, translated by Helene Weyl. Princeton University Press, 2019.

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Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.

François de La Rochefoucauld

Reflections

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Topic

Hypocrisy

Author

François de La Rochefoucauld

Source

Reflections

Medium

Epigram

Language

French

Time

1678 1670s 17th century

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Original Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims]. c. 1665.

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Current Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Collected Maxims and Other Reflections, translated by E. H. and A. M. Blackmore and Francine Giguere. Oxford University Press, 2008.

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The bonds between ourselves and another person exist only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we want to be duped and which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we dupe other people, we exist alone. Man is the creature who cannot escape from himself, who knows other people only in himself, and when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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Topic

Existential solitude Connecting with others Isolation The human condition

Author

Marcel Proust

Source

The Fugitive In Search of Lost Time

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

French

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

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Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Albertine disparue [Albertine Gone]. Paris: Gallimard, 1927.

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Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. The Fugitive, edited and translated by Peter Collier. Penguin Classics, 2021.

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Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

Baruch Spinoza

Tractatus Politicus

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Topic

Peace

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Tractatus Politicus

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

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Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Tractatus Politicus [Political Treatise]. 1677, ch. 5, sect. 4.

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