Questions tagged [quotes]
This tag should be used for questions about someone's words and its context, reasons, origin, authenticity or purpose. It can also be used for the motives behind use of somebody's words by somebody else, e.g. "why did Smith quote Jones?"
126 questions
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Did Da Vinci really say, "Art is never finished, only abandoned"?
I've yet to find any source to verify this quote. Sites that list sources with quotes don't seem to include this one for Da Vinci, and others claim the quote comes from English author E. M. Forster.
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What is the origin of this quote on telling a big lie?
The following quote appears on numerous sites on the internet
If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be
believed.
It seems to be most commonly attributed to Hitler, but ...
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Who said, "I want to live long enough to see what becomes of Napoleon"?
My memory is that someone in very poor health (a literary figure? or an exile?) was asked by a visitor (with more curiosity than tact, I imagine) how he was managing to keep hanging on, and that he ...
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Did Jamal Husseini say "The blood will flow like rivers in the Middle East"?
On page 50 of his 2008 book 1948: A History of the First Arab–Israeli War, Benny Morris wrote:
The Arab reaction was just as predictable: “The blood will flow like rivers in the Middle East,” ...
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What is the original source of the quote "Of all my 50 battles, the most terrible was the one I fought at Moscow"?
And how does the quote look in French? The reason I ask is that I see this quote attributed to Napoleon cited all over the Internet (e.g. this video on the Battle of Borodino), but nobody seems to ...
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What is the origin of the quote "Educated individuals are good for all of society." [closed]
In this video by Babylon Bee (at 1:16), the lady claims that either Che Guevara or Karl Marx said something along the lines of "Educated individuals are good for all of society.". Is that ...
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What did Abraham Lincoln say that may have led to General MacArthur's quote? [closed]
I encountered this quote that I would have liked to use,
"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can
be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to
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What is the history of "Translation is like a woman" quote?
Modern quote
I am looking for the history of the [derogatory] quote:
Translation is like a woman. If it is beautiful, it is not faithful. If it is faithful, it is most certainly not beautiful.
It is ...
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When was Joseph Alsop article 'Another Hitler-Time?' published in the Washington Post?
When was Joseph Alsop article 'Another Hitler-Time?' first published in the Washington Post? The Washington Post archives doesn't seem to contain this article.
This article contains, the supposed, ...
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Did the famous French privateer Surcouf really drop that epic zinger on an anonymous British officer?
It is said that when a British captive officer taunted Surcouf with the words "You French fight for money while we fight for honour", Surcouf replied "Each of us fights for what he ...
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Did Harold Pinter create this "old story about Oliver Cromwell"?
House of Commons Speech - October 2002
There's an old story about Oliver Cromwell.
After he had taken the town of Drogheda
the citizens were brought to the main square.
Cromwell announced to his ...
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With money we will get men, said Cæsar, and with men we will get money
In Notes on Virginia, Jefferson wrote:
With money we will get men, said Cæsar, and with men we will get money.
I'm interested in where this was sourced. I don't expect that Jefferson was quoting or ...
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Who said, "Freedom to do what?"
I read a quote recently, it was either Lenin or Stalin, one of their aides said, "Now, comrade, we will have freedom!" and Lenin (or Stalin) replied, "Freedom to do what?" The ...
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Did the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV. (1795 - 1861) ever write: "Das Volk ist mir zum Kotzen" = "The people makes me sick"?
Where does the Prussian king write "Das Volk ist mir zum Kotzen" = "The people makes me sick," as claimed in 6:26 in Die Revolution von 1848 I musstewissen Geschichte?
The video ...
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Where does Lincoln say the South wants us to believe as they believe?
I can no longer find this article or speech, written by Lincoln in which he says argues that the North had done everything in its power to accommodate the South, but the South was still not appeased ...
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What is the original provenance of Lincoln's "of the people, by the people, for the people" and why is Wikipedia so confused?
I was curious about the provenance of Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address proclamation regarding government "of the people, by the people, for the people", so I looked it up on ...
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What is the origin of the expression "I'm the culture they're dying for"?
There is an anecdote about a young man (a poet) being berated by an older woman during WWI where she asks him if he is not ashamed of letting all those other young men die to protect their culture, to ...
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When did Walter Benjamin say "We collect books in the belief that we are preserving them when in fact it is the books that preserve their collector"?
In for instance this source, it is stated that Walter Benjamin once said or wrote the following:
"We collect books in the belief that we are preserving them when in fact it is the books that ...
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Which American Civil War admiral said he would not punish people for getting their ship close to the enemy?
I recall reading an anecdote (it was definitely in Civil War: a History by Shelby Foote, but I don't remember exactly which volume; I believe that it occurred during the Vicksburg campaign in the ...
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Did Martin Luther ever say "The prosperity of a country depends ... "?
Did Martin Luther ever say these quotes? If he did, then since he didn't speak English, what were his original words. Is this translation correct (close enough)?
The prosperity of a country depends, ...
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Was this anecdote about the bad effects of military secrecy told by Colin Powell?
I found the following anecdote in some business notes from years ago:
Colin Powell tells a story from his Vietnam War experiences.
An Army outpost was stationed in a very vulnerable location,
but the ...
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Does the ending of "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing sound reasonable?
The news about scientists have found Endurance prompts me to ask this question otherwise I have always seen it as some minor details that few people will have an interest in.
I think it is safe to say ...
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During the Allied invasion of Sicily, when were 400 soldiers killed due to a sentry sleeping on the job?
In Patton's speech to the Third Army, he refers to an incident in Sicily where 400 men died because a sentry was caught sleeping on the job:
There are four hundred neatly marked graves in Sicily, all ...
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Who said this quote about assimilation?
I remember when I was in school, a teacher told us about a famous quote in American History, something along the lines of :
"In the 20th century, the negro will be integrated and not assimilated&...
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What were Lord Macartney's original words about Chinese under the Qianlong Emperor's brutal regime in 18th century?
This is a follow-up question of Where can I find modern account of Macartney Embassy to China (1792–1794)?
After Lord Macartney returned from his mission to the Qianlong Emperor, he made a poignant ...
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Did Lord Acton ever say "freedom faces four major challenges"?
I read a Chinese article that quoted a passage purported to be from Lord Acton, describing how "freedom faces four major challenges". The original Chinese states:
每个时代，自由都会面临着四大挑战：
...
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What is the source of this quote about hope and POWs?
I seem to recall someone who was a POW, possibly held by Japanese, saying something like that the people that survived were the ones that gave up hope of getting out and the people that died were the ...
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Who said "If I want the opinion of the middle classes, I'll ask Her Majesty"?
The notion that the British royal family are not necessarily at the apex of British society in terms of good breeding, sophistication or taste, is an old one.
I'm sure that I once read a piece that ...
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Where does this quote come from?
Emperor Menelik II's wikipedia page quotes him as saying "There was never a time when united that the Ethiopians lost to an enemy in history".
I am unable to find anywhere on the internet ...
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What was meant by "Palestine is not Rhodesia"?
While reading about the Israel/Palestine conflict, I found this 1927 statement by Chaim Weizmann (emphasis mine):
Palestine must be built up without violating the legitimate interests of the Arabs ...
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Was there something in Lord Palmerston's career that made him associated with temporary appointments becoming permanent?
While researching the quote "nothing more permanent than something temporary", I stumbled upon this quote from the "Royal United Service Institution Journal" from 1888:
I fear ...
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Do we know if Patton ever said "l'audace l'audace toujours l'audace"?
Do we know if George S. Patton said that even though George C. Scott quoted Frederick the Great in the movie?
If Patton did, what does the quote actually mean in the situation?
Related question
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What did Douglas MacArthur mean by "In war, there is no substitute for victory?" [closed]
What does this quote mean? I didn't think it made much sense, since diplomacy exists and no country is unbeatable.
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What is the meaning of George S Patton's quote "Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more?" [closed]
George S Patton said that "Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more." What doe this mean?
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Who said "against the soul, lies; against the body, violence" and where?
First of all apologies if there is one community site more appropriate for this.
I have been reading today on a lot of Spanish right wing sites a quote attributed to Lenin: "Contra las almas la ...
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Did Hitler actually say "Millionen stehen hinter mir."?
There is a fairly famous poster made by John Heartfield in 1932 depicting Adolf Hitler with the quote "Millionen stehen hinter mir.", which is a pun that might be roughly translated as "...
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Who originally said, "The most segregated hour . . ."
There is a video on YouTube where MLK says '... at 11 o'clock in Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours, if not the most segregated hours, in Christian America.' in 1960 but in the ...
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Did Benjamin Franklin say "Holland is not a nation but a shop"? Why?
Several letter-writers to (serious) Dutch newspapers have quoted Benjamin Franklin as having said: "Holland is not a nation but a shop". Why did Franklin say this (if he did)? Google finds ...
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Is there a story about Benjamin Franklin inviting a business competitor into his home to show how meager he is willing to live in order to win?
All my life I have had this distinct memory of writing a paper on Benjamin Franklin back in grade school, and a story where he had brought some business competitor of his into his home and showed him ...
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What is the oldest quote or poem in known history?
What is the oldest quote, poem, words of wisdom ever written in known history?
I'm guessing it's Kemetian or Babylonian.
I've read some on the internet that I know from memory but cannot verify them, ...
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What is the source of this quote from Luke Howard?
In a book on the history of data visualization, we say:
As late as 1844,
Luke Howard [1772– 1864], sometimes called the “father of meteorology”,
apologized for his methodology and referred to it as an
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What U.S. President said “It's fiction, stupid!”?
In the epilogue to his final book in the “Space Odyssey” saga: 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997), Arthur C. Clarke writes:
And if any readers of the earlier books feel disoriented by such
transmutations,...
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Is there a term for the principle of preferring earlier statements over later statements made by historical eye witnesses?
Back when I was majoring in History in college, one professor explained to the class that when a person made multiple statements about a time or event they lived through or were involved with, and ...
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What is the oldest example of complaints against wealth being due to closeness to the ruler?
Consider the sentence “The king is the one at whose side wealth walks”. It is taken from the Babylonian Theodicy, a poem which was written somewhere between 1500 B.C. and 1100 B.C. and which is ...
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What is the source of "the three most useless things in the world are the Great Wall, Pyramids, and the Yamato"?
I watched 'Naval Legends: Yamato' yesterday, and it included a phrase that was attributed to the crew of the ship:
"The world's three most useless things are the Chinese Great Wall, Egyptian ...
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Who said: "Armies prepare to fight their last war, rather than their next war"?
There is a famous quote which I've seen phrased in several different ways.
"Armies prepare to fight their last war, rather than their next war"
"Generals prepare to fight their father'...
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Which historic figure does William Bolitho refer to with "The greatest adventurer that ever lived ended as a nervous, banal millionaire"? [closed]
Context: It was said in 12 Against the Gods which was published in 1929.
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Who first said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."?
I was trying to remember the origination of the phrase "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." I'm aware president John F. Kennedy famously said it, but I ...
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Which early Imperial Roman writer said this about grains?
I definitively although vaguely recall a quote by a (first century AD?) Roman that asserts more or less that civilised Romans use wheat in baking, whereas Germans/Celts (I forget which) would use rye (...
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Is there a real quote to the effect of "The development of man resembles the development of society . . . "?
There is a saying, I heard from my father a long time ago, that the development of man resembles the development of society: the infant resembles the Renaissance, the young person corresponds to the ...
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