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 never compare myself with others even though I get inspiration from others. But daily, I try to beat Ndubuisi Ekekwe of yesterday.”
Ndubuisi Ekekwe (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the past, it used to be mayhem with young people asking for help to get their passports, which had been waiting for months. What I saw yesterday (Thursday) was a world-class system in all forms. Truly commendable.”
Ndubuisi Ekekwe (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We celebrate the achievements and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to completing this journey. May this honour serve as an eternal tribute to all who, yesterday and today, have dedicated their lives to the cause of public health in Angola.”
Sílvia Lutucuta (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The new is an obsession; there is no such thing as something new. Sometimes when you do something old, you don't do it as you used to, but you do it with a rhythm, a cadence and a language that are modern. Yesterday and today do not exist as artistic categories; there is only what is beautiful or ugly.”
Pippo Baudo (1936–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You see, Israel can destroy Lebanon. But it will never have an influence on the people of Lebanon. That's different. As I was saying yesterday, they can hit us, kill us, but we will never kneel, because we've seen what happened when Lebanese knelt in the past, what happened to Lebanon.”
Émile Lahoud (born 1936) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud" in CBC News (2006)
“Yesterday the question was that of nationality, today it is the land. We can give citizenship to those who want and deserve it, but under no circumstances can land be redistributed. For the people, it is not a rural community, but they consider it occupied areas. We fear that the Minembwe case will encourage the so-called Balkanization of Congo.”
Sébastien-Joseph Muyengo Mulombe (born 1958) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Archbishop of Bukavu: "People want to know the truth" (13 October 2020) Fides News Agency
“Top of my priority list is to really get agriculture out there, so that our people do not see it as something for the homelands or rural areas, so when people come to Gauteng, they view themselves as advanced and they think of agriculture as the thing of yesterday when it is not. Agriculture is the future. We all eat every day”
Mbali Hlophe wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything has just been glory to glory from there. Then a season’s best yesterday, then another season’s best today.”
Ruth Usoro (born 1997) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Black man is not a person without a past; he did not fall from a tree yesterday.”
Ousmane Diop Socé (1911–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I felt like I had a great shot (at gold), I’m not sure if I used up too much energy yesterday and didn’t have anything left today.”
Andre De Grasse (born 1994) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I didn't get to the break first. The field got away from me and the pace was unexpectedly quick, so I had to play catch up throughout the race. The semi-final yesterday took nothing out of me. I felt fine as I got onto the track today. Positioning is everything for indoor running, that was my only error.”
Jearl Miles Clark (born 1966) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Women 400m final, March 07 1999
“I think the goal is to get us match fit so we have fewer injuries during the season and can rely on everyone throughout the campaign. Two days in already. Yesterday was a double session, today just the one. That's how it's going.”
Vinícius Júnior (born 2000) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a financial prize at the end of the game that would've been great. I have a child. I need to be preparing for college yesterday. So it's always a blessing when you can compete for a pot of money. But at the end of the day, I am so proud of how I played the game and that I did so without compromising who I am as a person and as a woman.”
Candiace Dillard Bassett (born 1986) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.”
Will Rogers (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (misattributed) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Not by Roosevelt, but from Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989).
“Yesterday the Master with a lantern was roaming about the city, Crying ‘I am tired of devil and beast, I desire a man.’”
Rumi (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the world there is nought so wondrous as the sun, But the Sun of the soul sets not and has no yesterday.”
Rumi (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games”
Babe Ruth (disputed) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The earliest quotes similar to this are presented as unattributed folk wisdom, such as this example from 1959:
“If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today.”
Lou Holtz (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But yesterday the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world; now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) said by 1616 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou owedst yesterday.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) said by 1616 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, that those United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”
John Adams (1735–1826) said by 1826 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.”
The Bible (active around 812) bartlett, Public domain source
“Yesterday, and to-day, and forever.”
The Bible (active around 812) bartlett, Public domain source
“Burning 2000 people took about 24 hours in the five stoves. Usually we could manage to cremate only about 1700 to 1800. We were thus always behind in our cremating because as you can see it was much easier to exterminate by gas than to cremate, which took so much more time and labor.”
Rudolf Höss (1900–1947) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn, April 9, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004
“This is a prayer, inchoate and unfinished, for you, my love, my loss, my lesion, a rosary of words to count out time's illusions, all the minutes, hours, days the calendar compounds as if the past existed somewhere — like an inheritance still waiting to be claimed.”
Dana Gioia (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Too late I stayed,—forgive the crime! Unheeded flew the hours; How noiseless falls the foot of time That only treads on flowers.”
William Robert Spencer (1770–1834) said by 1834 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lines to Lady A. Hamilton, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time", William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well, Act v. Scene 3.
“I sit here for hours. It's like sitting amongst lighthouses, each lighthouse giving you a bearing on lost spaces of time...”
Peter Greenaway (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Living with a woman is going to be really tough. They tend to be really domesticated, you know. They fold things and clean things and know what they are going to have for dinner several hours before it's time to eat.”
Don Miller (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Buttercups and Daisies— Oh, the pretty flowers, Coming ere the spring time, To tell of sunny hours.”
Mary Howitt (1799–1888) first seen 1837 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Buttercups and Daisies," The Christmas Library: Birds and flowers and other country things, Volume 1 (1837).
“Deeds are not accomplished in a few days, or in a few hours. A century is only a spoke in the wheel of everlasting time.”
Louis Riel (1844–1885) first seen 1885 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in The Montreal Weekly Star (22 August 1885), and War in the West : Voices of the 1885 Rebellion (1985) by Rudy Henry Wiebe and Bob Beal, p. 2
“The ALGOL compiler was probably one of the nicest pieces of code to come out at that time. I spent hours trying to fix and change the compiler. Working with it so closely affected the way I think about programming and had a profound influence on my style.”
Gary Kildall (1942–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This means that the time between [points on a line] is 24 hours here but... more if you're... higher, and less if you're less [high]. ...Now it's measurable to 30-40 cm [difference in] altitude in the lab.”
Carlo Rovelli (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The hours came to minutes, the minutes to seconds. And now each second was as long as all the time before.”
Vernor Vinge (1944–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there be only hours, at least learn what there is time to learn.”
Vernor Vinge (1944–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So much of our time is spent in preparation, so much in routine and so much in retrospect, that the amount of each person’s genius is confined to a very few hours.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) first seen 1857 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Simon Brown (ed.) The New England Farmer, vol. 9 (January 1857) p. 18
“If this labourer were in possession of his own means of production, and was satisfied to live as a labourer, he need not work beyond beyond the time necessary for the reproduction of his means of subsistence, say 8 hours a day.”
Karl Marx (1818–1883) said by 1883 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile! worth spending; not concerned; no involvement of embassy; $10,000,000 available, more if necessary; full-time job — best men we have; game plan; make the economy scream; 48 hours for plan of action.”
Richard Nixon (1913–1994) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes taken down by CIA director Richard Helms on Nixon's orders for a plan against Salvador Allende of Chile. (September 15, 1970); Document reproduced as part of George Washington University's National Security Archiv…
“No man can be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living, and hours of labor short enough so after his day's work is done he will have time and energy to bear his share in the management of the community, to help in carrying the general load.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the decades of deceit and cruelty have now reached an end. Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ultimatum to Iraq (17 March 2003)
“Someone once asked me, "If you had your choice, Dr. Asimov, would it be women or writing?" My answer was, "Well, I can write for twelve hours at a time without getting tired.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Just Say 'No!'" (1989) (reprinted in The Secret of the Universe (1992), p. 235)
“Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race: Call on the lazy leaden-stepping Hours, Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace; And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, Which is no more than what is false and vain, And merely mortal dross.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1633 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Time (1633–34)
“Busy old fool, unruly Sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains call on us? Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run? Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide Late school-boys and sour 'prentices, Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride, Call country ants to harvest offices; Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.”
John Donne (1572–1631) said by 1631 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e are assured not just that things will work out over time, but that scarcity is "vanishing before our eyes." Why, look - even as we watch - those 2.8 billion people are going to find food on their plates. Look again in a few hours and their shacks will have toilets - and then air conditioning. In a few days, they'll likely have DVD systems and be doing their banking by cellphone.”
Linda McQuaig (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the hours without sleep, each moment is so full and so vacant that it suggests itself as a rival of Time.”
Emil Cioran (1911–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He's taken to going off for hours at a time, wandering round those woods that lead off from the common apparently. Nothing there apart from trees and sexual maniacs.”
Kingsley Amis (1922–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When she did finally fall asleep it was the restless sleep of the night watchman continuously aware of danger and of the treacheries of time seeking to cheat her by permitting clocks to strike the passing hours when she was not awake to grasp their contents.”
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the use of leisure time is confined to looking at TV for a few extra hours every day, we will deteriorate as a people. (5 November 1958)”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One time me and three friends dropped acid and drove around in my dad's car. He has one of those talking cars, we're tripping, and the car goes, "The door is ajar." We pulled over and thought about that for 12 hours. "How can a door be a jar?" … "Why would they put a jar on a car?" … "Oh man, the freeway's melting!" … "Put it in the jar.”
Bill Hicks (1961–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was in the rule book. They gave you three warnings. The fourth time you fell below four miles an hour you were...well, you were out of the Walk. But if you had three warnings and could manage to walk for three hours, you were back in the sun again.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source