Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Advanced Search
  • Explore Categories
  • Suggested Tags
  • Blog
  • Contact
Bon Mots
  • Quote Text
  • Topic
  • Person
  • Source
  • Medium
  • Genre
  • Statement
  • Language
  • Time
  • Occupation
  • From
  • Quote Text
  • Topic
  • Person
  • Source
  • Medium
  • Genre
  • Statement
  • Language
  • Time
  • Occupation
  • From

Advanced Search

Drill down into our database of quotes.

Currently showing 10,076 quotes

The only freedom the gods grant us
Is this: to submit
Of our own free will to their sovereignty
We should do just that,
Since only in the illusion of freedom
Does freedom exist.

Fernando Pessoa

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

God and man Fate vs. free will Free will

Author

Fernando Pessoa

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Portuguese

Time

1914 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Pessoa, Fernando (published as Ricardo Reis). "So esta liberdade nos concedem [The only freedom the gods grant us]." Odes. Edições Ática, 1952.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

The reason that no computer program can ever be a mind is simply that a computer program is only syntactical, and minds are more than syntactical. Minds are semantical, in the sense that they have more than a formal structure, they have a content.

John R. Searle

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Artificial intelligence

Author

John R. Searle

Source

Minds, Brains, and Science

Language

English

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Searle, John R. "Minds, Brains, and Science." Reith Lectures. BBC Radio 4. 1984. Radio.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.

Countee Cullen

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.

Incident

There are no other quotes from this source in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Effects of racism Racism Black experience

Author

Countee Cullen

Source

Incident

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Cullen, Countee. "Incident." Color. Harper & Brothers, 1925, I. 5.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Cullen, Countee. "Incident." Countee Cullen: Collected Poems, edited by Major Jackson. Library of America, 2013, I. 5.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself.

Havelock Ellis

The Dance of Life

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Dancing

Author

Havelock Ellis

Source

The Dance of Life

Language

English

Time

1923 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Ellis, Havelock. The Dance of Life. Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1923, ch. 2.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 17:17

Buy the Bible (KJV) at Amazon Buy the Bible (KJV) at Amazon
Read this verse at Bible Hub
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Friends Brothers Siblings

Source

Proverbs The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

686 BC 680s BC 7th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Proverbs 17:17).

Citation text copied to clipboard.

The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profusion of matter and that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own selves, images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.

Andre Malraux

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

The human condition

Speaker

Walter

Author

Andre Malraux

Source

The Walnut Trees of Altenburg

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1943 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Malraux, Andre. Les Noyers de l'Altenburg [The Walnut Trees of Altenburg]. Gallimard, c. 1948.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

The world today is sick to its thin blood for lack of elemental things, for fire before the hands, for water welling from the earth, for air, for the dear earth itself underfoot.

Henry Beston

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Man and nature Alienation The elements Nature

Author

Henry Beston

Source

The Outermost House

Genre

Nature writing Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Beston, Henry. The Outermost House. Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1928, ch. 1.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Beston, Henry. The Outermost House. Holt Paperbacks, 2003, ch. 1.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

The ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self. The ultimate touchstone is witness: the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.

David Whyte

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of friendship Friendship Man as social animal

Author

David Whyte

Language

English

Time

2020 2020s 21st century

Authentication Score 1

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Whyte, David. "Friendship." Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment, and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words. Canongate Books, 2020.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

The inward gates of a bird are always open.
It does not know how to shut them.
That is the secret of its song,
But whether any man's are ajar is doubtful.

Hugh MacDiarmid

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Vulnerability

Author

Hugh MacDiarmid

Source

On a Raised Beach

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1934 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

MacDiarmid, Hugh. "On a Raised Beach." Stony Limits and Other Poems. Victor Gollancz, 1934.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

As I sit looking out of a window of the building
I wish I did not have to write the instruction manual on the uses of a new metal.
I look down into the street and see people, each walking with an inner peace,
And envy them-they are so far away from me!
Not one of them has to worry about getting out this manual on schedule.

John Ashbery

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.

The Instruction Manual

There are no other quotes from this source in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Observing others Work

Author

John Ashbery

Source

The Instruction Manual

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Ashbery, John. "The Instruction Manual." Some Trees: Yale Series Of Younger Poets. Yale University Press, 1956, I. 1.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

Since the measuring device has been constructed by the observer... We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning.

Werner Heisenberg

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of science

Speaker

Werner Heisenberg

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Heisenberg, Werner. Lecture about the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory. Gifford Lectures. 1955-1956, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Heisenberg, Werner. "The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory." Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2007.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

God has pity on kindergarten children.
He has less pity on school children.
And on grownups he has no pity at all,
he leaves them alone,
and sometimes they must crawl on all fours
in the burning sand
to reach the first-aid station
covered with blood.

Yehuda Amichai

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.

God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children

There are no other quotes from this source in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

War

Author

Yehuda Amichai

Source

God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children

Medium

Poem

Language

Hebrew

Time

1955 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Amichai, Yehuda. "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children." Now and in Other Days. 1955.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

It is useful to distinguish among four factors which give importance, urgency, and inevitability to the advancement of space technology. The first of these factors is the compelling urge of man to explore and to discover, the thrust of curiosity that leads men to try to go where no one has gone before.

James R. Killian

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Space travel Curiosity Human nature

Speaker

James R. Killian

Source

Introduction to Outer Space

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Killian, James R. "Introduction to Outer Space." Project Mercury: Man-in-space Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1959. Originally a speech given on 26 Mar. 1958. The White House, Washington, DC, USA.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

A great ball of fire about a mile in diameter, changing colors as it kept shooting upward, from deep purple to orange, expanding, growing bigger, rising as it was expanding, an elemental force freed from its bonds after being chained for billions of years.

William L. Laurence

The New York Times

Reporting on the first detonation of an atomic bomb which occurred in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945.

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Nuclear weapons

Author

William L. Laurence

Source

The New York Times

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1945 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Laurence, William L. "Drama of the Atomic Bomb Found Climax in July 16 Test; Drama of the Atomic Bomb Found Climax in New Mexico Test Caravan of Scientists by Night Directions for Observers' Safety Roar Reverberations Over Desert." The New York Times, 26 Sept. 1945.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

No society, certainly not a large and heterogenous one, can fail in time to explode if it is deprived of the arts of compromise, if it knows no ways of muddling through. No good society can be unprincipled; and no viable society can be principle-ridden.

Alexander M. Bickel

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.

The Least Dangerous Branch

There are no other quotes from this source in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Political compromise

Author

Alexander M. Bickel

Source

The Least Dangerous Branch

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Bickel, Alexander M. The Least Dangerous Branch: The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics. The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1962, ch. 2.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

It is the professional duty of the advertising agent to conceal his artifice. When Aeschines spoke, they said. "How well he speaks." But when Demosthenes spoke, they said. "Let us march against Philip."

David Ogilvy

Confessions of an Advertising Man

Confessions of an Advertising Man Confessions of an Advertising Man
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Advertising and marketing

Author

David Ogilvy

Source

Confessions of an Advertising Man

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Ogilvy, David. Confessions of an Advertising Man. Atheneum, 1963, ch. 5.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

The men, women, and children who compose a society at any time are the unconscious depositaries and transmitters of the mores. They inherited them without knowing it; they are molding them unconsciously; they will transmit them involuntarily. The people cannot make the mores. They are made by them.

William Graham Sumner

Folkways

Read Folkways at Project Gutenberg
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Society Morality Custom and convention

Author

William Graham Sumner

Source

Folkways

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Sumner, William Graham. Folkways: A Study of Mores, Manners, Customs and Morals. Ginn & Company, 1906, ch. 11.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

Along the vital Pacific Coast over 112,000 potential enemies, of Japanese extraction, are at large today. There are indications that these are organized and ready for concerted action at a favorable opportunity. The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken

John DeWitt

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

World War II

Author

John DeWitt

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

DeWitt, John L. Final Report on the Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast. c. 1942.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?

J. Parnell Thomas

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.

Standard question asked of witnesses testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Red Scare Cold War American politics

Speaker

J. Parnell Thomas

Medium

Congressional hearing

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Thomas, J. Parnell. Hearing on communist influences in the motion picture industry. 30 Oct. 1947, Washington, DC, USA.

Citation text copied to clipboard.

"Could a machine think?" my own view is that only a machine could think, and indeed only very special kinds of machines, namely brains and machines that had the same causal powers as brains... Whatever else intentionality is, it is a biological phenomenon, and it is as likely to be as causally dependent on the specific biochemistry of its origins as lactation, photosynthesis, or any other biological phenomena.

John R. Searle

Minds, Brains, and Programs

There are no other quotes from this source in the Bon Mots database.
Instagram sharing coming soon.
Quote text and source copied to clipboard.
Link to this quote copied to clipboard.

More information about this quote

Topic

Artificial intelligence

Author

John R. Searle

Source

Minds, Brains, and Programs Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Medium

Essay Journal

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Citation

Searle, John R. "Minds, Brains, and Science." Reith Lectures. BBC Radio 4. 1984. Radio.

Citation text copied to clipboard.
  • Load Next 20 Quotes
Go to top
bomots
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Contact

© 2023 Bon Mots LLC — Terms and conditions