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Explore 2424 quotes by people from United Kingdom

All books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of all time.

John Ruskin

Read Sesame and Lilies at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Books

Author

John Ruskin

Source

Sesame and Lilies

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ruskin, John. "Of Kings Treasures." Sesame and Lilies. 1864, Manchester, UK.

Current Citation

Ruskin, John. Sesame and Lilies. The Works of John Ruskin, edited by Edward Tyas Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. Vol. 18, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Wide and undetermined Prospects are as pleasing to the Fancy, as the Speculations of Eternity or Infinitude are to the Understanding.

Joseph Addison

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Topic

Contemplation Dreams

Author

Joseph Addison

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1712 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Addison, Joseph. "Monday, June 23, 1712." The Spectator, 1712, no. 412.

Reason is the life of the law, nay the common law itself is nothing else but reason.

Edward Coke

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Topic

Common law Law Reason

Author

Edward Coke

Source

Institutes of the Lawes of England

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1628 1620s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coke, Edward. The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. Or, a Commentarie upon Littleton, Not the Name of a Lawyer Onely, but of the Law it selfe. London: Societe of Stationers, 1628, bk. 2, ch. 6, sect. 138.

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

Joseph Addison

The Spectator

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Topic

Books

Author

Joseph Addison

Source

The Spectator

Language

English

Time

1711 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Addison, Joseph. The Spectator. London, 10 Sept. 1711, no. 166.

Comedy naturally wears itself out-destroys the very food on which it lives; and by constantly and successfully exposing the follies and weaknesses of mankind to ridicule, in the end leaves itself nothing worth laughing at.

William Hazlitt

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Topic

Humor Cynicism

Author

William Hazlitt

Source

On Modern Comedy

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hazlitt, William. The Round Table: A Collection of Essays on Literature, Men, and Manners. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, 1817, no. 7.

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

Stanley Baldwin

Read this speech at parliament.uk.

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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.

The first duty of a State is to see that every child born therein shall be well housed, clothed, fed, and educated, till it attain years of discretion.

John Ruskin

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Topic

Government Children

Author

John Ruskin

Source

Time and Tide

Language

English

Time

1867 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ruskin, John. Time and Tide by Weare and Tyne. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1867, letter 13.

Current Citation

Ruskin, John. "Time and Tide." The Works of John Ruskin, edited by Edward Tyas Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. Vol. 17, Cambridge University Press, 2010, letter 13.

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

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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.

This is not a battle between the United States of America and terrorism, but between the free and democratic world and terrorism. We, therefore, here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy, and we, like them, will not rest until this evil is driven from our world.

Tony Blair

Read this speech at theguardian.com

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Topic

September 11th War on Terrorism

Speaker

Tony Blair

Source

Statement following the 9-11 attacks, September 11, 2001

Language

English

Time

2001 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Blair, Tony. Statement after September 11th attacks. 11 Sept. 2001, London, England, UK. Broadcast.

A desire for wealth is the source of all progress. Civilization comes from what men call greed. Let your mercenary tendencies be combined with honesty and they cannot take you astray.

Anthony Trollope

Read Can You Forgive Her? at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Greed Capitalism Progress

Speaker

Plantagenet Palliser

Author

Anthony Trollope

Source

Can You Forgive Her?

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Trollope, Anthony. Can You Forgive Her? 1864-1865. Serial.

Current Citation

Trollope, Anthony. Can You Forgive Her? Penguin Classics, 1975.

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

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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.

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

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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

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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.

The day of small nations has long passed away. The day of Empires has come.

Joseph Chamberlain

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Topic

Imperialism

Speaker

Joseph Chamberlain

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Chamberlain, Joseph. Quoted in The Times. 13 May 1904. Originally spoken during a speech on 12 May 1904, Birmingham, England, UK.

Taxation and representation are inseparable... Whatever is a man's own, is absolutely his own; no man hath a right to take it from him withough his consent either expressed by himself or representative; whoever attempts to do it, attempts an injury; whoever does it, commits a robbery; he throws down and destroys the distinction between liberty and slavery.

Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden

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Topic

Taxation without representation Taxes

Speaker

Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden

Source

On the Declaratory Bill of the Sovereignty of Great-Britain over the Colonies.

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1766 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Lord Camden. "On the Declatory Bill of the Sovereignty of Great-Britain over the Colonies." House of Lords, 10 Feb. 1766, Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK.

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra just for you.

Philip Larkin

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Topic

Parents and children Trauma Childhood

Author

Philip Larkin

Source

This Be the Verse High Windows

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1971 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Larkin, Philip. "This Be the Verse." High Windows. Faber & Faber Limited, 1974. Originally published in New Humanist, Aug. 1971.

In architecture as in all other operative arts, the end must direct the operation. The end is to build well. Well building hath three conditions. Commodity, firmness, and delight.

Henry Wotton

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Topic

Architecture

Author

Henry Wotton

Source

Elements of Architecture

Medium

Treatise

Language

English

Time

1624 1620s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wotton, Henry. Elements of Architecture. London: John Bill, 1624, pt. 1.

War is hell, and all that, but it has a good deal to recommend it. It wipes out all the small nuisances of peace-time.

Ian Hay

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Topic

War and peace War

Speaker

Captain Wagstaffe

Author

Ian Hay

Source

The First Hundred Thousand

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hay, Ian. "The First Hundred Thousand." Blackwood's Magazine, 1915.

It never ceases to puzzle me, that, while men's and women's bodies fit jigsaw-tight in an altogether miraculous way their minds remain wretchedly unaligned.

Beryl Bainbridge

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Topic

Men and women

Author

Beryl Bainbridge

Source

The Birthday Boys

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1991 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bainbridge, Beryl. The Birthday Boys. Gerald Duckworth and Company, 1991.

Distribution should undo excess
And each man have enough.

William Shakespeare

King Lear

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Read King Lear at The Folger Shakespeare Library

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Topic

Redistribution of resources Socialism

Speaker

Gloucester

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

King Lear

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1606 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. King Lear. King's Men, 26 Dec. 1606, Palace of Whitehall, Westminster, England, UK, act 4, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of King Lear." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 4, sc. 1.