Cause you can't jump the track, were like cars on a cable. And life's like an hourglass glued to the table.
Anna Nalick - Breathe
If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, he women if you can.
Anne Bradstreet - To My Dear and Loving Husband
And when I could no longer look, I blest it's name that gave and took, That laid my goods now in the dust. Yea, so it was, and so 'twas just.
Anne Bradstreet - Upon the Burning of Our House
The world no longer let me love, my hope and treasure lies above.
Anne Bradstreet - Upon the Burning of Our House
The reason why the Europeans have killed and destroyed such infinite number of souls is solely because they have made gold the ultimate aim.
Bartolom� de la Casa - A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
We are, however, not the less obliged for your kind Offer... and to show our grateful sense of it, if the Gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a Dozen of their Sons, we will take great care of their Education, instruct them in all we know, and make Men of
Canasatego - Letter to Virginia Legislature
So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
Winthrop - A Modell of Christian Charity
Courage, judgement, integrity, dedication: these are historic qualities of the Bay Colony and the Bay State- the qualities which this state has consistently sent to this chamber on Beacon Hill here in Boston and to Capitol Hill back in Washington.
JFK - Address to the General Court of Massachusetts
For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of the people are upon us.
Winthrop - A Modell of Christian Charity
When the first President, George Washington, placed his hand upon the Bible' he stood less than a single day's journey by horseback from raw, untamed wilderness. There were 4 million Americans in a union of 13 States. Today we are 60 times as many in a u
Reagan - Second Inaugural Address
You are the light of the world. A city built on a Hill cannot be his. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in his house.
Matthew - Historical Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
He taught the people how to eat and how to hunt... Sometimes he made mistakes, and even though he was wise and powerful, he did many foolish things. But that was his way.
Nez Perc� tradition - Coyote Finishes His Work
When I come along, all the spirituals of the dead will be with me. There will be no more Other Side Camp. All the people will live together... Then things will be made right .
Nez Perc� tradition - Coyote Finishes His Work
Learned you This from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?
Equiano - The Interesting Narrative
I am not so simple as not to know it is better to eat good meat, sleep comfortably, live quietly with my women and children, laugh and be merry with the English, and being their friend, trade for their copper and hatchets, than to run away from them... T
Powhatan - Speech to John Smith and the Virginia Settlement
All American Indian cultures also show a keen awareness of the power of metaphor. Words are as powerful and alive as the human breath that carries them.
Joseph Bruchac - The Sun Still Rises in the Same Sky
The Time has come for a new American emancipation- a great national drive to tear down economics barriers and liberate the spirit of enterprise in the most distressed areas of our country. My friends, together we can do this, and do it we must, so help
Reagan - Second Inaugural Address
But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so himself the first that was thrown overboard.
Bradford - Of Plymouth Plantation
Between the promise and it's denial- there stands the man with the gun. Between the promise and it's denial stands a man helping them apart- the American. Either he recognizes what he is doing, or he will take the final, fatal step to suppress the violen
Miller - On the Shooting of Robert Kennedy
Is it not time to take a long look at ourselves. At the way we live and the way we think, and to face the fact that the violence in our hearts, that with all our accomplishments, our spires and mines and clean, glistening packages, our charities and our
Miller - On the Shooting of Robert Kennedy
Fish and visitors smell in three days.
Franklin - Poor Richard's Almanac
But, on the whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it....
Franklin - The Autobiography
'Yes,' says the man, 'but I think I like the speckled axe best'.
Franklin - The Autobiography
America understands that a nation is great not because it's economy is flourishing or its army invincible but because it's ideals are loftier.
Wiesel - The America I Love
From that day on, I felt privileged to belong to a country which, for two centuries, has stood as a living symbol of all that is charitable and decent to victims of injustice everywhere- a country where every person is entitled to dream of happiness, pea
Wiesel - The America I Love
The only obligation which I have a right to assume, is to do at any time what I think is right.
Thoreau - Resistance to Civil Government
I think that there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad peoples in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in a position to block things that you and I need. Because this is 5e situati
Malcolm X
One who breaks an unjust law must do it openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty.
MLK - Letter From Birmingham Jail
violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and in moral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to
MLK - Letter From Birmingham Jail
There are two ways of countering injustice. One way is to smash the head of the man who perpetrates injustice and to get your own head smashed in the process.
Gandhi - On Nonviolent Resistance
I know not what course others may take, it as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Henry - Speech in the Virginia Convention
Wake up!
DTRT
Not all the treasures o father world, so far as I believe, could have induced me t support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are
Paine - The American Crisis Common Sense
...the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
Paine - The American Crisis Common Sense
Go forth, under the poem sky, and list to Nature's teachings, while from all around- Earth and her waters, and the depths of air- comes a still voice.
Bryant - Thanatopsis
...approach thy grave, like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
Bryant - Thanatopsis
He who, from zone to zone, guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, in the long way that I must tread alone, will lead my steps aright.
Bryant - To a Waterfowl
Standing on the bare ground- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Bring circulate through me; I am part or pa
Emerson's Essays
To be great is to be misunderstood.
Emerson's Essays
I am invisible, as long as I'm alive.
John Mayer - No Such Thing
To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.
Emerson's Essays
Whoso must be a man must be a nonconformist.
Emerson's Essays
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
Emerson's Essays
If you please to plant yourself on the side of Fate, and say, Fate is all; then we say, a part of Fate is the freedom of man. Forever wells up the impulse of choosing and acting in the soul. Intellect annuals Fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.
Emerson's Essays
Had my hand on the dollar bill. And the dollar bill blew away But the sun is shining down on me. And it's here to stay.
Rare Earth - Celebrate
In the long, sleepless watches of the night, a gentle face--the face of one long dead--looks at me from the wall, where round its head the night lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Longfellow - The Cross of Snow
I'm going to rent myself a house / in the shade of the freeway I'm going to pack my lunch in the morning. And go to work each day And when the evening rolls around I'll go home and lay my body down And when the morning light comes streaming in I'll get u
Browne - The Pretender
The little waves, with their soft, white hands, efface the footprints in the sands...
Longfellow - The Tide Rises The Tide Falls
I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
Thoreau's Walden
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!
Thoreau's Walden
We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.
Thoreau's Walden
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Thoreau's Walden
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Thoreau's Walden
My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth; and sin is But a name. Come devil, for to thee the world is given.
Hawthorne - Young Goodman Brown
When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; When man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster for the symbol beneath which I have
Hawthorne - Minister's Black Veil
Well- I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it...
Hawthorne - Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
The fiend! The fiend had gained possession of me! ... I am lost forever.
Irving - Adventures of German Student
Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance.
Melville - Bartleby
I prefer not to.
Melville - Bartleby
What I saw that morning persuaded me that the scrivener was the victim of innate and incurable disorder. I might give alms to his body; but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach.
Melville - Bartleby
He had come like a thief in the night... And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last gay. And the flames of the tripods expired.
Poe - Masque of the Red death
I was a child and she was a child, in this kingdom by the sea; but we loved with a love that was more than love...
Poe - Annabel Lee
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams... And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride, in the sepulcher there by the sea, in her tomb by the sounding sea.
Poe - Annabel Lee
But he grew old, this knight so bold, and o'er his heart a shadow fell.
Poe - Eldorado
From the molten-golden notes. And all in tune.
Poe - The Bells
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Poe - The Raven
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted- nevermore.
Poe - The Raven
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off the door!
Poe - The Raven
... never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.
Ballou - Letter to His Wife Sarah
I fought hard. But your guns were well aimed. The bullets flew like birds in the air, and whizzed by our ears like the wind through the trees in winter.
Black Hawk - Farewell To Black Hawk
But he can stand torture, and is not afraid of death. He is no coward.
Black Hawk - Farewell To Black Hawk
Let me be a free man- free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself- and I will obey every law, or submit to
Chief Joseph - An Indian's View of Indian Affairs
I resolved to fight; and, suiting my action to resolution, I seized Covey hard by the throat; and as I did so, I rose.
Frederick Douglass - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
... and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact.
Frederick Douglass - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph - Chief Joseph's Surrender
I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more.
Chief Joseph - An Indians Views of Indian Affairs
Our fathers gave us many laws, which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good. They told us to treat all men as they treated us; that we should never be the first to break a bargain; that it was a disgrace tell a lie; that we should spea
Chief Joseph - An Indians Views of Indian Affairs
It is the principle I contend for, not the individual or private benefit. As an American citizen, I take great pride in my country, her prosperity and institutions, and would defend any state if her rights were invaded.
Lee - Letter to His Son
If the Union is dissolved, and the government disrupted, I shall return to my native state and share the miseries of my people; and, save in defense, will draw my sword on none.
Lee - Letter to His Son
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Lincoln - Gettysburg Address
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystic moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
Whitman - When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Let not the child's voice be hard, nor the mother's entreaties, make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearse.
Whitman - Beat! Beat! Drums!
Through the windows - through doors- burst like a ruthless force, into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation, into the school where the scholar is studying.
Whitman - Beat! Beat! Drums!
I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin- I draw near, Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.
Whitman - Reconciliation
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
Whitman - Songs of Myself
Answer: that you are here- that life exists and identity, that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Whitman - Oh me! Oh life!
He stayed with me a week before he was recuperated and pass'd North, I had him sit next to me at my table, my fire-lock lean'd in the corner.
Whitman - Songs of Myself
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, if you want me again look for me under your boot soles.
Whitman - Songs of Myself
All this I swallow, it tastes good, I like it well, it becomes mine, I am the man, I suffer'd, I was there.
Whitman - Songs of Myself
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
Whitman - Songs of Myself
... the real war will never get in the books.
Whitman - Specimen Days
America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; Let it be said by our children's children tha
Obama - Second Inaugural Address
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again.
Sojourner Truth - Ain't I a Woman?
All right, then, I'll go to hell.
Twaine - Huck Finn
En all yup wuz thinkin' 'bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes 'me ashamed.
Twaine - Huck Finn
It didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn't no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds. But I never said nothing, never let on; kept it to myself; it's the best way; then you don't have no quarrels, and don't ge
Twaine - Huck Finn
Never trust anybody, my friend. Besides, I didn't promise not to do this thing. Why, man, don't look at me like that. Don't take me for a thief. It's the law.
Twaine - Huck Finn
We have a duty, almost a holy responsibility, to record and honor the victorious weight of these innumerable little kindnesses when an unprecedented act of evil so threatens to distort our perception of ordinary human behavior.
Gould - A Time of Gifts
As we left a local restaurant to make a delivery to ground zero late one evening, the cook gave us a shopping bag and said, 'here are a dozen brown betties...'
Gould - A Time of Gifts
And he was rich- yes richer than a king- and admirably schooled in every grace.
Robinson - Richard Cory
(He) coughed and called it Fate, and kept on drinking.
Robinson - Minister Cheevy
I will work harder.
Sinclair - The Jungle
(He) was so bent upon his task that he knew nothing of this, and scarcely realized that people were trying to interfere with him; it was only when half a dozen men had seized him by the legs and shoulders and were pulling at him, that he understood that
Sinclair - The Jungle
Perhaps some glimpse of all this was in the thoughts of our humble-minded Jurgis, as he turned to go on with the rest of the party, and muttered: 'dieve- but I'm glad I'm not a hog!
Sinclair - The Jungle
'When people are starving,' the other continued, 'and they have anything with a price, they ought to sell it, I say. I guess you realize it now when it's too late. Ona could have taken care of us all, in the beginning.' Marija spoke without emotion, as o
Sinclair - The Jungle
Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion- several of them.
Twaine - The Lowest Animal
That's the day when I realized there was this entire life behind things and this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever.
American Beauty
I rule.
American Beauty
You're old enough now to learn the most important lesson in life, you cannot count on anyone except yourself.
American Beauty
It's just a couch. This isn't life; this is just stuff and it's become more important to you than living. Well honey that's just nuts.
American Beauty
There are rules... You need structure. You need discipline.
American Beauty
Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it and I feel like my heart is just going to cave in.
American Beauty
There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired.
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Sophisticated- God, I'm sophisticated!
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can.
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
It was a body capable of enormous leverage- a cruel body.
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Her voice is full of money.
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
I am one of the few honest people that I have known.
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
What did he fear? It was not a fear or dread. It was nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived init and never felt it but he
Hemingway - Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Vaguely he wanted a girl but he did not want to have to work to get her. He would have liked to have a girl but he did not want to have to spend a long time getting her. He did not want to get into the intrigue and politics. He did not want to have to do
Hemingway - Soldier's Home
So it goes.
Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five
I was there.
Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five
Why you? Why ya for that matter? Why anything? Because the moment simply is.
Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five
I think you guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people just aren't going to want to go on living.
Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five
Seek thyself!
Emerson's Essays
It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig," the man said. "It's not really an operation at all." The girl look at the ground the table legs rested on. "I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in.
Hemingway - Hiles Like White Elephants
A short time after he contracted gonorrhea from a salsa girl in a loop department store while riding in a taxicab through Lincoln's Park.
Hemingway - A Very Short Story
His throat has been cut from ear to ear. The blood has flowed down into a pool where his body sagged the bunk. His head rested on his left arm. The open razor lay, edge up, in the blankets.
Hemingway - Indian Camp
In a moment, because he could resolve the situation in no other way, this sheriff, this deputy, this honored American citizen, began to club these people down.
James Baldwin - White Man's Guilt
White man, hear me! A man is a man, a woman is a women, a child is a child. To deny these facts is to open the doors in a chaos deeper and deadlier, and , within the space of a man's lifetime, more timeless, more eternal, than the medieval visionary of H
James Baldwin - The White Man's Guilt
As a side note, the past tense of hang is hung but when referring to the capital punishment of hanging, the correct tense is hanged.
Layli Long Soldier - 38
Sometimes, when in a circle, if I wish to exit, I must leap. And let the body swing. From the platform. Our to the grasses.
Layli Long Soldier - 38