20th century

Explore 4282 quotes from the 20th century

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

T.S. Eliot

The Waste Land

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Topic

April Spring Seasons

Author

T.S. Eliot

Source

The Waste Land

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Eliot, T. S. "The Waste Land." The Criterion, Oct. 1922, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Eliot, T. S. "The Waste Land." The Waste Land and Other Poems. Vintage, 2021, pt. 1.

Filling a space in a beautiful way. That is what art means to me.

Georgia O'Keeffe

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of art Art

Speaker

Georgia O'Keeffe

Source

Art News

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

O'Keefe, Georgia. “Georgia O’Keeffe at 90." Interviewed by Mary Lynn Kotz. Art News, Dec. 1977.

I came here to drink myself to death.

Leaving Las Vegas

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Topic

Drinking alcohol Las Vegas

Speaker

Ben Sanderson

Actor

Nicolas Cage

Source

Leaving Las Vegas

Medium

Film

Genre

Drama (film) Drama

Language

English

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Leaving Las Vegas. Directed by Mike Figgis, Lumiere Pictures/Studio Canal, 1995.

Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.

Willa Cather

Death Comes for the Archbishop

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Topic

Technological progress Technology Progress Modern life The human condition

Speaker

Eusabio

Author

Willa Cather

Source

Death Comes for the Archbishop

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1929 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Cather, Willa. Death Comes for the Archbishop. Alfred A. Knopf, 1927, bk. 9, ch. 6.

She moves in mysterious ways.

U2

Mysterious Ways

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Topic

Holy Spirit God

Speaker

U2

Source

Mysterious Ways Achtung Baby

Medium

Song

Genre

Rock music

Language

English

Time

1991 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bono. "Mysterious Ways." Performed by U2. Achtung Baby. Island Records, 1991.

I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.

Ronald Reagan

More information about this quote

Topic

Abortion American politics

Speaker

Ronald Reagan

Medium

Political debate

Language

English

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Reagan, Ronald. Spoken during presidential campaign debate. Campaign debate. 21 Sept. 1980, Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Shut your eyes and see.

James Joyce

Ulysses

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Topic

Perception Observation

Author

James Joyce

Source

Ulysses

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Statement Type

Orders and commands Zen koan

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Joyce, James. Ulysses. Shakespeare and Company, 1922, bk. 1, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Joyce, James. The Cambridge Centenary Ulysses: The 1922 Text with Essays and Notes, edited by Catherine Flynn. Cambridge University Press, 2022, ch. 3.

We must be the great arsenal of democracy.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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Topic

World War II

Speaker

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. "The Arsenal of Democracy." Fireside Chat. 29 Dec. 1940, Diplomatic Reception Room, White House, Washington, DC, USA. Radio broadcast.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Topic

Nonviolence Activism

Author

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Medium

Nobel Prize Lecture Speech

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Nobel Lecture." Les Prix Nobel en 1964. [The Nobel Peace Prize 1964.] 11 Dec. 1964, Auditorium of the University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

An uneasy conscience is a hair in the mouth.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Guilty conscience Conscience

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Journals of Mark Twain

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Twain, Mark. Mark Twain's Notebook, edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. The Mark Twain Company, 1932, ch. 35. Originally from Notebook, c. 1904.

The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

Albert Einstein

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Topic

Nature of the world Science The world

Author

Albert Einstein

Source

Physics and Reality The Journal of the Franklin Institute

Medium

Academic journal

Genre

Scientific literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Einstein, Albert. "Physics and Reality." The Journal of the Franklin Institute, Mar. 1936.

Current Citation

Einstein, Albert. "Physics and Reality." The Essential Einstein: His Greatest Works. Penguin, 2008, ch. 13.

How long does a man spend dying?

Pablo Neruda

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of death Death

Author

Pablo Neruda

Source

And How Long?

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Question

Language

Spanish

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Neruda, Pablo. "Y cuanto vive? [And how long?]." Extravagaria. Losada, 1958.

Current Citation

Neruda, Pablo. "Y cuanto vive?/And how long?" Extravagaria: A Bilingual Edition, translated by Alistair Reid. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.

Dead Poets Society

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Topic

Changing the world Words Ideas

Speaker

John Keating

Actor

Robin Williams

Source

Dead Poets Society

Medium

Film

Genre

Teen (film) Drama (film) Teen Drama

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dead Poets Society. Directed by Peter Weir, Touchstone Pictures/Silver Screen Partners IV, 1989.

Pretty girls make graves.

Jack Kerouac

The Dharma Bums

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Topic

Beautiful women Beauty Dangers of love

Author

Jack Kerouac

Source

The Dharma Bums

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kerouac, Jack. The Dharma Bums. Viking Press, 1958, ch. 5.

There are no second acts in American lives.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

More information about this quote

Topic

Second chances Redemption America

Author

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Source

The Last Tycoon

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Last Tycoon. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1941, notes.

Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.

George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four

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Topic

Totalitarianism Limits of language

Speaker

Syme

Author

George Orwell

Source

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1949 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Secker & Warburg, 1949, pt. 1, ch. 5.

The beauty of the world which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.

Virginia Woolf

A Room of One's Own

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Topic

Yin and yang Duality of man

Author

Virginia Woolf

Source

A Room of One's Own

Medium

Essay

Genre

Feminist literature

Language

English

Time

1929 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. Hogarth Press/Harcourt Brace & Co., 1929, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. Mariner Books, 2005, ch. 1.

A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets.

Titanic

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Topic

Women

Speaker

Old Rose

Actor

Gloria Stuart

Source

Titanic

Medium

Film

Genre

Epic (film) Romantic drama (film) Epic Romantic drama

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1997 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Titanic. Directed by James Cameron, Paramount Pictures/20th Century Fox/Lightstorm Entertainment, 1997.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

Ronald Reagan

More information about this quote

Topic

Fragility of freedom Threats to freedom Freedom

Speaker

Ronald Reagan

Source

Address to the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Reagan, Ronald. Address to the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. 30 Mar. 1961, Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Phoenix, AZ, USA.

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

More information about this quote

Topic

New Deal American politics

Speaker

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. Accepting the Presidential Nomination. The Democratic National Convention. 2 July 1932, Chicago, IL, USA.