20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.

Margaret Sanger

Woman and the New Race

More information about this quote

Topic

Women's rights

Author

Margaret Sanger

Source

Woman and the New Race

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sanger, Margaret. Woman and the New Race. Brentano's, 1920, ch. 8.

One of the best things about love is just recognizing a man's step when he climbs the stairs.

Colette

More information about this quote

Topic

Lifelong love Love

Author

Colette

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

French

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Colette. Looking Backwards. Peter Owen, 1975.

Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday, you will be a real boy.

Pinocchio

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More information about this quote

Topic

Formation of character Growing up

Speaker

The Blue Fairy

Actor

Evelyn Venable

Source

Pinocchio

Medium

Film

Genre

Animation (film) Musical (film) Animation Musical

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Pinocchio. Directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, Walt Disney Productions, 1940.

The most decisive actions of our life-I mean those that our most likely to decide the whole course of our future-are more often than not, unconsidered.

Andre Gide

The Counterfeiters

More information about this quote

Topic

Inflection points

Speaker

Hildebrant

Author

Andre Gide

Source

The Counterfeiters

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

French

Time

1926 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gide, Andre. Les Faux-monnayeurs [The Counterfeiters]. Nouvelle Revue Francaise, 1925, pt. 3, ch. 16.

Current Citation

Gide, Andre. The Counterfeiters, translated by Dorothy Bussy. Penguin Books, 1990, pt. 3, ch. 16.

I would just like to say that no one ever asked me to lie and I was never promised a job for my silence. And that I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for everything that's happened. And I hate Linda Tripp.

Monica Lewinsky

More information about this quote

Topic

Political scandals American politics

Speaker

Monica Lewinsky

Language

English

Time

1998 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lewinsky, Monica. Grand jury testimony. 6 Aug. 1998, Washington, DC, USA.

Although human life is priceless, we always act as if something had an even greater price than life…but what is that something?

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

More information about this quote

Topic

What really matters Value of life

Speaker

Riviere

Author

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Source

Night Flight

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Question

Language

French

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Saint-Exupery, Antoine. Vol de Nuit [Night Flight]. Éditions Gallimard, 1931, ch. 14.

Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists.

Norman Mailer

More information about this quote

Topic

Newspapers

Author

Norman Mailer

Source

She Thought the Russians Was Coming Esquire

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mailer, Norman. "She Thought the Russians Was Coming." Esquire, 1 June 1960.

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy-but that could change.

Dan Quayle

More information about this quote

Topic

Spread of freedom and democracy

Speaker

Dan Quayle

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Quayle, Dan. Quoted in Wall Street Journal. 26 May 1989.

It will be convenient to have a name for the ideas which are esteemed at any time for their acceptability, and it should be a term that emphasizes this predictability. I shall refer to these ideas henceforth as the conventional wisdom.

John Kenneth Galbraith

The Affluent Society

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More information about this quote

Topic

Majority opinions Conformity Intellectual history

Author

John Kenneth Galbraith

Source

The Affluent Society

Genre

Sociology Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Affluent Society. Houghton Mifflin, 1958, ch. 2, sect. 1.

A myth is a religion in which no-one any longer believes.

James K. Feibleman

Understanding Philosophy

More information about this quote

Topic

Myth Religion

Author

James K. Feibleman

Source

Understanding Philosophy

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Feibleman, James K. "The Earliest Greek Philosophers." Understanding Philosophy: A Popular History of Ideas. Horizon Press, 1973, ch. 3.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.

Harry Truman

More information about this quote

Topic

American foreign policy Cold War

Speaker

Harry Truman

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Truman, Harry S. Address about establishing the Truman Doctrine. Joint session of Congress. 12 Mar. 1947, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Franz Kafka

The Great Wall of China

More information about this quote

Topic

Stillness Paying attention

Author

Franz Kafka

Source

The Great Wall of China

Medium

Short story

Language

German

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kafka, Franz. Betrachtungen über Sünde, Leid, Hoffnung und den wahren Weg [Reflections on Sin, Pain, Hope and the True Way]. Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1931, no. 109.

If you want work well done, select a busy man.

Elbert Hubbard

More information about this quote

Topic

Busyness

Author

Elbert Hubbard

Language

English

Time

1916 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hubbard, Elbert. The Philosophy of Elbert Hubbard. Roycrofters, 1916.

In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.

Edith Wharton

A Backward Glance

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More information about this quote

Topic

Long life Openness to change Curiosity

Author

Edith Wharton

Source

A Backward Glance

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1934 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wharton, Edith. "A First Word." A Backward Glance. D. Appleton-Century Company, 1934.

I will not sulk about having no boyfriend, but develop inner poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance, complete without boyfriend, as best way to obtain boyfriend.

Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones's Diary

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More information about this quote

Topic

Finding someone

Author

Helen Fielding

Source

Bridget Jones's Diary

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones's Diary. Picador, 1996.

A genuine first-hand religious experience... Is bound to be a heterodoxy to its witnesses, the prophet appearing as a mere lonely madman. If his doctrine prove contagious enough to spread to any others, it becomes a definite and labeled heresy. But if it then still prove contagious enough to triumph over persecution, it becomes itself an orthodoxy, its day of inwardness is over: the spring is dry; the faithful live at second hand exclusively and stone the prophets in their turn.

William James

The Varieties of Religious Experience

More information about this quote

Topic

Religion

Author

William James

Source

The Varieties of Religious Experience

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, William. "The Value of Saintliness." Gifford Lecture. c. 1902, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. Lecture.

Current Citation

James, William. "The Value of Saintliness." The Varieties of Religious Experience, edited by Martin E. Marty. Penguin Classics, 1982.

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust.

John Rawls

A Theory of Justice

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More information about this quote

Topic

Justice Political theory

Author

John Rawls

Source

A Theory of Justice

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1971 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Belknap Press, 1971, ch. 1, sect. 1.

Let a man once overcome his selfish terror at his own finitude, and his finitude is, in one sense, overcome.

George Santayana

Introduction to Spinoza's Ethics

More information about this quote

Topic

Overcoming fear

Author

George Santayana

Source

Introduction to Spinoza's Ethics

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1910 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Santayana, George. Introduction. Ethics, by Spinoza, translated by A. Boyle. Everyman's Library, 1910, introduction.

Only the tiniest fraction of mankind want freedom.
All the rest want someone to tell them they are free.

Irving Layton

More information about this quote

Topic

True freedom Delusion

Author

Irving Layton

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Layton, Irving. "Aphs." The Whole Bloody Bird: Obs, Aphs & Pomes. McClelland & Stewart, 1969.

To believe in God is to yearn for His existence and, furthermore, it is to act as if He did exist.

Miguel de Unamuno

The Tragic Sense of Life

More information about this quote

Topic

Belief in God

Author

Miguel de Unamuno

Source

The Tragic Sense of Life

Language

Spanish

Time

1912 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

De Unamuno, Miguel. Del Sentimiento Tragico de la Vida [The Tragic Sense of Life]. Sociedad anónima Editorial, 1913, ch. 8.