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Whether we consider the manual industry of the poor, or the intellectual exertions of the superior classes, we shall find that diligent occupation, if not criminally perverted from its end, is at once the instrument of virtue and the secret of happiness. Man cannot be safely trusted with a life of leisure.

Hannah More

More information about this quote

Topic

Diligence Hard work Idleness Leisure

Author

Hannah More

Source

Christian Morals

Genre

Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1813 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

More, Hannah. Christian Morals. Vol. 2, London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1813.

To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.

Samuel Beckett

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of art Art

Author

Samuel Beckett

Source

Proust

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Beckett, Samuel. Proust. Chatto and Windus, 1930.

Insanity is hereditary. You can get it from your children.

Sam Levenson

More information about this quote

Topic

Parents and children

Author

Sam Levenson

Statement Type

Joke

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Levenson, Jam. Quoted in Ada Weekly News. 6 Apr. 1961.

When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right.

Eugene Victor Debs

More information about this quote

Topic

The vanguard Political progress Progress

Speaker

Eugene Victor Debs

Source

US v. Eugene V. Debs

Medium

Courtroom speech Speech

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Federal Court. US v. Eugene V. Debs. RG 21, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Criminal Case Files, 1912–1977, Criminal Case #4057. 9. NYT, 10 Sept. 1918.

The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity-unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity.

Henry Clay

More information about this quote

Topic

Constitutional theory US Constitution

Speaker

Henry Clay

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clay, Henry. Address in the Senate. Senate meeting. 29 Jan. 1850, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

My advice to you is not to inquire into why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate-that's my philosophy.

Thornton Wilder

More information about this quote

Topic

Living in the moment

Author

Thornton Wilder

Source

The Skin of Our Teeth

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wilder, Thornton. The Skin of Our Teeth. 15 Oct. 1942, Shubert Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, act 1.

Current Citation

Wilder, Thornton. "The Skin of Our Teeth." Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Matchmaker. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2020, act 1.

If I have to, I can do anything. I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman.

Helen Reddy

I Am Woman

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Topic

Women

Speaker

Helen Reddy

Source

I Am Woman I Don't Know How to Love Him

Medium

Song

Genre

Pop music

Language

English

Time

1971 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Reddy, Helen and Ray Burton. "I Am Woman." Performed by Helen Reddy. I Don't Know How to Love Him. Capitol Records, 1971.

And therein lies the whole of man's plight. Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repetition.

Milan Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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More information about this quote

Topic

Time Happiness The human condition

Author

Milan Kundera

Source

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Medium

Novel

Language

Czech

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Kundera, Milan. L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être [The Unbearable Lightness of Being]. Gallimard, 1984.

Current Citation

Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, translated by Michael Henry Heim. Harper Perennial, 2009.

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Jesus

Matthew 6:27

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Read this verse at Bible Hub

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Topic

Worry Sermon on the Mount

Speaker

Jesus

Source

Gospel of Matthew The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Question

Language

Greek

Time

60 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible, New International Version. International Bible Society, 1978. (Matthew 6:27).

I shall never marry; I regard that now as an established fact, and on the whole a very respectable one; I am both happy enough and miserable enough, as it is, and don't wish to add to either side of the account.

Henry James

More information about this quote

Topic

Single life Marriage Relationships

Author

Henry James

Source

Letters of Henry James

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1884 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, Henry. Letter to Grace Norton. 3 Nov. 1884.

Current Citation

James, Henry. "November 3 [1883] To Grace Norton." The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1883–1884, edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W. Zacharias. Vol. 2, University of Nebraska Press, 2019.

What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years.

Carl Sagan

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Topic

Power of literature Books

Speaker

Carl Sagan

Source

Cosmos

Medium

TV program

Language

English

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"The Persistence of Memory." Presented by Carl Sagan. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, season 1, episode 11. PBS, 7 Dec. 1980.

Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct; but to find these reasons is no less an instinct.

F.H. Bradley

More information about this quote

Topic

Metaphysics Justifications and rationales Human nature

Author

F.H. Bradley

Source

Appearance and Reality

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1893 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Bradley, F. H. Appearance and Reality. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1893, preface.

Current Citation

Bradley, F. H. Appearance and Reality. Routledge, 2010, preface.

A man always has two reasons for what he does-a good one, and the real one.

J.P. Morgan

More information about this quote

Topic

Justifications and rationales

Speaker

J.P. Morgan

Language

English

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morgan, John Pierpont. Quoted in Roosevelt: The Story of a Friendship, written by Owen Wister. Macmillan, 1930.

It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people.

Felix Frankfurter

United States v. Rabinowitz

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More information about this quote

Topic

Legal history

Author

Felix Frankfurter

Source

United States v. Rabinowitz

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Dissenting opinion Legal writing

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1950 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Frankfurter, Felix. Dissenting Opinion. United States v. Rabinowitz. United States Reports, vol. 339, 20 Feb. 1950, pp. 68-86. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/339/56/.

You ought to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people.

The Breakfast Club

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More information about this quote

Topic

What other people think

Speaker

Richard Vernon

Actor

Paul Gleason

Source

The Breakfast Club

Medium

Film

Genre

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

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

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

Almighty God hath not bestowed on mankind a remedy of so universal an extent and so efficacious in curing divers maladies as opiates.

Thomas Sydenham

More information about this quote

Topic

Opium Drugs

Author

Thomas Sydenham

Source

Observationes Medicae

Language

Latin

Time

1676 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Sydenham, Thomas. Observationes Medicae. London, 1676.

While reflecting an indisputable aspect of reality, it can falsify the actual truth in a most misleading way.

Carl Jung

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More information about this quote

Topic

The law of averages

Author

Carl Jung

Source

The Undiscovered Self

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

German

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jung, Carl. Gegenwart und Zukunft [The Undiscovered Self], translated by R. F. C. Hull. Routledge & Kegen Paul, 1958.

Political, social, and economic changes entail the recognition of new rights, and the common law, in its eternal youth, grows to meet the demands of society... Now the right to life has come to mean the right to enjoy life, — the right to be let alone; the right to liberty secures the exercise of extensive civil privileges; and the term "property" has grown to comprise every possession — intangible, as well as tangible.

Louis Brandeis

The Right to Privacy

More information about this quote

Topic

Common law Legal history

Author

Louis Brandeis

Source

The Right to Privacy Harvard Law Review

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Brandeis, Louis D and Samuel D. Warren. "The Right to Privacy." Harvard Law Review, 15 Dec. 1890.

Every intellectual product must be judged from the point of view of the age and the people in which it was produced.

Walter Pater

More information about this quote

Topic

Judging the past Intellectual history

Author

Walter Pater

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1873 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Pater, Walter. "Pico Della Mirandola." Studies in the History of the Renaissance. London: Macmillan and Co., 1873.

Current Citation

Pater, Walter. "Pico Della Mirandola." Studies in the History of the Renaissance. Oxford University Press, 2010.

How comes it
That thou art then estranged from thyself?

William Shakespeare

The Comedy of Errors

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Read The Comedy of Errors at The Folger Shakespeare Library

More information about this quote

Topic

Alienation from oneself Alienation

Speaker

Adriana

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

The Comedy of Errors

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1594 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. The Comedy of Errors. 1594, Gray's Inn Hall, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 2.

Current Citation

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