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It was at the highest point in the arc of a bridge that I became aware suddenly of the depth and bitterness of my feelings about modern life, and of the profoundness of my yearning for a more vivid, simple, and peaceable world.

John Cheever

More information about this quote

Topic

Modern life Inflection points

Author

John Cheever

Source

The Angel of the Bridge

Medium

Short story

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cheever, John. "The Angel of the Bridge." The New Yorker, 13 Oct. 1961.

Under the First Amendment there is no such thing as a false idea. However pernicious an opinion may seem, we depend for its correction not on the conscience of judges and juries but on the competition of other ideas.

Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.

More information about this quote

Topic

First Amendment Constitutional law

Author

Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Source

Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1974 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Powell, Lewis F., Jr. United States, Supreme Court. Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. United States Reports, vol. 418, 25 June 1974, pp. 323-404. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/418/323/.

When you love someone you leave every possibility open to them, and in spite of all the memories of the past you are ready to be surprised, again and again-surprised, at how different they are, how various, not a finished image.

Max Frisch

I'm Not Stiller

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of love Love

Speaker

Julika Stiller-Tschudy

Author

Max Frisch

Source

I'm Not Stiller

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1954 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Frisch, Max. Stiller [I'm Not Stiller]. Suhrkamp, 1954, bk. 2.

Which of us has known his brother? Which of us has looked into his father's heart? Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent? Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?

Thomas Wolfe

More information about this quote

Topic

Existential solitude

Author

Thomas Wolfe

Source

Look Homeward, Angel

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age

Language

English

Time

1929 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wolfe, Thomas. Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929, foreword.

"Nothing-so it seems to me," said the stranger, "is more beautiful than the love that has weathered the storms of life... The love of the young for the young, that is the beginning of life. But the love of the old for the old, that is the beginning of—of things longer."

Jerome K. Jerome

More information about this quote

Topic

Time tested love Love

Author

Jerome K. Jerome

Source

The Passing of the Third Floor Back

Medium

Short story

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jerome, Jerome Klapka. The Passing of the Third Floor Back. Grosset & Dunlap, 1908.

Picture a pasture open to all... The rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another; and another... But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons. Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit-in a world that is limited.

Garrett Hardin

The Tragedy of the Commons

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Topic

Tragedy of the commons

Author

Garrett Hardin

Source

The Tragedy of the Commons

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hardin, Garrett. "The Tragedy of the Commons." Science Magazine, 13 Dec. 1968.

From the earliest times, human civilization has been no more than a strange luminescence growing more intense by the hour, of which no one can say when it will begin to wane and when it will fade away. For the time being, our cities still shine through the night, and the fires still spread.

Max Sebald

The Rings of Saturn

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Topic

Civilization

Author

Max Sebald

Source

The Rings of Saturn

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sebald, Winfried Georg. Die Ringe des Saturn: Eine englische Wallfahrt [The Rings of Saturn: An English Pilgrimage]. Eichborn, 1995, pt. 7.

We are becoming like cats, slyly parasitic, enjoying an indifferent domesticity. Nice and smug in "the social," our historic passions have withdrawn into the glow of an artificial coziness, and our half-closed eyes now seek little other than the peaceful parade of television pictures.

Jean Baudrillard

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More information about this quote

Topic

Modern life

Author

Jean Baudrillard

Source

Cool Memories

Language

French

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Baudrillard, Jean. Cool Memories: 1980-1985. Editions Galilee, 1987, ch. 1.

For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.

Robert Jastrow

God and the Astronomers

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Topic

Science and religion

Author

Robert Jastrow

Source

God and the Astronomers

Genre

Religious literature Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jastrow, Robert. God and the Astronomers. W. W. Norton & Company, 1978, ch. 9.

We know now that a man can read Goethe or Rilke in the evening, that he can play Bach and Schubert, and go to his day's work at Auschwitz in the morning.

George Steiner

More information about this quote

Topic

Duality of man

Author

George Steiner

Source

Language and Silence

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1967 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Steiner, George. Language and Silence. Faber and Faber, 1967.

We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds-and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

Science and Linguistics

More information about this quote

Topic

Language and thought Language

Author

Benjamin Lee Whorf

Source

Science and Linguistics MIT Technology Review

Medium

Essay Magazine

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Whorf, Benjamin Lee. "Science and Linguistics." MIT Technology Review, Apr. 1940.

Bad herdsmen ruin their flocks.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Leadership Caring for others

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 17, l. 246.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 17, l. 246.

We are quick to flare up, we races of men on the earth.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Temper Anger Human nature

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 7, l. 307.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 7, l. 307.

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

Socrates

Quoted in Republic, by Plato

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Topic

Getting started

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Republic

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

375 BC 370s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Πολιτεία [Republic], written by Plato. c. 375 BCE.

Current Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Republic, written by Plato, translated by Desmond Lee. Penguin Classics, 2007.

The shield may be as important for victory, as the sword or spear.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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Topic

Survival Natural selection

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of the Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 4.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 4.

He loved chivalrie,
Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.

Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales

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Topic

Knights Medieval values

Author

Geoffrey Chaucer

Source

The Canterbury Tales

Language

English

Time

1400 1400s 14th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The General Prologue." The Canterbury Tales. London: William Caxton, c. 1476.

Current Citation

Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The General Prologue." The Canterbury Tales, edited and translated by Nevill Coghill. Penguin Classics, 2003.

How many things I can do without!

Socrates

Quoted in The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, by Diogenes Laërtius

On looking at a multitude of goods exposed for sale.

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Topic

Simple living Materialism

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Diogenes Laërtius

Source

Socrates The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

Genre

Biography

Language

Greek

Time

399 BC 390s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, written by Diogenes Laertius. c. 240 AD, bk. 2, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Socrates. Quoted in The Lives of Eminent Philosophers, written by Diogenes Laërtius, translated by Pamela Mensch, edited by James Miller. Oxford University Press, 2018, bk. 2, ch. 5.

It is never right to do wrong or to requite wrong with wrong, or when we suffer evil to defend ourselves by doing evil in return.

Socrates

Quoted in Crito, by Plato

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Topic

Eye for an eye Retaliation Revenge Justice

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Crito

Medium

Philosophical dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

Greek

Time

399 BC 390s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plato. Crito. 399 BCE.

Current Citation

Plato. "Crito." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour.

William Shakespeare

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Topic

Food Sugar

Speaker

John of Gaunt

Author

William Shakespeare

Genre

History (play)

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1595 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Richard II. 9 Dec. 1595, The house of Edward Hoby, Westminster, London, England, UK, act 1, sc. 3.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Richard the Second." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 1, sc. 3.

Make war that we may live in peace.

Aristotle

The Nicomachean Ethics

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Topic

War and peace War Peace

Author

Aristotle

Source

The Nicomachean Ethics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Greek

Time

322 BC 320s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, Ēthika Nikomacheia [Nicomachean Ethics]. c. 322 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, translated by Terence Irwin. Hackett Publishing, 2019.