20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

Great God! this is an awful place.

Robert Falcon Scott

On the South Pole.

More information about this quote

Topic

Antarctica

Author

Robert Falcon Scott

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1912 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Scott, Robert Falcon. Diary entry. 17 Jan. 1912.

Current Citation

Scott, Robert Falcon. "Wednesday, January 17 [1912]." Scott's Last Expedition. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Military force—especially when wielded by an outside power—just cannot bring order in a country that cannot govern itself.

Robert McNamara

Read McNamara Recalls, and Regrets, Vietnam at the New York Times

More information about this quote

Topic

Military strategy Political theory War

Author

Robert McNamara

Language

English

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

McNamara, Robert. In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. Random House, 1995. Originally published in the Daily Telegraph, 10 Apr. 1995.

I never dared be radical when young
For fear it would make me conservative when old.

Robert Frost

More information about this quote

Topic

Radicalism Conservatism Political ideology

Author

Robert Frost

Source

Precaution

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Frost, Robert. "Precaution." Poetry Magazine, Apr. 1936.

Our Congress represents the people and the States. In all legislative affairs it is the natural collaborator with the President. In spite of all the criticism which often falls to its lot, I do not hesitate to say that there is no more independent and effective legislative body in the world. It is, and should be, jealous of its prerogative. I welcome its cooperation, and expect to share with it not only the responsibility, but the credit, for our common effort to secure beneficial legislation.

Calvin Coolidge

Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge

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Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website

More information about this quote

Topic

US Congress

Speaker

Calvin Coolidge

Source

Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Coolidge, Calvin. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1925, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good design for a bus.

David Hockney

Quoted in The Guardian

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of art Art

Speaker

David Hockney

Source

The Guardian

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Hockney, David. The Guardian. 26 Oct. 1988.

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.

Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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More information about this quote

Topic

Man and animals Civilization Dolphins

Author

Douglas Adams

Source

Fit the Third The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Medium

Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, Douglas. "Fit the Third." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Primary Phase. BBC Radio 4, London, England, UK, 22 Mar. 1978.

Current Citation

Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Pan Books, 1979, ch. 23.

Weightlessness is a great equalizer.

Sally Ride

More information about this quote

Topic

Space travel Space

Speaker

Sally Ride

Source

NOVA

Medium

Interview TV program

Language

English

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ride, Sally. "An Interview with Sally Ride." NOVA Labs. Conducted in 1984, aired 23 Jul. 2012, season 8, episode 13.

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense.

Bertrand Russell

More information about this quote

Topic

Evidence

Author

Bertrand Russell

Source

Is There a God? The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Russell, Bertrand. "Is There a God?" The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, edited by John G. Slater and Peter Köllner. Vol. 11, Routledge, 1997. Originally commissioned by Illustrated magazine, 1952. Unpublished.

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of trouble and depressing subject matter. An art which might be for every mental worker, be he businessman or writer, like an appeasing influence, like a mental soother, something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue.

Henri Matisse

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of art Art

Speaker

Henri Matisse

Source

Notes d'un Peintre

Medium

Interview

Language

French

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Liberman, Alexander. The Artist in His Studio. The Viking Press, 1960.

We are dealing with an exceptionally astute and dangerous man...one of the most unscrupulous rascals that Australia has ever evolved—and for a young country it has turned out some very finished types.

Sherlock Holmes

The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

More information about this quote

Topic

Australia

Speaker

Sherlock Holmes

Author

Arthur Conan Doyle

Source

The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

Medium

Short story Magazine

Genre

Detective fiction

Language

English

Time

1911 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Doyle, Arthur Conan. "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax." London: The Strand Magazine/New York: The American Magazine, 1911.

Current Citation

Doyle, Arthur Conan. "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax." His Last Bow: Some Later Reminiscences. The Sherlock Holmes Collector's Library. Detective Fiction, 2012.

The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by five hundred readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the five hundred, he reaches the five hundred thousand.

Henry Adams

The Education of Henry Adams

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Read The Education of Henry Adams at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Influence on others Writers

Author

Henry Adams

Source

The Education of Henry Adams

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1907 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, Henry. The Education of Henry Adams. 1907, ch. 17.

Current Citation

Adams, Henry. "The Education of Henry Adams." Henry Adams: Democracy, Esther, Mont Saint Michel and Chartres, The Education of Henry Adams, edited by Ernest Samuels and Jayne Samuels. Library of America, 1983, ch. 17.

Frequently an issue of this sort will come before the Court clad, so to speak, in sheep's clothing: the potential of the asserted principle to effect important change in the equilibrium of power is not immediately evident, and must be discerned by a careful and perceptive analysis. But this wolf comes as a wolf.

Antonin Scalia

Morrison v. Olsen

Read this opinion at supreme.justia.com.

More information about this quote

Topic

Wolf in sheep's clothing

Author

Antonin Scalia

Source

Morrison v. Olsen

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Dissenting opinion Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1988 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Scalia, Antonin. Dissenting opinion. Morrison v. Olson. United States Reports, vol. 487, 29 June 1988, pp. 654-734. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/487/654/.

There are no races: there is nothing in the world that can do all we ask race to do for us.

Kwame Anthony Appiah

More information about this quote

Topic

Race

Author

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1992 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Appiah, Kwame Anthony. In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture. Methuen/Oxford University Press, 1992, ch. 2.

Never believe governments, not any of them, not a word they say; keep an untrusting eye on all they do.

Martha Gellhorn

More information about this quote

Topic

Lying and politics Government

Author

Martha Gellhorn

Source

The Daily Telegraph

Medium

Obituary Newspaper

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1998 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Gellhorn, Martha. "Obituary." Daily Telegraph, 17 Feb. 1998.

Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory and a sterner sense of justice than we do.

Wendell Berry

More information about this quote

Topic

Environmental destruction Nature

Author

Wendell Berry

Language

English

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Berry, Wendell. Quoted in The Dying of the Trees, written by Charles E. Little. Viking Press, 1995, endorsement, back cover.

The erotic or the sexual is the root of "art"; its first impulse.

Claes Oldenburg

More information about this quote

Topic

Sex Art

Speaker

Claes Oldenburg

Language

English

Time

20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Oldenburg, Claes and Germano Celant. Claes Oldenburg: An Anthology. Guggenheim Museum Publications, 1995, p. 13.

Politics grease the wheels of business.

R.H. Tawney

More information about this quote

Topic

Political corruption Business Politics

Author

R.H. Tawney

Source

Business and Politics under James 1

Genre

Biography

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tawney, R. H. Business and Politics under James I. Cambridge University Press, 1958.

The experience of the irrationality of the world has been the driving force of all religious revolution.

Max Weber

More information about this quote

Topic

Absurdity of life Religion

Author

Max Weber

Source

Politics as a Vocation

Medium

Lecture

Language

German

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Weber, Max. "Politiks wie Beruf [Politics As a Vocation]." 1917, Munich University, Munich, Germany. Lecture.

There's a helluva distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.

Dorothy Parker

More information about this quote

Topic

Jokes

Author

Dorothy Parker

Source

Paris Review

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parker, Dorothy. "The Art of Fiction." The Paris Review, Summer 1956, Issue 13, p. 80.

A writer lives in awe of words for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator.

John Steinbeck

Quoted in Paris Review

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of words Meaning of words Words

Speaker

John Steinbeck

Source

Art of Fiction interview Paris Review

Medium

Interview Magazine

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1954 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Steinbeck, John. "John Steinbeck, The Art of Fiction No. 45." Interviewed by Nathaniel Benchley. The Paris Review, Fall 1969. Originally was published in "In Awe of Words." Exonian, 3 Mar. 1954.