Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“Christ was the true prophet, the true Messiah, and the only true Saviour of the world, sent of his heavenly father to suffer the most cruel, most shameful, and most necessary death for our redemption: according to the meaning of the prophesy truly understood.”
Myles Coverdale (1488–1569) said by 1569 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The family is the cradle of true love, true life, and true lineage, and the foundation for realizing God's purpose of creation.”
Hak Ja Han (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's true that what I teach is the true interpretation of the Bible. It's so true that people for the first time in their life can understand the complexity of scripture. That's my work and that's my mission.”
David Koresh (1959–1993) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vernon's Dream", 1989, quoted in Gallagher 2000, p. 85
“Logic provides a set of formal rules for determining what propositions are implied to be true or false given the assumption that some other set of propositions is true or false. Probability theory provides a set of formal rules for determining the likelihood of a proposition being true given the likelihood of other propositions.”
Ian Goodfellow wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must be true to yourself. Strong enough to be true to yourself. Brave enough to be strong enough to be true to yourself. Wise enough to be brave enough, to be strong enough to shape yourself from what you actually are.”
Sylvia Ashton-Warner (1908–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Missionaries are people who have been captivated by the true love and true happiness offered by Jesus Christ. And as channels of God's grace they lead others to true happiness. Be docile to the will of God and to proclaim the Gospel.”
René Marie Albert Dupont (1929–2025) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mission Sunday with Missionaries” celebration in Seoul Cathedral. “The authentic Christian is always missionary” (28 October 2004) Fides News Agency
“All this contains much that is obviously true, and much that is relevant; unfortunately, what is obviously true is not relevant, and what is relevant is not obviously true.”
Winston Churchill (misattributed) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This is not by Churchill, but a paraphrase of Churchill quoting Arthur James Balfour in Great Contemporaries (1937): 'there were some things that were true, and some things that were trite; but what was true was trite, …
“...there were some things that were true, and some things that were trite; but what was true was trite, and what was not trite was not true.”
Arthur Balfour (attributed) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Winston Churchill in his Great Contemporaries (London & New York, 1937) p. 250
“In cases which concern private revelations, it is better to believe than not to believe, for, if you believe, and it is proven true, you will be happy that you have believed, because our Holy Mother asked it. If you believe, and it should be proven false, you will receive all blessings as if it had been true, because you believed it to be true.”
Pope Urban VIII (misattributed) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pope Urban VIII on Private Revelation (2001).
“That he is mad, 't is true: 't is true 't is pity; And pity 't is 't is true.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) said by 1616 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“For want of me the world’s course will not fail; When all its work is done the lie shall rot; The truth is great and shall prevail When none cares whether it prevail or not.”
Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When fiction rises pleasing to the eye, Men will believe, because they love the lie; But Truth herself, if clouded with a frown, Must have some solemn proof to pass her down.”
Charles Churchill (satirist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The truth shall never be covered by a lie.”
Miriam Makeba (1932–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They also gave it the title of "opinion," because truth and falsity lie in opinion. And they called it "movement," "generation," "change," "division," "length," "multiplication," "addition," "kinship," "relativity," "the ratio in proportionality." For the relation of two numbers is of every conceivable form.”
Iamblichus (245–325) said by 325 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty. Was thy dream then a shadowy lie? Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly; And thou shalt find thy dream to be A truth and noonday light to thee.”
Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1812–1848) first seen 1830 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Life a Duty, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Straight is the line of Duty, / Curved is the line of Beauty, / Follow the straight line, thou hall see / The curved line ever follow t…
“God cannot lie; and if, fleeing for refuge, you have run to the hope set before you in the gospel — if, nestling in some invitation or promise of God's changeless word, you are resolved that Death and the Judgment shall find you there, you are safe. The way to honor God is to trust His truth, and hidden in His word you are also hidden in His love. Rest there.”
James Hamilton (1814–1871) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I operate from a place of delusion-that’s what the Fame is all about... I want people to walk around delusional about how great they can be - and then to fight so hard for it every day that the lie becomes the truth.”
Lady Gaga (born 1986) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: . "The Rise of Lady Gaga." by Brian Hiatt, in Rolling Stone (11 June 2009): 57-61.
“It wasn’t a lie. It was a different truth.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No matter how fast a lie runs, the truth will someday overtake it.”
T. B. Joshua (1963–2021) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On lies and truth - "TB Joshua Rejects Courts Findings, Insists Building Collapse Was A Sabotage" Citi FM, Ghana (July 10 2015)
“The media lie so much, that when stuff happens that scares them, they no longer know where to turn for the truth.”
Ilana Mercer first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Camel-ate-my-homework Theory of Culpability,” WorldNetDaily.com, January 30, 2015.
“A lie that is accepted by a sufficient number of ignorant voters becomes a political truth.”
James Bovard (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If he's happy to sit on an electric chair and tell a truth or a lie then I'm happy to sit on an electric chair and we'll see what the outcome is, because I've got no doubt in my mind what happened.”
Billy Davies (born 1964) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jan 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/31/nigel-clough-billy-davies-assault-allegation
“And the hypercolony would lie. More precisely, it would say whatever advanced its interests. The distinction between truth and falsehood was irrelevant to the hypercolony, perhaps even imperceptible to it. It generated human language solely for the purpose of manipulating human behavior.”
Robert Charles Wilson (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I often read something and I say, “That's a goddamn lie. I'm going to tell the truth.”
Joanna Russ (1937–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A thousand eyes are gazing down like bullet holes shot into the roof, as I lie here scratching for a grain of truth.”
Tod A (born 1965) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Balalaika", Get Off the Cross (We Need the Wood for the Fire) (October 22, 1996).
“Serious business people would never get elected in Ireland. You don't get elected in this country if you run around and tell people the truth. You've got to run round and lie to them about 'it will be all right on the night' and then they'll vote for you.”
Michael O'Leary (businessman) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An injurious lie is an uncommendable thing; and so, also, and in the same degree, is an injurious truth—a fact that is recognized by the law of libel.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I like to do my principal research in bars, where people are more likely to tell the truth or, at least, lie less convincingly than they do in briefings and books.”
P. J. O'Rourke (1947–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some people try to get out of jury duty by lying. You don't have to lie. Tell the judge the truth. Tell him you'd make a terrific juror because you can spot guilty people [snaps fingers] just like that!”
George Carlin (1937–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Christian church has left nothing untouched by its depravity; it has turned every value into worthlessness, and every truth into a lie, and every integrity into baseness of soul.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Aphorism 62 (translated by H. L. Mencken, 1918)
“Regarding the Republican Party: They follow the Hitler line – no matter how big the lie, repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks of John F Kennedy, Fitton Council, Knights of Columbus, East Boston, Massachusetts, May 18, 1947; JFK Speeches, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Commencement address, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (11 June 1962)
“You can't be reluctant to give up your lie and still tell the truth.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The lie was dead And damned, and truth stood up instead.”
Robert Browning (1812–1889) first seen 1842 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bells and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics: Count Gismond (1842), xiii
“Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones Forget not.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1655 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Late Massacre in Piedmont (1655)
“Truth never was indebted to a lie.”
Edward Young (1683–1765) said by 1765 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The myth of the self-made man, has to be profoundly hypocritical: it is the self-serving demonstration that a lie is the truth.”
Che Guevara (1928–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even a liar can be scared into telling the truth, same as an honest man can be tortured into telling a lie.”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth consists not in never lying but in knowing when to lie and when not to do so.”
Samuel Butler (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.”
Samuel Butler (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We deny that poetry is fiction; its merit and its power lie alike in its truth:”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio address (26 October 1939), as reported in The Baltimore Sun (27 October 1939)
“If fallacies come knocking at my door, I'd rather feed, and shelter full a score, Than hide behind the black portcullis, doubt, And run the risk of barring one Truth out.And if pretension for a time deceive, And prove me one too ready to believe, Far less my shame, than if by stubborn act, I brand as lie, some great colossal Fact.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To lie is so vile, that even if it were in speaking well of godly things it would take off something from God's grace; and Truth is so excellent, that if it praises but small things they become noble.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) said by 1519 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the reason we're going to win the nomination is because of you. Because soon or later, all Americans are going to learn what you've already learned; that the biggest lie told by people like me to people like you at election time is that, "If you vote for me, I'm going to solve all your problems." The truth is, the power to change this country is in your hands, not mine.”
Howard Dean (born 1948) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: January 27, 2004
“I have followed after the truth, across this windy planet upon which every person is nourished by one or another lie.”
James Branch Cabell (1879–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it.”
William James (1842–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men and women may sometimes, after great effort, achieve a creditable lie; but the house, which is their temple, cannot say anything save the truth of those who have lived in it.”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) first seen 1904 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: They," published in Traffics and Discoveries (1904)
“Beauty comes in often to drink. A spaceman, he claims himself, but as to this I can’t be certain. I have often declared myself a great lover. All of us lie, as much or more than necessary. ‘What is truth?’ asks Pons Pilatus, in the fable, and I answer: ‘A commodity as cheap as air which we hide as if it were as precious as yewl stone.’”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like many a man before him, he found himself forced into a lie because the truth simply would not be believed.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source