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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Declaration of Independence

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Topic

Equality Natural law Human rights Freedom

Source

Declaration of Independence

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1776 1770s 18th century

Era

American Revolutionary Period

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Second Continental Congress. The Declaration of Independence. 1776.

Current Citation

The National Archives. The Declaration of Independence: A Transcript. 24 July 2020, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I Have a Dream

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Topic

Racial equality Equality Civil rights

Speaker

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Source

I Have a Dream

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "I Have a Dream." March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 28 Aug. 1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, USA.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

Adam Smith

The Wealth of Nations

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Topic

Self-interest Free market Capitalism

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Wealth of Nations

Genre

Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1776 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. Vol. 1, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776, bk. 1, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations, edited by Edwin Cannan. The Modern Library, bk. 1, ch. 2.

There is grandeur in this view of life...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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Topic

Human evolution Creation of man Evolution Human origins

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 14.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 14.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four

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Topic

Surveillance Oppression Dystopian future

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. 1, ch. 1.

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky.

John Lennon

Imagine

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Topic

Heaven Hell Existence of God

Speaker

John Lennon

Source

Imagine

Medium

Song

Genre

Pop music

Language

English

Time

1971 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Lennon, John. "Imagine." Imagine. Apple, 1971.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Topic

Fear

Speaker

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Source

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1933, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "First Inaugral Address: Washington, DC, March 4, 1933." Great Speeches, edited by John Grafton. Dover, 1999.

In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain... And the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

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Topic

State of nature Anarchy Government

Author

Thomas Hobbes

Source

Leviathan

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1651 1650s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. 1651.

Current Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Penguin, 2017.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.

W.B. Yeats

The Second Coming

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Topic

Dissolution Decline of civilization Societal collapse Political polarization Politics

Author

W.B. Yeats

Source

The Second Coming

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "The Second Coming." The Dial, Nov. 1919.

Current Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "The Second Coming." The Major Works. Oxford UP, 2008.

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

Neil Armstrong

More information about this quote

Topic

The moon landing The moon Space race Technological progress Progress

Speaker

Neil Armstrong

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Armstrong, Neil. Spoken on the Moon. NASA, 20 July 1969.

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

William Shakespeare

Hamlet

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Topic

Being true to oneself Authenticity Personal integrity

Speaker

Lord Polonius

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Hamlet

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1616 1610s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. London: Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1623, act 1, sc. 3.

Current Citation

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

The pen is mightier than the sword.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of literature

Speaker

Cardinal Richelieu

Author

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Source

Richelieu

Medium

Play

Genre

History play

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1839 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. Richelieu. 1839, act 2, sc. 2.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ––
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken

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Topic

Taking a different path Following the crowd

Author

Robert Frost

Source

The Road Not Taken

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1916 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." Mountain Interval. Henry Holt, 1916, st. 4, I. 3.

Current Citation

Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays, edited by Richard Poirier and Mark Richardson. Library of America, 1995, st. 4, I. 3.

The greatest country, the richest country, is not that which has the most capitalists, monopolists, immense grabbings, vast fortunes, with its sad, sad foil of extreme, degrading, damning poverty, but the land in which there are the most homesteads, freeholds—where wealth does not show such contrasts high and low, where all men have enough—a modest living—and no man is made possessor beyond the sane and beautiful necessities of the simple body and the simple soul.

Walt Whitman

More information about this quote

Topic

Economic equality National greatness

Speaker

Walt Whitman

Language

English

Time

1888 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Traubel, Horace. With Walt Whitman in Camden (July 16, 1888 – October 31, 1888). Vol. 2. Rowman and Littlefield, 1961.

Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Winston Churchill

More information about this quote

Topic

Democracy Government Politics

Speaker

Winston Churchill

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Churchill, Winston. House of Commons. 11 Nov. 1947. The Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK. Address.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Abraham Lincoln

Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

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Topic

Reconstruction American Civil War American politics

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1865 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1865, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Second Inaugral Address, March 4, 1865." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 2018.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the end of Being and ideal Grace.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

More information about this quote

Topic

Being in love Love

Author

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Source

Sonnets from the Portuguese

Medium

Sonnet Poem

Statement Type

Profession of love Question

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." Sonnets from the Portuguese. 1850, sonnet XLIII.

For the loser now will be later to win,
For the times they are a-changin'.

Bob Dylan

The Times They Are a-Changin' (song)

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Topic

Change Underdogs Justice

Speaker

Bob Dylan

Source

The Times They Are a-Changin' (song) The Times They Are a-Changin' (album)

Medium

Song

Genre

Protest music Folk music

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dylan, Bob. "The Times They Are a-Changin'." Recorded 24 Oct. 1963. Columbia, 1964.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Abraham Lincoln

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Topic

Declaration of Independence American founding Equality

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Gettysburg Address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1863 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Gettysburg Address." At the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. 19 Nov. 1863, Gettysburg, PA, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

George Orwell

Animal Farm

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Topic

Communism Equality

Author

George Orwell

Source

Animal Farm

Medium

Novel

Genre

Allegory Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1945 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Orwell, George. Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. Secker and Warburg, 1945, ch. 10.