20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on the people's vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.

Janet Malcolm

More information about this quote

Topic

Media criticism Journalism

Author

Janet Malcolm

Source

The Journalist and the Murderer The New Yorker

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Malcolm, Janet. "The Journalist and the Murderer." The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 1989 - 20 Mar. 1989.

Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed.

William James

More information about this quote

Topic

Human potential

Author

William James

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

James, William. Letter to W. Lutoslawski. 6 May 1906.

There is more felicity on the far side of baldness than young men can possibly imagine.

Logan Pearsall Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Baldness Aging

Author

Logan Pearsall Smith

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Logan Pearsall. Last Words. Constable & Company, 1933.

Thank heavens, the sun has gone in, and I don't have to go out and enjoy it.

Logan Pearsall Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Staying in

Author

Logan Pearsall Smith

Language

English

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Logan Pearsall. "Myself." Afterthoughts. Constable & Company, 1931.

No matter how lonely you get or how many birth announcements you receive, the trick is not to get frightened. There's nothing wrong with being alone.

Wendy Wasserstein

More information about this quote

Topic

Being single

Speaker

Harriet Cornwall

Author

Wendy Wasserstein

Source

Isn't It Romantic

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1981 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wasserstein, Wendy. Isn't It Romantic. 1981, Phoenix Theater, New York City, NY, USA, act 1, sc. 6.

A platitude is simply a truth repeated until people get tired of hearing it.

Stanley Baldwin

Read this speech at parliament.uk.

More information about this quote

Topic

Platitudes and cliches Truth

Speaker

Stanley Baldwin

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Baldwin, Stanley. Speech in the House of Commons. House of Commons meeting. 29 May 1924. London, England, UK.

Civilized people must get off their high horse and learn with humble lucidity that they too are an indigenous variety.

Alain Finkielkraut

More information about this quote

Topic

Ethnocentrism Anthropology

Author

Alain Finkielkraut

Source

The Undoing of Thought

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Finkielkraut, Alain. La défaite de la pensée [The Undoing of Thought]. Gallimard, 1987.

Art is a completed pass. You don't just throw it out into the world-someone has to catch it.

James Turrell

More information about this quote

Topic

Artist and audience Nature of art Art

Speaker

James Turrell

Source

Harper's Bazaar

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

2013 2010s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Turrell, James. "Incredible Lightness: Pace Artist James Turrell Prepares for Superstardom." Interviewed by Julie L. Belcove. Harper's Bazaar, online slideshow, 19 Apr. 2013, http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/g2667/james-turrell-interview-0513/?slide=4.

There are few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals.

Ramsey Clark

More information about this quote

Topic

Criminal justice system Criminals

Speaker

Ramsey Clark

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1967 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clark, Ramsey. Keynote address. American Correctional Association conference. Aug. 1967, Miami Beach, FL, USA.

The national park idea, the best idea we ever had, was inevitable as soon as Americans learned to confront the wild continent not with fear and cupidity but with delight, wonder, and awe.

Wallace Stegner

More information about this quote

Topic

National parks Conservation Man and nature Nature

Author

Wallace Stegner

Language

English

Time

1983 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stegner, Wallace. "The Best Idea We Ever Had." Marking the Sparrow's Fall: The Making of the American West. H. Holt, 1998, p. 137.

Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that's too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.

Julian Barnes

Buy A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters at Amazon Buy A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters at Amazon

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Topic

History

Author

Julian Barnes

Source

A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Barnes, Julian. "Parenthesis." A HIstory of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. Jonathan Cape/Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.

You have to take chances for peace, just as you must take chances in war... The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art. If you try to run away from it, if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost.

John Foster Dulles

More information about this quote

Topic

Brinkmanship Taking risks War

Speaker

John Foster Dulles

Source

Life Magazine

Medium

Interview

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dulles, John Foster. "How Dulles Averted War: Three Times, New Disclosures Show, He Brought U.S. Back from the Brink." Interviewed by James Shepley. Life Magazine, 16 Jan. 1956. 

I am certain, however, that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.

Friedrich Hayek

More information about this quote

Topic

Threats to freedom

Author

Friedrich Hayek

Source

Economic Freedom and Representative Government

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Von Hayek, Friedrich August. "Economic Freedom and Representative Government." Fourth Wincott Memorial Lecture. 31 Oct. 1973, The Royal Society of Arts, London, England, UK.

A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces,
An airline ticket to romantic places;
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things
Remind me of you.

Holt Marvell

These Foolish Things Remind Me of You

More information about this quote

Topic

Being in love Memories

Speaker

Holt Marvell

Source

These Foolish Things Remind Me of You

Medium

Song

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Maschwitz, Eric (published as Holt Marvell). "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You." Composed by Jack Strachey. Boosey & Hawkes, 1935.

I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they're surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable.

Robert Rauschenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Modern life

Speaker

Robert Rauschenberg

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rauschenberg, Robert. Quoted in The Bride & the Bachelors: The Heretical Courtship in Modern Art, by Calvin Tomkins. Viking Press, 1965.

Instead of holding a position of independence, between the wealthy and the people, prepared to curb the excesses of either, able lawyers have, to a large extent, allowed themselves to become adjuncts of great corporations and have neglected the obligation to use their powers for the protection of the people. We hear much of the "corporation lawyer," and far too little of the "people's lawyer."

Louis Brandeis

More information about this quote

Topic

Lawyers

Speaker

Louis Brandeis

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Brandeis, Louis D. "The Opportunity in the Law." Harvard Ethical Society meeting. 4 May 1905, Phillips Brooks House, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Current Citation

Brandeis, Louis D. "The Opportunity in the Law" Brandeis on Democracy, edited by Philippa Strum. University Press of Kansas, 1994.

The part of our moral theory... That covers how we affect future generations... Is the most important part of our moral theory, since the next few centuries will be the most important in human history.

Derek Parfit

Buy Reasons and Persons at Amazon Buy Reasons and Persons at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral theory Moral progress The future

Author

Derek Parfit

Source

Reasons and Persons

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parfit, Derek. Reasons and Persons. Oxford University Press, 1984.

This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final Note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 0'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.

Neville Chamberlain

More information about this quote

Topic

World War II

Speaker

Neville Chamberlain

Medium

Radio broadcast Speech

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Chamberlain, Neville. Radio address. 3 Sept. 1939, Cabinet Room, 10 Downing Street, London, England, UK.

We find it’s always better to fire people on a Friday. Studies have statistically shown that there’s less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week.

Office Space

Watch Office Space at Amazon Watch Office Space at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Getting fired Corporate America Days of the week

Speaker

Bob Slydell

Actor

John C. McGinley

Source

Office Space

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy (film) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Office Space. Directed by Mike Judge, Judgemental Films, 1999.

The important thing in life is not the victory but the contest; the essential thing is not to have won but to have fought well.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin

More information about this quote

Topic

Winning

Speaker

Baron Pierre de Coubertin

Medium

Speech

Language

French

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

De Coubertin, Pierre. Banquet given by the British Government. 24 July 1908, Grafton Galleries, London, England, UK.