25 sentences that changed how people think

A listicle from Quartz presents 25 sentences that have reshaped human thought across 2,500 years, from Socrates to Neil Armstrong. Each sentence is analyzed for its origin, meaning, and lasting impact. Examples include Socrates' 'The unexamined life is not worth living' (399 BCE), Descartes' 'I think, therefore I am' (1637), Rousseau's 'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains' (1762), the Declaration of Independence's 'All men are created equal' (1776), Marx and Engels' 'Workers of the world, unite!' (1848), Nietzsche's 'God is dead' (1882), de Beauvoir's 'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman' (1949), McLuhan's 'The medium is the message' (1964), and King's 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice' (paraphrasing Theodore Parker). The article explains how these phrases compressed complex ideas into portable forms that traveled through classrooms, protests, and courts. It notes that some sentences, like 'survival of the fittest,' were coined by a philosopher (Herbert Spencer) rather than the biologist (Darwin) they are tied to. The piece spans Athens, ancient China, Enlightenment France, Victorian Britain, and 20th-century America, covering philosophy, politics, science, and literature.