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Explore 5101 quotes by Writers

Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the "transcendent" and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mamals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.

Christopher Hitchens

More information about this quote

Topic

How to live

Author

Christopher Hitchens

Source

Letters to a Young Contrarian

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

2001 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hitchens, Christopher. Letters to a Young Contrarian. Art of Mentoring. Basic Books, 2001, envoi.

They have invented a phrase, a phrase that is a black and white contradiction in two words—"free-love"—as if a lover ever had been, or ever could be, free. It is the nature of love to bind itself, and the institution of marriage merely paid the average man the compliment of taking him at his word.

G.K. Chesterton

More information about this quote

Topic

Casual sex Sex Commitment (relationships)

Author

G.K. Chesterton

Source

A Defence of Rash Vows The Defendant

Language

English

Time

1901 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chesterton, G.K. "The Defendant." The Wit, Whimsy and Wisdom of G.K. Chesterton. Vol. 6, Coachwhip Publications, 2009. Originally published by R. Brinley Johnson, 1901, introduction.

O, we all acknowledge our faults, now; 'its the mode of the day: but the acknowledgement passes for current payment; and therefore we never amend them.

Frances Burney

Camilla

More information about this quote

Topic

Self-criticism Self-improvement

Speaker

Mrs. Arlbery

Author

Frances Burney

Source

Camilla

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1796 1790s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Burney, Frances. Camilla. London: T. Payne and T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, 1796.

Current Citation

Burney, Frances. Camilla. Oxford University Press, 2009.

A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to county, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is only a vagabond.

Oliver Goldsmith

More information about this quote

Topic

Philosophy Philosophers Travel Wandering

Author

Oliver Goldsmith

Source

The Citizen of the World

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1761 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. "Letter VII." The Citizen of the World; or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher. Dublin: George and Alex. Ewing, 1762. Originally published in The Public Ledger, Jan. 1760 - Aug. 1761.

My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.

George Santayana

More information about this quote

Topic

Atheism Man and the universe

Author

George Santayana

Source

On My Friendly Critics Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Santayana, George. "On My Friendly Critics." Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies. Charles Scribner's Sons/Constable and Co., 1922.

There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.

Logan Pearsall Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Getting what you want How to live

Author

Logan Pearsall Smith

Source

Afterthoughts

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Logan Pearsall. "Life and Human Nature." Afterthoughts. Constable & Company, 1931.

We can't all be happy, we can't all be rich, we can't all be lucky-and it would be so much less fun if we were... Some must cry so that others may be able to laugh the more heartily.

Jean Rhys

More information about this quote

Topic

Yin and yang

Author

Jean Rhys

Source

Good Morning, Midnight

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Rhys, Jean. Good Morning, Midnight. Constable Press, 1939.

Current Citation

Rhys, Jean. Good Morning, Midnight. W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.

Science is an integral part of culture. It's not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It's one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition.

Stephen Jay Gould

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of science Science

Author

Stephen Jay Gould

Source

The Independent

Genre

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Gould, Stephen Jay. Independent. 24 Jan. 1990.

If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.

Carl Jung

More information about this quote

Topic

Raising kids Parents and children Change starts at home Self-improvement Personal growth

Author

Carl Jung

Source

The Development of Personality

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

German

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jung, Carl. The Integration of Personality, translated by Stanley Dell. Farrar & Rinehart, 1939.

The love of our country, as the term has usually been understood, has too often been found to be one of those specious illusions which are employed by impostors for the purpose of rendering the multitude the blind instruments of their crooked designs.

William Godwin

Buy An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice at Amazon Buy An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice at Amazon
Read An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice at libertyfund.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Abuses of patriotism Patriotism

Author

William Godwin

Source

An Enquiry Concerning Politicsl Justice

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1793 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Godwin, William. An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Political Justice and Its Influence on Modern Morals and Happiness. London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1793, bk. 5, ch. 16.

Current Citation

Godwin, William. An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. Oxford University Press, 2013, bk. 5, ch. 16.

I know my soul hath power to know all things,
Yet is she blind and ignorant in all:
I know I'm one of Nature's little kings,
Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall.

Sir John Davies

Of Human Knowledge

Read Of Human Knowledge at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Duality of man

Author

Sir John Davies

Source

Of Human Knowledge

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1599 1590s 16th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Davies, John, Sir. Nosce Teipsum. 1599, st. 44.

It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative.

John Burroughs

More information about this quote

Topic

The mind

Author

John Burroughs

Genre

Religious literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1900 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Burroughs, John. "The Modern Skeptic." The Light of Day. Houghton Mifflin, 1900.

Once literature is contrived as the hymn of the nation, the flag of the race, the mouthpiece of a political party or the voice of a class or a group it can be employed as a mighty and all-engulfing tool of propaganda. However, such literature loses what is inherent in literature, ceases to be literature, and becomes a substitute for power and profit.

Gao Xingjian

The Case for Literature

Read this speech at nobelprize.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Literature

Speaker

Gao Xingjian

Source

The Case for Literature

Medium

Nobel Prize Lecture Speech

Language

Chinese

Time

2000 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gao Xingjian. "The Case for Literature." Nobel Lecture. 7 Dec. 2000, Swedish Academy, Stockholm, Sweden.

It may be that there is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income.

Edmund Wilson

More information about this quote

Topic

Making money

Author

Edmund Wilson

Source

The Princess with the Golden Hair

Medium

Short story

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wilson, Edmund. "The Princess with the Golden Hair." Memoirs of Hecate County. Doubleday, 1946.

Did you ever hear my definition of marriage? It is, that it resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they can not be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing any one who comes between them.

Sydney Smith

More information about this quote

Topic

Marriage

Author

Sydney Smith

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1845 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Smith, Sydney. Quoted in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by Saba Holland. Vol. 1, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855, ch. 11.

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.

Reinhold Niebuhr

More information about this quote

Topic

Hope Faith Love

Speaker

Reinhold Niebuhr

Source

The Irony of American History

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1952 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Niebuhr, Reinhold. The Irony of American History. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952, ch. 3.

How long will the human race sweat under the superstition that, in order to be happy and useful and intelligent, it is necessary to believe in things? What nonsense indeed! Human progress consists, not in acquiring beliefs, but in getting rid of them.

H.L. Mencken

More information about this quote

Topic

Beliefs

Author

H.L. Mencken

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Mencken, H. L. "Repetition Generale." Smart Set, Mar. 1921.

We come out of the dark and go into the dark again, and in between lie the experiences of our life. But the beginning and end, birth and death, we do not experience; they have no subjective character, they fall entirely in the category of objective events, and that's that.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

More information about this quote

Topic

The human condition Life and death

Author

Thomas Mann

Source

The Magic Mountain

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mann, Thomas. Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1924, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 6.

New York makes one think of the collapse of civilization, about Sodom and Gomorrah, the end of the world. The end wouldn't come as a surprise here. Many people already bank on it.

Saul Bellow

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of New York City New York City

Speaker

Uncle Sammler

Author

Saul Bellow

Source

Mr. Sammler's Planet

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bellow, Saul. Mr. Sammler's Planet. Viking Press, 1970, pt. 6.

The pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable.

Lord Chesterfield

On sex.

More information about this quote

Topic

Sex

Speaker

Lord Chesterfield

Language

English

Time

1773 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stanhope, Philip Dormer. Stated to his son, Philip Stanhope. c. 1773.