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Currently showing 10,076 quotes

Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.

Wernher von Braun

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Topic

Research

Speaker

Wernher von Braun

Source

A Random Walk in Science

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

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Citation

Von Braun, Werner. Quoted in A Random Walk in Science, edited by Eric Mendoza. Institute of Physics Publishing, 1973. Originally stated during an interview with The New York Times, 16 Dec. 1957.

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Holding hands at midnight
'Neath a starry sky,
Nice work if you can get it,
And you can get it if you try.

Ira Gershwin

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Being in love The night sky Love

Author

Ira Gershwin

Source

Nice Work if You Can Get It Damsel in Distress

Medium

Song Musical

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

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Citation

Gershwin, Ira. "Nice Work If You Can Get It." Damsel in Distress. Composed by George Gershwin. Performed by Fred Astaire and The Stafford Sisters. RKO Radio Pictures, 1937.

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South Sea natives who have been exposed to American movies classify them into two types, "kiss-kiss" and "bang-bang."

Hortense Powdermaker

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Topic

Hollywood American culture

Author

Hortense Powdermaker

Language

English

Time

1950 1950s 20th century

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Citation

Powdermaker, Hortense. Hollywood, the Dream Factory: An Anthropologist Looks at the Movie-Makers. Little, Brown and Company, 1950, introduction.

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Serene, I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
I rave no more 'gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.

John Burroughs

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Waiting Patience

Author

John Burroughs

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1863 1860s 19th century

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Citation

Burroughs, John. "Waiting." The Knickerbocker. New York, Mar. 1863.

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There's only one way of being comfortable, and that is to stop running round after happiness. If you make up your mind not to be happy there's no reason why you shouldn't have a fairly good time.

Edith Wharton

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Topic

Happiness

Author

Edith Wharton

Medium

Short story

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

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Citation

Wharton, Edith. "The Last Asset." The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908.

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There is no history of mankind, there is only an indefinite number of histories of all kinds of aspects of human life. And one of these is the history of political power. This is elevated into the history of the world.

Karl Popper

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Topic

Nature of history History

Author

Karl Popper

Source

The Open Society and Its Enemies

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1945 1940s 20th century

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Citation

Popper, Karl. The Open Society and Its Enemies. Vol. 2, Routledge, 1995, ch. 25.

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I guess sometimes the past just catches up with you, whether you want it to or not.

The Green Mile

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Past and present Effects of the past The past

Speaker

Old Paul Edgecomb

Actor

Dabbs Greer

Source

The Green Mile

Medium

Film

Genre

Drama (film) Drama

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

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Citation

The Green Mile. Directed by Frank Darabont, Castle Rock Entertainment/Darkwoods Productions, 1999.

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One belief, more than any other, is responsible for the slaughter of individuals on the altars of the great historical ideals... This is the belief that somewhere, in the past or in the future, in divine revelation or in the mind of an individual thinker, in the pronouncements of history or science, or in the simple heart of an uncorrupted good man, there is a final solution.

Isaiah Berlin

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Topic

Utopianism

Speaker

Isaiah Berlin

Source

Two Concepts of Liberty

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

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Original Citation

Berlin, Isaiah. "Two Concepts of Liberty." 31 Oct. 1958, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, UK. Lecture.

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Current Citation

Berlin, Isaiah. "Two Concepts of Liberty." Liberty: Incorporating Four Essays on Liberty, edited by Henry Hardy. Oxford University Press, 2002.

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Let Southern oppressors tremble-let their secret abettors tremble-let their Northern apologists tremble-let all the enemies of the persecuted blacks tremble.

William Lloyd Garrison

To the Public

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American slavery Slavery

Author

William Lloyd Garrison

Source

To the Public The Liberator

Medium

Essay Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1831 1830s 19th century

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Citation

Garrison, William Lloyd. "To the Public." The Liberator, 1 Jan. 1831.

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Does capital punishment tend to the security of the people? By no means. It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light to them; and it renders life insecure, inasmuch as the law holds out that property is of greater value than life.

Elizabeth Fry

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Capital punishment Theory of punishment Criminal law Legal theory Law

Author

Elizabeth Fry

Language

English

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

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Original Citation

Fry, Elizabeth. Note found among her papers. c. 1848.

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Current Citation

Fry, Elizabeth. Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth Fry, edited by Katharine Fry and Rachel Elizabeth Cresswell. Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2011, ch. 10.

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One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

Bertrand Russell

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Topic

Thinking for oneself Conformity

Author

Bertrand Russell

Source

The Conquest of Happiness

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

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Citation

Russell, Bertrand. The Conquest of Happiness. Liveright, 1930, ch. 9.

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We'll meet again,
Don't know where, don't know when,
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.

Vera Lynn

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We'll Meet Again

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Topic

Reuniting

Speaker

Vera Lynn

Source

We'll Meet Again

Medium

Song

Genre

Pop music

Statement Type

Goodbye

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

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Citation

Parker, Ross and Hughie Charles. We'll Meet Again. Performed by Vera Lynn. Michael Ross Limited, 1939.

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Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show.

Bertrand Russell

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Beauty of math Mathematics

Author

Bertrand Russell

Source

The Study of Mathematics The New Quarterly

Medium

Essay Magazine

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1907 1900s 20th century

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Original Citation

Russell, Bertrand. "The Study of Mathematics." The New Quarterly, Nov. 1907.

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Current Citation

Russell, Bertrand. The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, edited by Robert E. Egner and Lester E. Denonn. Routledge, 2009, ch. 31.

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I find no hint throughout the Universe
Of good or ill, of blessing or of curse;
I find alone Necessity Supreme.

James Thomson

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Nature of the universe The universe

Author

James Thomson

Source

The City of Dreadful Night

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1874 1870s 19th century

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Citation

Thomson, James. "The City of Dreadful Night." The City of Dreadful Night and Other Poems. London: Reeves and Turner, 1880, st. 14. Originally published in the National Reformer, 1874.

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It was all over—I was dead. What would it be? The guillotine? Hanging? The chair? The rack? The Chinese water torture? Mmph. Mere child's play compared to what surely awaited me.

Ralphie Parker

A Christmas Story

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Topic

Getting in trouble

Speaker

Ralphie Parker

Actor

Peter Billingsley

Source

A Christmas Story

Medium

Film

Genre

Christmas movie Comedy (film) Christmas Comedy

Language

English

Time

1983 1980s 20th century

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Citation

A Christmas Story. Directed by Bob Clark, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1983.

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The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.

Paul Ralph Ehrlich

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Tinkering DIY

Speaker

Paul Ralph Ehrlich

Source

Saturday Review

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1971 1970s 20th century

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Citation

Ehrlich, Paul Ralph. Quoted in Saturday Review. 5 June 1971.

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We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for one hundred years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter, and to write it in the books of law.

Lyndon B. Johnson

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Racial equality Equality Civil rights American politics

Speaker

Lyndon B. Johnson

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

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Citation

Johnson, Lyndon B. First address to Congress as President. 27 Nov. 1963, US Capital Building, Washington, DC, USA.

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The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children, the more they have come to the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best, after all.

Benjamin Spock

The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care

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Raising kids

Author

Benjamin Spock

Source

The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

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Citation

Spock, Benjamin. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946, ch. 1.

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Death is like a fisherman, who, having caught a fish in his net, leaves it in the water for a time; the fish continues to swim about, but all the while the net is round it, and the fisherman will snatch it out in his own good time.

Ivan Turgenev

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Inevitability of death Nature of death Death

Author

Ivan Turgenev

Source

On the Eve

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Russian

Time

1860 1860s 19th century

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Original Citation

Turgenev, Ivan. "Накануне [On the Eve]." The Russian Messenger, 1859.

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Current Citation

Turgenev, Ivan. On the Eve, translated by Michael Pursglove. Alma Classics, 2017, ch. 35.

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Now, there's one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now, when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War II?" you won't have to say, "Well...I shoveled shit in Louisiana."

General George S. Patton Jr.

Patton

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Regrets World War II

Speaker

General George S. Patton Jr.

Actor

George C. Scott

Source

Patton

Medium

Film

Genre

Biography (film) War (film) Biography War

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

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Citation

Patton. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. 20th Century Fox, 1969.

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