Advanced Search

Drill down into our database of quotes.

Currently showing 10,076 quotes

Conversation... Is the art of never appearing a bore, of knowing how to say everything interestingly, to entertain with no matter what, to be charming with nothing at all.

Guy de Maupassant

More information about this quote

Topic

Conversation

Author

Guy de Maupassant

Source

On the Water

Medium

Short story

Statement Type

Definition

Language

French

Time

1876 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Maupassant, Guy De. Sur l'Eau [Afloat]. Paris: Libraire Ollendorff, 1888.

Current Citation

Maupassant, Guy De. Afloat, translated by Douglas Parmée. NYRB Classics, 2008.

We believe, and I think properly, that when the men who met in 1787 to make a Constitution made the best political document ever made, they did so very largely because they were great compromisers.

Learned Hand

More information about this quote

Topic

Political compromise Political theory American founding American politics Politics

Speaker

Learned Hand

Source

Morals in Public Life

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hand, Learned. "Morals in Public Life." Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. 28 June 1951, Washington, DC, USA. Testimony.

They are plants that will grow in any soil that is cultivated by the hands of others; and, when once they have taken root, they will extinguish every other vegetable that grows around them... The most ignorant, the most bungling member of that profession, will, if placed in the most obscure part of the country, promote litigiousness, and amass more wealth without labor, than the most opulent farmer with all his toils.

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

On lawyers.

Buy Letters from an American Farmer at Amazon Buy Letters from an American Farmer at Amazon
Read Letters from an American Farmer at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Lawyers

Author

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

Source

Letters from an American Farmer

Language

English

Time

1782 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Crevecoeur, Michel Guillaume Jean [published as J. Hector St. John]. "What Is an American?" Letters from an American Farmer. London: Davies & Davies, 1782.

Current Citation

Crevecoeur, J. Hector St. John. "Letters From an American Farmer." Letters From an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America, edited by Albert E. Stone. Penguin Classics, 1981.

Man, biologically considered, and whatever else he may be in the bargain, is simply the most formidable of all the beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own species.

William James

More information about this quote

Topic

Man's cruelty to man Man and animals Nature of man

Author

William James

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

James, William. "Remarks At The Peace Banquet." Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1904. Originally remarks at the world peace banquet. 7 Oct. 1904, Boston, MA, USA.

We don't want so much to see a female Einstein become an assistant professor. We want a woman schlemiel to get promoted as quickly as a male schlemiel.

Bella Abzug

"Schlemiel" is a Yiddish term meaning, roughly, an unlucky, incompetent or foolish person.

More information about this quote

Topic

Women's equality

Speaker

Bella Abzug

Source

US News and World Report

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Abzug, Bella. US News and World Report. 25 Apr. 1977.

The shrewd guess, the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion-these are the most valuable coin of the thinker at work.

Jerome Bruner

More information about this quote

Topic

Intellectual history Progress

Author

Jerome Bruner

Source

The Process of Education

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bruner, Jerome. The Process of Education. Harvard University Press, 1960, introduction.

You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.

Jonathan Safran Foer

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Buy Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close at Amazon Buy Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Happiness Sadness Yin and yang

Author

Jonathan Safran Foer

Source

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

2005 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Houghlin Mifflin, 2005.

I'm wild again,
Beguiled again,
A simpering, whimpering child again-
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I.

Lorenz Milton Hart

More information about this quote

Topic

New love

Author

Lorenz Milton Hart

Source

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered Pal Joey

Medium

Song Musical

Genre

Great American songbook

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hart, Lorenz. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered." Pal Joey. Composed by Richard Rodgers. 25 Dec. 1940, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, New York, USA.

Zen is a liberation from time. For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality.

Alan Watts

The Way of Zen

Buy The Way of Zen at Amazon Buy The Way of Zen at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Being present The present Time

Author

Alan Watts

Source

The Way of Zen

Genre

Religious literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Watts, Alan. The Way of Zen. Vintage Books, 1957.

Time, you old gipsy man,
Will you not stay,
Put up your caravan
Just for one day?

Ralph Hodgson

More information about this quote

Topic

Relentlessness of time Time

Author

Ralph Hodgson

Source

Time, You Old Gipsy Man

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hodgson, Ralph. "Time, You Old Gipsy Man." Poems. The Macmillan Company, 1917, I. 1.

You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry. Don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.

Walter Hagen

More information about this quote

Topic

Letting go Living in the moment

Author

Walter Hagen

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Hagen, Walter C. The Walter Hagen Story. Simon and Schuster, 1956.

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March.

Robert Frost

More information about this quote

Topic

Spring Seasons

Author

Robert Frost

Source

Two Tramps in Mud Time

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1934 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Frost, Robert. "Two Tramps in Mud Time." Saturday Review of Literature, 6 Oct. 1934, st. 3.

Set thine house in order.

Isaiah

2nd Kings 20:1

Buy the Bible (KJV) at Amazon Buy the Bible (KJV) at Amazon
Read this verse at Bible Hub

More information about this quote

Topic

Taking responsibility

Speaker

Isaiah

Source

2nd Kings The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

Hebrew

Time

538 BC 530s BC 6th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (2nd Kings 20:1).

At its best monogamy may be the wish to find someone to die with; at its worst it is a cure for the terrors of aliveness. They are easily confused.

Adam Phillips

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage

Author

Adam Phillips

Source

Monogamy

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Phillips, Adam. Monogamy. Faber & Faber/Pantheon Books, 1996.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Apostle Paul

2nd Corinthians 12:9

Buy the Bible (KJV) at Amazon Buy the Bible (KJV) at Amazon
Read this verse at Bible Hub

More information about this quote

Topic

Grace Weakness

Author

Apostle Paul

Source

2nd Corinthians The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

56 50s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (2nd Corinthians 12:9).

The treatment of the Negro is America's greatest and most conspicuous scandal.

Gunnar Myrdal

More information about this quote

Topic

Race relations

Author

Gunnar Myrdal

Source

An American Dilemma

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Myrdal, Gunnar. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. Vol. 2, Harper & Brothers, 1944, ch. 45, sect. 9.

If the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt.

G.M. Trevelyan

More information about this quote

Topic

French Revolution Causes of revolution Revolution Elites Counterfactual history

Author

G.M. Trevelyan

Source

English Social History

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Trevelyan, George Macaulay. English Social History: A Survey of Six Centuries Chaucer to Queen Victoria. Longmans, Green and Company, 1942, ch. 8.

If the dreams of any so-called normal man were exposed... There would be no more gravity and dignity left for mankind.

Vera Caspary

More information about this quote

Topic

Inner life Dreams

Author

Vera Caspary

Source

Laura

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1943 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Caspary, Vera. Laura. Houghton Mifflin, 1943, ch. 2. Originally published in Colliers, Oct. 1942 - Nov. 1942.

Afflicted by the thought that where
Beauty was, nothing ever ran quite straight,
which, no doubt, was why so many people
looked on it as immoral.

John Galsworthy

More information about this quote

Topic

Beauty

Speaker

Jolyon Forsyte

Author

John Galsworthy

Source

In Chancery

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Galsworthy, John. In Chancery. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920, pt. 1, ch. 13.

True, 'tis an unhappy circumstance of life that love should ever die before us, and that the Man so often should outlive the Lover. But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved.

William Congreve

The Way of the World

Buy a book containing the play The Way of the World at Amazon Buy a book containing the play The Way of the World at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Dangers of love Men and women

Speaker

Mrs. Marwood

Author

William Congreve

Source

The Way of the World

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1700 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Congreve, William. The Way of the World. Performed by John Verbruggen and Anne Bracegirdle. Mar. 1700, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Congreve, William. "The Way of the World." The Way of the World and Other Plays, edited by Eric S. Rump. Penguin Classics, 2006, act 2, sc. 1.