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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“I want some red roses for a blue lady. Mister Florist, take my order please. We had a silly quarrel the other day; I hope these pretty flowers chase her blues away.”
Sid Tepper (1918–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the point of view of photography, I'll smite the picture with sun rays. I'll take old stock shots and scratch them; I'll claw at them so that unknown beauty sees the light of day. I shall sculpt flowers upon the film stock.”
Isidore Isou (1925–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My moon shines so softly On the hair of my killer Pours flowers on his head Help me, give him some shelter! Come, lie by the river Rest your head, don't you fear Sleep softly, my baby They won't find you here.”
Mike Oldfield (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don't bring me flowers. You don't sing me love songs. You hardly talk to me anymore. When you come through the door At the end of the day.”
Neil Diamond (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fields and the flowers and the beautiful faces are not ours, as the stars and the hills and the sunlight are not ours, but they give us fresh and happy thoughts.|”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When the mind has grasped the matter, words come like flowers at the call of spring.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hail hero, hail hero, child of the sun All covered with flowers still having your fun”
Gordon Lightfoot (1938–2023) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Theme song of Hail, Hero! (1969), co-written with Jerome Moross
“Flowers she would pick like guitar strings, for a real good whiff of how how life behind par seems.”
Lupe Fiasco (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've learned that empowered thinking is a choice — a state of mind. It's the ability to enjoy a rose with no mind of the thorn. It's the ability to celebrate a life even though it has passed. It's seeing the flowers even during a rainstorm.”
Steve Maraboli (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I started delivering flowers for 25 cents a shot so don't tell me about the shop floor.”
Irwin Stelzer (born 1932) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Spare me a lecture from somebody in parliament to somebody who started out delivering flowers for 25c a shot.”
Irwin Stelzer (born 1932) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To devise these living pictures with simple well-known flowers seems to me to be the best thing to do in gardening.”
Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932) said by 1932 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To keep it short and simple.. ..you take the subject, that is for example the wood, and the colour, the paint. You compose the subject, the realistic subject, you make a fantastic shape. For example, here, this is some wood, this is a table with a top and wooden flowers, you know, therefore I paint a [flowery] table, for example..”
Karel Appel (1921–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Epigrams of Oscar Wilde, edited by Alvin Redman (1952)
“Pasteboard pies and paper flowers are being banished from the stage by the growth of that power of accurate observation which is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it...”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In The World (18 July 1894), Music in London 1890-1894: Being Criticisms Contributed Week by Week to The World (New York: Vienna House, 1973)
“You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. Yeah, usually they're already there. Isn't that nice? It's nice. It's convenient.”
George Carlin (1937–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance. Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1759 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No. 58 (26 May 1759)
“With eyes again dreamily gazing upward, Hélène remained plunged in reverie. She was the Lady Rowena; she loved with the serenity and intensity of a noble mind. That spring morning, that great, gentle city, those early wall-flowers shedding their perfume on her lap, had little by little filled her heart with tenderness.”
Émile Zola (1840–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pt. 1, ch. 5 / Ch. 5 (tr. C. C. Starkweather, 1905)
“The shelves had the melancholy emptiness and the false luxury of families where inferior meat is purchased so as to be able to put flowers on the table.”
Émile Zola (1840–1902) first seen 1885 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 2 (Tr. Anonymous, 1885)
“The sky is darkening like a stain, Something is going to fall like rain And it won't be flowers.”
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Witnesses", III, in The Listener, vol. 10, no. 259 (12 July 1933) p. 1,010
“Now the leaves are falling fast, Nurse's flowers will not last; Nurses to their graves are gone, And the prams go rolling on.”
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh the dawn has come And the song must be sung And the flowers are melting. What kind of language is this?”
Kate Bush (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Christ-child stood at Mary's knee, His hair was like a crown, And all the flowers looked up at him, And all the stars looked down.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) first seen 1906 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Christmas Carol, st. 4. The Wild Knight, &c., 2nd ed. (1906)
“Read my little fable: He that runs may read. Most can raise the flowers now, For all have got the seed.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Flower; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: Alfred Tennyson
“Queen rose of the rosebud garden of girls, Come hither, the dances are done, In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls, Queen lily and rose in one; Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls, To the flowers, and be their sun.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flowers are lovely; love is flower-like; Friendship is a sheltering tree; Oh the joys that came down shower-like, Of friendship, love, and liberty, Ere I was old!”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) first seen 1823 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Youth and Age", st. 2 (1823–1832)
“Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) said by 1834 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, Lull'd by the coil of his crystalline streams Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay, And saw in sleep old palaces and towers Quivering within the wave's intenser day, All overgrown with azure moss and flowers So sweet, the sense faints picturing them.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) said by 1822 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And like a prophetess of May Strewed flowers upon the barren way, Making the wintry world appear Like one on whom thou smilest, dear.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) said by 1822 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pain is not love. Love flowers; love gives without taking; love is serene and calm.”
Erica Jong (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he last revolution of Paris appears to have convinced almost every body of the fatal consequences of Democratical principles, which lead by a path of flowers into the Abyss of Hell.”
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) first seen 1784 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord Sheffield (23 August 1792), quoted in The Letters of Edward Gibbon: Volume Three 1784–1794, Letters 619–878, ed. J. E. Norton (1956), p. 268
“There is a Reaper, whose name is Death, And, with his sickle keen, He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, And the flowers that grow between.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Henry W. Longfellow
“All is repose and peace, Untrampled lies the sod; The shouts of battle cease, It is the Truce of God! Rest, comrades, rest and sleep! The thoughts of men shall be As sentinels to keep Your rest from danger free. Your silent tents of green We deck with fragrant flowers; Yours has the suffering been, The memory shall be ours.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My days are in the yellow leaf; The flowers and fruits of Love are gone; The worm — the canker, and the grief Are mine alone!”
Lord Byron (1788–1824) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year, st. 2 (1824).
“And sport, sweet maid, in season of these years, And learn to gather flowers before they wither”
Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) first seen 1592 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1592 ed.: "Ah sport" for "And sport
“If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee and be thy Love.But fading flowers in every field, To winter floods their treasures yield; A honey'd tongue, a heart of gall, Is Fancy's spring, but Sorrow's fall.”
Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) first seen 1599 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd (1599), st. 1–2
“'Twas Spring, 'twas Summer, all was gay Now Autumn bears a cloud brow The flowers of Spring are swept way And Summer fruits desert the bough.”
Thomas Gray (1716–1771) said by 1771 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Twas on a lofty vase's side, Where China's gayest art had dyed The azure flowers, that blow; Demurest of the tabby kind, The pensive Selima reclined, Gazed on the lake below.”
Thomas Gray (1716–1771) said by 1771 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If any of you should die today, could you say to God, "Lord, here is my life work. Thou didst send me into life with a handful of seeds, and here is my heart, like a garden, full of flowers"?”
Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.”
Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Does anything genuinely beautiful need supplementing? No more than justice does—or truth, or kindness, or humility. Are any of those improved by being praised? Or damaged by contempt? Is an emerald suddenly flawed if no one admires it? Or gold, or ivory, or purple? Lyres? Knives? Flowers? Bushes? (Hays translation)”
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) said by 180 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For me the different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they are branches of the same majestic tree. Therefore they are equally true, though being received and interpreted through human instruments equally imperfect.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harijan, 30-1-1937, p. 407; In: My God (1962), Chapter 13. Pathways of God, Printed and Published by: Jitendra T. Desai, Navajivan Mudranalaya, Ahemadabad-380014 India
“I cannot help thinking that it is more natural to have flowers grow out of the head than fruit.”
Jane Austen (1775–1817) first seen 1799 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Cassandra (1799-06-11) on decorating her hat [Letters of Jane Austen -- Brabourne Edition]
“Are not your kisses then as filthy, and more, As a worm sucking an envenom'd sore? Doth not thy fearful hand in feeling quake, As one which gathering flowers still fears a snake? Is not your last act harsh and violent, As when a plough a stony ground doth rent?”
John Donne (1572–1631) said by 1631 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I confess I have no great notion of the use of books, except to amuse a railway journey; although, I believe, there are some very exact treatises on astronomy, the use of the globes, agriculture, and the art of making paper flowers. Upon the less apparent provinces of life I fear you will find nothing truthful.”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Go, little book, and wish to all Flowers in the garden, meat in the hall, A bin of wine, a spice of wit, A house with lawns enclosing it, A living river by the door, A nightingale in the sycamore!”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) first seen 1786 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cf. Chaucer, Troilus and Cressida, bk. V, l. 1786
“Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers.”
John Keats (1795–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But when the melancholy fit shall fall Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud, That fosters the droop-headed flowers all, And hides the green hill in an April shroud; Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose.”
John Keats (1795–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs, But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet.”
John Keats (1795–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The chestnut casts his flambeaux, and the flowers Stream from the hawthorn on the wind away, The doors clap to, the pane is blind with showers. Pass me the can, lad; there’s an end of May.”
A. E. Housman (1859–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source