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When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.

James Joyce

The Egoist

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Topic

Society and the individual Authenticity Self-expression

Author

James Joyce

Source

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man The Egoist

Medium

Novel Magazine

Genre

Modernist literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Joyce, James. "A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man." The Egoist. 2 Feb. 1914 - 1 Sept. 1915. Serial.

Current Citation

Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, edited by John Paul Riquelme. W. W. Norton & Company, 2007, ch. 5.

If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.

Woody Allen

More information about this quote

Topic

Existence of God God

Author

Woody Allen

Source

The New Yorker

Medium

Magazine

Statement Type

Joke

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Allen, Woody. "Selections from the Allen Notebooks." New Yorker, 5 Nov. 1973.

I think it was, "Blessed are the cheesemakers!"

Monty Python's Life of Brian

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More information about this quote

Topic

Misunderstandings Beatitudes

Speaker

Spectator I

Actor

Charles McKeown

Source

Monty Python's Life of Brian

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy (film) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1979 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Monty Python's Life of Brian. Directed by Terry Jones, Handmade Films/Python (Monty) Pictures, 1979.

Progress may have been all right once, but it went on too long.

Ogden Nash

More information about this quote

Topic

Conservatism Progress

Author

Ogden Nash

Source

Come, Come, Kerouac! My Generation is Beater Than Yours. The New Yorker

Medium

Poem Magazine

Language

English

Time

1959 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Nash, Ogden. "Come, Come, Kerouac! My Generation is Beater Than Yours." The New Yorker, 4 Apr. 1959.

Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family-but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything.

Willa Cather

Shadows on the Rock

More information about this quote

Topic

Value of friendship Friendship Friends Loneliness Exile

Speaker

Father Hector Saint-Cyr

Author

Willa Cather

Source

Shadows on the Rock

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Cather, Willa. Shadows on the Rock. Alfred A. Knopf, 1931, bk. 3, ch. 5.

No graven images may be
Worshipped, except the currency.

Arthur Hugh Clough

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Topic

Love of money Money

Author

Arthur Hugh Clough

Language

English

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clough, Arthur Hugh. "The Latest Decalogue." Poems. Macmillan and Company, 1862, I. 3.

The sense of being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow.

C.F. Forbes

More information about this quote

Topic

Fashion Clothing

Speaker

C.F. Forbes

Author

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source

Letters and Social Aims

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1875 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Forbes, C. F. Quoted in Letters and Social Aims, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. James R. Osgood, 1875.

Sometimes, the only way to catch an uncatchable woman is to offer her a wedding ring.

Big Fish

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Topic

Pursuing women Getting engaged Women

Speaker

Edward Bloom (Senior)

Actor

Albert Finney

Source

Big Fish

Medium

Film

Genre

Fantasy (film) Comedy drama (film) Fantasy Comedy drama

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Big Fish. Directed by Tim Burton, Columbia Pictures/Jinks/Cohen Company/The Zanuck Company, 2003.

The war has used up words.

Henry James

More information about this quote

Topic

World War I Horrors of war War

Author

Henry James

Source

Henry James's First Interview The New York Times

Medium

Interview Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

James, Henry. "Henry James's First Interview," interviewed by Preston Lockwood. New York Times, 21 Mar. 1915

Law is where you buy it in this town.

Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely

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Topic

Corruption Law

Speaker

Philip Marlowe

Author

Raymond Chandler

Source

Farewell, My Lovely

Medium

Novel

Genre

Detective fiction

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. Alfred A. Knopf, 1940, ch. 19.

Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day.

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day

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Topic

Dwelling on the past Making the most

Author

Kazuo Ishiguro

Source

The Remains of the Day

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. Faber & Faber, 1989.

No man can be fully free while his neighbor is not. To go forward at all is to go forward together. This means black and white together, as one nation, not two. The laws have caught up with our conscience. What remains is to give life to what is in the law: to ensure at last that as all are born equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before man.

Richard Nixon

First Inaugural Address of Richard Nixon

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Topic

Interconnectedness of all people Civil rights Equality American politics

Speaker

Richard Nixon

Source

First Inaugural Address of Richard Nixon Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Nixon, Richard. "First Inaugural Address." 20 Jan. 1969, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

More people are flattered into virtue than bullied out of vice.

R. S. Surtees

More information about this quote

Topic

Persuasion Moral progress

Author

R. S. Surtees

Language

English

Time

1846 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Surtees, Robert Smith. The Analysis of the Hunting Field. London: Rudolph Ackermann, 1846, ch. 1.

Shakespeare-the nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.

Laurence Olivier

More information about this quote

Topic

Shakespeare

Speaker

Laurence Olivier

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1971 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Olivier, Laurence. Interviewed by Kenneth Harris. BBC, c. 1966.

Not a having and a resting, but a growing and a becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it.

Matthew Arnold

Culture and Anarchy

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Topic

Personal growth

Author

Matthew Arnold

Source

Culture and Anarchy

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Arnold, Matthew. "Sweetness and Light." Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1869. Originally published in Cornhill Magazine, 1867–68.

Camp is a vision of the world in terms of style-but a particular kind of style. It is the love of the exaggerated, the "off," of things-being-what-they-are-not... The ultimate Camp statement: it's good because it's awful.

Susan Sontag

Notes on Camp

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Topic

Camp Taste

Author

Susan Sontag

Source

Notes on Camp Against Interpretation

Medium

Essay

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sontag, Susan. "Notes on 'Camp.'" Partisan Review, Fall 1964.

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

John Steinbeck

Quoted in Cosmopolitan

More information about this quote

Topic

Ideas Creativity

Speaker

John Steinbeck

Source

Cosmopolitan

Medium

Interview Magazine

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Steinbeck, John. "Interview with a Best-Selling Author: John Steinbeck." Interviewed by Robert van Gelder. Cosmopolitan, Apr. 1947.

A mere madness, to live like a wretch and die rich.

Robert Burton

The Anatomy of Melancholy

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Topic

Accumulation of wealth

Author

Robert Burton

Source

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1621 1620s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy. Oxford: Henry Cripps, 1621, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy, edited by Holbrook Jackson. New York Review Books, 2001, pt. 1.

The sad truth of the matter is that most evil is done by people who never made up their minds to be or do either evil or good.

Hannah Arendt

The Life of the Mind

More information about this quote

Topic

Evil Unintended consequences

Author

Hannah Arendt

Source

The Life of the Mind

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1975 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Arendt, Hannah. The Life of the Mind. Vol. 1. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977, ch. 18.

The abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life.

Edward Gibbon

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More information about this quote

Topic

Old age Passage of time Time

Author

Edward Gibbon

Source

Memoirs of My Life and Writings Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1794 1790s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gibbon, Edward. "Memoirs of My Life and Writings." Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, edited by John Sheffield. Vol. 1, London: A Strahan and T. Cadell Jun. and W. David, 1796.

Current Citation

Gibbon, Edward. Memoirs of My Life, edited by Betty Radice. Penguin, 1984.