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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“After all, everybody, that is, everybody who writes is interested in living inside themselves in order to tell what is inside themselves. That is why writers have to have two countries, the one where they belong and the one in which they live really. The second one is romantic, it is separate from themselves, it is not real but it is really there.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The reason why all of us naturally began to live in France is because France has scientific methods, machines and electricity, but does not really believe that these things have anything to do with the real business of living.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“HOLY SHIT, I LIVE NEXT TO THE DRY PEA AND LENTIL CAPITAL OF THE WORLD? Why didn't anyone tell me??? Here I've been shit-listing Utah for all these years, when I've been living in a state that borders the dry pea and lentil capital of the world. I hereby revoke anything bad I've ever said about Idaho. And by revoke, I mean reaffirm.”
“Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way. Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary masterplan, as a degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people's own failure as individuals.”
Václav Havel (1936–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't really live on compliments. As a matter of fact, they have a way of distracting me. I know a whole lot of musicians, artists out there who hears the compliments and thinks "wow, I must have been really great" and so they get fat and satisfied and they get lost and forget about their actual talent and start living in another world.”
Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are not here merely to prepare to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.”
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ideals of College”, Swarthmore (25 October 1913)
“I normally live in Los Angeles, if you can call it normal living.”
Morrissey (born 1959) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From the TV documentary The Importance of Being Morrissey (2003); also quoted in "Return of the lone stranger" by Mark Simpson in Guardian Unlimited (31 May 2003)
“Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live.”
Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conflict in Vietnam and at Home" speech at Kansas State University on March 18, 1968 as part of the Alfred M. Landon Lectures on Public Issues.
“To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain the sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live. Who is worthy to be present at the constant unfolding of time?”
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lot of the people who live here [Miami] are island people -- from Cuba, Haiti. People are very vibrant, and color is important living here. You're inspired every day by the sun, the sky, the landscape, the lushness. [Artist Romero Britto's] painting and artwork reflect that.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: www.nytimes.com (February 2, 2007)
“[I]nstitutions and communities need to be able to exploit their comparative advantages. It’s not just that the Marine Corps demands more from its members than the Peace Corps; it’s that the Marines demand different things. For some people, being a Marine would be a kind of living Hell; for others it is a reason to live. That’s what the individual pursuit of happiness means.”
Jonah Goldberg (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Historical sense and poetic sense should not, in the end, be contradictory, for if poetry is the little myth we make, history is the big myth we live, and in our living, constantly remake.”
Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Foreword, Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices — A New Version (1979)
“To live lightheartedly but not recklessly; to be gay without being boisterous; to be courageous without being bold; to show trust and cheerful resignation without fatalism — this is the art of living.”
Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695) said by 1695 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in From Grandmother with Love (2005) by Becky Kelly and Patrick Regan, p. 53.
“Somewhere among every man's ancestors is a prince or a lord, a priest or a saint, and don't forget it. Wake up! Inherit the wealth of your ancestors!.. Stop living like a mouse, live like the rich people do.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The past, he said. The past is too much with me. And the past has made me useless. I have too much to remember—so much to remember that it becomes more important than the things there are to do. I’m living in the past and that is no way to live.”
Clifford D. Simak (1904–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you believe that science and technology have given us the highest standard of living in history or that they have trapped us inside of a machine we can't escape from, we live in a situation we inherited, as a result of a long and complex series of events through history. At no time in the past could anybody have known that what they were doing then would end up like this now.”
James Burke (science historian) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But Parz was better than nothing: it offered stability, regulation, a framework to live in. People gripe about their tithes—and nobody’s going to pretend that the Committee gets it right all the time—but most of us would prefer taxes to living wild. With all respect to you, my friend.” He bit into his cake. “And that’s still true today; as true as it ever was.”
Stephen Baxter (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Argument almost always leaves behind a sore feeling in the heart of the one who has been worsted. By loving teaching, by Christ-like living, we are to win this people for our Lord. They do not understand what disinterested love and unselfishness mean: you are to go and live it amont them.”
James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) said by 1905 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The heavy trouble, the bewildering care That weighs us down who live and earn our bread, These idle verses have no power to bear; So let em sing of names rememberèd, Because they, living not, can ne'er be dead, Or long time take their memory quite away From us poor singers of an empty day.”
William Morris (1834–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is an elegant memorial in Washington to Jefferson, but none to Hamilton. However, if you seek Hamilton's monument, look around. You are living in it. We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country, a mighty industrial nation with a strong central government.”
George Will (born 1941) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Restoration: Congress, Term Limits and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy, Simon & Schuster (c. 1992), Chapter 2, p. 167 :
“I had a year where I sat around on my butt and declined generous offers to do more teen movies and more of the same characters as the one from 10 Things. I was literally living off Ramen noodles and water just because I was sticking to my guns. It was very hard because they offer you so much money. It's so easy to say, 'Ah fuck it, at least I can live and eat.'”
Heath Ledger (1979–2008) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Detour (Summer 2000).
“The intellectual … may live for ideas, as I have said, but something must prevent him from living for one idea, from becoming obsessive or grotesque. Although there have been zealots whom we may still regard as intellectuals, zealotry is a defect of the breed and not of the essence.”
Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a firm believer in living as if there were no such thing as a secret. If we hide our sins and live in darkness, we will never get the healing we so desperately need; in fact, if it is hidden so well that we don't even recognize it, we may never even find forgiveness.”
Ted Haggard (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The chief aim of education is to show you, after you make a livelihood, how to enjoy living; and you can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning.”
Gilbert Highet (1906–1978) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Immortal Profession: The Joys of Teaching and Learning (1976) quoted in Audio Visual Communication Review, Volume 25; Turkish Nomad: The Intellectual Journey of Talat S Halman; The Academic Reviewer, Issue 1, by the…
“Or is all this fuss actually important for >? Oh, no, never. If things only ever originated as a result of such competition (between subject- and subjectless art) , it wouldn't be worth living among them, like an accidental, capricious toy. Clearly there is a greater, a more serene and more modest power, but we are either too lazy to live by its laws, or we have no time, or it "hurts too much".”
Marc Chagall (1887–1985) first seen 1906 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: letter to A. N. Benois, 1918; as quoted in Marc Chagall - the Russian years 1906 – 1922, editor Christoph Vitali, exhibition catalogue, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 1991, p. 150
“I think the best thing is being able to play golf competitively for a living. Ever since I was a little boy, that's something I've always wanted to do, and now I get a chance to live out my dreams.”
Tiger Woods (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm growing older but not up. My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck. Let those winds of time blow over my head. I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead.”
Jimmy Buffett (1946–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A revolutionary poem will not tell you who or when to kill, what and when to burn, or even how to theorize. It reminds you... where and when and how you are living and might live, it is a wick of desire. (XXVIII: "What if")”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Unions were created to make living conditions just a little better than they were before they were created, and the union that does not manifest that kind of interest in human beings cannot endure, it cannot live.”
Philip Murray (1886–1952) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, Vol. 14 (1952), p. 232
“(A) writer, a man I loved and he loved me and we got married and it was great and is still great. He believed I could do anything, just as my parents had believed all those years ago, and I started to write fiction and that took off fine. And he loved Ireland, and the fax was invented so we writers could live anywhere we liked, instead of living in London near publishers.”
Maeve Binchy (1939–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If trees cut stars and eyes to heaven I'll bend them back, I'll bend them again If my skin looks tired and old from living I'll turn right back and live it again”
Richard Ashcroft (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For some of you, the civil rights movement might seem like ancient history, but it was live, in living color.”
Yolanda King (1955–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness: The art of living happily is to forget the past which no longer exists, not to be worried about the future which has not come yet, and to live the present movement mindfully and wisely. All we have is here and now.”
Thích Nhật Từ (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Little House books are stories of long ago. The way we live and your schools are much different now, so many changes have made living and learning easier. But the real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to children (February 1947)
“A belief in the validity of the acquisition of knowledge and a scientific understanding of the world we live in, the creation and appreciation of aesthetic phenomena in all their many forms, and the broadening and deepening of our range of experiences in day-to-day living, is rapidly becoming the ‘religion’ of our time.”
Desmond Morris (1928–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I write of a coming shift from a profit-taking economy to a gift economy, from an economy of ‘how can I take the most?’ to ‘how can I best give of my gifts?’ This future, in which the anxiety of "making a living" no longer drives us, will arise out of the transformation in the human sense of self that is gathering today. But it is not only a future. We can live it now.”
Charles Eisenstein (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lets you and I try to live on food stamps in New Jersey (high cost of living) and feed a family for a week or month. U game?”
Cory Booker (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Manipulate? Yes, I manipulated. And despite the ensuing events, I would do so again, for it is the function of psychiatry to encourage the living to live.”
Lucius Shepard (1943–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The original, shimmering self gets buried so deep that most of us end up hardly living out of it at all. Instead we live out all the other selves, which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s weather.”
Frederick Buechner (1926–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most of today's youth seem to almost instinctively realize that they are living on borrowed time. After all, we are the first generation that has had to live with the knowledge that we could completely destroy ourselves. People want to know what to do about it, or if there is any way to avoid it or prepare for it, to survive it.”
David Berg (1919–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was not the fashion for politicians who aspired to elective office to live ostentatiously, no matter how much money they had. If they loved luxury—and most of them did—they indulged that love in ways less publicly obvious than by living in mansions. The public believes what it thinks it sees.”
Fredric Brown (1906–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stop pointing fingers and take some blame, Pull your future away from the flame. Open up your mind and start to live. Stop short changing your neighbors, Living off hand outs and favors, and maybe Give a little bit more than you got to give. Simplify, testify, identify, rectify.”
“The GOP is so disconnected from the basic idea that people should be paid enough to live that Fox actually thinks me paying a living wage in my office is “communism.” So the next time GOP screams “socialist,” know that’s their go-to attack for any common-sense, humane policy.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born 1989) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter post, (25 February 2019)
“Living beings who love themselves no more ardently than they love others are prodigies, and it will never be otherwise so long as beings are born as they are and live in like conditions.”
J. Howard Moore (1862–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is the nature of all living creatures, including Homo sapiens, I believe, to adapt to a place where they may survive. If that is something we as social beings called home then home it is for my main character in The Guardians, Regina who has plunked down hard earned pennies on a cachito of terreno where she can survive, plants some vegetables to live from, etc.”
Ana Castillo (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“we don’t live in a society, generally, that supports dreams as knowledge. And we’re not living in a place like that.”
“By facing mortality, it seems to inform how you live. So, the secret is that facing death has a lot to do with living well…”
“Urban planning is a long history of cities (and their planners) seeing, and deliberately not seeing, the people who live in them. Working in city planning makes me consider the city as an organism, as a machine for living in…”
Arkady Martine (born 1985) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how being a city planner affects her writing in “Questions For Arkady Martine, Author Of 'A Memory Called Empire'” in NPR (2019 Apr 7)
“in all of my books, you see disease and people grappling with disease. But disease itself is something that always has a name. It's something that characters learn to face forthrightly. And it's something that they eventually learn to live with. And those were very good lessons, not just for the writing of this book, but for living in our current moment. (NPR, 2022)”
Hanya Yanagihara (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would have been horrified by what I perceive in the Indo-European world. . . . To live in a trifunctional system would give me the impression of living in a prison. Therefore, I study the three functions, I explore this prison, but I would never want to have lived there. If I was visiting cannibals, I would seek to know as much as possible about them but I would stay well away from the cauldron.”
Georges Dumézil (1898–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source