How we source quotes
Misattributed quotes are everywhere. QuoteXpedia only keeps a quote when it can name the work it comes from.
In short: we reviewed 1,876 candidate quotes and kept 632. The other 1,244 were set aside in review. Every quote that stayed is tied to one of 232 named works, all in the public domain, with the edition or translation and year where it matters.
What we check
- A named work. Each quote must come from a specific book, essay, letter, poem or scripture, recorded with its title. "Attributed to" is not enough.
- The right edition. For translated works such as Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Laozi or Tagore's Bengali poems, we record the translation and year, because wording differs between translators.
- Public-domain text. Every work is in the public domain, so the original can be read and checked freely, for example on Project Gutenberg.
- Short and faithful. We keep lines short enough to read in one breath, without changing their meaning.
Commonly misattributed lines
Many famous quotes circulate under the wrong name, or were never said at all. When a line cannot be traced to a work by the person it is credited to, it is not in QuoteXpedia. If you find one that slipped through, report it from the quote in the app and an editor reviews it.
Browse the library
See all 632 quotes by theme and author, for example Marcus Aurelius, Seneca or Stoicism.
Read them in QuoteXpedia
QuoteXpedia for iPhone is coming soon to the App Store: a quote each morning chosen from your interests, a calm full-screen reader, and a studio that turns any line into art. See the app.