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We have unmistakable proof that throughout all past time, there has been a ceaseless devouring of the weak by the strong.

Herbert Spencer

The Principles of Biology

More information about this quote

Topic

Predator and prey

Author

Herbert Spencer

Source

The Principles of Biology

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1865 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Spencer, Herbert. The Principles of Biology. Vol. 1, London: Williams and Norgate, 1864, pt. 3, ch. 2.

I was walking along the road with two friends.
The sun was setting.
I felt a breath of melancholy-Suddenly the sky turned blood-red.
I stopped, and leaned against the railing, deathly tired-
looking out across the flaming clouds that hung like blood and a sword over the blue-black fjord and town.
My friends walked on-I stood there, trembling with fear.
And I sensed a great, infinite scream pass through nature.

Edvard Munch

Describing the experience that led him to paint "The Scream".

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Author

Edvard Munch

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Vision

Language

English

Time

1892 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Munch, Edvard. Diary entry. 22 Jan. 1892.

Becoming a father isn't difficult,
But it's very difficult to be a father.

More information about this quote

Topic

Fatherhood Parenting

Author

Wilhelm Busch

Source

Julchen

Medium

Poem

Language

German

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Busch, Wilhelm. Julchen. Munich: Bassermann, 1877.

How alike are the groans of love, to those of the dying.

Malcolm Lowry

More information about this quote

Topic

Sex

Author

Malcolm Lowry

Source

Under the Volcano

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lowry, Malcolm. Under the Volcano. Reynal & Hitchcock/Jonathan Cape, 1947, ch. 12.

To truth only a brief celebration of victory is allowed between the two long periods during which it is condemned as paradoxical, or disparaged as trivial.

Arthur Schopenhauer

The World as Will and Idea

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More information about this quote

Topic

Truth

Author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Source

The World as Will and Idea

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1818 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung [The World as Will and Imagination]. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1819, preface.

Current Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Representation, edited by Christopher Janaway, translated by Judith Norman and Alistair Welchman. Cambridge University Press, 2014, preface.

Many people apparently don't trust their reactions to art or to music unless there is a verbal explanation for it. In music the only thing that matters is whether you feel it or not.

Ornette Coleman

More information about this quote

Topic

Music

Author

Ornette Coleman

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coleman, Ornette. Change of the Century. Atlantic Records, 1960, liner notes.

Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.

Lloyd Bentsen

In response to Dan Quayle's claim to have "as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy had when he sought the presidency."

More information about this quote

Topic

American politics

Speaker

Lloyd Bentsen

Source

Vice-Presidential Debate

Medium

Political debate

Language

English

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Bentsen, Lloyd. Speech in Nebraska. Vice-Presidential Debate. 5 Oct. 1988, Civic Auditorium, Omaha, NE, USA.

The adoption of the concept of Black Power is one of the most legitimate and healthy developments in American politics and race relations in our time.... It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to begin to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations and to support those organizations. It is a call to reject the racist institutions and values of this society.

Stokely Carmichael

Black Power: The Politics of Liberation

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Topic

Black Power Race relations American politics

Author

Stokely Carmichael

Source

Black Power: The Politics of Liberation

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1967 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Carmichael, Stokely and Charles Vernon Hamilton. Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Random House, 1967.

It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them; but on the contrary, men dive for them because they fetch a high price.

Richard Whately

Introductory Lectures on Political Economy

More information about this quote

Topic

What the world values

Speaker

Richard Whately

Source

Introductory Lectures on Political Economy

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1831 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Whately, Richard. "Introductory Lectures on Political Economy." 1831, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, UK. Lecture.

All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.

G.K. Chesterton

Orthodoxy

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Read Orthodoxy at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Conservatism The only constant is change Change

Author

G.K. Chesterton

Source

Orthodoxy

Genre

Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chesterton, G.K. "Orthodoxy." The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton. Vol. 1, Ignatius Press, 1986, ch. 4. Originally published by John Lane Co., 1908.

So you lie to yourself to be happy, there's nothing wrong with that, we all do it.

Memento

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Topic

Delusion Happiness

Speaker

Teddy

Actor

Joe Pantoliano

Source

Memento

Medium

Film

Genre

Neo-noir Thriller (film) Thriller

Language

English

Time

2000 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Memento. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Summit Entertainment/Team Todd, 2000.

I find that all my thoughts circle around God like the planets around the sun, and are as irresistibly attracted by Him.

Carl Jung

More information about this quote

Topic

God and man God

Author

Carl Jung

Source

Letters of Carl Jung

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1952 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jung, Carl. Letter to an unnamed clergyman. 1952.

All art is collaboration.

John Millington Synge

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of art Art

Author

John Millington Synge

Source

The Playboy of the Western World

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1907 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Synge, John Millington. The Playboy of the Western World: A Comedy in Three Acts. J. W. Luce and Company, 1907, preface.

Current Citation

Synge, John Millington. "The Playboy of the Western World." The Playboy of the Western World and Two Other Irish Plays. Penguin Classics, 1997, preface.

Alteration though it be from worse to better hath in it inconveniences, and those weighty.

Richard Hooker

More information about this quote

Topic

Difficulty of change Change

Author

Richard Hooker

Source

Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity

Language

English

Time

1593 1590s 16th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hooker, Richard. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. 1593, bk. 4, ch. 14, sect. 1.

Current Citation

Hooker, Richard. The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity In Modern English, edited by Bradford Littlejohn. Vol. 1, The Davenant Press, 2019, bk. 4, ch. 14, sect. 1.

These are the days when men of all social disciplines and all political faiths seek the comfortable and the accepted; when the man of controversy is looked upon as a disturbing influence; when originality is taken to be a mark of instability; and when, in minor modification of the scriptural parable, the bland lead the bland.

John Kenneth Galbraith

The Affluent Society

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More information about this quote

Topic

Conformity

Author

John Kenneth Galbraith

Source

The Affluent Society

Genre

Sociology Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Affluent Society. Houghton Mifflin, 1958, ch. 1, sect. 3.

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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Topic

Venality of politicians Politicians

Author

Douglas Adams

Source

Fit the Twelfth The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Medium

Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, Douglas. "Fit the Twelfth." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Secondary Phase. BBC Radio 4, London, England, UK, 25 Jan. 1980.

Current Citation

Adams, Douglas. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Pan Books, 1980, ch. 28.

Everything we think of as great has come to us from neurotics. It is they and they alone who found religions and create great works of art. The world will never realise how much it owes to them and what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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Topic

Creativity

Speaker

Bergotte

Author

Marcel Proust

Source

In Search of Lost Time

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

French

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Le Côté de Guermantes [The Guermantes Way]. Paris: Gallimard, 1920-1921.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. The Guermantes Way, edited and translated by Mark Treharne. Penguin Classics, 2005.

I'm interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that appears to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom.

Jim Morrison

More information about this quote

Topic

Nihilism Rebellion Freedom

Speaker

Jim Morrison

Source

Time

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Morrison, Jim. Quoted in "Pop Music: Swimming to the Moon." Time Magazine, 24 Nov. 1967.

See you're thinking, don't, 'cause Sergeant, you can't control who gets hit or who doesn't or who falls out of a chopper or why. It ain't up to you. It's just war.

Black Hawk Down

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More information about this quote

Topic

Randomness of war War

Speaker

Hoot

Actor

Eric Bana

Source

Black Hawk Down

Medium

Film

Genre

War (film) War

Language

English

Time

2001 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Black Hawk Down. Directed by Ridley Scott, Scott Free Productions/Revolution Studios/Columbia Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, 2001.

Come to Los Angeles! The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty and land is cheap. Every working man can have his own house, and inside every house, a happy, all-American family. You can have all this, and who knows...you could even be discovered, become a movie star...or at least see one. Life is good in Los Angeles... It's paradise on Earth.

L.A. Confidential

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Topic

Los Angeles

Speaker

Sid Hudgens

Actor

Danny DeVito

Source

L.A. Confidential

Medium

Film

Genre

Neo-noir Crime (film) Crime

Language

English

Time

1997 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

L.A. Confidential. Directed by Curtis Hanson, Regency Enterprises/The Wolper Organization, 1997.