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As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.

Psalm 103:15-16

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Topic

Ephemeral nature of life Shortness of life The human condition

Source

Psalms The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Hebrew

Time

450 BC 450s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982. (Psalm 103:15-16).

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

Luke 4:18-19

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Topic

Liberation

Source

Gospel of Luke The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

61 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Luke 4:18-19).

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Genesis 3:6

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Topic

Adam and Eve Temptation Original sin Sin

Source

Genesis The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

1405 BC 1400s BC 15th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Genesis 3:6).

There is no racial bigotry here! I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops, or greasers! Here, you are all equally worthless!

Gunnery Sargent Hartman

Full Metal Jacket

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Topic

Equality Racism Bigotry

Speaker

Gunnery Sargent Hartman

Actor

Ronald Lee Ermey

Source

Full Metal Jacket

Medium

Film

Genre

War (film) War

Statement Type

Irony

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Full Metal Jacket. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Natant/Harrier Films, 1987.

Men have gained control over the forces of nature to such an extent that with their help they could have no difficulty in exterminating one another to the last man. They know this, and hence comes a large part of their current unrest, their unhappiness and their mood of anxiety.

Sigmund Freud

Civilization and Its Discontents

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Topic

Downsides of technology

Author

Sigmund Freud

Source

Civilization and Its Discontents

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Freud, Sigmund. Das Unbehagen in der Kultur [The Discomfort in Culture]. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag Wien, 1930, pt. 8.

Current Citation

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents, translated by James Strachey. W. W. Norton & Company, 2021, pt. 8.

Truth…never comes into the world, but like a bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her forth.

John Milton

More information about this quote

Topic

Resistance to change Nature of progress

Author

John Milton

Source

The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce

Language

English

Time

1643 1640s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John, [published anonymously]. The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: Restor'd to the Good of Both Sexes, From the Bondage of Canon Law. London: T. P. and M. S., 1643.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce." John Milton: The Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008.

You know what's wild? Martin Luther King stood for nonviolence. Now what's Martin Luther King? A street. And I don't give a fuck where you at in America—if you on Martin Luther King Boulevard, there's some violence goin' down!

Chris Rock

Bring the Pain

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Topic

Inner city issues

Speaker

Chris Rock

Source

Bring the Pain

Medium

Comedy special

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rock, Chris. Chris Rock: Bring the Pain. HBO, 1 June 1996.

In the desert there is all-and yet nothing…God is there and man is not.

Honoré de Balzac

La Comédie humaine

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Topic

The desert

Author

Honoré de Balzac

Source

A Passion in the Desert La Comédie humaine

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1830 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

De Balzac, Honoré. "Une passion dans le desert [A Passion in the Desert]." Revue de Paris, 26 Dec. 1830.

Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need—not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

John F. Kennedy

Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy

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Topic

Political progress

Speaker

John F. Kennedy

Source

Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kennedy, John F. "Inaugural Address." 20 Jan. 1961, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

New white people. You can’t scare these white people. I tried. Roll up on 'em: BOO! "What the hell is wrong with you? Those days are over."

Dave Chappelle

Killin' Them Softly

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Topic

Gentrification

Speaker

Dave Chappelle

Source

Killin' Them Softly

Medium

Comedy special

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Language

English

Time

2000 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chappelle, Dave. Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly. HBO, 26 July 2000.

It is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

Thomas Paine

The Age of Reason

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Topic

Intellectual integrity

Author

Thomas Paine

Source

The Age of Reason

Medium

Pamphlet

Genre

Religious literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1794 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Paine, Thomas. The Age of Reason, Part I. London: Joel Barlow, 1794.

Current Citation

Paine, Thomas. "The Age of Reason, Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology (1794)." Selected Writings of Thomas Paine, edited by Ian Shapiro and Jane E. Calvert. Yale University Press, 2014.

They have all a lively faith in the perfectibility of man, they judge that the diffusion of knowledge must necessarily be advantageous, and the consequences of ignorance fatal; they all consider society as a body in a state of improvement, humanity as a changing scene, in which nothing is, or ought to be, permanent; and they admit that what appears to them today to be good, may be superseded by something better tomorrow.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

On Americans.

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Topic

American character Americans

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

Democracy in America

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1835 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 1, London: Saunders and Otley, 1835, ch. 18, pt. 6.

Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 1, ch. 18, pt. 6.

I said there was a society of men among us bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose that white is black and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are slaves.

Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels

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Topic

Lawyers

Speaker

On lawyers.

Author

Jonathan Swift

Source

Gulliver's Travels

Genre

Satire Travel writing

Language

English

Time

1726 1720s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Swift, Jonathan. Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships. London: Benjamin Motte, 1726, pt. 4, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels, edited by Albert J. Rivero. W. W. Norton & Company, 2001, pt. 4, ch. 5.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Genesis 2:16-17

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Topic

Forbidden fruit Temptation Original sin

Source

Genesis The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

Hebrew

Time

1405 BC 1400s BC 15th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982. (Genesis 2:16-17).

The mad mob does not ask how it could be better, only that it be different. And when it then becomes worse, it must change again. Thus they get bees for flies, and at last hornets for bees.

Martin Luther

More information about this quote

Topic

The mob The masses

Author

Martin Luther

Language

German

Time

1526 1520s 16th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Luther, Martin. Ob Kriegesleute auch in seligem Stande sein können [Whether Soldiers Can Also Be in a State of Grace]. c. 1526.

Current Citation

Luther, Martin. "Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved." Works of Martin Luther, translated by C. M. Jacobs. Vol. 5, Baker Book House, 1982.

I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me.

Donald Trump

More information about this quote

Topic

Intuition

Speaker

Donald Trump

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

2018 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Trump, Donald. Interview. Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2018.

Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas; how comes it to be furnished?... Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience.

John Locke

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

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Topic

Epistemology

Author

John Locke

Source

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1690 1690s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. London: Thomas Basset, 1690, bk. 2, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, edited by Pauline Phemister. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 2, ch. 1.

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:1-3

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Topic

Trust in God God's promises

Source

Genesis The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

Hebrew

Time

1405 BC 1400s BC 15th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Genesis 12:1-3).

There is not a woman in the world the possession of whom is as precious as that of the truths which she reveals to us by causing us to suffer.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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Topic

Learning from suffering

Author

Marcel Proust

Source

The Fugitive In Search of Lost Time

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

French

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Albertine disparue [Albertine Gone]. Paris: Gallimard, 1927.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. The Fugitive, edited and translated by Peter Collier. Penguin Classics, 2021.

Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get out hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops, depending on the breaks.

George C. Scott

Dr. Strangelove

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Topic

Nuclear war

Speaker

Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson

Actor

George C. Scott

Source

Dr. Strangelove

Medium

Film

Genre

Black comedy (film) War (film) Black comedy War

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dr. Strangelove. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Hawk Films, 1964.