Europe

Explore 4622 quotes by people from Europe

It is this ability to bear what is unbearable and to go on living, to go on doing what one is used to doing-it is this uncanny ability that the existence of the human species is based on.

Christa Wolf

More information about this quote

Topic

Adaptability

Author

Christa Wolf

Source

Medea

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wolf, Christa. Medea. Janus Press, 1996, ch. 10.

Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat.

Julian Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

God of the gaps Science and religion Existence of God Nature of God God

Author

Julian Huxley

Source

Religion without Revelation

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Julian. Religion without Revelation. New American Library, 1957, ch. 3. Originally published by Harper & Brothers, 1927, ch. 3.

I can never look now at the Milky Way without wondering from which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are coming.

Arthur C. Clarke

More information about this quote

Topic

Aliens

Author

Arthur C. Clarke

Source

The Sentinel

Medium

Short story

Genre

Science fiction

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clarke, Arthur C. "Sentinel of Eternity." Ten Story Fantasy. Avon Periodicals, 1951.

I have too much respect for the idea of God to make it responsible for such an absurd world.

Georges Duhamel

More information about this quote

Topic

Problem of evil Existence of God God

Author

Georges Duhamel

Language

French

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Duhamel, Georges. Le Desert de Bievre [The Desert of Bièvres]. Mercure de France, 1937, ch. 2.

I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator God
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below, above, the vaulted sky.

John Clare

More information about this quote

Topic

Solitude Wilderness Spending time in nature

Author

John Clare

Source

I Am

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Clare, John. "I Am." The Bedford Times, 1 Jan. 1848, I. 13.

Current Citation

Clare, John. "I Am." John Clare: Major Works, edited by Eric Robinson and David Powell. Oxford University Press, 2008, I. 13.

Marriage is a wonderful invention; but, then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.

Billy Connolly

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage

Speaker

Billy Connolly

Language

English

Time

1976 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Connolly, Billy. Quoted in Billy Connolly, written by Duncan Campbell. Macmillan, 1976.

The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfilment.

Malcolm Muggeridge

More information about this quote

Topic

Sex Modern life

Author

Malcolm Muggeridge

Language

English

Time

1966 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Muggeridge, Malcolm. Tread Softly, for You Tread on My Jokes. Collins, 1966.

Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 1

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Read Henry IV, Part 1 at The Folger Shakespeare Library

More information about this quote

Topic

Danger Safety

Speaker

Hotspur

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Henry IV, Part 1

Medium

Play

Genre

History (play)

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1597 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Henry IV, Part 1. The Lord Chamberlain's Men, c. 1597, The Theatre, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 3.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The First Part of Henry the Fourth." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 2, sc. 3.

The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.

C. Northcote Parkinson

The Economist

More information about this quote

Topic

Abuse of power Self-importance

Author

C. Northcote Parkinson

Source

Pension Point The Economist

Medium

Essay Newspaper

Genre

Economic literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parkinson, C. Northcote. Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress. John Murray, 1958, ch. 10. Originally published as "Pension Point" in The Economist, c. 1958.

"Thou shalt not" might reach the head, but it takes "Once upon a time" to reach the heart.

Philip Pullman

More information about this quote

Topic

Stories

Author

Philip Pullman

Source

Independent

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Pullman, Philip. "Opinion: The moral's in the story, not the stern lecture." The Independent, 17 July 1996.

There are reverent minds who ceaselessly scan the fields of Nature and the books of Science in search for gaps-gaps which they will fill up with God. As if God lived in gaps?

Henry Drummond

More information about this quote

Topic

God of the gaps Science and religion Science Religion God

Author

Henry Drummond

Source

The Ascent of Man

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1894 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Drummond, Henry. The Ascent of Man. New York City: James Pott & Co., 1894, ch. 10.

That humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradises seems very unlikely. Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few moments, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul.

Aldous Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Drugs Escape

Author

Aldous Huxley

Source

The Doors of Perception

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1954 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Aldous. The Doors of Perception. Chatto & Windus/Harper & Row, 1954.

Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life-blood of real civilization.

G.M. Trevelyan

More information about this quote

Topic

Curiosity Progress

Author

G.M. Trevelyan

Source

English Social History

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Trevelyan, George Macaulay. English Social History: A Survey of Six Centuries Chaucer to Queen Victoria. Longmans, Green and Company, 1942, introduction.

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.

George Herbert

Read Love (III) at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of love Love

Author

George Herbert

Source

Love (III) The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1633 1630s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Herbert, George. "Love (III)." The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations. Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1633, I. 1.

Current Citation

Herbert, George. "Love (3)." The Temple. Penguin Classics, 2018, I. 1.

I could never divide my selfe from any man upon the difference of an opinion, or be angry with his judgement for not agreeing with mee in that, from which perhaps within a few dayes I should dissent my selfe.

Sir Thomas Browne

Religio Medici

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Read Religio Medici at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Tolerance Diversity of opinion Open-mindedness

Author

Sir Thomas Browne

Source

Religio Medici

Genre

Autobiography and memoir Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1643 1640s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Browne, Thomas, Sir. Religio Medici. London, 1643, pt. 1, sect. 6.

Current Citation

Browne, Thomas, Sir. "Religio Medici (1643)." Thomas Browne: Selected Writings, edited by Kevin Killeen. Oxford University Press, 2018, pt. 1, sect. 6.

I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way.

Edward Thomas

More information about this quote

Topic

Sleep

Author

Edward Thomas

Source

Lights Out

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thomas, Edward. "Lights Out." Poems. Henry Holt, 1917, I. 1.

Current Citation

Thomas, Edward. "Lights Out." Selected Poems of Edward Thomas. Faber & Faber, 2011, I. 1.

Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttle-fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about him till he becomes invisible.

Joseph Addison

The Spectator

More information about this quote

Topic

Making arguments

Author

Joseph Addison

Source

The Spectator

Language

English

Time

1712 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Addison, Joseph. The Spectator. London, 5 Sept. 1712, no. 476.

When all the world is young, lad,
And all the trees are green;
And every goose a swan, lad,
And every lass a queen;
Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
And round the world away:
Young blood must have its course, lad,
And every dog his day.

Charles Kingsley

More information about this quote

Topic

Enjoying one's youth Youth

Author

Charles Kingsley

Language

English

Time

1863 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Kingsley, Charles. "The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby." Macmillan's Magazine, 1862-1863.

Current Citation

Kingsley, Charles. The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby, edited by Richard D. Beards. Penguin Classics, 2008.

History says, Don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

Seamus Heaney

More information about this quote

Topic

Hope Political progress Progress

Author

Seamus Heaney

Source

The Cure at Troy

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Heaney, Seamus. The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles - Philoctetes. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1991.

In some men only the feeble glimmerings of Taste appear; the beauties which they relish are of the coarsest kind; and of these they have but a weak and confused impression, while in others, Taste rises to an acute discernment, and a lively enjoyment of the most refined beauties.

Hugh Blair

More information about this quote

Topic

Taste Refinement Discernment Elitism

Author

Hugh Blair

Source

Lectures on Rhetoric and Belle Lettres

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1787 1780s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Blair, Hugo. "Lecture II: Taste." Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. 1787, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Current Citation

Blair, Hugo. "Lecture II: Taste." Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. SIU Press, 2005.