Famous quotes
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“There's no point in going out into space if the future that we'll see there is a sterile future living in tin cans. We have to able to recreate in space habitats which are as beautiful as earth-like as the loveliest parts of planet Earth and we can do that.”
Gerard K. O'Neill (1927–1992) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The High Frontier (1976)
“The impatient idealist says: ‘Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.’ But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.”
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet.”
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And we saw the seed, The minuscule Sequoia seed In the museum by the tremendous slab Of the tree. And imagined the seed In soil and the growth quickened So that we saw the seed reach out, forcing Earth thru itself into bark, wood, the green Needles of a redwood until the tree Stood in the room without soil— How much of the earth's Crust has lived The seed’s violence! The shock is metaphysical.”
George Oppen (1908–1984) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Return" st. 2, 1962; New Collected Poems, New Directions, 2002,
“Catholicity seized on man... and the mystics, transcending all, taught him to ascend on high with the wings of contemplation the Ladder of Jacob composed of brilliant stones, by which God descends to Earth and man ascends to Heaven, till Earth and Heaven, and God and man, burning together in a conflagration of infinite charity, are transmuted into one.”
Juan Donoso Cortés (1809–1853) said by 1853 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e make only a small error if we consider... all the rays coming from the centre of the sun's disc are parallel. This enabled [[w:Eratosthenes#Measurement of Earth's circumference|Eratosthenes[']... approximation of the earth's radius]]...”
Jean Dieudonné (1906–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.”
Frank Borman (1928–2023) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Last lines of the Apollo 8 Genesis reading, and adding his own closing to the message from Apollo 8 crew, as they celebrated becoming the first humans to enter lunar orbit, Christmas Eve (24 December 1968)
“The Earth was the only thing in the world — in the universe — that had any color. Everything else was black and white but the earth was beautiful blue and white and brownish continents. That was the most impressive sight for me of the entire flight.”
Frank Borman (1928–2023) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Apollo astronaut Frank Borman, who first orbited moon, dies at age 95", NPR (9 November 2023)
“My friends, there is one spot on earth where the fear of Death, of Sin, and of Judgment, need never trouble us, the only safe spot on earth where the sinner can stand — Calvary.”
Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899) said by 1899 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every bit of land is a holy land, and every drop of water is a holy water, and every single child is a son or a daughter of the one earth mama, and the one earth papa.”
Michael Franti (born 1966) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hello, Bonjour, Yell Fire! (2006)
“Mars, Triton, Pluto and Jupiter all show global warming. Climate changes on other planets and their moons show that climate change elsewhere in the Solar System could not possibly be due to human activity on Earth. There must be a driving force outside the Earth. It is the Sun.”
Ian Plimer (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There were academics and theologians who spent hours calculating what they thought was the precise age of the Earth, on the basis of the Biblical account of it. And as early as 1650, James Ussher had come to the startlingly precise conclusion that the Earth was created in 4004 B.C. on October the 22nd—in the evening, apparently. What God had been doing that morning is still open to conjecture.”
Jonathan Miller (1934–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lesser-known fact about the geopolitics of resources has escaped public polemics. This refers to rare earth metals or rare-earth elements (REMs), a set of 17 naturally occurring non-toxic materials, which play a pivotal role for emerging technologies and which are predominantly produced and exported from China.”
Nayef Al-Rodhan (born 1959) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rare-Earth Metals: Anticipating the New Battle for Resources - Global Policy Journal, March 2014
“I feel a rush in the air tonight, I can feel the Earth moving. Love is beacon, a guiding light, can't you feel the Earth moving?”
Mike Oldfield (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Earth and fire and water and air We solemnly promise, we solemnly swear Not a word, not a hint, not a sound to declare Earth and fire and water and air!”
Hilda Lewis (1896–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When a monk complained about the world's evil, the Buddha stretched his hand toward the Earth: "on this Earth I attained Liberation.”
Frederick Franck (1909–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Look around you. Everything changes. Everything on this earth is in a continuous state of evolving, refining, improving, adapting, enhancing … changing. You were not put on this earth to remain stagnant.”
Steve Maraboli (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“More terrorists are given training and sanctuary in the United States than anywhere on earth. They include mass murderers, torturers, former and future tyrants and assorted international criminals. This is virtually unknown to the American public, thanks to the freest media on earth.”
John Pilger (1939–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As a believer is changed, receiving a glorified body, so similarly, the earth is changed into a new earth, unstained by sin.”
“On this present, fallen earth there is sorrow, suffering, sickness and death. On the new earth there will be life—everlasting life, unending health, joy, and gladness forever and ever.”
“On this sinful, fallen earth, life will remain difficult, fraught with suffering and sadness. But we are looking forward to heaven—and heaven is always better in every realm than the earth.”
“Our abilities and giftedness does not end of this earth; we will continue to serve the Lord in agreement with our abilities on this earth.”
“Man cannot will unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth.”
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I]t is the sidereal day, that is, the duration of the rotation of the earth, which is the constant unit of time. ...However ...[many] astronomers ...think that the tides act as a check on our globe, and that the rotation of the earth is becoming slower and slower. Thus would be explained the apparent acceleration of the motion of the moon...”
Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every government on earth is the personification of violence and force, and yet the doctine of non-resistance is as old as human thought — even more than this, the instinct is as old as life upon the earth.”
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The same law that shapes the earth-star shapes the snow-star. As surely as the petals of a flower are fixed, each of these countless snow-stars comes whirling to earth...these glorious spangles, the sweeping of heaven's floor.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) first seen 1856 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: January 5, 1856
“People with a mission to save the earth want the earth to seem worse than it is so their mission will look more important.”
P. J. O'Rourke (1947–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But now, deep in the earth, the miner was waking from his slumber and germinating in the soil like a real seed; and one fine day people would see what was growing in the middle of these fields: yes, men, a whole army of men, would spring up from the earth, and justice would be restored.”
Émile Zola (1840–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pt. 3, ch. 3 (tr. Roger Pearson, 2004)
“The Gnostics thought the planet Earth was a cosmic mistake. I too feel that way — I'm through with this Earth before I've even departed from it.”
Henry Miller (1891–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The possibility has been established for the production of...a master race, the future "masters of the earth"...made to endure for millennia — a higher kind of men who...employ democratic Europe as their most pliant and supple instrument for getting hold of the destinies of the earth.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) first seen 1885 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sec. 960 (Notebook W I 8. Fall 1885 - Fall 1886, KGW VIII, 1.85-6, KSA 12.87-8)
“Men did not make the earth... It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property... Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds.”
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) said by 1809 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. May no fate willfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love: I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.”
Robert Frost (1874–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sweet the rose which lives in Heaven, Although on earth ’tis planted, Where its honours blow, While by earth’s slaves the leaves are riven Which die the while they glow.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) first seen 1810 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Untitled (1810); titled "Love's Rose" in W. M. Rossetti, Poetical Works of Shelley (1870), p. 525
“I remember on the trip home on Apollo 11 it suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
Neil Armstrong (1930–2012) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The People's Almanac (1975) by David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace, p. 675
“And how high is Christ's cross? As high as the highest heaven, and the throne of God, and the bosom of the Father — that bosom out of which forever proceed all created things. Ay, as high as the highest heaven! for — if you will receive it — when Christ hung upon the cross, heaven came down on earth, and earth ascended into heaven.”
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That which had grown from the earth, to the earth, But that which has sprung from heavenly seed, Back to the heavenly realms returns. This is either a dissolution of the mutual involution of the atoms, or a similar dispersion of the unsentient elements.”
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) said by 180 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next . . . It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you will get neither.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For our dead are a part of the earth of Spain now and the earth of Spain can never die.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the American Dead in Spain", New Masses (February 14, 1939)
“As long as all our dead live in the Spanish earth, and they will live as long as the earth lives, no system of tyranny ever will prevail in Spain.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the American Dead in Spain", New Masses (February 14, 1939)
“Man, who is the noblest part of the earth, melts so away as if he were a statue, not of earth, but of snow.”
John Donne (1572–1631) said by 1631 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man is but earth; ’Tis true; but earth is the centre. That man who dwells upon himself, who is always conversant in himself, rests in his true centre.”
John Donne (1572–1631) first seen 1627 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No. 5, preached on Christmas Day 1627
“These, in the day when heaven was falling, The hour when earth’s foundations fled, Followed their mercenary calling And took their wages and are dead. Their shoulders held the sky suspended; They stood, and earth’s foundations stay; What God abandoned, these defended, And saved the sum of things for pay.”
A. E. Housman (1859–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our island is this earth; and the most striking object we behold is the sun. As soon as we pass beyond our immediate surroundings, one or both of these must meet our eye. Thus the philosophy of most savage races is mainly directed to imaginary divisions of the earth or to the divinity of the sun.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) said by 1778 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The bearded corn ensued From earth unask’d; nor was that earth renew’d.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In sooth, this earth is a lovely place; Pass not in darkness over her face; Yet call back thy words of doom— They are too gay and too fair for the tomb. . . . . And have seen--alas! 'tis but outward show— The sunshine of yon green earth below: Glad of rest must the wretched and way-worn be— Angel of Death, they are ready for thee!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1827 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Spirit and the Angel of Death from Friendship's Offering, 1827
“Glory of earth, and light from heaven, Young Genius ! but for thee, And the wild wonders to thee given, How base our earth would be !”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1827 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (19th May 1827) Genius
“The other gods! The other gods! The gods of the outer hells that guard the feeble gods of earth!... Look away... Go back... Do not see! Do not see! The vengeance of the infinite abysses... That cursed, that damnable pit... Merciful gods of earth, I am falling into the sky!”
H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Above the mists on Hatheg-Kla, earth's gods sometimes dance reminiscently; for they know they are safe, and love to come from unknown Kadath in ships of clouds and play in the olden way, as they did when earth was new and men not given to the climbing of inaccessible places.”
H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On our earth we can only love with suffering and through suffering. We cannot love otherwise, and we know of no other sort of love. I want suffering in order to love. I long, I thirst, this very instant, to kiss with tears the earth that I have left, and I don't want, I won't accept life on any other!”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source