Advanced Search

Drill down into our database of quotes.

Currently showing 10,076 quotes

The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holder's lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.

Bertrand Russell

On the Value of Scepticism

Buy Sceptical Essays at Amazon Buy Sceptical Essays at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Unfounded beliefs Beliefs

Author

Bertrand Russell

Source

On the Value of Scepticism Sceptical Essays

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Russell, Bertrand. "On the Value of Skepticism." Sceptical Essays. George Allen and Unwin Ltd./W. W. Norton & Company, 1928.

It may be said likewise in respect of perfect wisdom, which is no less orderly than mathematics, that if there were not the best among all possible worlds, God would not have produced any.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Theodicy

More information about this quote

Topic

Theodicy

Author

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Source

Theodicy

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosopical literature

Statement Type

Problem of evil

Language

English

Time

1710 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God and Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil. 1710, pt. 1.

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.

Stanislaw Lec

More information about this quote

Topic

Taking responsibility Causation

Author

Stanislaw Lec

Source

More Unkempt Thoughts

Language

Polish

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lec, Stanislaw Jerzy. Myśli nieuczesane nowe [More Unkempt Thoughts]. The Curtis Publishing Company, 1964.

As long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.

Aldous Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Human nature Political leadership Politics

Author

Aldous Huxley

Source

Ends and Means

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Aldous. Ends and Means (an Enquiry Into the Nature of Ideals and Into the Methods Employed for Their Realization). Chatto & Windus, 1937, ch. 8.

The way to bliss lies not on beds of down,
And he that had no cross deserves no crown.

Francis Quarles

More information about this quote

Topic

Adversity

Author

Francis Quarles

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1621 1620s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Quarles, Francis. Hadassa; or the History of Queene Ester. London: Richard Moore, 1621, sec. 9, meditation 9.

It is not what a man outwardly has or wants that constitutes the happiness or misery of him. Nakedness, hunger, distress of all kinds, death itself have been cheerfully suffered, when the heart was right. It is the feeling of injustice that is insupportable to all men.

Thomas Carlyle

Chartism

More information about this quote

Topic

Injustice Adversity

Author

Thomas Carlyle

Source

Chartism

Language

English

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Carlyle, Thomas. Chartism. London: James Frases, 1840, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Carlyle, Thomas. "Chartism." Thomas Carlyle: Selected Writings. Penguin Classics, 2015.

The technocratic imperative: "What can be done must be done."

Theodore Roszak

The Making of the Counter Culture

More information about this quote

Topic

Can vs. should

Author

Theodore Roszak

Source

The Making of the Counter Culture

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Roszak, Theodore. The Making of the Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society. Doubleday & Co., 1969, appendix.

Railway termini... Are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return.

E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster)

Howards End

More information about this quote

Topic

Trains Travel

Author

E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster)

Source

Howards End

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1910 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Forster, E.M. Howards End. Edward Arnold, 1910, ch. 2.

You and I are past our dancing days.

William Shakespeare

Buy Romeo and Juliet at Amazon Buy Romeo and Juliet at Amazon
Read Romeo and Juliet at The Folger Shakespeare Library

More information about this quote

Topic

Dancing Youth vs. old age Aging

Speaker

Capulet

Author

William Shakespeare

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1597 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. London: John Danter, 1597, act 1, sc. 5.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Romeo and Juliet." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 1, sc. 5.

My lucky number is 4 billion, that doesn't come in real handy when you're gambling…come on, 4 billion! Fuck, 7. Not even close.

Mitch Hedberg

Strategic Grill Locations

Listen to Strategic Grill Locations at Amazon Listen to Strategic Grill Locations at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Gambling Luck

Speaker

Mitch Hedberg

Source

Strategic Grill Locations

Medium

Comedy album

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Statement Type

Joke

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hedberg, Mitch. Strategic Grill Locations. 7 Sept. 1999, The Laff Stop Comedy Club, Houston, Texas, USA.

Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning human sexual behavior the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex.

Alfred C. Kinsey

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male

More information about this quote

Topic

Sexuality

Author

Alfred C. Kinsey

Source

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male

Language

English

Time

1948 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kinsey, Alfred C. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. W. B. Saunders Co., 1948, ch. 21.

It's not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our lives, from which we make our choices, is very good stuff.

Fred Rogers

More information about this quote

Topic

What really matters Recognition Achievement Success Meaning of life

Speaker

Fred Rogers

Source

2002 Dartmouth commencement address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Commencement address

Language

English

Time

2002 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rogers, Fred. Commencement address to the Dartmouth Class of 2002. Commencement cermony. 2002, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.

A man lives not only his personal life, as an individual, but also, consciously or unconsciously, the life of his epoch and his contemporaries.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

Buy The Magic Mountain at Amazon Buy The Magic Mountain at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Society and the individual Man as social animal

Author

Thomas Mann

Source

The Magic Mountain

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mann, Thomas. Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1924, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 2.

Things said or done long years ago,
Or things I did not do or say
But thought that I might say or do,
Weigh me down, and not a day
But something is recalled,
My conscience or my vanity appalled.

W.B. Yeats

More information about this quote

Topic

Remorse Regrets

Author

W.B. Yeats

Source

Vacillation

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "Vacillation." The Winding Stair and Other Poems. The Macmillan Company, 1933, pt. 5, st. 2.

Current Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "Vacillation." W. B. Yeats: The Major Works, edited by Edward Larrissy. Oxford University Press, 2008, pt. 5, st. 2.

I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be.

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin

Electrical Units of Measurement

More information about this quote

Topic

Knowledge

Speaker

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin

Source

Electrical Units of Measurement

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Thomson, William. "Electrical Units of Measurement." 3 May 1883, Institute of Civil Engineers, London, England, UK. Lecture.

There must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street. The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to insure the safety of both residents and strangers, must be oriented to the street. They cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind.

Jane Jacobs

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Buy The Death and Life of Great American Cities at Amazon Buy The Death and Life of Great American Cities at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Urban planning Cities

Author

Jane Jacobs

Source

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Random House, 1961, pt. 1, ch. 2.

The history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way.

Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park

Buy Jurassic Park at Amazon Buy Jurassic Park at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Evolution Nature of life Life

Speaker

Ian Malcolm

Author

Michael Crichton

Source

Jurassic Park

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Crichton, Michael. Jurassic Park. Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.

Beauty is vanishing from our world because we live as though it did not matter.

Roger Scruton

Beauty: A Very Short Introduction

Buy Beauty: A Very Short Introduction at Amazon Buy Beauty: A Very Short Introduction at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Beauty

Author

Roger Scruton

Source

Beauty: A Very Short Introduction

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

2011 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Scruton, Roger. Beauty: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2011, ch. 8.

Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maples, singing songs, drinking water and diverting ourselves in just floating, floating; caring not a whit for the poverty staring us in the face, refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call ukiyo.

Asai Ryoi

Tales of the Floating World

More information about this quote

Topic

Enjoying life

Author

Asai Ryoi

Source

Tales of the Floating World

Language

Japanese

Time

1661 1660s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Asai, Ryoi. 浮世物語 [Tales of the Floating World]. c. 1666, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Our manifest destiny [is] to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.

John L. O'Sullivan

More information about this quote

Topic

Manifest destiny American expansion

Author

John L. O'Sullivan

Language

English

Time

1845 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

O'Sullivan, John Louis. United States Magazine and Democratic Review. July 1845-Aug. 1845.