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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“Of what I call God, And fools call Nature.”
Robert Browning (1812–1889) said by 1889 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Fools make a mock at sin.”
The Bible (active around 812) bartlett, Public domain source
“The fool that eats till he is sick must fast till he is well.”
George Walter Thornbury (1828–1876) said by 1876 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Kind souls, you wonder why, love you, When you, you wonder why, love none. We love, Fool, for the good we do, Not that which unto us is done!”
Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ther are not two sides to any question that really concerns a man, but only one, and this side only a fool can fail to see if he tries.”
Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Books are influential in proportion to their obscurity, provided that the obscurity be that of inexpressible Realities. The Bible is the most obscure book in the world. He must be a great fool who thinks he understands the plainest chapter of it.”
Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I loved a lass, a fair one, As fair as e'er was seen; She was indeed a rare one, Another Sheba queen: But, fool as then I was, I thought she loved me too: But now, alas! she's left me, Falero, lero, loo!”
George Wither (1588–1667) said by 1667 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Loved a Lass; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 390.
“Himmler hated the church. He and Bormann were the two people who influenced Hitler most. When I spoke to Hitler in the beginning he agreed with me and said that no state could be governed without religion. In Mein Kampf he said that a man was a fool if he destroyed the religion of the people. Hitler also made the statement that the political reform should not be a religious reform.”
Franz von Papen (1879–1969) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn (30 March 1946). Quoted in "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004.
“What things have we seen Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been So nimble and so full of subtile flame As if that every one from whence they came Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, And resolved to live a fool the rest Of his dull life.”
Francis Beaumont (1584–1616) first seen 1605 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Ben Jonson (1605), verses prefacing Jonson’s Volpone, as reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“A butcher will always cheat a fool," she said.”
John Fante (1909–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch.3 - p.73 [Page numbers per "The Bandini Quartet" (four books in one) published by Canongate Books Ltd., 2004, British Edition. (As to the movie of the same name, see, on Wikipedia, Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1989).)]
“Afraid of a woman! Ha, great writer this! How can he write about women, when he's never had a woman? Oh you lousy fake, you phony, no wonder you can't write! No wonder there wasn't a woman in The Little Dog Laughed. No wonder it wasn't a love story, you fool, you dirty little schoolboy.”
John Fante (1909–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Still sneering, she looked at me quickly, and let out the clutch. I was thrown against the seat, then against the windshield. We were jammed between two other cars. She banged into one, and then into the other, her way of letting me know what a fool I had been.”
John Fante (1909–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To go beyond reason we have to climb up the ladder of reason and go to the top of it. This will not upset reason as it is interested only in assembling the facts, whatever they might be. Reason is an ever-loyal tool; imagination an ever-failing fool.”
Barry Long (1926–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“... as you are not to be a boy all your life- and I trust would not be reckoned a fool- use your every endeavour to be a good man”
Ignatius Sancho (1729–1780) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (from vol 2, letter 13: 29 Nov 1778, to Mr S___ in Madras).
“Perhaps you think that any fool could become a member of the SS. Do you really know what an SS soldier is? He is a superman. He is a professional chosen personally by Hitler. A soldier whose antecedents are analyzed for four generations back before he is given the honor of being allowed to join this elite organization.”
Klaus Barbie (1913–1991) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "The Butcher of Lyon: The Story of Infamous Nazi Klaus Barbie" - Page 140 - by Brendan Murphy - History - 1983
“Busy opinion is an idle fool.”
John Ford (dramatist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then I wish I could start this whole thing over again I'm not sayin' it's you could never be true I just don't wanna know how it ends You'd still have my heart in the palm of your hands I'd still look like a fool in front of your friends Yeah I wish somehow I didn't know now what I didn't know then.”
Toby Keith (1961–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Jerome never liked me -- preferred my sister who was a little fool excited by modern literature -- all swear-words and scatology -- before it became fashionable.”
Peter Greenaway (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As an actor I don't admit to any limitations. In rehearsal one comes up against apparently insuperable barriers, but if one can imaginatively get past them, overreach one's natural reach, it is astonishing how elastic one can become. I've got to go not so far as I can, but as far as is needed. It's up to somebody else to say if I've made a fool of myself.”
Paul Scofield (1922–2008) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Lyn Gardner, Obituary: Paul Scofield, The Guardian (20 March 2008)
“Trouble comes looking for you if you’re a fool.”
Gregory Benford (born 1941) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Storming Gulf, p. 126 (Originally published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1985)
“Zhirinovsky was a fool's bladder on a fascist stick, using his cruel wit to malign opponents of Vladimir Putin, further the Kremlin's far-right agenda and consign his immortal soul to darkness. I met him once and reader, do not be surprised, we ended up shouting at each other.”
John Sweeney (journalist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A prig is a pompous fool who has gone out for a ceremonial walk, and without knowing it has lost an important part of his attire, namely, his sense of humour.”
Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) said by 1931 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would make a fool of myself...They are so much better than I was.”
Nigel Lythgoe (born 1949) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Looseleaf, Victoria (August 2007), "A MAN, A PLAN, A WILDLY SUCCESSFUL TV SHOW". Dance Magazine. 81 (8):46
“Cordelia: You honor us, Fool. Did you hear rumors of small animals to hurt or were you hoping to accidentally surprise me in my bath again? Pocket: I was lost, Milady. Cordelia: A dozen times?”
Christopher Moore (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“King Lear: How hath my fool offended? Regan: He hath shagged me roughly, against my will, and finished too soon. King Lear: By force- Pocket? He isn't eight-stone on a feast day- he couldn't shag a cat by force. Pocket: That's not true, sire. If the cat is distracted with a trout, then - well, uh, never mind.”
Christopher Moore (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What are you? Men have killed for me. Men have died for me. Have you flints in your eye? Fool, have you never lived?”
Wole Soyinka (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I love you because You're a sweet little fool!”
John Henry Boner (1845–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The sweet little Fool (The Sequel), reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“It's shameful to spot a lie and not to name it, shameful to name it and then to shut your eyes, shameful to call a funeral a wedding and play the fool at funerals besides.”
Andrey Voznesensky (1933–2010) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stanley Kunitz (trans.) Story Under Full Sail (New York: Doubleday, 1974) p. 20.
“Everyone cheats. Only artists don’t. They don’t fool people and they aren’t fooled. They are outside all that. Nobody can understand them.”
Bram van Velde (1895–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“NO it wasn't a gift, you FOOL!”
Judith Sheindlin (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It would be easier to endow a fool with intellect than to persuade him that he had none.”
Jacques Babinet (1794–1872) said by 1872 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want to give [my records] all away before some fool plays disco at my funeral, and then the record gets stuck, and nobody can tell, and the service goes on forever!”
Robert Patrick (playwright) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lois: Good coffee, huh? Emma: Lois, I think you're a very attractive woman and I'd like to sleep with you. Lois: [chokes] Gak! Ahem! You don't - coff - fool around, do you? Emma: No, but I'd like to.”
Alison Bechdel (born 1960) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: #53, "Swept Away" (1989), collected in New, Improved! DTWOF (1990).
“Like a fool as I was , I suffered my sun to be high in the heavens and near afternoon before I ever took the gate by the end.”
Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661) said by 1661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fool who does not know his own folly may be doing nothing, and the philosopher who is trying to darken knowledge may be doing worse than nothing; but every sincere attempt to grapple with real difficulties made by a man not utterly incompetent has its value.”
Leslie Stephen (1832–1904) first seen 1882 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Science of Ethics (1882), Preface
“If you have seen a man misbehave once, do not from thence conclude him a fool; if you find he has been in a mistake in one particular, do not at once conclude him void of understanding : by that way of judging, you can entertain a favourable opinion of no man upon earth, nor even of yourself.”
James Burgh (1714–1775) said by 1775 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you see through love's illusions, there lies the danger. And your perfect lover just looks like a perfect fool. So you go running off in search of a perfect stranger, While the loneliness seems to spring from your life Like a fountain from a pool.”
Jackson Browne (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Jasnah had once defined a fool as a person who ignored information because it disagreed with desired results.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you are seeking the comforts of religion rather than the glory of our Lord, you are on the wrong track. The Comforter meets us unsought in the path of duty. There is something in religion, when rightly comprehended, that is masculine and grand. It removes those little desires which are the constant hectic of a fool.”
Richard Cecil (clergyman) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The way you’re perceived is regal On the televisions by the people You don’t fool us: we know you’re evil And your face should be illegal”
Dhani Harrison (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If Lennon were alive today, he probably would have reconciled with the man he accused of having "made a fool of everyone." John would have been the first one now, if he had been there, to recognise and acknowledge what Maharishi has done for the world and appreciate it.”
Yoko Ono (born 1933) first seen 1047 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted from: Yoko Ono - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Guru to Beatles and Beach Boys died in The Netherlands, RollingStone magazine, 6 Mars 2008. 1047, 16, n°1047
“Ultimately, the Indian public is not fool. They can spot the difference between what is said for effect and what is done in reality. Whether it is politicians or actors or social activists, they know for sure whom to trust or not.”
Rahul Bose (born 1967) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: OneIndia, Thursday, 2009, "'Indian public is not fool' - Rahul Bose" by Joginder Tuteja
“What kind of fool am I? I never fell in love.”
Leslie Bricusse (1931–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no liar like the one who lies to himself. He has a fool indeed for an audience.”
Jane Yolen (1939–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Any man who does not make himself proficient in at least two languages other than his own is a fool”
Martin H. Fischer (1879–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As we at all times criticise the Premier for his management of home affairs, call Mr Butler a fool for his Budget, find fault with Beecham's conducting, or Gielgud's performance, can we not, sometimes, say that our cricketers are not quite so brilliant as usual?”
Margaret Hughes (1919–2005) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Long Hop (1955).
“He picked the rock back up. “Do you believe that it floated?” “No!” I sulked, rubbing my temples. “Good. It didn’t. Never fool yourself into perceiving things that don’t exist.”
Patrick Rothfuss (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To me, [it's] extremely interesting that men, perfectly honest, enthusiastic over their work, can so completely fool themselves.”
Irving Langmuir (1881–1957) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1953 talk, as quoted in "Pathological Science", Physics Today No. 42 (October 1989), p. 36 - 48
“Religion is heavily laden with the kind of confirmation bias that makes people see their own faiths as true and all others as false. In other words, religion is replete with features to help people fool themselves.”
Jerry Coyne (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Does the damned fool want to be blown up? Well, blow him up then. Give him hell, Captain Morton- as hot as you've got it, too.”
Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821–1877) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At Athens, Alabama, 1864. As quoted in May I Quote You, General Forrest? by Randall Bedwell.