Thomas Stearns Eliot

"Only thoso who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

Thomas Stearns Eliot

WHO: Thomas Stearns Eliot was a an American poet, dramatist and critic born in 1888. He was awarded with the Nobel Price in literature in 1948. He died at the age of 77 in 1965.

WHERE: This quote comes from the preface of Transit of Venus: Poems (a collection of poems inspired by his girlfriend).

WHEN: Transit of Venus: Poems was publish in 1931.


Related Author: Jorge Luis Borges

Author Unknown #3

"Laughter isn't only the best medicine, it's also the best disguise."

Author Unknown

Rudyard Kipling

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind"

Rudyard Kipling

WHO: Rudyard Kipling was a British writer born in 1865. Probably best known for his book The Jungle book. He was awarded with the Nobel Price in literature in 1907. He died at the age of 70 in 1936.

WHERE: This quote comes from A Book Of Word. This book contains a selection of his speeches.

WHEN: Rudyard Kipling said this in 1928.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

"What experience and history teach is this - that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it."

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

WHO: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher. He was born in 1770 and he died at the age of 61 in 1831.  

WHERE: This quote comes from the introduction of Philosophy of History.

WHEN: Philosophy of History (originaly published in 1837) is actually a set of Hegel's readings and multiple notes taken from his students.

Related Author: Aristotle

Anne Rice

"People who cease to belive in God or goodness altogether still belive in the devil. I don't know why. No i do indeed know why. Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult."

Anne Rice

WHO: Anne Rice is an American writer born in 1941. She is the author of various books of the Gothic genre and christian literature.

WHERE: This quote comes from the novel Interview with the Vampire.

WHEN: Anne Rice wrote this in 1976.

Related movie: Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

Related Author': Stephen King

Clive Barker

"I'm a great dog fanatic. My own dog died a little while ago and i take it very personal when things die - it's a major offence"

Clive Barker

WHO: Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist born in Liverpool (1952). Barker is one of the most acclaimed writers of horror and fantasy being Books of Blood one of his bests (Horror genre). He is also the author of Hellraiser.

WHERE: This is a transcript of a talk at UCLA.

WHEN: Clive Barker said this in 1987 (25 February).


Related Author: H.P. Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft

"No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace"

H. P. Lovecraft

WHO: H.P. Lovecraft, in full Howard Phillips Lovecraft (born Aug. 20, 1890, Providence, R.I., U.S.—died March 15, 1937, Providence), American author of fantastic and macabre short novels and stories, one of the 20th-century masters of the Gothic tale of terror.

WHERE: This quote comes from the poem Ex Oblivione.

WHEN:  Lovecraft wrote this in late 1920 or early 1921 and it was first published in The United Amateur in March 1921, under the pseudonym Ward Phillips.


Related Author: Clive Barker, Stephen King

Robert Heinlein

"Love is that condition in wich the happiness of another person is essential to your own"

Robert Heinlein

WHO: Robert Heinlein (1907-1988) was an American science fiction writer borned in Butler (Missouri)

WHERE: This quote comes from Jubal Harshaw in the first edition (1961); the later 1991 "Uncut" edition didn't have this line, because it was one Heinlein had added when he went through and trimmed the originally submitted manuscript on which the "Uncut" edition is based. Heinlein also later used a variant of this in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls where he has Xia quote Harshaw: "Dr. Harshaw says that 'the word "love" designates a subjective condition in which the welfare and happiness of another person are essential to one's own happiness.'"

WHEN: Robert Heinlein wrote this in 1961.

Benjamin Disraeli

"A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy"

Benjamin Disraeli

WHO:  Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81) Known as a dandy, a novelist, a brilliant debator and England's first and only Jewish prime minister, Disraeli (Earl of Beaconfield) is best remembered for bringing India and the Suez Canal under control of the crown.

WHERE: This quote comes from the Speech in the House of Commons.

WHEN: Benjamin Disraeli said this in 1845 (Mar. 3,).

Oscar Wilde

"Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend's success"

Oscar Wilde

WHO: Oscar Wilde was an Irish dramatist, poet, and author born in 1854 (Dublin). He died at the age of 46 (Paris).

WHERE: This quote comes from The Soul of Man under Socialism. 

WHEN: Oscar Wilde wrote this in 1891. One year after that The Picture of Dorian Gray was published.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

WHO: Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher born in 1803. He died at the age of 79.

WHERE: This quote comes from the book Essays (Friendship). 

WHEN: Emerson wrote this in 1841. In January of the next year Emerson's first son Waldo died from scarlet fever. Emerson wrote of his grief in the poem Threnody (For this losing is true dying), and the essay Experience.

Benjamin Franklin

"At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgement"

Benjamin Franklin

WHO: Benjamin Franklin was an US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer borned in 1706 (Boston, Massachusetts Bay) and died  in 1790 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).

WHERE: This quote comes from Poor Richard's Almanack. It was a best seller for a pamphlet published in the American colonies.

WHEN: Benjamin Franklin wrote this in 1741.

Author Unknown #2

"A true friend is someone that comes when everyone is leaving, and stays when everyone else is gone."

Author Unknown

Hippocrates

"Healing is a matter of time, but it is some times also matter of opportunity"

Hippocrates

WHO: Hippocrates was a Greek physician called, from the Middle Ages, the Father of Medicine. He was born in 460 a.C (Island of Kos) and died in 377 BC (Tesalia).

WHERE: This quote comes from Precepts - chapter 1.

WHEN:  Precepts was translated by W. H. S. Jones in 1923.

Thomas Hughes

"It's more than a game. It's an institution"

Thomas Hughes

WHO: Thomas Hughes was a British jurist, reformer, and novelist born in 1822. He died at the age of 73 in 1896.

WHERE: This quote comes from the novel Tom Brown’s Schooldays - pt. 2, chapter 7- based on his school experiences at Rugby School. 

WHEN: Thomas Hughes wrote Tom Brown’s Schooldays in 1857.

Albert Camus

"I'll tell you a great secret, my friend. Don't wait for the last judgement. It happens every day"

Albert Camus

WHO: Albert Camus was born in Mondovi, Algeria in 1913. An author and philosopher, he was the second youngest winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, receiving the award in 1957. He died in a car accident three years later (1960).

WHERE: This quote comes from La Chute (The Fall) - p. 129.

WHEN: The Fall was published in 1956 and it is his last complete work of fiction.

Seneca

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, but because we do not dare, things are difficult"

Seneca

WHO: Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman philosopher, politician, orator and writer born in 4 BC. He is best known for his works of moral character. He died at the age of 61.

WHERE: This quote comes from "Letter to Lucilius"- letter 104 (On care of health and peace of mind).

WHEN:  He wrote this in 62 AD, after he retired from the public life to devote himself to writing and philosophy.


Related Author: Aristotle

Stephen King

"Good books don't give up all their secrets at once"

Stephen King

WHO: Stephen King is an american author of horror fiction, born in 1947. The 8th of November of 2011 his latest novel, 11/22/63, will be published.

WHERE:  This quote comes from the book Hearts in Atlantis. This book is a collection of five stories about '60s kids.

WHEN: He wrote Hearts in Atlantis in 1999, same year that Stephen King was severely injured in a car accident that left him in critical condition. 


Related movie: Hearts in Atlantis
Related Author: H.P. Lovecraft, Anne Rice

Aristotle

"Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not within everyone's power and that is not easy"

Aristotle

WHO: Aristotle  (384-322 B.C.E.) is the famed Greek philosopher, scientist, and educator born in Macedonia. He became an adept student at Plato’s Academy, where Plato often referred to him as the “intellect” of the school.

WHERE: This quote comes from the book Nicomachean Ethics that he wrote as a guide to the citizens of Greece on how to lead the good life.

WHEN: Aristotle wrote this in 350 B.C.E.


Related Author: Seneca,  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Author Unknown #1

"When the wise man points at the moon, the fool looks at the finger"

Author Unknown

Jorge Luis Borges

"He cometido el peor pecado que uno puede cometer. No he sido feliz"

Jorge Luis Borges

ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: Spanish.

TRANSLATION:

"I have commited the worst of sins one can commit. I have not been happy"

WHO: Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo  was an Argentine writer, essayist and poet and born in Buenos Aires in 1899. He died at the age of 86 in 1986.

WHERE: This quote comes from the poem El remordimiento (The remorse). This poem was included within the book La moneda de hierro (The iron coin).

WHEN: Borges wrote The iron coin in 1976, the same year that started the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983).



Related Author: Thomas Stearns Eliot 

William Shakespeare

"Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better"

William Shakespeare

WHO: William Shakespeare was an English poet, dramatist, and actor borned in 1564 (Warwickshire). Considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time, he died at the age of 51 (April 23, 1616).

WHERE:  This quote comes from the play Twelfth Night.

WHEN: Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Night near the middle of his career, probably in the year 1601/2 during the reign of Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603).


Related movie: Twelfth Night.