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 do not claim any ability to read God's mind. I am sure of only one thing. When we look at the glory of stars and galaxies in the sky and the glory of forests and flowers in the living world around us, it is evident that God loves diversity. Perhaps the universe is constructed according to a principle of maximum diversity.”
Freeman Dyson (1923–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A few locks of dry white hair clung to his scalp, like wild flowers fighting for life on a bare rock.”
Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the flowers sing in D minor And the birds fly happily.”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the thread that ties them together.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“The vendors of flowers in the streets of London are wont to commend them to customers by crying: "All a blowing and a growing." It would be no small praise to Christians if we could say as much for them.”
Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“: What flowers are these? : The pansy this. : Oh, that's for lover's thoughts.”
George Chapman (1559–1634) said by 1634 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flowers for $25.00, reluctant. Wining and dining for $150.00, catastrophic. Trying to get on first base, unattainable. For everything else there's Masturbate.”
Jay London (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For winter’s rains and ruins are over, And all the season of snows and sins; The days dividing lover and lover, The light that loses, the night that wins; And time remembered is grief forgotten, And frosts are slain and flowers begotten, And in green underwood and cover Blossom by blossom the spring begins.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before the beginning of years There came to the making of man Time with a gift of tears, Grief with a glass that ran, Pleasure with pain for leaven, Summer with flowers that fell, Remembrance fallen from heaven, And Madness risen from hell, Strength without hands to smite, Love that endures for a breath; Night, the shadow of light, And Life, the shadow of death.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sweetest flowers in all the world— A baby's hands.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“True love gives true love of the best: Then take," I cried, "my heart to thee!" The very heart from out my breast I plucked, I gave it willingly; Her very heart she gave to me — Then died the glory from the west.In the gray light I saw her face, And it was withered, old, and gray; The flowers were fading in their place, Were fading with the fading day.”
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stolen Waters (1862)
“Before the flowers of friendship faded friendship faded.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This phrase was used as the title of a work published in 1931, but was originally used in Ch. LXII of A Novel of Thank You, written in 1925-1926, but not published until 1958 by the Yale University Press
“By the time I was 16, the everlasting copying of stuffed birds and withered flowers at the Strasbourg School of Applied Art not only poisoned drawing for me but destroyed my taste for all artistic activity. I took refuge in poetry.”
Jean Arp (1886–1966) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Looking, Arp, Jean; as quoted by Soby, James Thrall. Arp: The Museum of Modern Art. Doubleday, New York, 1958, Print. p. 12
“And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers. There are heroes in the seaweed, There are children in the morning, They are leaning out for love, And they will lean that way forever, While Suzanne holds the mirror.”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Think not that I have come in quest of common flowers; but rather to bemoan the loss of one whose scent has vanished from the air.”
Murasaki Shikibu (970–1100) said by 1100 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Arthur Waley
“There was an old, crazy dude who used to live a long time ago. His name was Lord Buckley. And he said, a long time ago, he said, "People: They're kinda like flowers and it's been a privilege walking in your garden." My love goes with you.”
Robin Williams (1951–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So be sweet and kind to mother Now and then, have a chat! Buy her candy or some flowers or a brand-new hat But maybe you best let it go at that! Or you may find yourself with a quite complex ...Com-plex! ...and... You may end up like Oedipus I'd rather marry a duck-billed platypus! Than end up like poor Oedipus Rex!”
Tom Lehrer (1928–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I know it's past visiting hours, But can I please give her these flowers? You know the best medicine go to people that's paid. If Magic Johnson got a cure for AIDS And all the broke motherfuckers passed away, You telling me if my grandma was in the NBA, Right now, she'd be okay? But since she was just a secretary Working for the church for thirty-five years, Things supposed to stop right here?”
Kanye West (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My big brother was B.I.G.'s brother So here's a few words from your kid brother If you admire somebody you should go ahead tell 'em People never get the flowers while they can still smell 'em.”
Kanye West (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But the little boy said... "There are so many colors in the rainbow So many colors in the morning sun So many colors in the flowers and I see every one.”
Harry Chapin (1942–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man, he walked with men across a barren plain blue with flowers in brief April; they shared with him their anger, their barren helpless obduracy and the brief blue fire of their anger.”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Week in the Country (p. 133; first published in The Little Magazine (1976) Vol. 9, No. 4)
“The sun came up with no conclusions Flowers sleepin' in their beds The city cemetery's hummin' I'm wide awake, its mornin'”
Conor Oberst (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here where I lie is the hot pit Crowding on the mind with coal And the will turned against it Only drills new seams of darkness Through the dark-surrounding whole. Our vivid suns of happiness Withered from summer, drop their flowers; Hands of the longed, withheld tomorrow Fold on the hands of yesterday In double sorrow.”
Stephen Spender (1909–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That’s the words: "So I’m back to the velvet underground"—which is a clothing store in downtown San Francisco, where Janis Joplin got her clothes, and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane, it was this little hole in the wall, amazing, beautiful stuff—”back to the floor that I love, to a room with some lace and paper flowers, back to the gypsy that I was.”
Stevie Nicks (born 1948) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (on the inspiration for "Gypsy") Leah Greenblatt, "Stevie Nicks On Her Favorite Songs: A Music Mix Exclusive", Entertainment Weekly, 31 March 2009
“In search of my Love I will go over mountains and strands; I will gather no flowers, I will fear no wild beasts; And pass by the mighty and the frontiers. ~ 3”
John of the Cross (1542–1591) said by 1591 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O killing north wind, cease! Come, south wind, that awakenest love! Blow through my garden, And let its odours flow, And the Beloved shall feed among the flowers. ~ 17”
John of the Cross (1542–1591) said by 1591 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I hold no preference among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous. (Bricks to all greenhouses! Black thumb and cutworm to the potted plant!)”
Edward Abbey (1927–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love flowers best in openness and freedom.”
Edward Abbey (1927–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I just want to ask a question: Who really cares? To save a world in despair There'll come a time, when the world won't be singin' Flowers won't grow, bells won't be ringin' Who really cares? Who's willing to try to save a world That's destined to die?”
Marvin Gaye (1939–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flowers rejoice when night is done, Lift their heads to greet the sun; Sweetest looks and odours raise, In a silent hymn of praise.”
Henry van Dyke (1852–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, London is a man’s town, there’s power in the air; And Paris is a woman’s town, with flowers in her hair; And it’s sweet to dream in Venice, and it’s great to study Rome; But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.”
Henry van Dyke (1852–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There had been a war fought and won and the great city of the conquering people was crossed with triumphal arches and vivid with thrown flowers of white, red, and rose.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Santiago Nasar had often told me that the smell of closed-in flowers had an immediate relation to death for him.”
Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981), trans. Gregory Rabassa [Ballantine, 1984, ], p. 47
“Sweet April-time — O cruel April-time! Year after year returning, with a brow Of promise, and red lips with longing paled, And backward-hidden hands that clutch the joys Of vanished springs, like flowers.”
Dinah Craik (1826–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eh!” he said, and as he crumbled the rich black soil she saw he was sniffing up the scent of it, “there doesn’t seem to be no need for no one to be contrary when there’s flowers an’ such like, an’ such lots o’ friendly wild things runnin’ about makin’ homes for themselves, or buildin’ nests an’ singin’ an’ whistlin’, does there?”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I really, really do believe it. I just want you to know, I think this is obvious, but I'm not really going in for the warm fuzzy feeling thing, I'm not a hippy, I do not have flowers in my hair, I come from punk rock, The Clash wore army boots not Birkenstocks. I believe America can do this! I believe that this generation can do this. In fact I want to hear an argument about why we shouldn't.”
Bono (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I come from all places and to all places I go: I am art among the arts and mountain among mountains. I know the strange names of flowers and herbs and of fatal deceptions and magnificent griefs. In night's darkness I've seen raining down on my head pure flames, flashing rays of beauty divine.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I (Yo soy un hombre sincero) as translated by Esther Allen in José Martí : Selected Writings (2002), p. 273
“My poems are like a dagger Sprouting flowers from the hilt; My poetry is like a fountain Sprinkling streams of coral water.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not once have you hung your head in embarrassment even for a minute after those disgraceful photographs. Clearly you have never considered the damage you are causing us all. How dare you discredit us like this and how dare you send me those flowers?”
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (1930–2002) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the then Duchess of York (now Sarah Ferguson, c. 1995), as cited in Naomi Bartram "Here’s why Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson split", Cosmopolitan (12 October 2018)
“I don't remember where I picked up the head — or the hollyhock. Flowers were planted among the vegetables in the garden between the house and the hills and I probably picked the hollyhock one day as I walked past. My paintings sometimes grow by pieces from what is around.. .I have used these things to say what is to me the wideness and wonder of the world as I live in it.”
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I hate flowers — I paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move!”
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quote in Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, Laurie Lisle, Viking Press, New York, 1981, p. 180
“All right, you great git, you've asked for it. I'll cover the world in Tastee-Freez and Wimpy Burgers. I'll fill it with concrete runways, motorways, aircraft, television, automobiles, advertising, plastic flowers, frozen food and supersonic bangs. I'll make it so noisy and disgusting that even you'll be ashamed of yourself! No wonder you've so few friends; you're unbelievable!”
Peter Cook (1937–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.”
Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970); 2001, p. 170.
“Such cold mean flowers the spring puts forth betime, Before the sun hath thoroughly heat the clime.”
Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) said by 1672 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No path of flowers leads to glory.”
Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695) said by 1695 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Book X, fable 14; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Also quoted by: J. De La Fontaine
“You have made a place in my heart where I thought there was no room for anything else. You have made flowers grow where I cultivated dust and stones. Remember this, on this journey you insist on making. If you die, I will not survive you long.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although I later fell in love with France, and now consider it my second home, the first country to win my young heart and seduce me with its language and beauty and fashion and flowers and intellect and men was Italy.”
Joan Baez (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Each day the storm clouds were opening like great purple flowers and pouring out their dark thunder. Each nightfall, the storm was laid down on their houses like a burden the day had carried. ("At The Landing")”
Eudora Welty (1909–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Come out — pretty Rose-Bud, — my lone, timid one! Come forth from thy green leaves, and peep at the sun! For little he does, in these dull autumn hours, At height'ning of beauty, or laughing with flowers.”
Hannah Flagg Gould (1788–1865) first seen 1850 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Rose-Bud of Autumn" in The Youth's Coronal (published 1850).
“Poor Gauguin, 'way off there on his island! I'll wager he spends most of his time thinking of Rue Lafitte. I advised him to go to New Orleans, but he decided it was too civilized. He had to have people around him with flowers on their heads and rings in their noses before he could feel at home. Now if I should leave my house for more than two days...”
Edgar Degas (1834–1917) said by 1917 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source