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Explore 5101 quotes by Writers

Call no man foe, but never love a stranger.

Stella Benson

This is the End

More information about this quote

Topic

Enemies Strangers

Author

Stella Benson

Source

This is the End

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Benson, Stella. This is the End. Macmillian, 1917.

Censorship of any form punishes curiosity.

Sherman Alexie

More information about this quote

Topic

Censorship Freedom of speech and expression Curiosity

Speaker

Sherman Alexie

Source

Guernica

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

2012 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Alexie, Sherman. "Sherman Alexie: The Value of Subverting Authority." Guernica, 5 Oct. 2012.

Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.

On Conciliation with America

More information about this quote

Topic

Political strategy Politics

Speaker

Edmund Burke

Source

On Conciliation with America

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1775 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Speech on Conciliation with America." House of Commons. 22 Mar. 1775, Palace of Westminster, Westminster, London, England, UK.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

Man is born to live, not to prepare for life.

Boris Pasternak

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Topic

Living in the moment Being present

Speaker

Yuri Andreievich Zhivago

Author

Boris Pasternak

Source

Doctor Zhivago (novel)

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Pasternak, Boris. До́ктор Жива́го [Dr. Zhivago]. Feltrinelli, 1957, pt. 2, ch. 9, sect. 14.

Current Citation

Pasternak, Boris. Doctor Zhivago, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Vintage International, 2011, pt. 2, ch. 9, sect. 14.

It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.

Thomas Hardy

Far From the Madding Crowd

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Topic

Women Gender relations Patriarchy Men and women

Speaker

Bathsheba Troy

Author

Thomas Hardy

Source

Far From the Madding Crowd

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1874 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas [published anonymously]. "Far From the Madding Crowd." Cornhill Magazine, 1874.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Far from the Madding Crowd, edited by Rosemarie Morgan. Penguin Classics, 2015.

I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!-and if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

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

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Sonnets from the Portuguese. London: Chapman and Hall, 1850, sonnet 43.

Current Citation

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. "Sonnets from the Portuguese." Aurora Leigh and Other Poems, edited by John Robert Glorney Bolton and Julia Bolton Holloway. Penguin Classics, 1996, sonnet 43.

Not because Socrates said so, but because it is in truth my own disposition-and perchance to some excess-I look upon all men as my compatriots, and embrace a Pole as a Frenchman, making less account of the national than of the universal and common bond.

Michel de Montaigne

Essays

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Topic

Citizens of the world

Author

Michel de Montaigne

Source

Of Vanity Essays

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1580 1580s 16th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "De la Vanite [Of Vanity]." Essais [Essays]. Paris: Simon Millanges and Jean Richer, 1580.

Current Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "On Vanity." The Complete Essays, edited and translated by M. A. Screech. Penguin Classics, 1993.

Man is one name belonging to every nation upon earth. In them all is one soul though many tongues. Every country has its own language; yet the subjects of which the untutored soul speaks are the same everywhere.

Tertullian

On the Testimony of the Soul

More information about this quote

Topic

Interconnectedness of all people Language

Author

Tertullian

Source

On the Testimony of the Soul

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

198 190s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tertullian. De Testimonio Animae [The Testimony of the Soul]. c. 198, ch. 6.

I slept and dreamed that life was beauty.
I woke-and found that life was duty.

Ellen Sturgis Hooper

Beauty and Duty

More information about this quote

Topic

Dreams Daily grind

Author

Ellen Sturgis Hooper

Source

Beauty and Duty

Language

English

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hooper, Ellen Sturgis. "I Slept, and Dreamed that Life was Beauty." The Dial, July 1840.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

Clement Clarke Moore

A Visit from St. Nicholas

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Topic

Christmas

Author

Clement Clarke Moore

Source

A Visit from St. Nicholas

Language

English

Time

1823 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Moore, Clement Clarke. "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas." Sentinel, 23 Dec. 1823.

Current Citation

Moore, Clement Clarke. The Night Before Christmas. Applesauce Press, 2011.

They died to save their country and they only saved the world.

G.K. Chesterton

More information about this quote

Topic

Dying for one's country World War I

Author

G.K. Chesterton

Source

The English Graves The Ballad of St. Barbara and Other Verses

Medium

Poem

Genre

War poetry

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chesterton, G.K. "The English Graves." The Ballad of St. Barbara and Other Verses. Cecil Palmer, 1922, I. 18.

Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.

C.S. Lewis

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Topic

Nature of love Love

Author

C.S. Lewis

Source

One Man Brains Trust

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lewis, C. S. "Answers to Questions on Christianity." God in the Dock. Eerdmans, 1970, pt. 1, ch. 4, q. 1. Originally presented as the speech, "One Man Brains Trust" 18 Apr. 1944, Head Office of Electric and Musical Industries Ltd., Hayes, England, UK, q. 1.

Nor is the people's judgment always true:
The most may err as grossly as the few.

John Dryden

Absalom and Achitophel

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Topic

The masses Critique of democracy Political theory

Author

John Dryden

Source

Absalom and Achitophel

Medium

Poem

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1681 1680s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dryden, John. Absalom and Achitophel. London: Jacob Tonson, 1681, pt. 1, I. 781.

Current Citation

Dryden, John. "Absalom and Achitophel." John Dryden Selected Poems. Penguin Classics, 2002, pt. 1, I. 781.

Fate chooses our relatives, we choose our friends.

Jacques Delille

More information about this quote

Topic

Friends and family Friends Family

Author

Jacques Delille

Source

Malheur Et Pitié

Medium

Poem

Language

French

Time

1803 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Delille, Jacques. La Pitié, poeme en quatre chants. Brunswick: F. Vieweg, c. 1804, canto 1.

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

More information about this quote

Topic

Intelligence Contradiction Ideas

Author

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Source

The Crack-Up Esquire

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "The Crack-Up." Esquire, Feb. 1936.

Current Citation

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "The Crack-Up." My Lost City: Personal Essays, 1920-1940, edited by James L.W. West, III. Cambridge UP, 2005.

Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up?

D.H. Lawrence

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature Grass Rabbits

Speaker

Rupert Birkin

Author

D.H. Lawrence

Source

Women in Love

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lawrence, D.H. Women in Love. Thomas Seltzer, 1920, ch. 11.

Wealth is like sea-water; the more we have, the thirstier we become, and the same is true of fame.

Arthur Schopenhauer

More information about this quote

Topic

Greed Wealth Fame

Author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Language

German

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life: What a Man Has." Parerga und Paralipomena. Vol. 1, Berlin: Druck und Verlag von U. W. Haan, 1851.

Current Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life." Parerga and Paralipomena, translated by Sabine Roehr and Christopher Janaway. Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2016.

What can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day

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Topic

Dwelling on the past Regrets The past

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.

Look into any man's heart you please, and you will always find, in every one, at least one black spot which he has to keep concealed.

Henrik Ibsen

Pillars of Society

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Topic

Character flaws

Speaker

Karsten Bernick

Author

Henrik Ibsen

Source

Pillars of Society

Medium

Play

Language

Norwegian

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Ibsen, Henrik. Samfundets støtter [The Pillars of Society]. Kobenhavn: Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, 1877, act 3.

Current Citation

Ibsen, Henrik. "Pillars of the Community." A Doll's House and Other Plays, translated by Deborah Dawkin and Erik Skuggevik. Penguin Classics, 2016, act 3.

Suns, that set, may rise again:
But if, once, we lose this light,
'Tis with us perpetual night.

Ben Jonson

Volpone

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Topic

Finality of death Death

Speaker

Volpone

Author

Ben Jonson

Source

Volpone

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1606 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jonson, Ben. Volpone. King's Men. Spring 1606, Globe Theatre, London, England, UK, act 3.

Current Citation

Jonson, Ben. "Volpone." Ben Jonson: Five Plays, edited by G. A. Wilkes. Oxford University Press, 2009, act 3.