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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“Changing from the defensive to the offensive, is one of the most delicate operations in war.”
Napoleon (1769–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Millions upon millions of years ago, when the continents were already formed and the principal features of the earth had been decided, there existed, then as now, one aspect of the world that dwarfed all others… a mighty ocean, resting uneasily to the east of the largest continent, a restless ever-changing, gigantic body of water that would later be described as Pacific.”
James A. Michener (1907–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is difficult to be king when the gods are changing.”
James A. Michener (1907–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) said by 1784 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A guy who's always interested in the condition of the world, and changing it, either has no problems of his own, or refuses to face them... not wanting to face things of his own nature.”
Henry Miller (1891–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reds (1981)
“Variation does not mean evolution. If an artist varies his mode of expression this only means that he has changed his manner of thinking, and in changing, it might be for the better or it might be for the worse.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those in authority should take appropriate precautions to protect our citizens. But we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by the President In Photo Opportunity with the National Security Team, September 12, 2001
“But we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms. This morning, I am sending to Congress a request for emergency funding authority, so that we are prepared to spend whatever it takes to rescue victims, to help the citizens of New York City and Washington, D.C. respond to this tragedy, and to protect our national security.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The dinosaurs disappeared because they could not adapt to their changing environment. We shall disappear if we cannot adapt to an environment that now contains spaceships, computers — and thermonuclear weapons.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Foreword to The Collected Stories (June 2000)
“There has never been any custom, however useless it may become with changing conditions, that isn't clung to desperately simply because it is something old and familiar.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Dark Ages (1968), p. 193
“That’s pretty minor. What kind of Gods are these?” “Petty, like all Gods. On the other hand, there’s no penalty at all for masturbation.” “I’m changing religions,” Kevin said positively.”
Larry Niven (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Evolution normally does not come to a halt, but constantly ‘tracks’ the changing environment.”
Richard Dawkins (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sense of adventure Is changing to danger. The signal has been given.”
“Watching the painter painting And all the time, the light is changing And he keeps painting That bit there, it was an accident But he's so pleased It's the best mistake, he could make And it's my favourite piece. It's just great.”
“Bright, white coming alive jumping off of the aerial All the time it's a changing, like now...”
“All the time it's a changing And all the dreamers are waking.”
“And I must borrow every changing shape To find expression.”
T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art thou pale for weariness Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth, Wandering companionless Among the stars that have a different birth, — And ever changing, like a joyless eye That finds no object worth its constancy?”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) said by 1822 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Moon" (published 1824)
“Africa, time out of mind, had been in a state of slavery, therefore the inhabitants only changed one species of slavery for another. However, he was sorry to say, that, in changing from African to European slavery, they generally changed much for the worse, which certainly was a matter of reproach somewhere, and deserved serious consideration.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) first seen 1774 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (5 June 1777), quoted in The Works and Speeches of Edmund Burke, Volume III: Party, Parliament, and the American War, 1774–1780, eds. Warren M. Elofson and John A. Woods (1981), p. 341
“Today, the growers are like a punch-drunk old boxer who doesn't know he's past his prime. The times are changing. The political and social environment has changed. The chickens are coming home to roost — and the time to account for past sins is approaching.”
Cesar Chavez (1927–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who hath not proved how feebly words essay To fix one spark of beauty's heavenly ray? Who doth not feel, until his failing sight Faints into dimness with its own delight, His changing cheek, his sinking heart, confess The might, the majesty of loveliness?”
Lord Byron (1788–1824) said by 1824 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All but God is changing day by day.”
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To fall into mere unreasoning deliquium of love and admiration, was not good; but such unreasoning, nay irrational supercilious no-love at all is perhaps still worse!—It is a thing forever changing, this of Hero-worship: different in each age, difficult to do well in any age. Indeed, the heart of the whole business of the age, one may say, is to do it well.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All things are changing; and thou thyself art in continuous mutation and in a manner in continuous destruction and the whole universe to.”
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) said by 180 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A book is more than a verbal structure or series of verbal structures; it is the dialogue it establishes with its reader and the intonation it imposes upon his voice and the changing and durable images it leaves in his memory. A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of innumerable relationships.”
Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Note on (toward) Bernard Shaw" ["Nota sobre (hacia) Bernard Shaw"] (1951)
“Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.”
W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are not the same persons this year as last ; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.”
W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I'm changing all the time.”
Charles Mingus (1922–1979) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement to Nat Hentoff , as quoted in California Rock, California Sound : The Music of Los Angeles and Southern California (1979) by Anthony Fawcett, p. 56; also in “Jazz : Beyond Time and Nations” in The Nat Hentoff …
“How lovely the little river is, with its dark changing wavelets! It seems to me like a living companion while I wander along the bank, and listen to its low, placid voice . . .”
George Eliot (1819–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thus daily changing, by degrees I’d waste, Still quitting ground by unperceived decay, And steal myself from life, and melt away.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is like love ; oh love should be An ever-changing thing, — The love that I could worship must Be ever on the wing.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1823 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: April from The London Literary Gazette (5th April 1823)
“The stormy March has come at last, With winds and clouds and changing skies; I hear the rushing of the blast That through the snowy valley flies.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then again, even if I were informed, what's the likelihood of changing anyone's opinion, especially a couple of strangers? If my own little mind is nailed shut, why wouldn't theirs be?”
David Sedaris (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had gone beyond the world of metaphor and simile into the place of things that are, and it was changing him.”
Neil Gaiman (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Good was not a form of reality. It was reality itself, ever changing, ultimately unknowable in any kind of fixed, rigid way.”
Robert M. Pirsig (1928–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My first vision of earth was water veiled. I am of the race of men and women who see all things through this curtain of sea and my eyes are the color of water. I looked with chameleon eyes upon the changing face of the world, looked with anonymous vision upon my uncompleted self. I remember my first birth in water.”
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: House of Incest (1936)
“Do you want an absolute prediction? Then you want only today, and you reject tomorrow. You are the ultimate conservative. You are trying to hold back movement in an infinitely changing universe. The verb to be does make idiots of us all.”
Frank Herbert (1920–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But I saw not Christ laugh. For I understood that we may laugh in comforting of ourselves and joying in God for that the devil is overcome. And when I saw Him scorn his malice, it was by leading of mine understanding into our Lord: that is to say, it was an inward shewing of verity, without changing of look. For, as to my sight, it is a worshipful property of God's that is ever the same.”
Julian of Norwich (1342–1500) said by 1500 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The changing of His blessed Countenance changed mine, and I was as glad and merry as it was possible. Then brought our Lord merrily to my mind: Where is now any point of the pain, or of thy grief? And I was full merry.”
Julian of Norwich (1342–1500) said by 1500 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Brahmins cannot hope to claim a high and superior status forever. Times are changing. They have to come down. Then only they could survive with dignity. Otherwise they will one day be forfeiting their high status. It will not be by force. It will be just laws of the land and the people.”
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (1879–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who still believe the Brahmins should take a serious not of the changing times and start leading an awakened life.”
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (1879–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I made a series of lectures on PBS on why there should be feminism, no one would be coming to the party, and it would be boring. The idea of changing culture is important to me, and it can only be done in a popular medium.”
Joss Whedon (born 1964) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: We Don’t Say Indian" in Slay Age (2005); also quoted in Ink-stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology (2010) by Jennifer K. Stuller
“It's the fault of those physicists and that synchronicity theory, every particle being connected with every other; you can't fart without changing the balance in the universe. It makes living a funny joke with nobody around to laugh. I open a book and get a report on future events that even God would like to file and forget. And who am I? The wrong person; I can tell you that.”
Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The greater part of human activity is designed to make permanent those experiences and joys which are only lovable because they are changing.”
Alan Watts (1915–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can't fight City Hall. It keeps changing its name.”
Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: After Me, The Deluge" in The Chicago Tribune (28 September 1969)
“There, Master Niketas," Baudolino said, "when I was not prey to the temptations of this world, I devoted my nights to imagining other worlds. ... There is nothing better than imagining other worlds," he said, "to forget the painful one we live in. At least so I thought then. I hadn't yet realized that, imagining other worlds, you end up changing this one.”
Umberto Eco (1932–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The proletariat is that class in society which lives entirely from the sale of its labor and does not draw profit from any kind of capital; whose weal and woe, whose life and death, whose sole existence depends on the demand for labor – hence, on the changing state of business, on the vagaries of unbridled competition.”
Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What will we say no to?” It is that question that will reveal the real tensions in your team. It is that question that will uncover the core trade-offs in your organization. It is that question that can deliver the rare and precious clarity necessary to achieve game-changing breakthroughs in your business.”
Greg McKeown (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's going to be like this. I'm not changing.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Trump floats renaming Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ as feud with Canada escalates" CNN (August 25, 2026)