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. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“Once I reveled in a destiny like no other joy I'd known: when the warden — reading my death sentence — wept.”
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
“I only know one prayer — "Give me the truth, Give me that colored whiteness, ancient youth, Complex and simple, seen in joy and ruth.Let me not by vain wishes bar my claim, Nor soothe my hunger by an empty name, Nor crucify the Son of man by hasty blame.But in the earth and fire, water and air, Live earnestly by turns without despair, Nor seek a home till home be every where!”
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Come, let us mount on the wings of the morning, Flying for joy of the flight, Wild with all longing, now soaring, now staying, Mingling like day and dawn, swinging and swaying, Hung like a cloud in the light: I am immortal! I feel it! I feel it! Love bears me up, love is might!”
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To the bird watcher, the suburbanite who derives joy from birds in his garden, the hunter, the fisherman or the explorer of wild regions, anything that destroys the wildlife of an area for even a single year has deprived him of pleasure to which he has a legitimate right. This is a valid point of view.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When Christianity was brought to her shores it was received with a joy and eagerness, and held with a tenacity of which there is hardly such another example.”
Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't quite jump for joy, but I am awfully glad to see him.”
Anne Bancroft (1931–2005) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her husband Mel Brooks Associated Press interview (1997).
“It's great to see people who find joy in service and don't close their eyes and aren't afraid.”
Susan Sarandon (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We depict hatred, but it is to depict that there are more important things. We depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation.”
Hayao Miyazaki (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You practice so you can invent. Discipline? No. The joy of practicing leads you to the celebration of the creation.”
Cecil Taylor (1929–2018) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Films on Demand, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Films Media Group, & MVD Entertainment Group. (2011). Cecil Taylor All the Notes (2005). New York, N.Y.: Films Media Group.
“The feeling of exultant joy that there is anyone like that in the world. I shall never see him again, and he did not notice me, or would ever, but there is such a person alive, there is such a life, and I am here on this earth, in this age, to know it!”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) said by 2001 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.
“Above all, I want to thank Sarah for her unwavering support as well as her love, and for her own service to our country. I thank my sons John and Fraser for the love and joy they bring to our lives. And as I leave the second most important job I could ever hold, I cherish even more the first – as a husband and father. Thank you and goodbye.”
Gordon Brown (born 1951) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gordon Brown's Last official words as Prime Minister, 11 May 2010.
“Learning … should be a joy and full of excitement. It is life's greatest adventure; it is an illustrated excursion into the minds of noble and learned men, not a conducted tour through a jail. So its surroundings should be as gracious as possible, to complement it.”
Taylor Caldwell (1900–1985) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Sound of Thunder (1957) Pt. I, Ch. 9
“Every animal has his or her story, his or her thoughts, daydreams, and interests. All feel joy and love, pain and fear, as we now know beyond any shadow of a doubt. All deserve that the human animal afford them the respect of being cared for with great consideration for those interests or left in peace.”
Ingrid Newkirk (born 1949) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Every Week There is More Reason to Feel Empathy for Animals", Huffington Post, 17 July 2009.
“Yes, your father and Bartolo They have fallen And yesterday they fought and fell But in the quest for joy and freedom And in the struggle of this life you'll find That there is love and sometimes more Yes, in the struggle you will find That you can love and be loved alsoForgive me all who are my friends I am with you I beg of you, do not cry”
“There was a great deal of profound joy in my life, but there was practically no fun. I didn't know much about having fun. I felt too guilty, as though I wasn't supposed to start having fun until everyone in the world was fed and clothed.”
“How can you go out on a limb if you do not know your own tree? No art ever came out of not risking your neck. And risk--experiment--is a considerable part of the joy of doing. ("Place in fiction")”
Eudora Welty (1909–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What prayers were in this temple offered up, Wrung from sad hearts that knew no joy on earth, By these lone exiles of a thousand years, From the fair sunrise land that gave them birth!”
Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The hounded stag that has escaped the pack, And pants at ease within a thick-leaved dell; The unimprisoned bird that finds the track Through sun-bathed space, to where his fellows dwell; The martyr, granted respite from the rack, The death-doomed victim pardoned from his cell, — Such only know the joy these exiles gain, — Life's sharpest rapture is surcease of pain.”
Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King. Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room, And heav'n and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.”
Isaac Watts (1674–1748) said by 1748 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Easter used to mean so much to me. Before Pope John and his Council – they destroyed the beauty of the liturgy. I have not yet soaked myself in petrol and gone up in flames, but I now cling to the Faith doggedly without joy. Church going is a pure duty parade. I shall not live to see it restored. It is worse in many countries.”
Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lady Mosley (30 March 1966), quoted in The Letters of Evelyn Waugh, ed. Mark Amory (1980), p. 639
“Allow me, excellent Lucilius, to utter a still bolder word: if any goods could be greater than others, I should prefer those which seem harsh to those which are mild and alluring, and should pronounce them greater. For it is more of an accomplishment to break one’s way through difficulties than to keep joy within bounds.”
Seneca the Younger (5 BC–65) said by 65 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I was mounting upon ever higher crests of His joy, I asked myself whether there was no limit to the increase of bliss and almost I grew afraid of God's embraces.”
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love is not an easy feeling to put into words. Nor is loyalty, or trust, or joy. But he was all of these. He loved life completely and he lived it intensely.”
Ted Kennedy (1932–2009) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York (8 June 1968)
“To speak of joy and to sing of it, borne on The shoulders of joyous men, to feel the heart That is the common, the bravest fundament, This is a facile exercise.”
Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My leaving a high-ranking tenured position opened up new spaces for teaching and learning that renewed and restored my spirit and enabled me to hold onto the joy in teaching that makes my heart glad.”
Bell hooks (1952–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He let out a yell of joy. They danced round the room. Pressure of population was such that reproduction had to be strict, controlled. Childbirth required government permission. For this moment, they had waited four years. Incoherently they cried their delight.”
Brian Aldiss (1925–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Distant or near, in joy or in sorrow, each in the other sees his true helper to brotherly freedom.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The expression of joy also makes the ego more resilient, less fearful, less resentful of diverse conditions when they occur. The emotion itself is an automatic signal that unites the conscious and subconscious is shared experience.”
Jane Roberts (1929–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have no vision of gods, not of Eros with love-arrows laden, Jupiter thundering death or of Juno his white-breasted queen, Yet have I seen All of the joy of the world in the innocent heart of a maiden.”
Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is joy over disappointment And delight in hopes that were vain. Each poet is glad there was no cure To stop his lonely pain. For nothing keeps a poet In his high singing mood Like unappeasable hunger For unattainable food.”
Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“. . . all joy grows from the root of pain.”
H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925) said by 1925 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are three great truths, 1st, That there is a God; 2nd, That He has spoken to us in the Bible; 3rd, That He means what He says. Oh, the joy of trusting Him!”
James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) said by 1905 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (A.J. Broomhall. Hudson Taylor and China’s Open Century, Book Six: Assault on the Nine. London: Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1988, 322).
“Often he was a joy, and you know, he was one of the few people I ever learned anything from.”
Werner Herzog (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Within your magic web of hair, lies furled The fire and splendour of the ancient world; The dire gold of the comet's wind-blown hair; The songs that turned to gold the evening air When all the stars of heaven sang for joy.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“True joy is a profound remembering; and true grief the same.”
Clive Barker (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O surely this morning all sorrow is hidden, All battle is hushed for this even at least; And no one this noontide may hunger, unbidden To the flowers and the singing and the joy of your feast Where silent ye sit midst the world's tale increased.”
William Morris (1834–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love is enough: cherish life that abideth, Lest ye die ere ye know him, and curse and misname him; For who knows in what ruin of all hope he hideth, On what wings of the terror of darkness he rideth? And what is the joy of man's life that ye blame him For his bliss grown a sword, and his rest grown a fire?”
William Morris (1834–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...nothing is desperately important and the joy of life is just looking at it.”
Alec Guinness (1914–2000) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Positively Final Appearance (Penguin, 1999), 3rd hardback edition, p. 2.
“True silence is the speech of lovers. For only love knows its beauty, completeness and utter joy.”
Catherine Doherty (1896–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In our darkest hour, in my deepest despair, Will you still care? Will you be there? In my trials and my tribulations, Through our doubts and frustrations, In my violence and my turbulence, Through my fear and my confessions, And my anguish and my pain, Through my joy and my sorrow, In the promise of another tomorrow, I'll never let you part, For you're always in my heart.”
Michael Jackson (1958–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one can learn to love by following a manual, and no one can learn to write by following a course. I’m not telling you to seek out other writers but to find people with different skills from yourself, because writing is no different from any other activity done with joy and enthusiasm”.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is one long training session in preparation for what will come. Life and death lose their meaning; there are only challenges to be met with joy and overcome with tranquility.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Defeat is for those who, despite their fears, live with enthusiasm and faith. Defeat is for the valiant. Only they will know the honour of losing and the joy of winning.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the first time, I will smile without feeling guilty, because joy is not a sin... For the first time, I will avoid anything that makes me suffer, because suffering is not a virtue.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have always had the joy of life, uncrushably, a sort of inner sunshine that cannot be put out.”
Marie of Edinburgh, Queen of Romania (1875–1938) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Queen's Counsel, The Joy of Life', The Birmingham News 1926.
“It was in the church that I got to love shadows and dark corners, musty cupboards and creaking floorboards. I was a perfect recruit for the Addams family. Cobwebs made me whimper with joy.”
“Freedom" awakens your rage against everything that is not you; "egoism" calls you to joy over yourselves, to self-enjoyment.”
Max Stirner (1806–1856) said by 1856 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dover 2005, p. 163
“And I don't want to question or even celebrate All the joy you took and then gave back too late.”
Tom Petty (1950–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source