United States

Explore 2893 quotes by people from United States

Our national drug is alcohol. We tend to regard the use of any other drug with special horror.

William S. Burroughs

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Topic

Alcohol

Author

William S. Burroughs

Source

Naked Lunch

Medium

Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Language

English

Time

1959 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Burroughs, William Seward. The Naked Lunch. Olympia Press/Grove Press, 1959, appendix.

The novel is an art form and when you use it for anything other than art, you pervert it... If you do manage to use it successfully for social, religious, or other purposes, it is because you make it art first.

Flannery O'Connor

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Topic

Novels

Author

Flannery O'Connor

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

O'Connor, Flannery. Letter to Father John McCown. 9 May 1956.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

E.B. White

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of democracy Democracy

Author

E.B. White

Source

The New Yorker

Medium

Magazine

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

White, E. B. "The Meaning of Democracy." The New Yorker, 3 July 1943.

What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!-and you, Garcia Lorca what were you doing down by the watermelons?

Allen Ginsberg

A Supermarket in California

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Topic

Consumerism American life

Author

Allen Ginsberg

Source

A Supermarket in California

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Irony

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ginsberg, Allen. "A Supermarket in California." Howl and Other Poems. City Lights Books, 1956.

I remember after my grandfather's death, seeing Dad in the hall with tears streaming down his face. I don't think I had ever seen him cry before. I'm glad I did see him. It helped me know that it was okay for men to cry. Many years later, when my father himself died, I cried; and way down deep I knew he would have said it was alright.

Fred Rogers

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More information about this quote

Topic

Crying Tears Masculinity Vulnerability

Author

Fred Rogers

Source

The World According to Mister Rogers

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Rogers, Fred. The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember. Hachette Books, 2019, p. 29.

I have seen the future; and it works.

Lincoln Steffens

Following a visit to the Soviet Union in 1919.

More information about this quote

Topic

Technological progress The future

Author

Lincoln Steffens

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Steffens, Lincoln. The Letters of Lincoln Steffens. Vol. 1, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1938. Originally a letter to Marie Howe, 3 Apr. 1919.

You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.

Roy Campanella

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Topic

Baseball

Speaker

Roy Campanella

Language

English

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Campanella, Roy. Quoted in New York Journal-American. 12 Apr. 1957.

Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

O. Henry

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of life

Author

O. Henry

Source

The Gift of the Magi

Medium

Short story

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

O. Henry. "Gifts of the Magi." The Four Million: A Collection of Short Stories. McClure, Phillips & Co., 1906. Originally published in The New York Sunday World, 10 Dec. 1905.

Life is made up of a series of judgments on insufficient data, and if we waited to run down all our doubts, it would flow past us.

Learned Hand

More information about this quote

Topic

Decisions and choices Life

Speaker

Learned Hand

Source

Speeches of Learned Hand

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hand, Learned. "On Receiving an Honorary Degree." Harvard Alumni Bulletin, 7 July 1939.

I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever.

Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here

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Topic

Intellectual freedom Critical thinking Scientific progress Progress

Speaker

Doremus Jessup

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

It Can't Happen Here

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. It Can't Happen Here. Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1935, ch. 36.

What has once been settled by a precedent will not be unsettled over night, for certainty and uniformity are gains not lightly to be sacrificed.

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Topic

Stare decisis Constitutional theory

Speaker

Benjamin Cardozo

Source

The Paradoxes of Legal Science

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cardozo, Benjamin Nathan. "Stability and Progress." The Paradoxes of Legal Science. Columbia University Press, 1928.

Really the only time to ever drink a shot is never. No one's ever drank a shot and then done something they're proud of.

Jim Gaffigan

Obsessed

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More information about this quote

Topic

Shots Alcohol Bad decisions

Author

Jim Gaffigan

Source

Obsessed

Medium

Standup comedy

Genre

Comedy

Language

English

Time

2014 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gaffigian, Jim. "Obsessed." Comedy Central Special. 27 Apr. 2014, Comedy Central. Originally presented on 18 Jan. 2014 at the Wilbur Theater, Boston, MA, USA.

The horror of the 20th Century was the size of each new event, and the paucity of its reverberation.

Norman Mailer

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Topic

20th century

Author

Norman Mailer

Source

The Psychology of Astronauts Life Magazine

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mailer, Norman. "The Psychology of Astronauts." Of a Fire on the Moon. Little, Brown and Co., 1970. Originally published in Life Magazine, 14 Nov. 1969.

In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.

Harry A. Blackmun

Regents of University of California v. Bakke

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More information about this quote

Topic

Affirmative action Racism Equality

Author

Harry A. Blackmun

Source

Regents of University of California v. Bakke

Medium

Supreme Court opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Blackmun, Harry. United States, Supreme Court. Regents of University of California v. Bakke. United States Reports, vol. 438, 28 June 1978, pp. 265-421. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/438/265/.

In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism.

Spiro Agnew

More information about this quote

Topic

Negativity American politics America

Speaker

Spiro Agnew

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Statement Type

Assonance

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Agnew, Spiro. Address in San Diego. California Republican Convention. 11 Sep. 1970, San Diego, CA, USA.

The mid-day sun is too much for most eyes; one is dazzled even with its reflection. Be careful that too broad and high an aim does not paralyze your effort and clog your springs of action.

Learned Hand

More information about this quote

Topic

Goals Ambition

Speaker

Learned Hand

Source

Speeches of Learned Hand

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1893 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hand, Learned. "Class-Day Oration." Commencement. 23 June 1893, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

There died a myriad,
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilization.

Ezra Pound

More information about this quote

Topic

World War I

Author

Ezra Pound

Source

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Pound, Ezra. Hugh Selwyn Mauberley. The Ovid Press, 1920, pt. 1, poem 5.

What is at stake is more than one small country; it is a big idea: a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind-peace and security, freedom and the rule of law.

George H.W. Bush

1991 State of the Union Address

Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website

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Topic

Persian Gulf War American politics New world order International politics

Speaker

George H.W. Bush

Source

1991 State of the Union Address Presidential State of the Union addresses

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1991 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bush, George H. W. State of the Union Address. Joint session of the United States Congress. 29 Jan. 1991, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side.

James Russell Lowell

The Present Crisis

More information about this quote

Topic

Decisions and choices Inflection points

Author

James Russell Lowell

Source

The Present Crisis

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1845 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lowell, James Russell. "The Present Crisis." Poems. Cambridge: George Nichols, 1848. Originally published as "Verses Suggested by the Present Crisis." Boston Courier, 11 Dec. 1845.

It is necessary to keep the former experiences of our country both at home and abroad continually before us, if we are to have any science of government. If we wish to erect new structures, we must have a definite knowledge of the old foundations. We must realize that human nature is about the most constant thing in the universe and that the essentials of human relationship do not change. We must frequently take our bearings from these fixed stars of our political firmament if we expect to hold a true course. If we examine carefully what we have done, we can determine the more accurately what we can do.

Calvin Coolidge

Second Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge

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Topic

Wisdom of the past Learning from the past Immutability of human nature Human nature

Speaker

Calvin Coolidge

Source

Second Inaugural Address of Calvin Coolidge Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Coolidge, Calvin. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1925, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.