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All men are liable to error, and most men are in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.

John Locke

An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding

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Topic

Inevitability of mistakes Mistakes

Author

John Locke

Source

An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1690 1690s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. London: Thomas Basset, 1690, bk. 4, ch. 20, sect. 17.

Current Citation

Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, edited by Pauline Phemister. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 4, ch. 20, sect. 17.

Though men can cover crimes with bold stern looks,
Poor women's faces are their own faults' books.

William Shakespeare

The Rape of Lucrece

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Topic

Poker face Secrets Men and women

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

The Rape of Lucrece

Medium

Poem

Genre

Narrative poem

Language

English

Time

1594 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. The Rape of Lucrece. London: Richard Field, 1594, I. 1252.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Rape of Lucrece." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, I. 1252.

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

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Topic

Paternalism Government Libertarianism Political theory Politics

Author

John Stuart Mill

Source

On Liberty

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: J.W. Parker and Son, 1859, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty." On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited by Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 1.

Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to bid restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.

John Milton

Areopagitica

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Topic

Legal theory Law Punishment

Author

John Milton

Source

Areopagitica

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1644 1640s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Milton, John. Areopagitca; a speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England. London, 1644.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "Areopagitica." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008.

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.

C.S. Lewis

A Grief Observed

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Topic

Grief Mourning

Author

C.S. Lewis

Source

A Grief Observed

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lewis, C.S., published as N.W. Clerk. A Grief Observed. Faber and Faber, 1961, ch. 1.

Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war.

John Milton

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Topic

War and peace Peacetime

Author

John Milton

Source

To Oliver Cromwell

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1674 1670s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John. "To Oliver Cromwell." Letters of State Written by Mr. John Milton. London, 1694, l. 9.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "To the Lord General Cromwell." John Milton: The Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, I. 9.

The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed.

Charlotte Brontë

Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

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Topic

Inner life

Author

Charlotte Brontë

Source

Evening Solace Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1846 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Brontë, Charlotte. "Evening Solace." Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. 1846, st. 1.

All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.

Julian of Norwich

Revelatons of Divine Love

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Topic

Everything will be ok Things get better

Author

Julian of Norwich

Source

Revelatons of Divine Love

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1395 1390s 14th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. London, c. 1670.

Current Citation

Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love, translated by Barry Windeatt. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 27.

He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him).

George Orwell

Down and Out in Paris and London

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Topic

Atheism

Author

George Orwell

Source

Down and Out in Paris and London

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Orwell, George. Down and Out in Paris and London. Victor Gollancz, 1933, ch. 30.

The world's mine oyster, which I with sword will open.

William Shakespeare

The Merry Wives of Windsor

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Topic

Opportunities

Speaker

Pistol

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1602 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. The Merry Wives of Windsor. London: Arthur Johnson, 1602, act 2, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Merry Wives of Windsor." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 2, sc. 2.

To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing a new truth or fact.

Charles Darwin

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress Progress Science

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to A. S. Wilson, 5 Mar. 1879.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To A. S. Wilson, 5 March 1879." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 27: 1879. Cambridge University Press, 2020, no. 11917.

There were two classes of charitable people; one, the people who did a little and made a great deal of noise; the other, the people who did a great deal and made no noise at all.

Charles Dickens

Bleak House

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Topic

Generosity Charity

Author

Charles Dickens

Source

Bleak House

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1852 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. London: Bradbury & Evans, May 1852, issue 3, ch. 8.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. Penguin Classics, 2003, ch. 8.

It is completely unimportant... That is why it is so interesting.

Hercule Poirot

Quoted in The Murder of Rogers Ackroyd

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Topic

Clues

Speaker

Hercule Poirot

Author

Agatha Christie

Source

The Murder of Rogers Ackroyd

Medium

Novel

Genre

Detective fiction

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1926 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Christie, Agatha. "Who Killed Ackroyd?" London Evening News, July - Sept. 1925.

Current Citation

Christie, Agatha. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Vintage Books, 2022, ch. 7.

We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape till custom make it
Their perch and not their terror.

William Shakespeare

Measure for Measure

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Topic

Law Justice

Speaker

Angelo

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Measure for Measure

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1616 1610s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Measure for Measure." Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. London: Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1623, act 2, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Measure for Measure." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 2, sc. 1.

Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting.

William Shakespeare

Henry V

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Topic

Self-worth Self-hatred Self-care

Speaker

Dauphin

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Henry V

Medium

Play

Genre

History (play)

Language

English

Time

1599 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Henry V. The Lord Chamberlain's Men, c. 1599, The Curtain, Shoreditch, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 4.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Henry the Fifth." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 2, sc. 4.

It is a piece of idle sentimentality that truth, merely as truth, has any inherent power denied to error, of prevailing against the dungeon and the stake.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

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Topic

Truth and error

Author

John Stuart Mill

Source

On Liberty

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: J.W. Parker and Son, 1859, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty." On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited by Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 2.

There are only four ways in which a ruling class can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented Middle group to come into being, or it loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern. These causes do not operate singly, and as a rule all four of them are present in some degree. A ruling class which could guard against all of them would remain in power permanently. Ultimately the determining factor is the mental attitude of the ruling class itself.

George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four

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Topic

Revolution Ruling class Political theory Politics

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. 2, ch. 9.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no, it is an ever-fixed mark.

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Sonnets

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Topic

Nature of love True love Love

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Sonnet 116 Shakespeare's Sonnets

Medium

Sonnet Poem

Language

English

Time

1609 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Shake-speares Sonnets. London: Thomas Thorpe, 1609, sonnet 116, I. 1.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Sonnets." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, sonnet 116.

I understand a fury in your words,
But not the words.

William Shakespeare

Othello

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Topic

Anger

Speaker

Desdemona

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Othello

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1604 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Othello. King's Men, 1 Nov. 1604, Palace of Whitehall, Westminster, London, England, UK, act 4, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Othello." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 4, sc. 2.

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

Jane Austen

More information about this quote

Topic

Misanthropy

Author

Jane Austen

Source

Letters of Jane Austen

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1798 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Austen, Jane. Letter to Cassandra Austen. 24 Dec. 1798.

Current Citation

Austen, Jane. Letters of Jane Austen, edited by Lord Brabourne. Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2009.