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
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Friendship
LoveFriendshipHappinessHopeFearCourageDeathLifeTimeWarPeaceFreedomTruthWisdomKnowledgeScienceArtMusicNatureMoneyWorkPowerGodBeautyLaughterFamilySuccess and failureChangeDreamsBooks and reading
“A mother who is not everything for her children: a friend, a teacher, a confidant, a source of joy and founded pride, inducement and soothing, reconciliator, judge and forgiver, that mother obviously chose the wrong job.”
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The night is my best friend. It calms the storm in my soul and it lets the guiding stars rise.”
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Jew is the plastic demon of decomposition. Where he finds filth and decay, he surfaces and begins his butcher’s work among the nations. He hides behind a mask and presents himself as a friend to his victims, and before they know it he has broken their neck.”
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes I thought you died alone, a long long time ago.”
David Bowie (1947–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's a god-awful small affair To the girl with the mousy hair But her mummy is yelling "No" And her daddy has told her to go But her friend is nowhere to be seen Now she walks through her sunken dream To the seat with the clearest view And she's hooked to the silver screen. But the film is a saddening bore 'Cause she's lived it ten times or more.”
David Bowie (1947–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On Sunday July 5th at 5pm we’re all saying #ThankYouTogether! Whether you’re thanking the NHS, key workers, delivery drivers or a friend, neighbour or colleague who has helped you during this time - join us on your doorstep and help spread the word. together.org.uk”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (3 July 2020)
“Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000); here, Lee was reciting lines he wrote for his short lived role on the TV series Longstreet.
“Emptiness the starting point. — In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all your preconceived and fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is useful? Because it is empty.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes, he loved his mother like no other, His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother. One thing on which you can depend is, He sure knew who a boy's best friend is.”
Tom Lehrer (1928–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For it is no longer possible to regard Fascism as the friend of Christianity. And in making a cultural treaty with Hitler, Franco has laid Spain wide open to the penetration of Nazi ideology, which has been repeatedly denounced by the Pope himself as anti-Christian.”
Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 287, "Spain and the Catholics" January 27, 1939)
“My life? Oh, my life I abandon without a regret! I have seen the Past; and I foresee the Future. What friend of his country would wish to survive the moment when he could no longer serve it — when he could no longer defend innocence against oppression?”
Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) said by 1794 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What makes you weep, my friend? In you is all power. Summon up your all-powerful nature, O mighty one, and this whole universe will lie at your feet. It is the Self alone that predominates, and not matter.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My friend asked me if I wanted a frozen banana, I said "No, but I want a regular banana later, so … yeah".”
Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is what my friend said to me; he said "You know what I like? Mashed potatoes." It's like, "Dude. you gotta give me time to guess. If you're gonna quiz me, you must insert a pause in there.”
Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Last week I helped my friend stay put. It's a lot easier'n helpin' 'em move. I just went over to his house and made sure that he did not start to load shit into a truck.”
Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My friend said to me "I think the weather's trippy." I said "No, man, it's not the weather that's trippy, perhaps it is the way that we perceive it that is indeed trippy." Then I thought "Man, I should have just said 'Yeah.'”
Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was walking down the street with my friend and he said "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work.”
Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His enemy was time. Or perhaps it was his friend. One never knows for sure.”
Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do I want you to talk to me, old friend? Do I need your reminders, your wry confirmation that faith is for fools?”
Steven Erikson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Corporations are people, my friend … course they are!”
Mitt Romney (born 1947) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Iowa, August 2011, quoted in {{cite news
“Rick Perry: But, you know, I'm just saying, you were for individual mandates, my friend. Mitt Romney: You know what, you've raised that before, Rick, uh, and you're still wrong. Rick Penny: It was true then. And it's true now. Mitt Romney: Rick, I'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet?”
Mitt Romney (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I will send a strong message that Israel is our friend, that we will assist in their security and that we don't find nuclear weapons acceptable as Iran is currently envisioning it.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Obama says Clinton has foreign policy like Bush's 26 July 2007
“It’s a partnership not just with nations, but with people, with you, for decades to come. Bound by the values we share, guided by the vision we seek, I am absolutely confident we can advance the security and the prosperity and the dignity of people across this region. And in pursuit of that future, you will have no greater friend than the United States of America.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And I can tell you as a friend that sustainable prosperity in the 21st century depends upon education, health care, and environmental protection. But it also depends on the free and open exchange of ideas. If you can’t access information online, if you cannot be exposed to different points of view, you will not reach your full potential. And over time, the youth will lose hope.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A friend Alan and I ended up in an Outback pub in a place called Daly Waters and apparently, he says, in the course of this very lively evening we spent there I offered to do a house swap with a family from Korea. We weren't sure whether they were from North Korea or South Korea.”
Bill Bryson (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On lonely nights, I start to fade Her love's a thousand miles away It's 4 AM and I can't sleep Her love is all that I can see Memories made in the coldest winter Goodbye, my friend, will I ever love again? If spring can take the snow away Can it melt away all our mistakes?”
Kanye West (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm a good friend, but I'm a hell of an enemy. As your enemy, I want your demise. When I feel that in my heart it burns till I die.”
Mike Tyson (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At every crisis in one's life, it is absolute salvation to have some sympathetic friend to whom you can think aloud without restraint or misgiving.”
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Mary Allen Hulbert Peck (1 August 1909), PWW 19:321
“I am inclined to follow the course suggested by a friend of mine who says that he has always followed the rule never to murder a man who is committing suicide, and clearly this misdirected gentleman is committing suicide slowly but surely.”
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Bernard Baruch (19 August 1916), PWW 38:51
“Love means to look at yourself The way one looks at distant things For you are only one thing among many. And whoever sees that way heals his heart, Without knowing it, from various ills — A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.”
Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The World": Love (1943), trans. Czesŀaw Miŀosz
“What's your name, new best friend?”
Kevin Smith (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Acidophilus milk"?! What the fuck are you talking about?! "Acidophilus milk"?! Milk doesn't need a friend! That shit belongs in the yogurt section! "Lactose-intolerant milk"?! Kiss my DICK! If you're lactose-intolerant, you can't drink milk. So what's in the fucking carton? Get it outta there, get it away from my milk! It is talking to my milk and making it feel bad about itself!”
Lewis Black (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They put the cold dirt over him and left me on my own And when at last I looked up I saw I was not alone So I said— If you're a relative, he had a peaceful end. She said— My name is Corey— you can say I'm just a friend.”
Harry Chapin (1942–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the look on her face as she opened the door Was like an old joke told by a friend. It'd taken ten more years but she'd found her smile And I watched the corners start to bend.”
Harry Chapin (1942–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Friend Ralph, thou hast Outrun the constable at last.”
Samuel Butler (poet) first seen 1367 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Canto III, line 1367
Also quoted by: Samuel Butler
“Under John Kennedy's leadership, this Nation has demonstrated that it has the courage to seek peace, and it has the fortitude to risk war. We have proved that we are a good and reliable friend to those who seek peace and freedom. We have shown that we can also be a formidable foe to those who reject the path of peace and those who seek to impose upon us or our allies the yoke of tyranny.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What have I become, My sweetest friend? Everyone I know Goes away in the end. You could have it all, My empire of dirt. I will let you down; I will make you hurt.”
Trent Reznor (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“/.../I would never shake the hand of a person like the German foreign minister, nor would I let him in my house. He is the prototype of a shameful politician; the one who makes a career as a protester and a friend of the peace, in order to use his official ideals to get a well paid position as a war mongering foreign minister. A political scum.”
Joschka Fischer (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All my lovers asked me why they couldn't replace Mary, but it's simply impossible. The only friend I've got is Mary and I don't want anybody else. To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other, that's enough for me.”
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Mary Austin, a long time companion, and the inheritor of most of his estate, as quoted in "For A Song : The Mercury that's rising in rock is Freddie the satiny seductor of Queen" by Fred Hauptfuhrer, in People magazi…
“The man who seeks to arouse prejudice among workingmen is not their friend. He who advises the white wage-worker to look down upon the black wage-worker is the enemy of both.”
Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) said by 1926 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When the Dead do walk, seek water’s run, For this the Dead will always shun. Swift river’s best or broadest lake To ward the Dead and haven make. If water fails thee, fire’s thy friend; If neither guards, it will be thy end.”
“There's a light that is shining in the heart of a man, it's the light that was shining when the world began. There's a light that is shining in the Turk and the Jew and a light that is shining, friend, in me and in you.”
Sydney Carter (1915–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now is the time for the true friend of his country to remind the masses that their present political elevation is owing to no principles less broad and noble than these—the love of liberty, of liberty for all without distinction of class, creed, or country, and the resolute preference of the interests of the whole to any interest, be it what it may, of a narrower scope.”
William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) first seen 1894 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sir John Cowan (17 March 1894), quoted in The Times (22 March 1894), p. 8
“Every friend of freedom... must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence.”
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Open Letter to Bill Bennett" in The Wall Street Journal (7 September 1989)
“And I wondered, not for the first time, what patriotism is, what the love of country truly consists of, how that yearning loyalty that had shaken my friend’s voice arises, and how so real a love can become, too often, so foolish and vile a bigotry. Where does it go wrong?”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think it's sort of a compliment. Jay Mohr does it in front of me all the time. I've got another friend who does me on his answering machine. When I call him, I hear myself.”
Christopher Walken (born 1943) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On individuals' impressions of Walken, interview in Randy Cordova (December 22, 2002) "Workaholic Walken Is Marvelous 'Catch'", The Arizona Republic, p. E3.
“It has varied. I don’t know if it’s good or bad but a dear friend of mine Aziz (Mirza) asked me not to do Don. I was also told to cut my hair and to change my name because someone said that there couldn’t be a movie star by the name of Shah Rukh Khan. (when asked the worst piece of professional advice that someone has given him)”
Shahrukh Khan (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Give me a house furnished with books rather than furniture! Both, if you can, but books at any rate! To spend several days in a friend’s house and hunger for something to read, while you are treading on costly carpets, sitting upon luxurious chairs and sleeping upon down, is as if one were bribing your body for the sake of cheating your mind.”
Horace Mann (1796–1859) said by 1859 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Quit yo Jibber-jabber! You ain't hurt, yo pathetic!, Argh! If I ever catch you acting like a crazy fool again, you're gonna meet my friend pain! Snickers, get some nuts!”
“With the passing of Alan Shepard, our nation has lost an outstanding patriot, one of its finest pilots -and I have lost a very close friend.”
Alan Shepard (1923–1998) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Senator John Glenn — reported in Nicole Koch (July 24, 1998) "The man who played golf on the Moon", The Daily Telegraph (Australia), p. 035.