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Currently showing 10,076 quotes

The Past is like a funeral gone by
The Future comes like an unwelcomed guest.

Edmund Gosse

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Topic

Past and future The past The future

Author

Edmund Gosse

Source

May-Day

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1911 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Gosse, Edmund. "May-Day." On Viol and Flute. London: Henry S. King, 1873.

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The first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.

Robert H. Jackson

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Topic

The Holocaust Criminal law Deterrence (theory of punishment)

Speaker

Robert H. Jackson

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1945 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Jackson, Robert H. "Opening Statement before the International Military Tribunal." 21 Nov. 1945, International Military Tribunal, Palace of Justice, Nuremberg, Germany.

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Improvements succeeded each other so rapidly, that machines which had never been finished were abandoned in the hands of their makers, because new improvements had superseded their utility.

Charles Babbage

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Topic

Technological progress Progress Industrial revolution

Author

Charles Babbage

Source

On the Economy of Manufactures

Genre

Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1832 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

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Original Citation

Babbage, Charles. On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. London: Charles Knight, 1832, ch. 29.

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Current Citation

Babbage, Charles. On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. Cambridge University Press, 2010, ch. 29.

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No man has ever been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that-one in an awkward, the other in a more intelligent way, each as best he can.

Hermann Hesse

Demian

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Topic

Personal growth Authenticity

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Demian

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

German

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Original Citation

Hesse, Herman. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend [Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth]. Fischer Verlag, 1919.

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Current Citation

Hesse, Herman. Demian, translated by Damion Searls. Penguin Classics, 2013.

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Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation.

Robert F. Kennedy

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Topic

Changing the world Change starts at home Political theory Politics

Speaker

Robert F. Kennedy

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1966 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

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Citation

Kennedy, Robert F. "Day of Affirmation." National Union of South African Students meeting. 6 June 1966, Jameson Hall, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, Africa.

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The mind is but a barren soil; is a soil which is soon exhausted, and will produce no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter.

Joshua Reynolds

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Topic

Stimulation Learning

Speaker

Joshua Reynolds

Source

Discourses on Art

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1774 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

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Citation

Reynolds, Joshua. "Discourse VI." 10 Dec. 1774, Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, UK. Lecture.

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Though philosophers like to define poetry as irrational fancy, for us it is practical, humorous, reasonable way of being ourselves. Of never acquiescing in a fraud; of never accepting the secondary-rate in poetry, painting, music, love, friends.

Robert Graves

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Topic

Poetry

Author

Robert Graves

Source

The Case for Xanthippe

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Graves, Robert. "The Case for Xanthippe." The Crane Bag. Cassell & Company, 1969.

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In Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country... The Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land.

Arthur James Balfour

Memorandum to Lord Curzon, August 11, 1919

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Topic

Israel-Palestine conflict

Author

Arthur James Balfour

Source

Memorandum to Lord Curzon, August 11, 1919

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Original Citation

Balfour, Arthur James. Memorandum to Lord Curzon. 11 Aug. 1919.

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Current Citation

Balfour, Arthur James. Quoted in Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation, and Postcolonial Perspectives, edited by Anne McClintock and Aamir Mufti and Ella Shohat. University of Minnesota Press, 1997.

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The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

Wilfred Owen

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Topic

World War I Horrors of war War

Author

Wilfred Owen

Source

Anthem for Doomed Youth

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Original Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Anthem for Doomed Youth." Poems. Chatto & Windus, 1920.

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Current Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Anthem for Doomed Youth." The War Poems Of Wilfred Owen. Random House UK, 2018.

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To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch their renewal of life-this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.

Charles Dudley Warner

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Topic

Farming

Author

Charles Dudley Warner

Source

My Summer in a Garden

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1870 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Warner, Charles Dudley. "Preliminary." My Summer in a Garden. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1870.

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We keep saying old people are square. Then when they suddenly aren't-we don't like it!

Peter Shaffer

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Topic

Old people

Speaker

Jill Mason

Author

Peter Shaffer

Source

Equus

Medium

Play

Genre

Drama (play) Drama

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Original Citation

Shaffer, Peter. Equus. 1973, Royal National Theatre, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 31.

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Current Citation

Shaffer, Peter. Equus. Scribner, 2005, act 2, sc. 31.

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On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war. Yet this chamber is, for the most part, silent-ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing. We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events.

Robert Byrd

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Topic

Iraq War American politics

Speaker

Robert Byrd

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Byrd, Robert C. Speech on the impending invasion of Iraq. 12 Feb. 2003, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

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Greed is all right... Greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.

Ivan F. Boesky

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Topic

Greed Capitalism

Speaker

Ivan F. Boesky

Source

1986 UC Berkeley commencement address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Commencement address

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

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Citation

Boesky, Ivan. Commencement speech. 18 May 1986, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.

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The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

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Topic

Political theory Politics and lies Politics

Author

H.L. Mencken

Source

In Defense of Women

Genre

Feminist literature

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Mencken, HL. "Women as Outlaws." A Mencken Chrestomathy. Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, ch. 3. Originally published In Defense of Women. Philip Goodman, 1918, ch. 2, sec. 13.

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The zipless fuck is absolutely pure. It is free of ulterior motives. There is no power game. The man is not "taking" and the woman is not "giving." No one is attempting to cuckold a husband or humiliate a wife. No one is trying to prove anything or get anything out of anyone. The zipless fuck is the purest thing there is. And it is rarer than the unicorn.

Erica Jong

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Topic

Casual sex Sex

Author

Erica Jong

Source

Fear of Flying

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Jong, Erica. Fear of Flying. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973, ch. 1.

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In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book, or goes to an American play, or looks at an American picture or statue?... Under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy, and sell and torture?

Sydney Smith

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Topic

Criticism of America America

Author

Sydney Smith

Source

The Edinburgh Review

Language

English

Time

1820 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Smith, Sydney. "Review of Seybert's Annals of the United States." The Edinburgh Review, Jan. 1820 - May 1820.

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We Americans are great on fillers, as if what we have, what we are, is not enough... We have only to look at the houses we build to see how we build against space, the way we drink against pain and loneliness. We fill up space as if it were a pie shell, with things whose opacity further obstructs our ability to see what is already there.

Gretel Ehrlich

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Topic

American character

Author

Gretel Ehrlich

Source

The Solace of Open Spaces

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Ehrlich, Gretel. The Solace of Open Spaces. Viking Press, 1985.

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The condition of our survival in any but the meagerest existence is our willingness to accommodate ourselves to the conflicting interests of others, to learn to live in a social world.

Learned Hand

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Topic

Political compromise Political theory Man as social animal

Speaker

Learned Hand

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Hand, Learned. Speech to the Yale Law graduates. Graduation cermony. 17 June 1931, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT, USA.

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I enjoy being afraid of Russia. It's a harmless fear, but it makes America feel better, Russia gets an inflated sense of national worth from our paranoia. How's that?

St. Elmo's Fire

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Topic

Cold War Russia

Speaker

Kevin Dolenz

Actor

Andrew McCarthy

Source

St. Elmo's Fire

Medium

Film

Genre

Coming of age (film) Coming of age

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

St. Elmo's Fire. Directed by Joel Schumacher, Channel-Lauren Shuler, 1985.

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The opinion seems to have got abroad, that, in a few years, all the great physical constants will have been approximately estimated, and that the only occupation which will be left to men of science will be to carry on these measurements to another place of decimals.

James Clerk Maxwell

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Topic

Laws of physics

Speaker

James Clerk Maxwell

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

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Citation

Maxwell, James Clerk. Inaugural address as Cavendish professor. Oct. 1871, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, UK.

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