The Quotes canon
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Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
The human condition4 quotes
Poor man. Poor mankind. — William Faulkner · 1932Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out and death's the other. — Tennessee Williams · 1955Too much happens... Man performs, engenders, so much more than he can or should have to bear. That's how he finds that he can bear anything... That's what is so terrible. — William Faulkner · 1932We're all of us guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress. — Tennessee Williams · 1953Human nature2 quotes
The desire to create is one of the strongest urges a human spirit can contain. It will always break through. — Tennessee Williams · 1975I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. — William Faulkner · 1950Race relations2 quotes
Goddammit, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain't. They do things and we can't. It's just like living in jail. — Richard Wright · 1940They will endure. They are better than we are. Stronger than we are. Their vices are vices aped from white men or that white men and bondage have taught them: improvidence and intemperance and evasion-not laziness: evasion: of what white men had set them to, not for their aggrandizement or even comfort but his own. — William Faulkner · 1942Adaptability1 quote
Too much happens... Man performs, engenders, so much more than he can or should have to bear. That's how he finds that he can bear anything... That's what is so terrible. — William Faulkner · 1932Alcohol1 quote
A man shouldn't fool with booze until he's fifty; then he's a damn fool if he doesn't. — William Faulkner · 1962Alcohol as balm1 quote
Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out and death's the other. — Tennessee Williams · 1955American South1 quote
You can't understand it. You would have to be born there. — William Faulkner · 1936Artist and audience1 quote
I let the audience follow me, if it is interested. — Richard Wright · 1995Bad luck1 quote
If it wasn't for bad luck
You know, I wouldn't have no luck at all — Albert King · 1967Betrayal1 quote
We have to distrust each other. It's our only defense against betrayal. — Tennessee Williams · 1953Black experience1 quote
Goddammit, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain't. They do things and we can't. It's just like living in jail. — Richard Wright · 1940Black resilience1 quote
They will endure. They are better than we are. Stronger than we are. Their vices are vices aped from white men or that white men and bondage have taught them: improvidence and intemperance and evasion-not laziness: evasion: of what white men had set them to, not for their aggrandizement or even comfort but his own. — William Faulkner · 1942Broken heart1 quote
Well since my baby left me
Well I found a new place to dwell
Well it's down at the end of lonely street
At Heartbreak Hotel. — Elvis Presley · 1956Civil disorder1 quote
Who knows when some slight shock, disturbing the delicate balance between social order and thirsty aspiration, shall send the skyscrapers in our cities toppling? — Richard Wright · 1940Creative impulse1 quote
The desire to create is one of the strongest urges a human spirit can contain. It will always break through. — Tennessee Williams · 1975Creativity1 quote
The desire to create is one of the strongest urges a human spirit can contain. It will always break through. — Tennessee Williams · 1975Death as a blessing1 quote
Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out and death's the other. — Tennessee Williams · 1955Effects of the past1 quote
The past is never dead. It's not even past. — William Faulkner · 1951Existential solitude1 quote
We're all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life. — Tennessee Williams · 1957Experiencing things1 quote
Between grief and nothing I will take grief. — William Faulkner · 1939Falling in love1 quote
Wise men say
Only fools rush in
But I can't help
Falling in love with you — Elvis Presley · 1961Free stuff1 quote
You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! — Oprah Winfrey · 2004Freedom of the press1 quote
The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press. — Ida B. Wells · 1892Friends and enemies1 quote
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. — Gabriel Manigault · 1884Grief1 quote
Between grief and nothing I will take grief. — William Faulkner · 1939Home1 quote
I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it. — William Faulkner · 1956Knowledge is power1 quote
The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press. — Ida B. Wells · 1892Language1 quote
The words we use are the worlds we live in. — Richard Ford · 2014Luck1 quote
If it wasn't for bad luck
You know, I wouldn't have no luck at all — Albert King · 1967Lying to oneself1 quote
He knew that the moment he allowed what his life meant to enter fully into his consciousness, he would either kill himself or someone else. So he denied himself and acted tough. — Richard Wright · 1940