The Year’s Most Notable Quotes List Really Captures the Trash Fire of 2018

We all know that 2018 was a hellfire of a year. This list of the year’s most notable quotes is an unnecessary reminder of just how hellfiery. Seeing all the most representative words of the year just laid out like that in one place is especially painful.

The list is put together by a librarian at Yale Law School and is a yearly update to The Yale Book of Quotations. As the AP notes, “[library associate director Fred]  Shapiro chooses quotes that are famous or revealing of the spirit of the times, and not necessarily eloquent or admirable.” So while these are just one person’s picks, it’s hard to say they’re not representative. Too representative, really.

Here are Shapiro’s choices:

1. “Truth isn’t truth.” – Rudy Giuliani on Meet the Press, talking about Trump risking perjuring himself to Robert Mueller, Aug. 19.

2. “I liked beer. I still like beer.” – Brett Kavanaugh, Sept. 27.

3. “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.” – Sanofi, the makers of Ambien, subtweeting Roseanne Barr’s attempts to blame their drug for her decades of racism, May 30.

4. “We gather to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those that live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served.” – Meghan McCain in her eulogy for John McCain, Sept. 1.

5. “We’re children. You guys, like, are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together, come over your politics and get something done.” –  Parkland, Florida school shooting survivor David Hogg to CNN, Feb. 15.

6. “(I am) not smart, but genius … and a very stable genius at that!” – Donald Trump via Twitter, Jan. 6.

7. “You don’t have to agree with Trump but the mob can’t make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone.” – Kanye West via Twitter, April 25.

8. “Our country is led by those who will lie about anything, backed by those who will believe anything, based on information from media sources that will say anything.” – James Comey via Twitter, May 23.

9. “I have just signed your death warrant.” – Judge Rosemarie Aquilina while sentencing former USA Gymnastics doctor and accused sexual predator Larry Nassar to up to 175 years in prison, Jan. 24.

10. “If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd! And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” – Rep. Maxine Waters, in remarks at a rally in Los Angeles, June 23.

Trump’s boasts, his surrogates’ nonsense defenses of his lies, school shootings, celebrity ramblings, sexual abuse … 2018 has been a million years long.

What do you all think? Did these quotes capture your year? Any big quotes you would have put on the list? Personally, this is mine:

That’s my whole 2018 summed up.

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com

Author

Close

Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

twitter