United Kingdom

Explore 2424 quotes by people from United Kingdom

The policy is obliteration, openly acknowledged. This is not a justifiable act of war.

George Bell

On the Allied policy of widspread bombing of Berlin and other German cities in 1944.

More information about this quote

Topic

Total war War crimes War World War II

Speaker

George Bell

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Bell, George. "Speech Opposing Area Bombing." House of Lords meeting. 9 Feb. 1944, Westminster, London, England, UK.

It is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true…But of course a true proposition is more apt to be interesting than a false one.

Alfred North Whitehead

Adventures of Ideas

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Topic

Ideas

Author

Alfred North Whitehead

Source

Adventures of Ideas

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Whitehead, Alfred North. Adventures of Ideas. The Macmillan Company/Simon and Schuster, 1933, ch. 16, sec. 3.

The love of our country, as the term has usually been understood, has too often been found to be one of those specious illusions which are employed by impostors for the purpose of rendering the multitude the blind instruments of their crooked designs.

William Godwin

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Read An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice at libertyfund.org

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Topic

Abuses of patriotism Patriotism

Author

William Godwin

Source

An Enquiry Concerning Politicsl Justice

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1793 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Godwin, William. An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Political Justice and Its Influence on Modern Morals and Happiness. London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1793, bk. 5, ch. 16.

Current Citation

Godwin, William. An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. Oxford University Press, 2013, bk. 5, ch. 16.

I know my soul hath power to know all things,
Yet is she blind and ignorant in all:
I know I'm one of Nature's little kings,
Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall.

Sir John Davies

Of Human Knowledge

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Topic

Duality of man

Author

Sir John Davies

Source

Of Human Knowledge

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1599 1590s 16th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Davies, John, Sir. Nosce Teipsum. 1599, st. 44.

It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.

Francis Crick

Proposing the double helix as the structure of DNA.

More information about this quote

Topic

DNA Genetics Biology Moments of discovery

Author

Francis Crick

Source

Nature

Medium

Magazine

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Crick, Francis and James D. Watson. "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid." Nature, 25 Apr. 1953.

Did you ever hear my definition of marriage? It is, that it resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they can not be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing any one who comes between them.

Sydney Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage

Author

Sydney Smith

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1845 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Sydney. Quoted in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by Saba Holland. Vol. 1, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855, ch. 11.

The pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable.

Lord Chesterfield

On sex.

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Topic

Sex

Speaker

Lord Chesterfield

Language

English

Time

1773 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stanhope, Philip Dormer. Stated to his son, Philip Stanhope. c. 1773.

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.

Roald Dahl

The Minpins

More information about this quote

Topic

Secrets Paying attention Magic

Author

Roald Dahl

Source

The Minpins

Medium

Novel

Genre

Children's literature

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dahl, Roald. The Minpins. Jonathan Cape, 1991.

Zen is a liberation from time. For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality.

Alan Watts

The Way of Zen

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Topic

Being present The present Time

Author

Alan Watts

Source

The Way of Zen

Genre

Religious literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Watts, Alan. The Way of Zen. Vintage Books, 1957.

Time, you old gipsy man,
Will you not stay,
Put up your caravan
Just for one day?

Ralph Hodgson

More information about this quote

Topic

Relentlessness of time Time

Author

Ralph Hodgson

Source

Time, You Old Gipsy Man

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hodgson, Ralph. "Time, You Old Gipsy Man." Poems. The Macmillan Company, 1917, I. 1.

At its best monogamy may be the wish to find someone to die with; at its worst it is a cure for the terrors of aliveness. They are easily confused.

Adam Phillips

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage

Author

Adam Phillips

Source

Monogamy

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Phillips, Adam. Monogamy. Faber & Faber/Pantheon Books, 1996.

If the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt.

G.M. Trevelyan

More information about this quote

Topic

French Revolution Causes of revolution Revolution Elites Counterfactual history

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, ch. 8.

Afflicted by the thought that where
Beauty was, nothing ever ran quite straight,
which, no doubt, was why so many people
looked on it as immoral.

John Galsworthy

More information about this quote

Topic

Beauty

Speaker

Jolyon Forsyte

Author

John Galsworthy

Source

In Chancery

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Galsworthy, John. In Chancery. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920, pt. 1, ch. 13.

True, 'tis an unhappy circumstance of life that love should ever die before us, and that the Man so often should outlive the Lover. But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved.

William Congreve

The Way of the World

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More information about this quote

Topic

Dangers of love Men and women

Speaker

Mrs. Marwood

Author

William Congreve

Source

The Way of the World

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1700 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Congreve, William. The Way of the World. Performed by John Verbruggen and Anne Bracegirdle. Mar. 1700, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Congreve, William. "The Way of the World." The Way of the World and Other Plays, edited by Eric S. Rump. Penguin Classics, 2006, act 2, sc. 1.

In the first stone which he flings at the wild animals he pursues, in the first stick that he seizes to strike down the fruit which hangs above his reach, we see the appropriation of one article for the purpose of aiding in the acquisition of another, and thus discover the origin of capital.

Robert Torrens

More information about this quote

Topic

Tools Capital

Author

Robert Torrens

Source

An Essay on the Production of Wealth

Medium

Essay

Genre

Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1821 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Torrens, Robert. An Essay on the Production of Wealth. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1821, ch. 2.

Homesickness is a bit like seasickness. You don’t know how awful it is till you get it, and when you do, it hits you right in the top of the stomach and you want to die.

Roald Dahl

More information about this quote

Topic

Homesickness Home

Author

Roald Dahl

Source

Boy: Tales of Childhood

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dahl, Roald. "Homesickness." Boy: Tales of Childhood. Jonathan Cape, 1984.

What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wilderness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

More information about this quote

Topic

Wilderness Nature Environmental destruction

Author

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Source

Inversnaid

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hopkins, Gerard Manley. "Inversnaid." Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Humphrey Milford, 1918, I. 13.

Current Citation

Hopkins, Gerard Manley. "Inversnaid." Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Major Works, edited by Catherine Phillips. Oxford University Press, 2009.

It's a sort of bloom on a woman. If you have it, you don't need to have anything else; and if you don't have it, it doesn't much matter what else you have.

J.M. Barrie

On charm.

More information about this quote

Topic

Charm

Speaker

Maggie Wylie

Author

J.M. Barrie

Source

What Every Woman Knows

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Barrie, J. M. What Every Woman Knows. 3 Sept. 1908, Duke of York's Theatre, London, England, UK, act 1.

There are times, perhaps once every thirty years, when there is a sea-change in politics. It then does not matter what you say or what you do. There is a shift in what the public wants and what it approves of. I suspect there is now such a sea-change-and it is for Mrs. Thatcher.

James Callaghan

More information about this quote

Topic

Political winds Politics

Speaker

James Callaghan

Language

English

Time

1979 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Callaghan, James. Quoted in Callaghan: A Life, written by Kenneth O. Morgan. Oxford University Press, 1997.

I am standing on the threshold about to enter a room. It is a complicated business. In the first place I must shove against an atmosphere pressing with a force of fourteen pounds on every square inch of my body. I must make sure of landing on a plank travelling at twenty miles a second round the sun-a fraction of a second too early or too late, the plank would be miles away. I must do this whilst hanging from a round planet, head outward into space, and with a wind of aether blowing at no one knows how many miles a second through every interstice of my body.

Arthur Eddington

More information about this quote

Topic

Physics

Author

Arthur Eddington

Source

The Nature of the Physical World

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Eddington, Arthur. "The Nature Of The Physical World." Gifford lecture. January – March 1927, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.