20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

In nature there are few sharp lines.

A.R. Ammons

Buy a book containing this poem at Amazon Buy a book containing this poem at Amazon
Read this poem at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature

Author

A.R. Ammons

Source

Corsons Inlet

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ammons, Archie Randolph. "Corsons Inlet." Corsons Inlet: A Book of Poems. W. W. Norton & Company, 1975. Originally published as "A Nature Walk." The Hudson Review, June 1963.

Ladies, you have to be strong and independent, and remember, don't get mad, get everything.

The First Wives Club

Watch First Wives Club at Amazon Watch First Wives Club at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Divorce

Speaker

Ivana Trump

Source

The First Wives Club

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy (film) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The First Wives Club. Directed by Hugh Wilson, Paramount Pictures, 1996.

A man does not attain the status of Galileo merely because he is persecuted; he must also be right.

Stephen Jay Gould

More information about this quote

Topic

Persecution Science

Author

Stephen Jay Gould

Source

Ever Since Darwin

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1975 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gould, Stephen Jay. "Velikovsky In Collision." Natural History, Mar. 1975.

We cross our bridges as we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and the presumption that once our eyes watered.

Tom Stoppard

Buy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at Amazon Buy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Burning bridges Cynicism The human condition

Author

Tom Stoppard

Source

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1966 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Stoppard, Tom. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. 24 Aug. 1966, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh, Scotland, act 2.

Current Citation

Stoppard, Tom. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Grove Press, 2017, act 2.

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business.

Michael J. Fox

More information about this quote

Topic

Perfectionism Excellence Personal development Self-improvement

Speaker

Michael J. Fox

Source

The Most Important Thing I Know

Language

English

Time

1997 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fox, Michael J. Quoted in The Most Important Thing I Know. Compiled by Lorne A. Adrain. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1997.

The path of progress is seldom smooth. New things are often found hard to do. Our fathers found them so. We find them so. They are inconvenient. They cost us something. But are we not made better for the effort and sacrifice, and are not those we serve lifted up and blessed?

William McKinley

Second Inaugural Address of William McKinley

Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon
Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website

More information about this quote

Topic

Progress Overcoming obstacles

Speaker

William McKinley

Source

Second Inaugural Address of William McKinley Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1901 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

McKinley, William. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1901, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.

Milan Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Buy The Unbearable Lightness of Being at Amazon Buy The Unbearable Lightness of Being at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Empathy Compassion

Author

Milan Kundera

Source

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Medium

Novel

Language

Czech

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Kundera, Milan. L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être [The Unbearable Lightness of Being]. Gallimard, 1984.

Current Citation

Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, translated by Michael Henry Heim. Harper Perennial, 2009.

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

L.P. Hartley

The Go-Between

More information about this quote

Topic

The past Past and present

Author

L.P. Hartley

Source

The Go-Between

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hartley, L. P. The Go-Between. Hamish Hamilton, 1953, preface.

Inflation is the one form of taxation which can be imposed without any legislative action.

Milton Friedman

More information about this quote

Topic

Inflation

Speaker

Milton Friedman

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Friedman, Milton. Quoted in "Facing Inflation: Interview with Milton Friedman." Challenge: The Magazine of Economic Affairs. Routledge, Nov.-Dec. 1973, p. 20.

Procrastination is the
art of keeping
up with yesterday.

Don Marquis

More information about this quote

Topic

Procrastination

Author

Don Marquis

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Marquis, Donald. "Certain Maxims of Archy." Archy and Mehitabel. The Evening Sun, c. 1927.

Female animals defending their young are notoriously ferocious and lack the playful delight in combat which characterizes the mock combats of males of the same species. There seems very little ground for claiming that the mother of young children is more peaceful, more responsible, and more thoughtful for the welfare of the human race than is her husband or brother.

Margaret Mead

Male and Female

More information about this quote

Topic

Mothers and children

Author

Margaret Mead

Source

Male and Female

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mead, Margaret. Male & Female. Pelican, 1962, introduction.

The desire to create is one of the strongest urges a human spirit can contain. It will always break through.

Tennessee Williams

More information about this quote

Topic

Creative impulse Creativity Human nature

Speaker

Tennessee Williams

Source

WBAI-FM New York

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1975 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Williams, Tennessee. "Tennessee Williams: Past and Present." Interviewed by Charles Ruas and Bill Lentch, WBAI-FM New York, 12 Dec. 1975.

Secrets had an immense attraction to him, because he never could keep one, and he enjoyed the sort of unhallowed thrill he experienced when he went and told another animal, after having faithfully promised not to.

Kenneth Grahame

The Wind in the Willows

Buy The Wind in the Willows at Amazon Buy The Wind in the Willows at Amazon
Read The Wind in the Willows at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Secrets

Author

Kenneth Grahame

Source

The Wind in the Willows

Medium

Novel

Genre

Children's literature

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. Methuen, 1908, ch. 11.

Current Citation

Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. Barnes & Noble, 2013, ch. 11.

Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon
The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.

Robert Graves

The Persian Version

Read this poem at allpoetry.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Different perspectives

Author

Robert Graves

Source

The Persian Version

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Graves, Robert. "The Persian Version." Poems 1938-1945: Satires and Grotesques. Cassell & Company, 1946, I. 1.

In a century which attempts to tear the heart out of every mystery, fashion guards its secret well, and is the best possible proof that there is still magic abroad.

Christian Dior

More information about this quote

Topic

Fashion 20th century

Author

Christian Dior

Language

French

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Dior, Christian. Quoted in Dior by Christian Dior, written by Olivier Saillard. Assouline, 2017.

I would like to see every single soldier on every single side, just take off your helmet, unbuckle your kit, lay down your rifle, and set down at the side of some shady lane, and say, nope, I ain't a gonna kill nobody. Plenty of rich folks want to fight. Give them the guns.

Woody Guthrie

People’s World

More information about this quote

Topic

Rich vs. poor in war War

Author

Woody Guthrie

Source

I Ain’t a Gonna Kill Nobody People’s World

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Guthrie, Woody. “I Ain’t a Gonna Kill Nobody.” People’s World, c. 1939.

I realize today that nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to take the path that leads to himself.

Hermann Hesse

Demian

Buy Demian at Amazon Buy Demian at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Facing oneself Existential terror Self-knowledge

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Demian

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

German

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hesse, Herman. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend [Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth]. Fischer Verlag, 1919.

Current Citation

Hesse, Herman. Demian, translated by Damion Searls. Penguin Classics, 2013.

A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude.

Rainer Maria Rilke

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage

Author

Rainer Maria Rilke

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1901 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letter to Emanuel von Bodman. 17 Aug. 1901.

Current Citation

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1892-1910, translated by Jane B. Greene and M. D. Herter Norton. W. W. Norton & Company, 1969.

Truth is the object of philosophy, but not always of philosophers.

John Churton Collins

More information about this quote

Topic

Truth Philosophy Philosophers

Author

John Churton Collins

Source

Some Maxims and Reflections The English Review

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1900 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Collins, Churton. "Some Maxims and Reflections." The English Review, c. 1914.

We never have despair without some small hope.

Pier Paolo Pasolini

More information about this quote

Topic

Hope Hopelessness and despair

Author

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Source

The Religion of My Time

Medium

Poem

Language

Italian

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Pasolini, Pier Paolo. "Un'Appendice alla 'Religione': Una luce [An Appendix to 'Religion': The Light]." La religione del mio tempo. [The Religion of My Time]. c. 1961.

Current Citation

Pasolini, Pier Paolo. "Appendice alla 'Religione': Una Luce/Appendix to 'The Religion of My Time: A Light." The Selected Poetry of Pier Paolo Pasolinia: A Bilingual Edition, edited and translated by Stephen Sartarelli. University of Chicago Press, 2015.