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Explore 7518 quotes originally in English

Comedy naturally wears itself out-destroys the very food on which it lives; and by constantly and successfully exposing the follies and weaknesses of mankind to ridicule, in the end leaves itself nothing worth laughing at.

William Hazlitt

More information about this quote

Topic

Humor Cynicism

Author

William Hazlitt

Source

On Modern Comedy

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hazlitt, William. The Round Table: A Collection of Essays on Literature, Men, and Manners. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, 1817, no. 7.

Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed.

William James

More information about this quote

Topic

Human potential

Author

William James

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

James, William. Letter to W. Lutoslawski. 6 May 1906.

There is more felicity on the far side of baldness than young men can possibly imagine.

Logan Pearsall Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Baldness Aging

Author

Logan Pearsall Smith

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Logan Pearsall. Last Words. Constable & Company, 1933.

Thank heavens, the sun has gone in, and I don't have to go out and enjoy it.

Logan Pearsall Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Staying in

Author

Logan Pearsall Smith

Language

English

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Logan Pearsall. "Myself." Afterthoughts. Constable & Company, 1931.

No matter how lonely you get or how many birth announcements you receive, the trick is not to get frightened. There's nothing wrong with being alone.

Wendy Wasserstein

More information about this quote

Topic

Being single

Speaker

Harriet Cornwall

Author

Wendy Wasserstein

Source

Isn't It Romantic

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1981 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wasserstein, Wendy. Isn't It Romantic. 1981, Phoenix Theater, New York City, NY, USA, act 1, sc. 6.

A platitude is simply a truth repeated until people get tired of hearing it.

Stanley Baldwin

Read this speech at parliament.uk.

More information about this quote

Topic

Platitudes and cliches Truth

Speaker

Stanley Baldwin

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Baldwin, Stanley. Speech in the House of Commons. House of Commons meeting. 29 May 1924. London, England, UK.

The first duty of a State is to see that every child born therein shall be well housed, clothed, fed, and educated, till it attain years of discretion.

John Ruskin

More information about this quote

Topic

Government Children

Author

John Ruskin

Source

Time and Tide

Language

English

Time

1867 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ruskin, John. Time and Tide by Weare and Tyne. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1867, letter 13.

Current Citation

Ruskin, John. "Time and Tide." The Works of John Ruskin, edited by Edward Tyas Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. Vol. 17, Cambridge University Press, 2010, letter 13.

Art is a completed pass. You don't just throw it out into the world-someone has to catch it.

James Turrell

More information about this quote

Topic

Artist and audience Nature of art Art

Speaker

James Turrell

Source

Harper's Bazaar

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

2013 2010s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Turrell, James. "Incredible Lightness: Pace Artist James Turrell Prepares for Superstardom." Interviewed by Julie L. Belcove. Harper's Bazaar, online slideshow, 19 Apr. 2013, http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/g2667/james-turrell-interview-0513/?slide=4.

There are few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals.

Ramsey Clark

More information about this quote

Topic

Criminal justice system Criminals

Speaker

Ramsey Clark

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1967 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clark, Ramsey. Keynote address. American Correctional Association conference. Aug. 1967, Miami Beach, FL, USA.

The national park idea, the best idea we ever had, was inevitable as soon as Americans learned to confront the wild continent not with fear and cupidity but with delight, wonder, and awe.

Wallace Stegner

More information about this quote

Topic

National parks Conservation Man and nature Nature

Author

Wallace Stegner

Language

English

Time

1983 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stegner, Wallace. "The Best Idea We Ever Had." Marking the Sparrow's Fall: The Making of the American West. H. Holt, 1998, p. 137.

Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that's too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.

Julian Barnes

Buy A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters at Amazon Buy A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

History

Author

Julian Barnes

Source

A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Barnes, Julian. "Parenthesis." A HIstory of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. Jonathan Cape/Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.

I say you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich... Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it! You ought because you can do more good with it than you could without it.

Russell H. Conwell

More information about this quote

Topic

Wealth

Speaker

Russell H. Conwell

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1882 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Conwell, Russell H. "Acres of Diamonds." Chautauqua circuit. c. 1882. Lecture.

This is not a battle between the United States of America and terrorism, but between the free and democratic world and terrorism. We, therefore, here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy, and we, like them, will not rest until this evil is driven from our world.

Tony Blair

Read this speech at theguardian.com

More information about this quote

Topic

September 11th War on Terrorism

Speaker

Tony Blair

Source

Statement following the 9-11 attacks, September 11, 2001

Language

English

Time

2001 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Blair, Tony. Statement after September 11th attacks. 11 Sept. 2001, London, England, UK. Broadcast.

You have to take chances for peace, just as you must take chances in war... The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art. If you try to run away from it, if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost.

John Foster Dulles

More information about this quote

Topic

Brinkmanship Taking risks War

Speaker

John Foster Dulles

Source

Life Magazine

Medium

Interview

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dulles, John Foster. "How Dulles Averted War: Three Times, New Disclosures Show, He Brought U.S. Back from the Brink." Interviewed by James Shepley. Life Magazine, 16 Jan. 1956. 

I am certain, however, that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.

Friedrich Hayek

More information about this quote

Topic

Threats to freedom

Author

Friedrich Hayek

Source

Economic Freedom and Representative Government

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Von Hayek, Friedrich August. "Economic Freedom and Representative Government." Fourth Wincott Memorial Lecture. 31 Oct. 1973, The Royal Society of Arts, London, England, UK.

A desire for wealth is the source of all progress. Civilization comes from what men call greed. Let your mercenary tendencies be combined with honesty and they cannot take you astray.

Anthony Trollope

Read Can You Forgive Her? at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Greed Capitalism Progress

Speaker

Plantagenet Palliser

Author

Anthony Trollope

Source

Can You Forgive Her?

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Trollope, Anthony. Can You Forgive Her? 1864-1865. Serial.

Current Citation

Trollope, Anthony. Can You Forgive Her? Penguin Classics, 1975.

A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces,
An airline ticket to romantic places;
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things
Remind me of you.

Holt Marvell

These Foolish Things Remind Me of You

More information about this quote

Topic

Being in love Memories

Speaker

Holt Marvell

Source

These Foolish Things Remind Me of You

Medium

Song

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Maschwitz, Eric (published as Holt Marvell). "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You." Composed by Jack Strachey. Boosey & Hawkes, 1935.

I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they're surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable.

Robert Rauschenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Modern life

Speaker

Robert Rauschenberg

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rauschenberg, Robert. Quoted in The Bride & the Bachelors: The Heretical Courtship in Modern Art, by Calvin Tomkins. Viking Press, 1965.

Instead of holding a position of independence, between the wealthy and the people, prepared to curb the excesses of either, able lawyers have, to a large extent, allowed themselves to become adjuncts of great corporations and have neglected the obligation to use their powers for the protection of the people. We hear much of the "corporation lawyer," and far too little of the "people's lawyer."

Louis Brandeis

More information about this quote

Topic

Lawyers

Speaker

Louis Brandeis

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Brandeis, Louis D. "The Opportunity in the Law." Harvard Ethical Society meeting. 4 May 1905, Phillips Brooks House, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Current Citation

Brandeis, Louis D. "The Opportunity in the Law" Brandeis on Democracy, edited by Philippa Strum. University Press of Kansas, 1994.

The part of our moral theory... That covers how we affect future generations... Is the most important part of our moral theory, since the next few centuries will be the most important in human history.

Derek Parfit

Buy Reasons and Persons at Amazon Buy Reasons and Persons at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral theory Moral progress The future

Author

Derek Parfit

Source

Reasons and Persons

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parfit, Derek. Reasons and Persons. Oxford University Press, 1984.