Advanced Search

Drill down into our database of quotes.

Currently showing 10,076 quotes

"Beauty" is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy, it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West it is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact.

Naomi Wolf

The Beauty Myth

Buy The Beauty Myth at Amazon Buy The Beauty Myth at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriarchy Beauty

Author

Naomi Wolf

Source

The Beauty Myth

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. Chatto & Windus, 1990.

When the white men came we gave them lands, and did not wish to hurt them. But the white man drove us back and took our lands. Then the Great Father made us many promises, but they are not kept. He promised to give us large presents, and when they came to us they were small; they seemed to be lost on the way.

Red Cloud

On promises made and broken by the American government.

More information about this quote

Topic

US and Native American relations American expansion

Speaker

Red Cloud

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1870 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Red Cloud. Speech at Council of Peace. 15 June 1870, New York City, NY, USA.

It is always the best policy to speak the truth—unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.

Jerome K. Jerome

More information about this quote

Topic

Telling the truth Lying

Author

Jerome K. Jerome

Source

The Idler

Language

English

Time

1892 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jerome, Jerome K. "The Idler's Club." The Idler. London: Chatto & Windus, Feb. 1892.

You're born a sinner. By being born you are a sinner and you're going to hell. But you can just apologize and then you can go to heaven. No big deal. If you're a murderer—same thing, it's just apologize and go to heaven.

Sarah Silverman

We are Miracles

Read the full transcript of this special at scrapsfromtheloft.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Original sin Forgiveness Salvation Christianity

Speaker

Sarah Silverman

Source

We are Miracles

Medium

Comedy special

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Language

English

Time

2013 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Silverman, Sarah. Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles. HBO, 23 Nov. 2013.

In a burning building...I would save a cat before a Rembrandt.

Alberto Giacometti

More information about this quote

Topic

Value of life Hypothetical situations Relative value Cats Art

Speaker

Alberto Giacometti

Genre

Biography

Language

Unclear

Time

20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lord, James. Giacometti: A Biography. Macmillan, 1997, ch. 44.

The law must be stable, and yet it cannot stand still.

Roscoe Pound

More information about this quote

Topic

Legal theory Law

Speaker

Roscoe Pound

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Pound, Roscoe. Lecture delivered before Trinity College. Lent Term, 1922, Trinity College, Cambridge, England, UK.

Current Citation

Pound, Roscoe. Interpretations of Legal History. Cambridge University Press, 2013, ch. 1.

Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge
I'm tryin' not to lose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes
It makes me wonder how I keep from going under.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

The Message

Listen to The Message at Amazon Listen to The Message at Amazon
Read the lyrics to The Message

More information about this quote

Topic

Inner city issues

Speaker

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

Source

The Message

Medium

Song

Genre

Hip hop

Language

English

Time

1982 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The Message. Sugar Hill Records, 1982.

If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain.

Emily Dickinson

Read If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Helping others

Author

Emily Dickinson

Source

If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking Poems

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1886 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dickinson, Emily. "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking." Poems by Emily Dickinson. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1890, I. 1.

Current Citation

Dickinson, Emily. "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking." Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them, edited by Cristanne Miller. Belknap Press, 2016, I. 1.

Yeah, I try to leave out the parts that people skip.

Elmore Leonard

On his writing.

More information about this quote

Topic

Writing

Author

Elmore Leonard

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Leonard, Elmore. Spoken during Book-of-the-Month Club luncheon. Luncheon. c. 1985, USA.

I like to find
what's not found
at once, but lies
within something of another nature
in repose, distinct.

Denise Levertov

Pleasures

More information about this quote

Topic

Seeking

Author

Denise Levertov

Source

Pleasures

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1959 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Levertov, Denise. "Pleasures." With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads. New Directions Publishing, 1959, I. 1.

In the misfortune of our best friends we often find something that is not displeasing.

François de La Rochefoucauld

Reflections

Buy Reflections at Amazon Buy Reflections at Amazon
Read Reflections at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Schadenfreude Friends

Author

François de La Rochefoucauld

Source

Reflections

Medium

Epigram

Language

French

Time

1678 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims]. c. 1665.

Current Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Collected Maxims and Other Reflections, translated by E. H. and A. M. Blackmore and Francine Giguere. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Even if you win a rat race, you're still a rat.

William Sloane Coffin

More information about this quote

Topic

Rat race

Speaker

William Sloane Coffin

Medium

Sermon

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Coffin, William Sloane. "In Praise of Rest." 29 July 1979, Riverside Church, New York City, New York, USA. Sermon.

Current Citation

Coffin, William Sloane. "In Praise of Rest." The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin: The Riverside Years. Vol. 1, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008.

The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation...That incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism.

Joseph Schumpeter

Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy

Buy Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy at Amazon Buy Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Capitalism

Author

Joseph Schumpeter

Source

Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy

Genre

Economic literature Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Schumpeter, Joseph Alois. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. Harper & Brothers, 1942, pt. 2, ch. 7.

The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.

Kate Chopin

Buy The Awakening at Amazon Buy The Awakening at Amazon
Read The Awakening at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Sound of water Ocean and sea

Author

Kate Chopin

Source

The Awakening

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Chicago and New York: Herbert S. Stone & Co., 1899, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." The Awakening and Selected Stories. Penguin Classics, 2003, ch. 6.

Sorrow comes in great waves—no one can know that better than you—but it rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us it leaves us on the spot, and we know that if it is strong we are stronger, inasmuch as it passes and we remain. It wears us, uses us, but we wear it and use it in return; and it is blind, whereas we after a manner see.

Henry James

More information about this quote

Topic

Learning from suffering Suffering

Author

Henry James

Source

Letters of Henry James

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, Henry. Letter to Grace Norton. 28 July 1883.

Current Citation

James, Henry. "July 28th [1883] To Grace Norton." The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1883-1884, edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W. Zacharias. Vol. 1, University of Nebraska Press, 2018.

Electric flesh-arrows...traversing the body. A rainbow of color strikes the eyelids. A foam of music falls over the ears. It is the gong of the orgasm.

Anaïs Nin

More information about this quote

Topic

Sex

Author

Anaïs Nin

Source

Journals of Anaïs Nin

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Nin, Anaïs. "October, 1937." The Diary of Anaïs Nin, vol. 2, 1934–1939, edited by Gunther Stuhlmann. Harcourt Brace & World, Inc., 1967.

Although we are mere sojourners on the surface of the planet, chained to a mere point in space, enduring but for a moment of time, the human mind is not only enabled to number worlds beyond the unassisted ken of mortal eye, but to trace the events of indefinite ages before the creation of our race, and is not even withheld from penetrating into the dark secrets of the ocean, or the interior of the solid globe.

Charles Lyell

Principles of Geology

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress

Author

Charles Lyell

Source

Principles of Geology

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1830 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lyell, Charles, Sir. Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation. Vol. 1, London: John Murray, 1830.

We have a cancer within, close to the Presidency, that is growing.

John Dean

More information about this quote

Topic

Watergate American politics

Speaker

John Dean

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dean, John. "Cancer on the Presidency." 21 Mar. 1973, Oval Office, The White House, Washington, DC, USA. Presidental briefing.

There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.

Gore Vidal

More information about this quote

Topic

Solving problems

Author

Gore Vidal

Source

Writing Plays for Television New World Writing

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Vidal, Gore. "Writing Plays for Television." New World Writing, 1956.

Avarice and happiness never saw each other, how then should they become acquainted.

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

Buy Poor Richard's Almanack at Amazon Buy Poor Richard's Almanack at Amazon
Read this proverb at the National Archives website

More information about this quote

Topic

Greed

Author

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

Source

Poor Richard's Almanack

Medium

Almanac

Language

English

Time

1734 1730s 18th century

Era

Colonial America

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin [published as Richard Saunders]. Poor Richard's Almanack. Philadelphia, 1734.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1734." Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.