Home / Topics / Century Quotes

Century Quotes

Browse 4886 quotes about Century.

Century Quotes

“Because of my politics, people think I'm anti-American. But I was quite the reverse. What I don't like about the United States is when the government acts like an old, imperial 18th- or 19th-century European power.”

People Thinking States Government United United States Century Reverse 19th Century Anti-american

Author:Robert Wyatt

“The use of the word royalty, as fee to a proprietor for the exploitation of a work or property, derives from the period when the sovereign assumed title to all wealth of the realm. It was the struggle for freedom from these encroachments of the state that chiefly marked the Nineteenth Century, and established everywhere constitutional regimes of limited authority. In the Twentieth Century, however, we have witnessed a gradual and almost unrestricted movement back to state authoritarianism, primarily in the economic sphere, accompanied by the spread of state monopoly and intervention.”

“The Magna Carta is an early reminder of the crucial difference between freedom and liberty. Liberty is freedom that is unique to humans, it is guaranteed by law. All animals are free, but in a system of humans total freedom is anarchy. Humans have thrived by letting a dominant authority regulate freedom. Liberty is a freedom that the authority has granted or has been persuaded to grant. For centuries, the state and the people have negotiated, peacefully and violently.”

People Humans Has Beens States Law Differences Animal Liberty Century Authority Unique Granted Grants Anarchy Crucial Dominant Reminders Freedom And Liberty Freedom Liberty Magna Carta

Author:Manu Joseph

“One of the reasons I decided to apply for American citizenship after something like a quarter of century of living here on a British, European Union passport and a green card, was my identification with the United States in the post-September 11th period.”

“Under the constitution, there was never meant to be a federal police force. Even an FBI limited only to investigations was not accepted until this century. Yet today, fueled by the federal government's misdirected war on drugs, radical environmentalism, and the aggressive behavior of the nanny state, we have witnessed the massive buildup of a virtual army of armed regulators prowling the States where they have no legal authority. The sacrifice of individual responsibility and the concept of local government by the majority of American citizens has permitted the army of bureaucrats to thrive.”

“Like twentieth-century Iran, the remnant of the Persian Empire, Ethiopia under Haile Selassie attempted to preserve the absolutist state throught an accommodation with modernizing forces in his own terms without completely subduing traditionalists. This was not a strategy of Haile Selassie's own choosing. Instead, he was overtaken by events and forced to deal with contradictions that were from the very beginning too formidable to be managed in the long term.”

Long States Force Term Deals Century Events Strategy Preserves Long Term Contradiction Empires Iran Twentieth Century Formidable Persian Remnants Accommodations Ethiopia

Author:Haile Selassie

“Inwardness is the characteristic feature of the vegetable rather than the animal approach to existence. The animals move, migrate and swarm, while plants hold fast. Plants live in a dimension characterised by solid state, the fixed and the enduring. If there is movement in the consciousness of plants then it must be the movement of spirit and attention in the domain of vegetal imagination. (...) This is the truth that the shamans have always known and practiced. Awareness of the green side of mind was called Veriditas by the twelfth century visionary Hildegard Von Bingen.”

“Workplaces need to respond to the reality of family life in the 21st century, and allowing employees to have seven sick days a year is a bare minimum, the fact that the United States is one of just a handful of countries that does not require paid family or sick leave is nothing short of shameful.”

“Massachusetts led the nation passing the first state minimum wage a century ago in June 1912, and with passage of an $11 state minimum wage ... will be leading the nation again with a wage floor that is good for business, good for customers and good for our economy.”

Firsts States Nations Economy Century Customers Passing Passings Passages Minimum June Minimum Wage Massachusetts

Author:Holly Sklar

“The war in Afghanistan, the first war of the twenty-first century, shows the United States doing what it wants to do, not caring about who it antagonizes, not caring about the effects on neighboring regions.”

Want Firsts War States Shows United United States Effects Century Twenties Caring Regions Afghanistan Not Caring

Author:Tariq Ali

“I think the immigration system we have now is terrible for the United States of America. We have a legal immigration system that does not work. It does not reflect the economic needs of this country in the 21st century. It needs to be modernized.”

Thinking Needs Doe Country States America United United States Economic Century Terrible Immigration Working It United States Of America 21st Century Legal Immigration

Author:Marco Rubio

“Over time I began to realize that the level of cinema criticism in the last part of XX century in the United States was pretty low. The institution itself is not what it's supposed to be, and I realized that I didn't need to take that seriously.”

Needs States Lasts Realizing Levels United United States Century Lows Criticism Institutions I Realized Supposed To Be Cinema

Author:George Lucas

“If anything qualifies as an irony of history it would be this: that Marx and Engels throughout the nineteenth century wrote about America the United States as the great country of the future, of freedom and equality and a good life for the working man, and a country of revolution and emancipation, and of Russia as the great country of despotism, backwardness, savagery and superstition.”

“Like any classic you hope to get rid of all the varnish that's built up over the centuries where people expect it to be in a certain way. It's a mighty play. It's about a very old king who also happens to be a very old father, so you've got the state and the domestic levels in there together. It's a story in extremis. Everyone knows the end, there's only two people left alive.”

People Knows Way Two Ends States Play Stories Happens Together Certain Father Left Levels Alive Century Kings Built Classic

Author:Geoffrey Rush

“The simplicity of the law by which the celestial bodies move, and the relations of their masses and distances, permit analysis to follow their motions up to a certain point; and in order to determine the state of the system of these great bodies in past or future centuries, it suffices for the mathematician that their position and their velocity be given by observation for any moment in time.”

“In fact, 37 percent of all United States Nobel Prize winners in the 20th century have been representatives of the Jewish community.”

Has Beens States Facts Community United United States Century Percent Winner Prize Pregnancy Representatives 20th Century Nobel Nobel Prize Jewish Community Nobel Prize Winners

Author:Jon Porter

“Jewish immigration in the 20th century was fueled by the Holocaust, which destroyed most of the European Jewish community. The migration made the United States the home of the largest Jewish population in the world.”

World Made States Home Community United United States Century Population Immigration Destroyed Genocide Holocaust 20th Century Migration Jewish Community

Author:Jon Porter

“The real University... has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries, and receives no material dues... The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries.”

Mind Has Beens Real States Pay Century Materials Property University Dues Rational State Of Mind Heritage Location Salary Rational Thought Zen Motorcycle Maintenance

Author:Robert M. Pirsig

“The ideas and practices of Franz Anton Mesmer, an 18th-century Australian healer, had spread to the United States and, by the 1840s, held the country in thrall. Mesmer proposed that everything in the universe, including the human body, was governed by a 'magnetic fluid' that could become imbalanced, causing illness.”

Humans Ideas Country States Body Universe United Practice United States Century Including Illness Spread Human Body Australian Fluid Healer Magnetic 18th Century

Author:Karen Abbott

“I think if the United States gave anything to culture at large in the 20th century, the most important contribution made was the popular song.”

Ifs Thinking Made Important States Song Culture United United States Century Contribution 20th Century Popular Song Important Contributions

Author:Linda Ronstadt

“A dramatic, evocative, thoughtful and very accessible account of one of the most important stories of the century - and one of the most ominous, unless citizens are aroused to action to rein in abusive state power.”

Important States Stories Action Century Citizens Accounts Dramatic Thoughtful Reins Abusive Ominous

Author:Noam Chomsky

“Ultimately, I think the United States is a pretty awesome country but it very plausibly would have been even awesomer had English and American political leaders in the late 18th century been farsighted enough to find compromises that would have held the empire together.”

Thinking Has Beens Country States Enough Together Political United Leader United States Century Late Compromise Empires Political Leaders 18th Century

Author:Matthew Yglesias

“Overpopulation in the United States will become THE single greatest issue facing Americans in the 21st century. We either solve it proactively or nature will solve it brutally for us via water shortages, energy crisis, air pollution, gridlock, species extinction and worse.”

“[17th-century] Puritans were the first modern parents. Like many of us, they looked on their treatment of children as a test of their own self-control. Their goal was not to simply to ensure the child's duty to the family, but to help him or her make personal, individual commitments. They were the first authors to state that children must obey God rather than parents, in case of a clear conflict.”

Firsts Children Self States Helping Individual Parent Goal Cases Clear Modern Century Duty Conflict Commitment Tests Treatment Self Control Puritan 17th Century

Author:C. Sommerville

“Throughout the twentieth century and into the beginning of the twenty-first, the United States repeatedly used its military power, and that of its clandestine services, to overthrow governments that refused to protect American interests. Each time, it cloaked its intervention in the rhetoric of national security and liberation. In most cases, however, it acted mainly for economic reasons-specifically to establish, promote and defend the right of Americans to do business around the world without interference.”

Source: Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq

“We are in the midst of a once-in-a-century credit tsunami. Central banks and governments are being required to take unprecedented measures. Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity are in a state of shocked disbelief.”

Self States Government Interest Century Protect Institutions Credit Midst Shocked Equity Self Interest Disbelief Unprecedented Lending Shareholders Central Banks Tsunami

Author:Alan Greenspan

“We need to be much more far thinking in this new 21st century era of - of nation state failures and conflict. It's not just about getting rid of a single dictator. It is about understanding the secondary and third consequences that fall next.”

Thinking Needs States Fall Next Nations Understanding Century Conflict Consequence Thirds Eras Dictator 21st Century

Author:Martin O'Malley

“The financial history of the last century shows a steady increase in the amount of public indebtedness. Nobody believes that the states will eternally drag the burden of these interest payments. It is obvious that sooner or later all these debts will be liquidated in some way or other, but certainly not by payment of interest and principal according to the terms of the contract.”

Way Believe States Shows Lasts Term Interest Century Amount Increase Financial Obvious Burden Debt Contracts Steady Drag Sooner Or Later Principal Payment Indebtedness

Book:Human Action

Source: Human Action

“Virtually throughout its history, and certainly in the 20th century, California has been known as the place to go for dynamism and growth. It did not become the richest, most populous, and most productive state solely because of its weather and natural resources. So it takes a lot to turn California around from growth to contraction, from people moving into the state to a net exodus from the state, from business moving into California to businesses leaving California. It takes some doing. And the Left has done it.”

“The greatest danger to the liberal vision are facts about the consequences of liberalism itself and the laws, policies, and ways of life that the left has spawned. That the black family, which survived centuries of slavery and generations of discrimination, has disintegrated in the wake of the liberal welfare states is only one example.”

Way States Facts Law Left Black Vision Generations Century Danger Policy Example Consequence Slavery Discrimination Welfare Liberalism Survived Welfare State Black Family

Author:Thomas Sowell

“Britain kept its position as the dominant world power well into the 20th century despite steady decline. By the end of World War II, dominance had shifted decisively into the hands of the upstart across the sea, the United States, by far the most powerful and wealthy society in world history.”

“Perhaps the most incapable Executive that ever filled the presidential chair...it would be difficult to imagine a man less fit to guide the state with honor and safety through the stormy times that marked the opening of the present century.”

Men States Would Be Difficult Imagine Century Honor Fit Safety Filled Guides Opening Presidential Chairs Executives Incapable Stormy

Book:The Naval War of 1812, Or, The History of the United States Navy During the Last War with Great Britain: To which is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans

Source: The Naval War of 1812, Or, The History of the United States Navy During the Last War with Great Britain: To which is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans

“Saudia Arabia takes in half a trillion dollars every year in oil revenue, and the country has a population smaller than New York state, but when your system of government is an eleventh century monarchy, someone's going to end up poor, and it's not gonna be the guy whose first name is King.”

Years Firsts Ends Country States Government Guy Names Poor Half Century New York Kings Dollars Population Oil Revenue Monarchy Arabia Systems Of Government New York State

Author:Craig Ferguson

“I noticed whenever you call information, 411, there's always a computer voice, and they go, 'What number would you like? City and state, please.' 'Yeah, I'd like the number of Macy's in Century City, California.' 'Did you say 'pretzel nuggets'?”

States Voice Numbers Cities Century Information Please Computer Yeah California Nuggets Pretzels Macy's

Author:Andy Kindler

“As Commander-in-Chief, I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the Armed Forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries, men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel, and inspiration. It is a fountain of strength...an aid in attaining the highest aspiration of the human soul.”

“That seems to be a woman who is genuinely depressed that this is the political dialogue she [Hillary Clinton] is been thrown into in the 21st century in running for president of the United States.”

States Seems Running Political President United United States Century Clinton Dialogue Thrown 21st Century Political Dialogue

Author:Lawrence O'Donnell

“As president, I will ensure that the United States is the global energy powerhouse of the 21st century.That means reinstating the Keystone XL Pipeline that President[Barack] Obama rejected. It also means rolling back the regulations from this administration that limit our ability to find resources by imposing regulations on hydraulic fracturing and our ability to be energy independent by regulating drilling on federal lands. As president, I will make America an energy leader through technology and innovation.”

“God Bless America started to become an almost ritualistic incantation at the end of political speeches really with Ronald Reagan. It appears occasionally before, but it was not that common. And of course since it was a song that wasn't written by Irving Berlin until the 20th century (laughter), none of the 19th century presidents said God Bless America at the end of speeches, either. I think that the symbolism which suggests that everybody is religious and that even presidents who believe in church and state feel obliged to do this.”

“By 18th century standards, they [Great Britain] were the freest, most dynamic, most willing to challenge tradition and authority. They had the highest wages and highest living standard, and probably the most engagement between the populace and the government of any country. Then the United States took those same qualities to the nth degree, and the British were suddenly appeared stodgy and tradition-bound.”

“I'm a true reactionary. Like all patricians, I'd like to restore the original republic, which we lost 40 years ago when Harry Truman imposed the national security state on us, which has kept us at war, hot or cold, for almost half a century, and it's got us $4 trillion into debt.”

Years War States Lost Half Century Security Cold Years Ago Hot Originals Debt Republic National Security Reactionaries Truman Half A Century Harry Truman

Author:Gore Vidal