20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

Make no mistake: irony tyrannizes us.

David Foster Wallace

More information about this quote

Topic

Irony

Author

David Foster Wallace

Source

E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Medium

Essay Journal

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wallace, David Foster. "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction." The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Summer 1993.

Current Citation

Wallace, David Foster. "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction." A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments. Back Bay Books, 1998.

Do you ever wish you that sometimes you could freeze frame a single moment in your day, look at it and say, "this is not my life?"

Mrs. Doubtfire

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More information about this quote

Topic

Alienation

Speaker

Daniel Hillard

Actor

Robin Williams

Source

Mrs. Doubtfire

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy drama (film) Comedy (film) Comedy drama Comedy

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mrs. Doubtfire. Directed by Chris Columbus, 20th Century Fox/Blue Wolf Productions, 1993.

I've never met anyone like you. There's not a spark of sentiment or romance or human kindness in your whole body.

On the Waterfront

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Topic

Toughness

Speaker

Edie Doyle

Actor

Eva Marie Saint

Source

On the Waterfront

Medium

Film

Genre

Crime (film) Drama (film) Crime Drama

Language

English

Time

1954 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

On the Waterfront. Directed by Elia Kazan, Horizon Pictures, 1954.

In order to be content men must also have the possibility of developing their intellectual and artistic powers.

Albert Einstein

More information about this quote

Topic

Personal development Artistic development Happiness

Author

Albert Einstein

Source

Freedom and Science

Medium

Essay

Language

German

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Einstein, Albert. "Freiheit und Wissenschaft [Freedom and Science]." 1940.

Current Citation

Einstein, Albert. "On Freedom." Out of My Later Years. Philosophical Library/Open Road, 2015, ch. 6.

It is a curious thing, do you know, Cranly said dispassionately, how your mind is supersaturated with the religion in which you say you disbelieve.

James Joyce

The Egoist

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Topic

Atheism Religion

Speaker

Cranley

Author

James Joyce

Source

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man The Egoist

Medium

Novel Magazine

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Joyce, James. "A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man." The Egoist. 2 Feb. 1914 - 1 Sept. 1915. Serial.

Current Citation

Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, edited by John Paul Riquelme. W. W. Norton & Company, 2007, ch. 5.

I did not come here to solve anything.
I came to sing,
And for you to sing with me.

Pablo Neruda

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of poetry Poetry

Author

Pablo Neruda

Source

Que Despierte El Leñador

Medium

Poem

Language

Spanish

Time

1948 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Neruda, Pablo. Que Despierte El Leñador. Colección Yagruma, 1948.

I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful. I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful. I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful.

What About Bob?

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More information about this quote

Topic

Feeling good

Speaker

Bob Wiley

Actor

Bill Murray

Source

What About Bob?

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy (film) Comedy

Statement Type

Mantra

Language

English

Time

1991 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

What About Bob? Directed by Frank Oz, Touchstone Pictures/Touchwood Pacific Partners, 1991.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Andy Dufresne

The Shawshank Redemption

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More information about this quote

Topic

Hope

Speaker

Andy Dufresne

Actor

Tim Robbins

Source

The Shawshank Redemption

Medium

Film

Genre

Prison drama (film) Drama (film) Prison drama Drama

Language

English

Time

1994 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Shawshank Redemption. Directed by Frank Darabont, Castle Rock Entertainment, 1994.

Pickering, why can't a woman be more like a man?

My Fair Lady

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More information about this quote

Topic

Men and women

Speaker

Professor Henry Higgins

Actor

Rex Harrison

Source

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.

You can turn off the charm. I'm immune.

Goldfinger

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Topic

Charm

Speaker

Pussy Galore

Actor

Honor Blackman

Source

Goldfinger

Medium

Film

Genre

Spy (film) Thriller (film) Spy Thriller

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Goldfinger. Directed by Guy Hamilton. Eon Productions, 1964.

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

Margaret Atwood

Variation on the Word Sleep

More information about this quote

Topic

Expression of love

Author

Margaret Atwood

Source

Variation on the Word Sleep

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Atwood, Margaret. "Variation on the Word Sleep." The Atlantic, 1980.

I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. You know, the horrible be like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life, it's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So when you go through life, you should be thankful that you're miserable, because you're very lucky, to be miserable.

Annie Hall

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More information about this quote

Topic

The human condition

Speaker

Alvy Singer

Actor

Woody Allen

Source

Annie Hall

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy drama (film) Romantic comedy (film) Comedy drama Romantic comedy

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Annie Hall. Directed by Woody Allen, A Jack Rollins and Charles H. Joffe Production, 1977.

Live in the now.

Garth Algar

Wayne's World

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Topic

Being present Living in the moment New age

Speaker

Garth Algar

Actor

Dana Carvey

Source

Wayne's World

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy (film) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1992 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wayne's World. Directed by Penelope Spheeris, Paramount Pictures, 1992.

Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.

Satchel Paige

More information about this quote

Topic

Dwelling on the past Looking back The past

Author

Satchel Paige

Language

English

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Page, Satchel. Quoted in "The Fabulous Satchel Page." Written by Richard Donovan. Collier's, 5 Jun. 1953.

Life is what we make of it. Always has been, always will be.

Grandma Moses

More information about this quote

Topic

Agency Personal responsibility Life

Author

Grandma Moses

Source

Grandma Moses: My Life's History

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Grandma Moses. Grandma Moses: My Life's History, edited by Otto Kallir. Harper & Brothers, 1951.

People are gonna drink! You know that, I know that, we all know that, and all I do is act on that. And all this talk of bootlegging—what is bootlegging? On a boat, it's bootlegging. On Lake Shore Drive, it's hospitality.

Al Capone

The Untouchables

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More information about this quote

Topic

Drinking alcohol

Speaker

Al Capone

Actor

Robert De Niro

Source

The Untouchables

Medium

Film

Genre

Crime (film) Drama (film) Crime Drama

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Untouchables. Directed by Brian De Palma, Paramount Pictures, 1987.

Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the cold war assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues.

Bill Clinton

First Inaugural Address of Bill Clinton

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More information about this quote

Topic

America and the world

Speaker

Bill Clinton

Source

First Inaugural Address of Bill Clinton Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clinton, William J. "First Inaugural Address." 20 Jan. 1993, West Front, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Clothes are powerful things. Dressed in a tramp's clothes it is very difficult, at any rate for the first day, not to feel that you are genuinely degraded.

George Orwell

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More information about this quote

Topic

Clothes make the man Clothing

Author

George Orwell

Source

Down and Out in Paris and London

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Orwell, George. Down and Out in Paris and London. Victor Gollancz, 1933, ch. 24.

The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.

Jackson Pollock

More information about this quote

Topic

Artistic process Creativity Painting Art

Author

Jackson Pollock

Source

Possibilities

Language

English

Time

1948 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Pollock, Jackson. "My Painting." Possibilities, no. 1, Winter 1947-1948, p. 79.

Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.

Vladimir Lenin

More information about this quote

Topic

Communism

Author

Vladimir Lenin

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Russian

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lenin, Vladimir. "Our Foreign and Domestic Position and Party Tasks." The Moscow Gubernia Conference Of The R.C.P.(B.). 21 Nov. 1920, Moscow, Russia. Speech.

Current Citation

Lenin, Vladimir. Quoted in Communism, written by Mark Sandle. Routledge, 2014.