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The pure and genuine influence of Christianity may be traced in its beneficial, though imperfect, effects on the barbarian proselytes of the North. If the decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of Constantine, his victorious religion broke the violence of the fall, and mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors.

Edward Gibbon

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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Topic

Christianity Decline of Rome

Author

Edward Gibbon

Source

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1788 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 4, London: Strahan & Cadell, 1788, ch. 38.

Current Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-6. Vol. 4. Everyman's Library, 2010, ch. 38.

This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated.

Edward Gibbon

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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Topic

Decline of Rome Rome

Author

Edward Gibbon

Source

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1776 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 1, London: Strahan & Cadell, 1776, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-6. Vol. 1. Everyman's Library, 2010, ch. 2.

There is scarcely a single man sufficiently aware to know all the evil he does.

François de La Rochefoucauld [François VI, Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac]

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Topic

Effect on others Self-awareness Unintended consequences

Author

François de La Rochefoucauld [François VI, Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac]

Source

Reflections

Medium

Epigram

Language

French

Time

1678 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims]. c. 1665.

Current Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Collected Maxims and Other Reflections, translated by E. H. and A. M. Blackmore and Francine Giguere. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
Out where the smile dwells a little longer,
That's where the West begins.

Arthur Chapman

Out Where the West Begins

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Topic

American West

Author

Arthur Chapman

Source

Out Where the West Begins

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chapman, Arthur. "Out Where the West Begins." Out Where the West Begins: And Other Western Verses. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917, I. 1.

Historically our own culture has relied for the creation of rich and contrasting values upon many artificial distinctions, the most striking of which is sex...If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.

Margaret Mead

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Topic

Gender roles

Author

Margaret Mead

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mead, Margaret. Sex Temperament in Three Primitive Societies. William Morrow/George Routledge & Sons, 1935, conclusion.

Current Citation

Mead, Margaret. Sex & Temperament in Three Primitive Societies. Harper Perennial, 2001, conculusion.

What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak.

George Santayana

The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress

More information about this quote

Topic

Religion

Author

George Santayana

Source

The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Santayana, George. The Life of Reason: Reason in Religion, edited by Marianne S. Wokeck and Martin A. Coleman. Vol. 7, The MIT Press, 2014, bk. 3, ch. 1. Originally published by Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.

Sin is a queer thing. It isn't the breaking of divine commandments. It is the breaking of one's own integrity.

D.H. Lawrence

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Topic

Sin

Author

D.H. Lawrence

Source

Studies in Classic American Literature

Language

English

Time

1923 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lawrence, D.H. Studies in Classic American Literature. Thomas Seltzer, 1923, ch. 8.

A man may be in as just possession of Truth as of a City, and yet bee forced to surrender.

Sir Thomas Browne

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Topic

Truth Surrender Compromise

Author

Sir Thomas Browne

Source

Religio Medici

Genre

Autobiography and memoir Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1643 1640s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Browne, Thomas, Sir. Religio Medici. London, 1643, pt. 1, sect. 6.

Current Citation

Browne, Thomas, Sir. "Religio Medici (1643)." Thomas Browne: Selected Writings, edited by Kevin Killeen. Oxford University Press, 2018, pt. 1, sect. 6.

I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes... I do not weep at the world-I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

Zora Neale Hurston

More information about this quote

Topic

Black experience

Author

Zora Neale Hurston

Source

How It Feels to Be Colored Me

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hurston, Zora Neale. "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." World Tomorrow, May 1928.

What's not destroyed by Time's devouring hand?
Where's Troy, and where's the May-pole in the Strand?

James Bramston

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Topic

Effects of time Time Impermanence

Author

James Bramston

Source

The Art of Politics

Medium

Poem

Genre

Political literature

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1729 1720s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Bramston, James. The Art of Politics. London: Lawton Gilliver, 1729.

Some say that we shall never know, and that to the gods we are like the flies that the boys kill on a summer's day, and some say, to the contrary, that the very sparrows do not lose a feather that has not been brushed away by the finger of God.

Thornton Wilder

The Bridge on San Luis Rey

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Topic

God and man God and nature

Author

Thornton Wilder

Source

The Bridge on San Luis Rey

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, 1927.

Current Citation

Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Vintage, 2023.

The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.

W. Somerset Maugham

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral principles Moral flexibility

Speaker

C.C.

Author

W. Somerset Maugham

Source

The Circle

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Statement Type

Irony

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Maugham, William Somerset. The Circle: A Comedy in Three Acts. 3 Mar. 1921, Haymarket Theatre, London, England, UK, act 3.

Current Citation

Maugham, William Somerset. The Circle: A Comedy in Three Acts. Cornell University Library, 2009, act 3.

When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the "big canoe" of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the viper whose sting is destined to poison all their joys.

Herman Melville

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life

More information about this quote

Topic

European imperialism

Author

Herman Melville

Source

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life

Language

English

Time

1846 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Melville, Herman. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. New York: Wiley and Putnam/London: John Murray, 1846, ch. 4.

Current Citation

Melville, Herman. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. Dover Publications, 2019, ch. 4.

The future belongs to crowds.

Don DeLillo

More information about this quote

Topic

The masses The crowd Individual vs. the collective

Author

Don DeLillo

Source

Mao II

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1991 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

DeLillo, Don. Mao II. Scribner, 1991.

Music alone with sudden charms can bind
The wand'ring sense, and calm the troubled mind.

William Congreve

Hymn to Harmony

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Topic

Power of music Music

Author

William Congreve

Source

Hymn to Harmony

Medium

Hymn Song

Language

English

Time

1703 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Congreve, William. A Hymn to Harmony: Written in Honour of St. Cecilia's day, M DCC I. London: Jacob Tonson, 1703.

Religion in its humility restores man to his only dignity, the courage to live by grace.

George Santayana

More information about this quote

Topic

Religion Dignity Grace The human condition

Author

George Santayana

Source

Dialogues in Limbo

Medium

Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Santayana, George. Dialogues in Limbo. Constable and Co. Ltd., 1925, ch. 5.

So the industrious bees do hourly strive
To bring their loads of honey to the hive;
Their sordid owners always reap the gains,
And poorly recompense their toils and pains.

Mary Collier

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Topic

Bees Man and animals

Author

Mary Collier

Source

The Woman's Labour

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1739 1730s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Collier, Mary. "The Woman's Labour: an Epistle to Mr Stephen Duck." The Woman's Labour: an Epistle to Mr. Stephen Duck: in Answer to His Late Poem, Called The Thresher's Labour. To which are Added, The Three Wise Sentences, Taken from the First Book of Esdras, Ch. III. and IV. London, 1739.

Current Citation

Collier, Mary. "The Woman's Labour." The Woman's Labour and Other Poems. Renard Press, 2021.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

H.L. Mencken

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Topic

Democracy

Author

H.L. Mencken

Source

A Little Book in C Major

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1916 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mencken, Henry Louis. A Mencken Chrestomathy. Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, ch. 30. Originally published in A Little Book in C Major, published by John Lane Co., 1916, ch. 2.

Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.

George Santayana

The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress

More information about this quote

Topic

Fanaticism

Author

George Santayana

Source

The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Santayana, George. The Life of Reason: Introduction and Reason in Common Sense, edited by Marianne S. Wokeck and Martin A. Coleman. Vol. 7, The MIT Press, 2011, bk. 1, introduction. Originally published by Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.

The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed which is perpetually to be conquered.

On Conciliation with America

More information about this quote

Topic

Use of force Civil unrest Political theory Politics

Speaker

Edmund Burke

Source

On Conciliation with America

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1775 1770s 18th century

Era

American Revolutionary Period

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.