Three years after Jack Kerouac coined the term “The Beat Generation” a group of Beat poets gathered at the Six Gallery on Fillmore Street in San Francisco for a poetry…
Category: Historical quotes
“Preserve, protect and defend…"
The oath an American president recites upon taking office includes the famous promise to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Interestingly, one of the first decisions…
The dark origins of the terms “the Dismal Science” and “Professors of the Dismal Science”…
“The Dismal Science” is an old but still commonly-used nickname for the realm of economics. “Professors of the Dismal Science” is an old but still used nickname for economists. Both…
Two famous quotes launched by Captain John Paul Jones…
The quotation most people associate with American Navy Captain John Paul Jones is “I have not yet begun to fight.” According to legend, Jones said that defiant line during a…
Spiro Agnew vs. the “effete intellectuals” and “nattering nabobs”…
Nowadays, Conservative provocateurs like Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter get lots of media attention for coming up with snarky, quotable insults aimed at Liberals. But the way was…
Famous war-related and “fighting words” quotes uttered on June 18…
By an odd coincidence, a number of famous war-related quotations were uttered on the date June 18. On June 18, 1757, at the Battle of Kolin, Prussian King Frederick the…
Blood, sweat and tears — and toil…
Almost everything most people know about the origin of the phrase “blood, sweat and tears” is wrong. Some people think Winston Churchill coined it in the famous speech he gave…
“I know nothing!” – the memorable catchphrase of a forgotten political party
Many people associate the catchphrase “I know nothing!” with the television character Sergeant Schultz (actor John Banner). It was one of his frequent lines in the 1960s comedy series Hogan’s…
“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”
On May 24, 1995, five days after its official premiere in Los Angeles, Braveheart was released to theaters nationwide in the USA. The movie stars Mel Gibson as the 13th…
On this date, Ronald Reagan gave his famous “evil empire” speech—but he didn’t coin the phrase…
If you’re like me, you’re a tired of hearing about Donald Trump and Russia. However, as I was editing this post today on March 8, 2017, I couldn’t help being…