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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“The secret is that I am an apostle of what they call soft power and leadership. It means you know that you have the power but you are careful not to misuse it”
Biodun Oyebanji (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The power should derive from the people as a whole. They should then use that power to create the kind of South Africa they want.”
Oliver Tambo (1917–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The power of art is in the imagination while the power of science is in making those dreams material”
Shadreck Chikoti (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe art has the power to make us question and thus make us change our reality/world. I also believe it has the power to heal, to suggest new realities, to show us a way towards that better place that lives inside of all of us.”
Turiya Magadlela (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was not a Black Power demonstration. If you want to see Black Power, that would be our black fannies running down the track, We were concerned about human rights, humanity. And that crosses every sector of society.”
John Carlos (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles.”
Winston Churchill (misattributed) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Often cited as from a speech "on the eve of Indian Independence in 1947", e.g. "Anything multiplied by zero is zero indeed!" in Rediff India Abroad (11 April 2007), or even from a speech in the house of Commons, but it …
“The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.”
George Bernard Shaw (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.”
John Lehman (misattributed) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This quote is often misattributed to John Lehman, but it apparently was actually said by Donald Regan, President Reagan's chief of staff, to a 1987 Gridiron Dinner audience.
“Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.”
Aleister Crowley (disputed) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This was quoted as an "occult tradition" in Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology (1976) by Charles Lawrence Sheridan, p. 17, but without any reference to Crowley.
“If all dissolute men were shut up in prison They would all be temperate and devout and pious. When power of choice is absent, actions are worthless But beware lest death snatch away your capital, Your power of choice is a capital yielding profit Remember well the day of final account.”
Rumi (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When the power of love overcomes love of power the world will know peace.”
Jimi Hendrix (disputed) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This quote has been attributed to Hendrix on the internet, and is flatly denied to have ever been said by him, without presenting any evidence as to why, beyond such unsupported, derisive and denigrative statements such…
“We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.”
William Ewart Gladstone (disputed) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed in The National elementary principal (1948) - Volume 28 - Page 34; a similar statement has also become attributed to Jimi Hendrix: "When the power of love overcomes love of power the world will know peace." A…
“FOI [Freedom of Information] is the democratic canary in the coal mine. When official information flows freely, it signals that power is shared. When it’s withheld or delayed, it signals the opposite: power concentrated in the few, with the public treated as a nuisance - or a threat.”
Heather Brooke (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Benevolence brings under its sway whatever hinders its power, just as water subdues fire: they only doubt the power of water to quench flames who try to extinguish with a cupful a whole burning wagon-load of fagots.”
Mencius (attributed) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nitobe Inazō, Bushido: The Soul of Japan, 13th ed. (1908), pp. 38–39
“The power to bind and loose to Truth is given: The mouth that speaks it is the mouth of Heaven. The power, which in a sense belongs to none, Thus understood belongs to every one.”
Abraham Coles (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobility of birth is like a cipher; it has no power in itself, like wealth or talent; but it tells with all the power of a cipher when added to either of the other two.”
John Frederick Boyes (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Real power has fullness and variety. It is not narrow like lightning, but broad like light. The man who truly and worthily excels in any one line of endeavor, might also under a change of circumstances, have excelled in some other line. Power is a thing of solidity and wholeness.”
Roswell Dwight Hitchcock (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Course you been hurt. You was born to hurt. What make you wanna forget somethin that important? Power that’s worth somethin --real power!--live an’ grow from the hurt you feed it.”
“A man has four natural enemies: fear, clarity, power, and old age. Fear, clarity and power can be overcome, but not old age. Its effect can be postponed, but it can never be overcome.”
Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I conclude that nobody can be trusted with unlimited power. The more power a regime has, the more likely people will be killed. This is a major reason for promoting freedom.”
Rudolph Rummel (1932–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Directly Kant hears the word “law” pronounced he takes his hat off; he neither wishes nor dares to dispute. He who says “law” says “power”; he who says “power” says “submission” – for man’s supreme virtue is to submit himself. P. 23”
Lev Shestov (1866–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imaginations and illusions are always so much more powerful and bigger than this mediocre and boring thing called reality.”
Gottfried Helnwein (born 1948) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Yuichi Konno, Yaso magazine, Japan, 2003
“Jazz I regard as an American folk music; not the only one, but a very powerful one which is probably in the blood and feeling of the American people more than any other style of folk music.”
George Gershwin (1898–1937) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Relation of Jazz to American Music", in Henry Cowell (ed.) American Composers on American Music (1933); reprinted in Gregory R. Suriano (ed.) Gershwin in His Time (New York: Gramercy, 1998) p. 97.
“My father loved us dearly and deeply. There were eleven of us and our love for him was full of admiration. We held him in a kind of respectful awe, so powerful and formidable did he seem. I soon learned that beneath the exterior of a rough cavalryman he had a very good heart.”
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world petroleum story is one of the most inhuman known to man: in it, elementary moral and social principles are jeered at. If powerful oil trusts no longer despoil and humiliate our country it is not because these predators have become human, but because we have won a hard-fought battle which has been going on since the beginning of the century.”
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing those conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.”
Clifford Geertz (1926–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Words can be very powerful. I find them very difficult.”
Bryan Ferry (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Ike] was presiding over a situation in which history was turning into demography, in which judgment—and Ike possessed judgment with a capital J—was being drained out of every powerful situation, and marketing considerations were being pumped in.”
George W. S. Trow (1943–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While thinking when sober, our success at reaching our goals by using the First Baltic Front troops, the Memel operation, it can't be disregarded, that they [the troops] not only honorably accomplished their powerful strategic operation, but also an infusion of victory for the Soviet armed forces and an entrance into the final stages of the war.”
Hovhannes Bagramyan (1897–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "I. C. Bagramyan: A Photo Album About A Soviet Marshal" - Yerevan - 1987
“Unless a potential future incorporates a powerful emotional pull, it will have great difficulty overcoming the gravitational pull of the past.”
Tim Hurson (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even though you may have started out saying you wanted imaginative, novel ideas, the tendency to drift back into the conventional is powerful.”
Tim Hurson (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Preliminary ideas are often weak and impure, and need to be driven through a forge in order to become powerful, workable solutions.”
Tim Hurson (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good”
Benjamin Netanyahu (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great Zen master Rinzai, in order to take his students' attention away from time, would often raise his finger and slowly ask: "What, at this moment, is lacking?" A powerful question that does not require an answer on the level of the mind. It is designed to take your attention deeply into the Now. A similar question in the Zen tradition is this: "If not now, when?" p. 38”
Eckhart Tolle (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Instead of asking "what do I want from life?", a more powerful question is, "what does life want from me?”
Eckhart Tolle (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Rhapsody: You know, you both really ought to have more respect for music. It can be a very powerful weapon, as well as whatever else you need it to be." Grunthor: That's true; my singin' voice can be quite good at inflictin' pain. At least that's what the troops use ta tell me.”
Elizabeth Haydon (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have laws, jails, courts, armies, guns and armories enough to make saints of us all, if they were the true preventives of crime; but we know they do not prevent crime; that wickedness and depravity exist in spite of them, nay, increase as the struggle between classes grows fiercer, wealth greater and more powerful and poverty more gaunt and desperate.”
Lucy Parsons (1851–1942) said by 1942 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here is the secret: I have been at probably every powerful table that you can think of — I have worked at non-profits, I have been at foundations, I have worked in corporations, served on corporate boards, I have been at G-summits, I have sat in at the UN — they are not that smart.”
Michelle Obama (born 1964) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (3 December 2018)
“At fifty-four, I am still in progress, and I hope that I always will be.” Perier. M (2020) Michelle Obama in 12 powerful quotes”
Michelle Obama (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People think that creativity is largely a matter of talent, experience, or luck. They are wrong. Talent, experience, and luck are all key elements, but there is something more fundamental, accessible, and powerful that you can use to multiply your creative effect.”
Richard Koch (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Th' Eternal Mind, ev'n Heathens understood, Was Infinitely Powerful, Wise, and Good. In their Conceptions, who conceiv'd aright, These Three Essential Attributes unite. They saw that, wanting any of the Three, Such an All-perfect Being could not be.”
John Byrom (1692–1763) said by 1763 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.”
Vincent de Paul (1581–1660) said by 1660 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in A Year with the Saints (1891) by Anonymous, p. 47
“I am firmly convinced, as I have already said, that to effect any great social improvement, it is sympathy rather than self-interest, the sense of duty rather than the desire for self-advancement, that must be appealed to. Envy is akin to admiration, and it is the admiration that the rich and powerful excite which secures the perpetuation of aristocracies.”
Henry George (1839–1897) said by 1897 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The effect of Judaism's vigorous promotion of monotheism, and the dignity that this doctrine conferred on all humankind, as created in God's image, coupled with the discipline, warnth and security offered by the Jewish way of life, cannot be overestimated as a powerful catalyst for the undermining and eventual destruction of Graeco-Roman paganism.”
Jeffrey Cohen (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The evidence of our own eyes makes it more plausible to believe that the world was not created by any god at all. If, however, we insist on believing in divine creation, we are forced to admit that the god who made the world cannot be all-powerful and all good. He must be either evil or a bungler.”
Peter Singer (born 1946) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The God of Suffering? Project Syndicate, 2008
“LSD is a unique and powerful tool for the exploration of the human mind and human nature. Psychedelic experiences mediate access to deep realms of the psyche that have not yet been discovered and acknowledged by mainstream psychology and psychiatry. They also reveal new possibilities and mechanisms of therapeutic change and personality transformation.”
Stanislav Grof (born 1931) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: LSD psychotherapy (1980), MAPS 2001 edition, Epilogue, p. 299.
“Great writers arrive among us like new diseases – threatening, powerful, impatient for patients to pick up their virus, irresistible.”
Craig Raine (born 1944) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Independent on Sunday, November 18, 1990.
“When she meets a powerful man she's more likely to try and blow him away than blow him off. Stop that erection right now, you sick, sick boy. Stop it! Concentrate, that's how! (Why it would kick arse to be Lara Croft)”
Ben Croshaw (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perfectly coloured to be camouflaged totally in a 60's living room, the zebra has powerful legs and a thirst for blood! (Fight or Flight?)”
Ben Croshaw (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I tend to gravitate toward the more powerful roles. As opposed to the doe-eyed girl who bats her eyelashes and runs around in towels, you now what I mean? Because that kind of makes me want to vomit.”
Julia Stiles (born 1981) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Movieline, September 1998.