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Explore 5122 quotes by Writers

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.

God is dead: but as the human race is constituted, there will perhaps be caves for millenniums yet, in which people will show his shadow.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Gay Science

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Topic

Existence of God God Decline of religion Atheism Human nature

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

The Gay Science

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1882 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Die fröhliche Wissenschaft. [The Gay Science]. 1882. Translated by Walter Kaufman, Vintage Books, March 1974.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Gay Science. Translated by Walter Kaufman, Vintage Books, 1974, aphorism, 261.

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.

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.

And with the guts of the last priest
Let's wring the neck of the last king.

Denis Diderot

More information about this quote

Topic

Anti-clericalism Anti-monarchism Revolution

Author

Denis Diderot

Source

Les Eleutheromanes

Medium

Poem

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1772 1770s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Diderot, Denis. Les Eleutheromanes. 1772.

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.

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.

There are many wonderful things, and nothing is more wonderful than man.

Sophocles

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Topic

Nature of man Man and animals

Author

Sophocles

Source

Antigone

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragic play Greek theater

Language

Greek

Time

441 BC 440s 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Sophocles. Antigone. 441 BC, l 333.

Current Citation

Sophocles. "Ajax." The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus. Translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin, 2000, l. 333.

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.

Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Topic

Freedom Liberation The human condition

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source

The Social Contract

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

French

Time

1762 1760s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Du contrat social; ou Principes du droit politique [The Social Contract]. 1762.

Current Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. "Of the Social Contract." Of the Social Contract and Other Political Writings. Translated by Quintin Hoare. Penguin, 2012.

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.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Lao Tzu

Tao Te Ching

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Topic

Patience Persistence One step at a time

Author

Lao Tzu

Source

Tao Te Ching

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Chinese

Time

400 BC 400s BC 5th century BC

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching. 6th century B. C., ch. 64, l. 12.

Current Citation

Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Book of the Tao. Translated by John Minford. Penguin, 2019.

All men by nature desire to know.

Aristotle

Metaphysics

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Topic

Curiosity Knowledge Human nature

Author

Aristotle

Source

Metaphysics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

322 BC 320s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Metaphysics. 322 BC, bk. 1, 980a.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Metaphysics. Penguin, 1999, bk. 1, 980a.

Fortune favors the brave.

Virgil

Aeneid

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Topic

Fortune favors the bold Bravery Courage

Speaker

Turnus

Author

Virgil

Source

Aeneid

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Latin

Time

19 BC 10s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Virgil. Aeneid. 19 BC, bk. 10, l. 284.

Current Citation

Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin, 2010, bk. 10, l. 284.

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

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Topic

Family dysfunction Family Parents and children

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

Anna Karenina

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. The Russian Messenger, 1878.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. Translated by Constance Garnett. Modern Library, 2000.

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.

I think, therefore I am.

René Descartes

Discourse on Method

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Topic

Nature of man

Author

René Descartes

Source

Discourse on Method

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1637 1630s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Descartes, René. Discours de la Méthode Pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences. 1637, pt. 4.

Current Citation

Descartes, René. Discourse on the Method. Translated by Ian Maclean. Oxford UP, 2008, pt. 4.