Quotable

Quotable is a free, open source quotations API. It was originally built as part of a FreeCodeCamp project. The database includes over 2000 quotes by 900 authors.

• Servers
• API Reference
  • Get random quote
  • List Quotes
  • Get Quote By ID
  • List Authors
  • Get Author By ID
  • List Tags
• Usage
  • Live Examples
• Contributing

Servers

API Reference

Get random quote

Returns a single random quote from the database

GET /random

Query parameters

Response

{
  _id: string
  // The quotation text
  content: string
  // The full name of the author
  author: string
  // The `slug` of the quote author
  authorSlug: string
  // The length of quote (number of characters)
  length: number
  // An array of tag names for this quote
  tags: string[]
}

Examples

Random Quote try in browser

GET /random

Random Quote with tags "technology" AND "famous-quotes" try in browser

GET /random?tags=technology,famous-quotes

Random Quote with tags "History" OR "Civil Rights" try in browser

GET /random?tags=history|civil-rights

Random Quote with a maximum length of 50 characters try in browser

GET /random?maxLength=50

Random Quote with a length between 100 and 140 characters try in browser

GET /random?minLength=100&maxLength=140

List Quotes

Get a paginated list of all quotes. This method supports several filter and sorting options.

GET /quotes

Query parameters

Response

{
  // The number of quotes returned by this request
  count: number
  // The total number of quotes matching this request
  totalCount: number
  // The index of the last quote returned. When paginating through results,
  // this value would be used as the `skip` parameter when requesting the next
  // "page" of results.
  lastItemIndex: number
  // The array of quotes
  results: Array<{
    _id: string
    // The quotation text
    content: string
    // The full name of the author
    author: string
    // The `slug` of the quote author
    authorSlug: string
    // The length of quote (number of characters)
    length: number
    // An array of tag names for this quote
    tags: string[]
  }>
}

Get Quote By ID

Get a quote by its ID

GET /quotes/:id

Response

{
  _id: string
  // The quotation text
  content: string
  // The full name of the author
  author: string
  // The length of quote (number of characters)
  length: number
  // An array of tag names for this quote
  tags: string[]
}

List Authors

Get a paginated list of all authors. By default, authors will be returned in alphabetical order (ascending).

GET /authors

Query parameters

Response

{
  // The number of authors return by this request.
  count: number
  // The total number of authors matching this request.
  totalCount: number
  // The index of the last item returned. When paginating through results,
  // this value would be used as the `skip` parameter when requesting the next
  // "page" of results. It will be set to `null` if there are no additional results.
  lastItemIndex: number | null
  // The array of authors
  results: Array<{
    // A unique id for this author
    _id: string
    // The authors full name
    name: string
    // The number of quotes by this author
    quoteCount: string
  }>
}

Get Author By ID

Get a specific author by ID. The response includes all quotes by the given author.

GET /authors/:id

Response

{
  // A unique id for this author
  _id: string
  // A slug is a unique string that can be used to identify an author. Unlike _id,
  // the slug is derived from the author's name (by converting it to hyphen case).
  slug: string
  // A brief, one paragraph bio of the author. Source: wiki API
  bio: string
  // A one-line description of the author. Typically it is the person's primary
  // occupation or what they are know for. For example: "Austrian Physicist"
  description: string
  // The authors full name
  name: string
  // The number of quotes by this author
  quoteCount: string
  // The array of quotes by this author (not paginated)
  quotes: Array<{
    _id: string
    // The quotation text
    content: string
    // The full name of the author
    author: string
    // The `slug` of the quote author
    authorSlug: string
    // An array of tag names for this quote
    tags: string[]
    // The length of quote (number of characters)
    length: number
  }>
}

List Tags

GET /tags

Get a list of all tags

Query parameters

Response

{
  // The number of all tags by this request
  count: number
  // The array of tags
  results: Array<{
    _id: string
    name: string
  }>
}

Usage

Get a random quote (fetch)

fetch('https://api.quotable.io/random')
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(data => {
    console.log(`${data.content} —${data.author}`)
  })

Get a random quote (async/await)

async function randomQuote() {
  const response = await fetch('https://api.quotable.io/random')
  const data = await response.json()
  console.log(`${data.content} —${data.author}`)
}
randomQuote()

Get a random quote (JQuery)

$.getJSON('https://api.quotable.io/random', function (data) {
  console.log(`${data.content} —${data.author}`)
})

Live Examples

Basic Random Quote (CodePen)

React Random Quote (CodeSandbox)

Contributing

All contributions are welcome! For more info on how to contribute, check out the Contributors Guide