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Explore 5101 quotes by Writers

Everything that is hard to attain is easily assailed by the generality of men.

Ptolemy

Tetrabiblos

More information about this quote

Topic

Envy

Author

Ptolemy

Source

Tetrabiblos

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

168 160s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Ptolemy, Claudius. Τετράβιβλος [Tetrabiblios]. c. 150, bk. 1.

He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

Samuel Johnson

More information about this quote

Topic

Uncertainty Certainty Wisdom

Author

Samuel Johnson

Source

The Idler

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Johnson, Samuel. "Idler." Universal Chronicle, 19 May 1759, no. 57.

Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.

William Wordsworth

To a Butterfly (I've Watched You Now a Full Half-Hour)

More information about this quote

Topic

Childhood Nature of time Passage of time

Author

William Wordsworth

Source

To a Butterfly (I've Watched You Now a Full Half-Hour)

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1807 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wordsworth, William. "To a Butterfly." Poems, in Two Volumes. Vol. 2, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, 1807, st. 2.

Current Citation

Wordsworth, William. "To a Butterfly ('I've watch you')." William Wordsworth: The Major Works: including The Prelude, edited by Stephen Gill. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Custom and convention Legal theory Law

Author

Mark Twain

Source

The Gorky Incident

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. The Gorky Incident. 1906.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "The Gorky Incident." Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings, edited by Bernard DeVoto. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2004.

The more we love our friends, the less we flatter them; it is by excusing nothing that pure love shows itself.

Molière

The Misanthrope

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More information about this quote

Topic

Honesty in friendship Friendship

Speaker

Alceste

Author

Molière

Source

The Misanthrope

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedic play

Language

French

Time

1666 1660s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Molière. Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux [The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover]. King's Players, 4 June 1666, Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris, France, act 1, sc. 4.

Current Citation

Moliere. "The Misanthrope." The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, and Other Plays, translated by Maya Slater. Oxford University Press, 2008, act 1, sc. 4.

Moments of crisis produce in man a redoubling of life.

François-Rene de Chateaubriand

More information about this quote

Topic

Inflection points Difficult situations Overcoming adversity Adversity Motivation

Author

François-Rene de Chateaubriand

Source

Memoirs from Beyond the Grave

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

French

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

De Chateaubriand, Francois Rene. Memoires d'outre Tomb [Memoirs from Beyond the Grave]. Vol. 2, Paris: Penaud frères, 1850, bk. 5, ch. 14.

Current Citation

De Chateaubriand, Francois Rene. Memoirs from Beyond the Grave: 1768-1800, translated by Alex Andriesse. NYRB Classics, 2018.

We think time cannot touch the dead, but it touches their monuments, leaving them snub-nosed and stub-fingered from the accidents and attrition of time.

Hilary Mantel

Bring Up the Bodies

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More information about this quote

Topic

Effects of time

Author

Hilary Mantel

Source

Bring Up the Bodies

Medium

Novel

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

2012 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mantel, Hilary. Bring Up the Bodies. Fourth Estate/Henry Holt and Co., 2012.

Rent is that portion of the produce of the earth, which is paid to the landlord for the use of the original and indestructible powers of the soil.

David Ricardo

More information about this quote

Topic

Rent

Author

David Ricardo

Source

On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation

Genre

Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ricardo, David. On Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. London: John Murray, 1817.

Current Citation

Ricardo, David. The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Dover Publications, 2004.

A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude.

Michel de Montaigne

Essays

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Read the Essays at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Man caves Solitude

Author

Michel de Montaigne

Source

Of Solitude Essays

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1580 1580s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "De La Solitude [Of Solitude]." Essais [Essays]. Paris: Simon Millanges and Jean Richer, 1580.

Current Citation

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

God made the country, and man made the town.

Wililam Cowper

More information about this quote

Topic

Rural vs. urban

Author

Wililam Cowper

Source

The Task

Language

English

Time

1785 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Cowper, William. The Task. London: Joseph Johnson, 1785, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Cowper, William. "The Task." William Cowper: The Task and Selected Other Poems, edited by James Sambrook. Routledge, 2016, bk. 1.

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

B.F. Skinner

More information about this quote

Topic

Education Learning

Author

B.F. Skinner

Source

New Methods and New Aims in Teaching New Scientist

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Skinner, B. F. "New Methods and New Aims in Teaching." New Scientist, 21 May 1964.

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.

Robert Frost

More information about this quote

Topic

Artist and audience Writing

Author

Robert Frost

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Frost, Robert. "The Figure a Poem Makes." Collected Poems of Robert Frost. Holt/Longmans, Green and Co., 1939.

Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three.

Joseph Heller

Catch-22

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More information about this quote

Topic

Mediocrity

Author

Joseph Heller

Source

Catch-22

Medium

Novel

Genre

War novel

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. Simon & Schuster, 1961, ch. 9.

Laws were made to be broken.

Christopher North

More information about this quote

Topic

Breaking the law Law

Author

Christopher North

Source

Blackwood's Magazine

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1830 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

North, Christopher. "Noctes Ambrosianae." Blackwood's Magazine, May 1830.

If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?

T.H. Huxley

More information about this quote

Topic

Knowledge

Speaker

T.H. Huxley

Source

On Elemental Instruction in Physiology

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Thomas Henry. "On Elemental Instruction in Physiology." 1877. Lecture.

Some sense of religious mission is part of being American.

John Updike

Quoted in The New York Review of Books

More information about this quote

Topic

American character America

Speaker

John Updike

Source

The New York Review of Books

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

1996 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Updike, John. Quoted in "God's Country" by Michael Wood. New York Book Review, 29 Feb. 1996.

As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, because it is impossible to tell where it ends.

Jeremy Bentham

More information about this quote

Topic

Censorship

Author

Jeremy Bentham

Source

Principles of the Penal Code Theory of Legislation

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1832 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bentham, Jeremy. "Principles of the Penal Code." Theory of Legislation. Vol. 2, Boston: Weeks, Jordan & Company, 1840.

The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere,
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year.

Edgar Allan Poe

American Whig Review

More information about this quote

Topic

October Autumn Seasons

Author

Edgar Allan Poe

Source

Ulalume: A Ballad American Whig Review

Medium

Poem Journal

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Poe, Edgar Allan, [published anonymously]. "Ulalume: A Ballad." American Whig Review, Dec. 1847, st. 1.

Current Citation

Poe, Edgar Allan. "Ulalume - A Ballad." Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, edited by Patrick F. Quinn. Library of America, 1984, st. 1.

In the highlands, in the country places,
Where the old plain men have rosy faces,
And the young fair maidens
Quiet eyes.

Robert Louis Stevenson

More information about this quote

Topic

Scottish highlands Scotland

Author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Source

Songs of Travel

Medium

Song

Language

English

Time

1894 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stevenson, Robert Louis. "In the Highlands, in the Country Places." Songs of Travel and Other Verses. London: Chatto & Windus, 1896.

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet

More information about this quote

Topic

Independence in relationships Independence Relationships

Author

Kahlil Gibran

Source

The Prophet

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1923 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gibran, Kahlil. "On Marriage." The Prophet. Alfred A. Knopf, 1923.

Current Citation

Gibran, Kahlil. "On Marriage." The Prophet. Penguin Classics, 2019.