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Explore 7518 quotes originally in English

Genius lasts longer than Beauty.

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

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Topic

Beauty fades Beauty Genius Aging

Speaker

Lord Henry "Harry" Wotton

Author

Oscar Wilde

Source

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Medium

Novel Magazine

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wilde, Oscar. "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Philadelphia, July 1890, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray, edited by Robert Mighall. Penguin Classics, 2003, ch. 1.

Fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life.

The Help

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Topic

Fried Chicken Comfort food Food

Speaker

Minny Jackson

Actor

Octavia Spencer

Source

The Help

Medium

Film

Genre

Historical drama (film) Drama (film) Historical drama Drama

Language

English

Time

2011 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Help. Directed by Tate Taylor, DreamWorks Pictures/Reliance Entertainment/Participant Media/Image Nation/1492 Pictures/Harbinger Pictures, 2011.

The most exquisite Folly is made of Wisdom spun too fine.

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

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Read this proverb at the National Archives website

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Topic

Justifications and rationales Wisdom

Author

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

Source

Poor Richard's Almanack

Medium

Almanac

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1746 1740s 18th century

Era

Colonial America

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin [published as Richard Saunders]. Poor Richard's Almanack. Philadelphia, 1746.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1746." Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.

And I look at you, and I...I'm home.

Finding Nemo

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Topic

Connecting with others Home

Speaker

Dory

Actor

Ellen DeGeneres

Source

Finding Nemo

Medium

Film

Genre

Animation (film) Animation

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Finding Nemo. Directed by Andrew Stanton, Pixar Animation Studios/ Walt Disney Pictures, 2003.

Jerry, this woman hates me so much, I’m starting to like her.

George Costanza

Seinfeld

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Topic

Dysfunctional relationships Relationships Hating men Men and women

Speaker

George Costanza

Actor

Jason Alexander

Source

Seinfeld

Medium

TV program

Genre

Sitcom Comedy (TV) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"The Masseuse." Seinfeld, written by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld and Peter Mehlman, directed by Tom Cherones, season 5, episode 9, Shapiro/West Productions and Castle Rock Entertainment, 1993.

I detect, like me, you're endowed with the gift of gab.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

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Topic

Talking too much Talking

Speaker

Everett

Actor

George Clooney

Source

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy drama (film) Comedy drama

Language

English

Time

2000 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Touchstone Pictures/Universal Pictures/StudioCanal/Working Title Films/Blind Bard Pictures, 2000.

I don't want a new family. I don't want any family. Families suck!

Home Alone

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Topic

Family dysfunction Family

Speaker

Kevin

Actor

Macaulay Culkin

Source

Home Alone

Medium

Film

Genre

Christmas (film) Comedy (film) Christmas Comedy

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Home Alone. Directed by Chris Columbus, Hughes Entertainment , 1990.

When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming.

Finding Nemo

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Topic

Perseverance

Speaker

Dory

Actor

Ellen DeGeneres

Source

Finding Nemo

Medium

Film

Genre

Animation (film) Animation

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Finding Nemo. Directed by Andrew Stanton, Pixar Animation Studios/ Walt Disney Pictures, 2003.

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

Abraham Lincoln

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Read the full transcript of this speech at presidency.ucsb.edu

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Topic

Moral principles Moral absolutism

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Last Public Address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

English

Time

1865 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Last Public Address." 11 Apr. 1865, White House, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Speech on Reconstruction, Washington, D.C., April 11, 1865." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

No room in this city for big hearts like hers.

Carlito's Way

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Topic

Cruel world

Speaker

Carlito

Actor

Al Pacino

Source

Carlito's Way

Medium

Film

Genre

Crime (film) Drama (film) Crime Drama

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Carlito's Way. Directed by Brian De Palma, Epic Productions/Bregman/Baer Productions, 1993.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

J.R.R. Tolkien

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Topic

How to live Decisions and choices Time Life

Speaker

Gandalf

Author

J.R.R. Tolkien

Source

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Medium

Novel

Genre

Fantasy

Language

English

Time

1954 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. George Allen & Unwin, 1954, ch. 2.

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself.

William Shakespeare

Henry VIII

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Topic

Enemies Revenge

Speaker

Norfolk

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Henry VIII

Medium

Play

Genre

History (play)

Language

English

Time

1613 1610s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William and John Fletcher. Henry VIII. King's Men, 1613, Globe Theatre, London, England, UK, act 1, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Henry the Eighth." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblattet al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 1, sc. 1.

The timid man yearns for full value and asks a tenth. The bold man strikes for double value and compromises on par.

Mark Twain

Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

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Read Following the Equator at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Fortune favors the bold Thinking big Being assertive

Author

Mark Twain

Source

Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

Genre

Travel writing

Language

English

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World. Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1897, ch. 13.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "Following the Equator." Mark Twain: A Tramp Abroad, Following the Equator, Other Travels, edited by Roy Blount Jr. Library of America, 2010, ch. 13.

From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

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Topic

Natural selection Evolution

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.

I am not in the giving vein today.

William Shakespeare

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Topic

Generosity Giving Bad mood

Speaker

King Richard III

Author

William Shakespeare

Genre

History (play)

Language

English

Time

1597 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Richard III. London: Andrew Wise, 1597, act 4, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Richard the Third." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 4, sc. 2.

The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.

Barack Obama

Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., who likely was paraphrasing a quote by Theodore Parker in 1853.

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Topic

Nature of progress Social progress Political progress Progress

Speaker

Barack Obama

Source

Keep Moving From This Mountain

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Keep Moving From This Mountain." 25 Feb. 1965, Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Get the government out of my fucking snatch.

Selina Meyer

Veep

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Topic

Abortion Women's rights

Speaker

Selina Meyer

Actor

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Source

Veep

Medium

TV program

Genre

Comedy (TV) Comedy

Language

English

Time

2014 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"The Choice." Veep, written by Roger Drew and Ian Martin and Armando Iannucci, directed by Becky Martin, season 3, episode 2, Home Box Office and Dundee Productions, 2014.

When we think of the past it's the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.

Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale

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Topic

Rose-colored glasses The past

Author

Margaret Atwood

Source

The Handmaid's Tale

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985, ch. 6.

Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.

Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

On slave songs.

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Topic

Slave songs Slavery Liberation Music

Author

Frederick Douglass

Source

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1845 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Douglass, Frederick. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies, edited by Henry Louis Gates. Library of America, 1994, ch. 2.

The poor have little,
Beggars none;
The rich too much,
Enough not one.

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

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Read this proverb at the National Archives website

More information about this quote

Topic

Economic inequality Rich vs. poor

Author

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

Source

Poor Richard's Almanack

Medium

Almanac

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1733 1730s 18th century

Era

Colonial America

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin [published as Richard Saunders]. Poor Richard's Almanack. Philadelphia, 1733.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1733." Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.