20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

An apology for the Devil: It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.

Samuel Butler (Novelist)

More information about this quote

Topic

The devil

Author

Samuel Butler (Novelist)

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Samuel Butler. The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, edited by Henry Festing Jones. A. C. Fifield, 1912, ch. 14.

If you hire only those people whom you understand, the company will never get better people than you are.

Soichiro Honda

More information about this quote

Topic

Employees Management Business

Speaker

Soichiro Honda

Source

Honda Motor

Genre

Biography

Language

Japanese

Time

1982 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Honda, Soichiro. Quoted in Honda Motor: The Men, the Management, the Machines by Tetsuo Sakiya. Kodansha, 1985.

Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them.

Rope

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Topic

Right and wrong Good and evil Morality Middle class values

Speaker

Brandon

Actor

John Dall

Source

Rope

Genre

Psychological thriller (film) Thriller (film) Psychological thriller Thriller

Language

English

Time

1948 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rope. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Transatlantic Pictures, 1948.

A man without faith is like a fish without a bicycle.

Charles S. Harris

More information about this quote

Topic

Religion

Author

Charles S. Harris

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Harris, Charles S. Quoted in The Swarthmore Phoenix. 7 April 1958.

Privately I believe in none of them. Neither do you. Publicly I believe in them all.

Spartacus

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More information about this quote

Topic

Belief in God The gods Public vs. private Social respectability

Speaker

Gracchus

Actor

Charles Laughton

Source

Spartacus

Medium

Film

Genre

Epic (film) Historical drama (film) Epic Historical drama

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Spartacus. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Bryna Productions, 1960.

Of that freedom one may say that it is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.

Benjamin Cardozo

Palko v. Connecticut

On freedom of thought and speech.

Read this opinion at supreme.justia.com.

More information about this quote

Topic

Freedom of speech and expression Freedom Political theory

Author

Benjamin Cardozo

Source

Palko v. Connecticut

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Cardozo, Benjamin Nathan. United States, Supreme Court. Palko v. Connecticut. United States Reports, vol. 302, 6 Dec. 1937, pp. 319-329. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/302/319/.

The present in New York is so powerful that the past is lost.

John Jay Chapman

More information about this quote

Topic

New York City

Author

John Jay Chapman

Language

English

Time

1909 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chapman, John Jay. Emerson and Other Essays. Moffat, Yard and Company, 1909, preface.

In every house of marriage
there's room for an interpreter.

Stanley Kunitz

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage Relationships Communication

Author

Stanley Kunitz

Source

Route Six

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kunitz, Stanley. "Route Six." New England Review, c. 1993.

Now, we go out there and we half-ass it because we're scared, all we're left with is an excuse. We're always gonna wonder. But, we go out there and we give it absolutely everything...that's heroic. Let's be heroes!

Varsity Blues

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Topic

Leaving it all on the field Going for it

Speaker

Mox

Actor

James Van Der Beek

Source

Varsity Blues

Medium

Film

Genre

Coming of age (film) Sports (film) Coming of age Sports

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Varsity Blues. Directed by Brian Robbins, MTV Films/Tollin/Robbins Productions, 1999.

Is it progress if a cannibal uses knife and fork?

Stanislaw Lec

More information about this quote

Topic

Technological progress Moral progress Progress

Author

Stanislaw Lec

Source

Unkempt Thoughts

Statement Type

Question

Language

Polish

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Lec, Stanislaw. Unkempt Thoughts, translated by Jacek Galazka. St. Martin's Press, 1962. Originally published as Myśli nieuczesane [Uncombed Thoughts]. Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1957.

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.

G.K. Chesterton

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral theory Can vs. should Morality

Author

G.K. Chesterton

Source

A Short History of England

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Chesterton, G.K. "A Short History of England." The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton. Vol. 20, Ignatius Press, 2002. Originally published by William Clowes and Sons, 1917.

You think God belongs only to you? He doesn't. God is an immortal spirit who belongs to everybody, to the whole world. You think you're special? God is not an Israelite!

The Last Temptation of Christ

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More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of God God

Speaker

Jesus

Actor

Willem Dafoe

Source

The Last Temptation of Christ

Medium

Film

Genre

Drama (film) Epic (film) Drama Epic

Language

English

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Last Temptation of Christ. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Universal Pictures/Cineplex Odeon Films/Testament Productions, 1988.

And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

Thomas Hardy

More information about this quote

Topic

Disaster Foreboding

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

The Convergence of the Twain

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1912 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "The Convergence of the Twain." Souvenir Programme for the Titanic Disaster Fund, 1912, st. 8.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. "The Convergence of the Twain." Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems, edited by Robert Mezey. Penguin Classics, 1998, st. 8.

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

Douglas Adams

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

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More information about this quote

Topic

Origin of the universe Beginning of time Creation of the world The universe

Author

Douglas Adams

Source

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Medium

Radio broadcast Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Statement Type

Opening lines Joke

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, Douglas. "Fit the Fifth." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Primary Phase. BBC Radio 4, London, England, UK, 5 Apr. 1978.

Current Citation

Adams, Douglas. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Pan Books, 1980, ch. 1.

Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Susan Ertz

More information about this quote

Topic

Spending time Rainy days Sunday Eternal life

Author

Susan Ertz

Source

Anger in the Sky

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1943 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ertz, Susan. Anger in the Sky. Harper & Brothers/Hodder & Stoughton, 1943.

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

Robert F. Kennedy

More information about this quote

Topic

Fighting for justice Standing up for what's right Helping others

Speaker

Robert F. Kennedy

Source

Day of Affirmation Address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1966 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Kennedy, Robert F. "Day of Affirmation." National Union of South African Students meeting. 6 June 1966, Jameson Hall, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, Africa.

I remember my mother when she was dyin', looked all shrunk up and gray. I asked her if she was afraid. She just shook her head. I was afraid to touch the death I seen in her. I couldn't find nothin' beautiful or uplifting about her goin' back to God. I heard of people talk about immortality, but I ain't seen it.

The Thin Red Line

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More information about this quote

Topic

Dying Facing death Death

Speaker

Private Witt

Actor

Jim Caviezel

Source

The Thin Red Line

Medium

Film

Genre

Epic (film) War (film) Epic War

Language

English

Time

1998 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Thin Red Line. Directed by Terrence Malick, Fox 2000 Pictures/Phoenix Pictures/Geisler-Roberdeau, 1998.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

W.H. Auden

Read Funeral Blues at allpoetry.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Lost love Broken heart Love

Author

W.H. Auden

Source

Funeral Blues Another Time

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Auden, W. H. "Funeral Blues." The Ascent of F6: A Tragedy in Two Acts. Faber & Faber, 1936.

A man's respect for law and order exists in precise relationship to the size of his paycheck.

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

More information about this quote

Topic

Law and order

Author

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Language

English

Time

1967 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr. "Black Power: A Form of Godly Power." Keep the Faith, Baby! Simon & Schuster/Trident Press, 1967.

What is love? There is nothing in the world, neither man nor Devil nor any thing, that I hold as suspect as love, for it penetrates the soul more than any other thing. Nothing exists that so fills and binds the heart as love does. Therefore, unless you have those weapons that subdue it, the soul plunges through love into an immense abyss.

Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose

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More information about this quote

Topic

Dangers of love Nature of love Love

Author

Umberto Eco

Source

The Name of the Rose

Medium

Novel

Language

Italian

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Eco, Umberto. Il nome della rosa [The Name of the Rose]. Bompiani, 1980.

Current Citation

Eco, Humberto. The Name of the Rose, translated by William Weaver. HarperVia, 2014.