United States

Explore 2893 quotes by people from United States

The American axe! It has made more real and lasting conquests than the sword of any warlike people that ever lived; but they have been conquests that have left civilization in their train instead of havoc and desolation... A brief quarter of a century has seen these wonderful changes wrought; and at the bottom of them all lies this beautiful, well-prized, ready, and efficient implement, the American axe!

James Fenimore Cooper

The Chainbearer

More information about this quote

Topic

American expansion America

Author

James Fenimore Cooper

Source

The Chainbearer

Language

English

Time

1845 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Chainbearer; or The Littlepage Manuscripts. New York: Burgess, Stringer and Company, 1845, ch. 6.

Language and our thought-grooves are inextricably interwoven, are, in a sense, one and the same.

Edward Sapir

More information about this quote

Topic

Language and thought Language

Author

Edward Sapir

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sapir, Edward. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921, ch. 10.

Our country has deliberately undertaken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.

More information about this quote

Author

Herbert Hoover

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hoover, Herbert. Letter to Senator W. H. Borah. 23 Feb. 1928.

Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role.

Dean Acheson

Quoted in The Guardian

More information about this quote

Topic

United Kingdom British empire Post-war Europe Imperialism

Speaker

Dean Acheson

Source

The Guardian

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Acheson, Dean. "Special Relationship." 6 Dec. 1962, West Point, NY, USA.

Life is a copiously branching bush, continually pruned by the grim reaper of extinction, not a ladder of predictable progress.

Stephen Jay Gould

Buy Wonderful Life at Amazon Buy Wonderful Life at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Randomness Life

Author

Stephen Jay Gould

Source

Wonderful Life

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Gould, Stephen Jay. Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History. W. W. Norton & Co., 1989, ch. 1.

How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values?

Alan Greenspan

Read this speech at federalreserve.gov

More information about this quote

Topic

Financial panics and bubbles The stock market Investing

Speaker

Alan Greenspan

Source

The Challenge of Central Banking in a Democratic Society

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Greenspan, Alan. "The Challenge of Central Banking in a Democratic Society." The Annual Dinner and Francis Boyer Lecture of The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. 5 Dec. 1996, Washington, DC, USA.

The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them.

Mark Rothko

More information about this quote

Topic

Artist and audience Art and religion Art

Speaker

Mark Rothko

Source

Conversations with Artists: 35 American Painters, Sculptors and Architects Discuss Their Work and One Another with Selden Rodman

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Rothko, Mark. Conversations with Artists: 35 American Painters, Sculptors, and Architects Discuss Their Work and One Another with Selden Rodman. Capricorn Books, 1961. Originally stated in an interview with Selden Rodman in 1957.

Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that what have you had?

Henry James

North American Review

More information about this quote

Topic

Carpe diem Living life to the fullest Life

Speaker

Lewis Lambert Strether

Author

Henry James

Source

The Ambassadors North American Review

Medium

Novel Magazine

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1903 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, Henry. "The Ambassadors." North American Review, 1903.

Current Citation

James, Henry. The Ambassadors, edited by Christopher Butler. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 5.

This Nation--this generation--in this hour, has man's first chance to build the Great Society--a place where the meaning of man's life matches the marvels of man's labor.

Lyndon B. Johnson

More information about this quote

Topic

Social democracy Role of government American politics

Speaker

Lyndon B. Johnson

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Johnson, Lyndon B. Address accepting the presidential nomination. Democratic National Convention. 27 Aug. 1964, Atlantic City, NJ, USA.

Now and then a visitor wept, to be sure; but this slaughtering machine ran on, visitors or no visitors. It was like some horrible crime committed in a dungeon, all unseen and unheeded, buried out of sight and of memory.

Upton Sinclair

The Jungle

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Read The Jungle at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Animal cruelty Man and animals

Author

Upton Sinclair

Source

The Jungle

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sinclair, Upton. "The Jungle." Appeal to Reason, 25 Feb. 1905-4 Nov. 1905.

Current Citation

Sinclaire, Upton. The Jungle. Dover Publications, 2001, ch. 3.

I'm a little bit, you know, seat of my pants, I try to be alert and available... For life to happen to you. We're living this life, we’re in this life, and if you’re not available, the sort of ordinary time goes past and you didn’t live it... But if you’re available, then life gets huge... You're really living it.

Bill Murray

Watch this interview at charlierose.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Being present Living life to the fullest Life

Speaker

Bill Murray

Source

Charlie Rose

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

2014 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Murray, Bill. Interviewed by Charlie Rose. Charlie Rose, PBS, 10 Feb. 2014.

Insanity is hereditary. You can get it from your children.

Sam Levenson

More information about this quote

Topic

Parents and children

Author

Sam Levenson

Statement Type

Joke

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Levenson, Jam. Quoted in Ada Weekly News. 6 Apr. 1961.

When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right.

Eugene Victor Debs

More information about this quote

Topic

The vanguard Political progress Progress

Speaker

Eugene Victor Debs

Source

US v. Eugene V. Debs

Medium

Courtroom speech Speech

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Federal Court. US v. Eugene V. Debs. RG 21, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Criminal Case Files, 1912–1977, Criminal Case #4057. 9. NYT, 10 Sept. 1918.

The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity-unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity.

Henry Clay

More information about this quote

Topic

Constitutional theory US Constitution

Speaker

Henry Clay

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clay, Henry. Address in the Senate. Senate meeting. 29 Jan. 1850, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

My advice to you is not to inquire into why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate-that's my philosophy.

Thornton Wilder

More information about this quote

Topic

Living in the moment

Author

Thornton Wilder

Source

The Skin of Our Teeth

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wilder, Thornton. The Skin of Our Teeth. 15 Oct. 1942, Shubert Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, act 1.

Current Citation

Wilder, Thornton. "The Skin of Our Teeth." Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Matchmaker. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2020, act 1.

I shall never marry; I regard that now as an established fact, and on the whole a very respectable one; I am both happy enough and miserable enough, as it is, and don't wish to add to either side of the account.

Henry James

More information about this quote

Topic

Single life Marriage Relationships

Author

Henry James

Source

Letters of Henry James

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1884 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, Henry. Letter to Grace Norton. 3 Nov. 1884.

Current Citation

James, Henry. "November 3 [1883] To Grace Norton." The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1883–1884, edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W. Zacharias. Vol. 2, University of Nebraska Press, 2019.

What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years.

Carl Sagan

Buy a DVD of Cosmos at Amazon Buy a DVD of Cosmos at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of literature Books

Speaker

Carl Sagan

Source

Cosmos

Medium

TV program

Language

English

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"The Persistence of Memory." Presented by Carl Sagan. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, season 1, episode 11. PBS, 7 Dec. 1980.

A man always has two reasons for what he does-a good one, and the real one.

J.P. Morgan

More information about this quote

Topic

Justifications and rationales

Speaker

J.P. Morgan

Language

English

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morgan, John Pierpont. Quoted in Roosevelt: The Story of a Friendship, written by Owen Wister. Macmillan, 1930.

Political, social, and economic changes entail the recognition of new rights, and the common law, in its eternal youth, grows to meet the demands of society... Now the right to life has come to mean the right to enjoy life, — the right to be let alone; the right to liberty secures the exercise of extensive civil privileges; and the term "property" has grown to comprise every possession — intangible, as well as tangible.

Louis Brandeis

The Right to Privacy

More information about this quote

Topic

Common law Legal history

Author

Louis Brandeis

Source

The Right to Privacy Harvard Law Review

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Brandeis, Louis D and Samuel D. Warren. "The Right to Privacy." Harvard Law Review, 15 Dec. 1890.

Holding hands at midnight
'Neath a starry sky,
Nice work if you can get it,
And you can get it if you try.

Ira Gershwin

Read the lyrics to Nice Work If You Can Get It at genius.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Being in love The night sky Love

Author

Ira Gershwin

Source

Nice Work if You Can Get It Damsel in Distress

Medium

Song Musical

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Gershwin, Ira. "Nice Work If You Can Get It." Damsel in Distress. Composed by George Gershwin. Performed by Fred Astaire and The Stafford Sisters. RKO Radio Pictures, 1937.