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Verified Quote of the Day

One line a day from a classic book. The exact words were found in the full text of the edition we link, so you can read them in context. How we verify.

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Recent days

  • Oct 17

    Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights

    — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, 1923

  • Oct 16

    A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.

    — Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 1855

  • Oct 15

    Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

    — Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience, 1849

  • Oct 14

    If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.

    — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, c. AD 180

  • Oct 13

    To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax— Of cabbages—and kings— And why the sea is boiling hot— And whether pigs have wings

    — The Walrus, in Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, 1871

  • Oct 12

    …we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

    — Lord Darlington, in Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde, 1893

  • Oct 11

    Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life

    — Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125

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Every verified quote on a theme, oldest first, each with its source and our note.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the Verified Quote of the Day?
One short quote a day from a classic book, poem, essay or play. Every quote's exact words were found in the full text of a named Project Gutenberg edition, and each one comes with its author, work, year of first publication, a link to that edition and a short note of ours. There are 525 verified quotes from 93 writers so far.
When does the quote change?
At midnight where you are. Everyone on the same calendar date sees the same quote, and no quote comes back until every other one has had its day.
What does "verified" mean here?
A script downloads the full text of the edition we name and checks that the quote appears in it word for word, allowing only for typography such as curly or straight quote marks, dashes and line breaks. A quote that is not found is not published. The details are on the How we verify page.
Why only old books?
So every quote is in the public domain: the author (and the translator, for a translation) died in 1955 or earlier, and the work was first published in 1930 or earlier. It also means the full text is freely available for anyone to check.
Can I share a quote?
Yes. "Copy quote" copies the words with the author, the work, the year and a link to that day's page, so the quote never travels without its source. On phones, "Share" opens your share sheet with the same text.
Who writes the notes?
We do. The short note under each quote is our own summary of where the words come from; the quote itself is always exactly as printed in the linked edition.