
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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“Reading is my hobby. No document passes without me reading it. I try to inform myself and when my car radio is not working, the car is not working.”
Mompati Merafhe (1936–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s not a coincidence for me to be where I am now. It’s something that I’ve been working towards for years, without even changing the recipe – just constantly showing up and working hard, even when nobody is looking.”
Amogelang Motau (born 1997) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When it comes to football everything runs on time, on their a schedule, we must be there. We signed a contract, and working for them. But as an individual, I'm working for myself.”
Lehlogonolo Mashigo (born 1999) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I will never stop working, so being married has nothing to do with being a working actress.”
Eugene Domingo (born 1971) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: EXCLUSIVE: Eugene Domingo on being married to an Italian for almost 10 years: ‘I’m a woman in love’, Rhea Manila Santos, Push Team, 28 December 2025.
“Another aspect we are working on is to make sure we effect all the important observations that were raised by our viewers. As humans, we are prone to mistakes, as we are not perfect. So, we are working on some of the observations raised and some mistakes we observed ourselves. But I am confidently telling our fans to expect something better.”
Aminu Saira (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was working with these two guys, Nandipha and Ceeka, and we were working on a few things. They kept sending me projects, and we exchanged things back and forth. So, they sent me the song's project, and I worked on it some more.”
“It’s all happened in a year, so it feels great but also quite surreal. It means we’re still on track. Once you figure out a formula, the next move is to make sure it keeps working. I’m grateful, excited, and working my hardest ever now”
Focalistic (born 1996) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is an inner-child that is released when I am working, it just jumps out. That is why I enjoy the times when I am working with children. I play; there is that freedom I am able to bring out emotions freely without worrying too much. Because the children themselves are sincere and true.”
Agnes Yombwe (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was homeless at the time I was working at Wingstop. It was me, my mom, and brother living out of a motel. I was working 24/7 as a senior in high school. My grades were slipping, and when I went, I wasn’t paying attention. I quit school and then ran away with a guy before I turned 18.”
Layton Greene (born 1998) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anthropic actually has been the most lean forward of all the AI companies in working with the U.S. government and working with the U.S. military. We were the first company to, you know, put our models on the classified cloud.”
Dario Amodei (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’ve always had the same idea about my music career and “The X-Factor” didn’t really shape it or change it. I’ve been working towards my dream since I was a little girl and “The X-factor” was one of the little steps on the ladder to success for me. It was definitely a fun experience, but I’m still working hard.”
Simone Battle (1989–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want to keep working 24*7. When I am not singing, I go into deep introspection mode and start asking myself, why I am not getting much songs. I feel even working 24*7 every day is less for me.”
Shreya Ghoshal (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If nobody likes your work, you have to go on just for the sake of the work. And you're in no danger of letting the public make you repeat yourself. Every artist ought to pray that he may not be "a success". If he's a failure he stands a good chance of concentrating upon the best work of which he's capable.”
Gustav Holst (1874–1934) said by 1934 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remark to Clifford Bax, reported in Imogen Holst Gustav Holst: A Biography (1969) p. 81.
“Voluntary birth control methods only work on the people who choose to use ’em. A population check that doesn’t work on everybody doesn’t work at all, because it simply breeds out the ones who use it. The only population check that really works is one that affects everybody, like a limit of space or food.”
Damon Knight (1922–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s not as if grace did one half of the work and free choice the other; each does the whole work, in its own peculiar contribution. Grace does the whole work, and so does free choice – with this one qualification: That whereas the whole is done in free choice, so is the whole done of grace.”
Bernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153) said by 1153 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Grace & Free Choice, chap 14.(de Gratia Et Libero Arbitrio), Daniel O'Donovan, trans., Introduction, Bernard McGinn, Cistercian Publications, 1988, p. 37. (Note: Fr. Harry J. McSorley, C.S.P. Commenting on this teach…
“The great work of the present for every man, and every organization of men, who would improve social conditions, is the work of education — the propagation of ideas. It is only as it aids this that anything else can avail. And in this work every one who can think may aid — first by forming clear ideas himself, and then by endeavoring to arouse the thought of those with whom he comes in contact.”
Henry George (1839–1897) said by 1897 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You need the willingness to fail all the time. You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only to discover that they don’t work. And you keep doing that over and over until you find one that does work .”
John Backus (1924–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we look at the pay of men and women who do work equal hours, two discoveries are quite astonishing: --When women and men work less than 40 hours a week, the women earn more than the men; --When men and women work more than 40, the men earn more than the women.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You should work, no doubt. Work saves the mind from going astray. But prayer and meditation also are necessary. You must sit for meditation at least once in the morning and once in the evening. That will be like the helm of a boat. When one sits in meditation in the evening, there is self-examination in respect of the work done in the course of the day.”
Sarada Devi (1853–1920) said by 1920 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But who does not see that the work goes beyond the one who created it? It marches before him and he will never again be able to catch up with it, it soon leaves his orbit, it will soon belong to another, since he, more quickly than his work, changes and becomes deformed, since before his work dies, he dies.”
Michel Seuphor (1901–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Christ's sacrifice stands in glorious proportions with the work to be done. Nothing else or less would suffice. It is a work supernatural, transacted in the plane of nature; and what but such a work could restore the broken order of the soul under evil?”
Horace Bushnell (1802–1876) said by 1876 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fundamental act of criticism is a disinterested response to a work of literature in which all one's beliefs, engagements, commitments, prejudices, stampedings of pity and terror, are ordered to be quiet. We are now dealing with the imaginative, not the existential, with the "let this be," not with "this is," and no work of literature is better by virtue of what it says than any other work.”
Northrop Frye (1912–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To love the perfection with which we do our work, or the company of those with whom we work, is the secret of learning to love the work itself.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Showing poverty is such a large part of my work because another thing that I am finding is that for me personally, doing this work helps me in trying to come to grips with my own upbringing and all that occurred during that time. Basically, this work to me is a sort of time for reflection, a pseudo inventory of "this is your life," a way to try to accept the concept of what was so inevitable.”
Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is Juche [the subject] in our Party's ideological work? What are we doing? We are not engaged in any other country's revolution, but precisely in the Korean revolution. This, the Korean revolution, constitutes Juche in the ideological work of our Party. Therefore, all ideological work must be subordinated to the interests of the Korean revolution.”
Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On eliminating dogmatism and formalism and establishing Juche in ideological work" (28 December 1955), in Works vol. 9
“My teacher's like, "Mr. Jaco?" "Yes?" "With all that knowledge, You aint trying to go to college? Be a lawyer or a doctor, Get a whole lotta dollars? Rather degrade women and glorify violence?" "Well the work that works for me might not work for you No homework, I got work to do.”
Lupe Fiasco (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mahomet can work no miracles; he often answers impatiently: I can work no miracles. I? "I am a Public Preacher;" appointed to preach this doctrine to all creatures. Yet the world, as we can see, had really from of old been all one great miracle to him. Look over the world, says he; is it not wonderful, the work of Allah; wholly "a sign to you," if your eyes were open!”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The latest Gospel in this world is, Know thy work and do it. 'Know thyself:' long enough has that poor 'self' of thine tormented thee; thou wilt never get to 'know' it, I believe! Think it not thy business, this of knowing thyself; thou art an unknowable individual: know what thou canst work at; and work at it, like a Hercules! That will be thy better plan.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble to dust; but if we work on men's immortal minds, if we impress on them with high principles, the just fear of God and love for their fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something which no time can efface, and which will brighten and brighten to all eternity.”
Daniel Webster (1782–1852) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address Delivered by the Hon. Daniel Webster in Faneuil Hall (22 May 1852), at the Request of the City Council of Boston; City Document No. 31. Boston: J.H. Eastburn (1852)
“I remember summing up what I took to be our destiny, in conversation with my best friend at Chartres, by the formula, "Term, holidays, term, holidays, till we leave school, and then work, work, work till we die.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The work is an absolute necessity for me. I can't put it off, I don't care for anything but the work; that is to say, the pleasure in something else ceases at once and I become melancholy when I can't go on with my work. Then I feel like a weaver who sees that his threads are tangled, and the pattern he had on the loom is gone to hell, and all his thought and exertion is lost.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in Vincent's letter to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3 June 1883; as cited in Stranger on the Earth : A Psychological Biography of Vincent Van Gogh (1996) by Albert J. Lubin, p. 22
“Whoever is not in the possession of leisure can hardly be said to possess independence. They talk of the dignity of work. Bosh. True Work is the necessity of poor humanity's earthly condition. The dignity is in leisure. Besides, 99 hundreths of all the work done in the world is either foolish and unnecessary, or harmful and wicked.”
Herman Melville (1819–1891) first seen 1819 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Catherine G. Lansing (5 September 1877); in Jay Leyda, The Melville Log: A Documentary Life of Herman Melville, 1819-1891 (1951), vol. 2, p. 765
“Fame is a by-product. Fame is something that should happen because you do work that speaks to people and people want to know about your work. Unfortunately the personality of people has taken over from the work and the artistry and it's this thing now that stands on its own. I don't think one should ever aspire to being famous.”
Madonna (entertainer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One set of circumstances does not complete you. Maybe nothing ever does. So you work on your life and you work on your 'work' and you try to live every single day like it's your last. And you try to be better, to yourself and to others. I don't always succeed. But I try and it's my goal.”
Madonna (entertainer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe that women are human beings. What is proper for a man is proper for a woman. The basic principles are the same. I would not attempt to prescribe what kind of work a man should do, and I would not attempt it in regard to women. There is no particular work, which is specifically feminine. Women can choose their work according to their own purpose and premises in the same manner as men do.”
Ayn Rand (1905–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Being mean makes you stupid. That's why I hate fights. You never do your best work in a fight, because fights are not sufficiently general. Winning is always a function of the situation and the people involved. You don't win fights by thinking of big ideas but by thinking of tricks that work in one particular case. And yet fighting is just as much work as thinking about real problems.”
Paul Graham (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So what I would like to recommend is – if we are going to have continued dialogue – we will work out the wall. They are going to say, "who is going to pay for the wall, Mr. President?" to both of us, and we should both say, "we will work it out." It will work out in the formula somehow. As opposed to you saying, "we will not pay" and me saying, "we will not pay.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Full transcripts of Trump's calls with Mexico and Australia By Greg Miller, Julie Vitkovskaya and Reuben Fischer-Baum; Aug. 3, 2017 (Friday, January 27, 2017)
“The office is designed for "work," not productivity. Work can be defined as "anything you'd rather not be doing." Productivity is a different matter. Telecommuting substitutes two hours of productivity for ten hours of work.”
Scott Adams (1957–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you don't want to work you have to work to earn enough money so that you won't have to work.”
Ogden Nash (1902–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If their work is satisfying people don't need leisure in the old-fashioned sense. No one ever asks what Newton or Darwin did to relax, or how Bach spent his weekends. At Eden-Olympia work is the ultimate play, and play the ultimate work.”
J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You just have to keep trying to do good work, and hope that it leads to more good work. I want to look back on my career and be proud of the work, and be proud that I tried everything. Yes, I want to look back and know that I was terrible at a variety of things.”
Jon Stewart (born 1962) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Orange County Register, July 9, 1999
“It always did bother me that the American public were more interested in me than in my work. And after all there is no sense in it because if it were not for my work they would not be interested in me so why should they not be more interested in my work than in me. That is one of the things one has to worry about in America.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The less passion there is, the better we work. The calmer we are, the better for us and the more the amount of work we can do. When we let loose our feelings, we waste so much energy, shatter our nerves, disturb our minds, and accomplish very little work.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I find that a man is as old as his work. If his work keeps him from moving forward, he will look forward with the work.”
William Ernest Hocking (1873–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Inspirational Quotes (2005) by Wendy Toliver, p. 18.
“America works for peace. We work for freedom. We work for a world in which men can have peace and can also have freedom and can worship their God, not a godless state. So in this work I am sure that all Americans and all free men everywhere whatever their faith, welcome and are grateful for the leadership being offered so forcefully by His Holiness Pope Paul.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The true test of any scholar's work is not what his contemporaries say, but what happens to his work in the next 25 or 50 years. And the thing that I will really be proud of is if some of the work I have done is still cited in the text books long after I am gone.”
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Power of Choice (January 2007)
“I never say I do political art. Nor do I do feminist art. I’m a woman who’s a feminist, who makes art. But I think what work becomes visible and what work remains absent is always a result of historical circumstance, you know—hard work, to some degree, and social relations.”
Barbara Kruger (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who believe that "basic necessities" should belong to people as a matter of right ignore the implication -- that people are to work only for amenities, frivolities, and ego. Will that mean more work or less work? And if less, where are all those "basic necessities" coming from that the government is supposed to hand out?”
Thomas Sowell (born 1930) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It has been the hope of every patriot that a sense of justice and of respect for the law would work a gradual cure of these flagrant evils. Surely no one supposes that the present can be accepted as a permanent condition. If it is said that these communities must work out this problem for themselves, we have a right to ask whether they are at work upon it. Do they suggest any solution?”
Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901) said by 1901 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I chose comedy because I thought it seemed much easier than work. And more fun than work. It turned out to be much harder than work, and not easy at all. But you still don't have to ever really grow up. And that's the best thing of all.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source