20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

The sea lies all about us. The commerce of all lands must cross it. The very winds that move over the lands have been cradled on its broad expanse and seek ever to return to it. The continents themselves dissolve and pass to the sea, in grain after grain of eroded land. So the rains that rose from it return again in rivers. In its mysterious past it encompasses all the dim origins of life and receives in the end, after, it may be, many transmutations, the dead husks of that same life. For all at least return to the sea—to Oceanus, the ocean river, like the everflowing stream of time, the beginning and the end.

Rachel Carson

Buy The Sea Around Us at Amazon Buy The Sea Around Us at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Ocean and sea

Author

Rachel Carson

Source

The Sea Around Us

Genre

Nature writing Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Carson, Rachel. The Sea Around Us. Oxford University Press, 1951, pt. 3.

Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But don't let us come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He hasn't left that open to us. He didn't intend to.

C.S. Lewis

On Jesus.

More information about this quote

Topic

Jesus

Speaker

C.S. Lewis

Medium

Radio broadcast

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lewis, C. S. "The Shocking Alternative." 1942, Broadcasting House, London, England, UK. Radio broadcast.

Current Citation

Lewis, C. S. "The Shocking Alternative." Mere Christianity. HarperOne, 2015.

I especially hate turtlenecks. Like wearing a turtleneck is like being strangled by a really weak guy, all day.

Mitch Hedberg

Comedy Central Presents

Watch Comedy Central Presents Mitch Hedberg at Amazon Watch Comedy Central Presents Mitch Hedberg at Amazon
Read the full transcript of this special at scrapsfromtheloft.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Clothing

Speaker

Mitch Hedberg

Source

Comedy Central Presents

Medium

Comedy special

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hedberg, Mitch. Comedy Central Presents. Comedy Central, 5 Jan. 1999.

Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?

Hunter S. Thompson

Security

More information about this quote

Topic

Taking risks

Author

Hunter S. Thompson

Source

Security The Spectator

Medium

Essay

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Thompson, Hunter S. “Security.” The Spectator, 1951.

One never reaches home... But wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time.

Hermann Hesse

Demian

Buy Demian at Amazon Buy Demian at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Home

Speaker

Frau Eva

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.

Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.

George Shultz

More information about this quote

Topic

Negotiation Power Political theory International politics Politics

Speaker

George Shultz

Source

Moral Principles and Strategic Interests: The Worldwide Movement Toward Democracy

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Shultz, George. "Moral Principles and Strategic Interests: The Worldwide Movement Toward Democracy." Landon Lecture Series. 14 Apr. 1986, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.

I drank the silence of God from a spring in the woods.

Georg Trakl

More information about this quote

Topic

Silence Stillness Solitude The forest

Author

Georg Trakl

Source

De Profundis Gedichte

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

German

Time

1912 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Trakl, Georg. "De profundis." Gedichte. Contumax, 1913.

Current Citation

Trakl, Georg. "De profundis." To the Silenced, translated by Will Stone. Arc Publications, 2005.

Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.

Viktor Frankl

Man's Search for Meaning

Buy Man's Search for Meaning at Amazon Buy Man's Search for Meaning at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Success Dedication Happiness

Author

Viktor Frankl

Source

Man's Search for Meaning

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

German

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Frankl, Victor. …trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager [Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy]. Verlag für Jugend und Volk, 1946.

Current Citation

Frankl, Victor. Man's Search for Meaning. Beacon Press, 2006.

What, then, does the Negro want? His answer is very simple. He wants only what all Americans want. He wants opportunity to make real what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights say, what the Four Freedoms establish. While he knows these ideals are open to no man completely, he wants only his equal chance to obtain them.

Mary McLeod Bethune

More information about this quote

Topic

Civil rights Equality of opportunity

Author

Mary McLeod Bethune

Source

Certain Unalienable Rights

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bethune, Mary McLeod. "Certain Unalienable Rights." What the Negro Wants, edited by Rayford Logan. University of North Carolina Press, 1944.

I've always sensed that language is the great liberator. The fitting phrase, the precise word-these permit us to be more nearly ourselves.

Carol Shields

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of words Language

Speaker

Carol Shields

Source

Larry's Party

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Shields, Carol. "An Interview with Carol Shields from Penguin.com," author's website, n.d., http://www.carol-shields.com/larryspartyinterview.pdf.

A cynical, mercenary, demagogic, corrupt press will produce in time a people as base as itself.

Joseph Pulitzer

More information about this quote

Topic

Media

Speaker

Joseph Pulitzer

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Pulitzer, Joseph. "The College of Journalism.” The North American Review, May 1904.

Not only did we play the race card, we dealt it from the bottom of the deck.

Robert Shapiro

On the O.J. Simpson defense team's strategy.

More information about this quote

Topic

OJ Simpson Trial

Speaker

Robert Shapiro

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Shapiro, Robert. Interviewed by Barbara Walters. ABC News, 3. Oct. 1995.

Why do people have to be this lonely? What's the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?

Haruki Murakami

Sputnik Sweetheart

More information about this quote

Topic

Loneliness Isolation The human condition

Author

Haruki Murakami

Source

Sputnik Sweetheart

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Question

Language

Japanese

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Murakami, Haruki. スプートニクの恋人 [Sputnik Sweetheart]. Kodansha, 1999.

Women are irrational, that's all there is to that! Their heads are full of cotton, hay, and rags. They're nothing but exasperating, irritating, vacillating, calculating, agitating, maddening and infuriating hags!

My Fair Lady

Watch My Fair Lady at Amazon Watch My Fair Lady at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of women

Speaker

Professor Henry Higgins

Actor

Rex Harrison

Source

A Hymn to Him My Fair Lady

Medium

Song Film

Genre

Musical comedy (film) Musical (film) Musical comedy Musical

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"A Hymn to Him." My Fair Lady. Directed by George Cuko, performed by Rex Smith, Warner Bros., 1964.

For the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.

Neville Chamberlain

More information about this quote

Topic

Appeasement World War II

Speaker

Neville Chamberlain

Source

Peace for Our Time (Speech)

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1938 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Chamberlain, Neville. "Peace For Our Time." 30 Sept. 1938, 10 Downing Street, London, England, UK.

This is a different kind of army. If you look back through history you will see men fighting for pay, or women, or some other kind of loot. They fight for land, power, because a king leads them, or just because they like killing. But we're here for something new. This has not happened much in the history of the world. We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, all of it, not divided by a line between slave state and free. All the way from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow, no man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here is the place to build a home. But it's not the land. There's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end, you're fighting for each other.

Gettysburg

Watch Gettysburg at Amazon Watch Gettysburg at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War Equality The military

Speaker

Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Actor

Jeff Daniels

Source

Gettysburg

Medium

Film

Genre

War (film) Epic (film) War Epic

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gettysburg. Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, Turner Pictures/TriStar Television/Esparza/Katz Productions, 1993.

The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.

Rene Magritte

More information about this quote

Topic

The unknown The mysterious

Speaker

Rene Magritte

Genre

Biography

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Magritte, Rene. Quoted in Magritte by Suzy Grablik. New York Graphic Society, 1970.

Love is never simple. Not for fathers and sons. We spend our lives full of hope and expectations. And most of the time we are bound to fail. But that afternoon as I watched my father sheltering his son against a future that was so unsure, all I knew was they didn’t want to let each other down anymore.

The Wonder Years

Watch Season 5 of The Wonder Years at Amazon Watch Season 5 of The Wonder Years at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Fathers and sons Family love

Speaker

Narrator (Adult Kevin Arnold)

Actor

Daniel Stern

Source

The Wonder Years

Medium

TV program

Genre

Coming of age (TV) Comedy (TV) Coming of age Comedy

Language

English

Time

1992 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"Private Butthead." The Wonder Years, written by Neal Marlens and Carol Black and Sy Rosen, directed by Nick Marck, season 5, episode 14, The Black/Marlens Company and New World Television, 1992.

You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.

Richard Bach

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Buy Jonathan Livingston Seagull at Amazon Buy Jonathan Livingston Seagull at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Authenticity

Speaker

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Author

Richard Bach

Source

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bach, Richard. Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The Macmillan Company, 1970, pt. 3.

As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.

The Wizard of Oz

Watch The Wizard of Oz at Amazon Watch The Wizard of Oz at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Vulnerability Toughness Broken heart

Speaker

The Wizard of Oz

Actor

Frank Morgan

Source

The Wizard of Oz

Medium

Film

Genre

Fantasy (film) Musical (film) Fantasy Musical

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Wizard of Oz. Directed by Victor Fleming. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939.