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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“[I]n certain cases an exception to this rule may occur... [when] absorption and the radiation produce other changes in the body.., for example in bodies... chemically changed by light... [etc.]”
Gustav Kirchhoff (1824–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To me, the circle and the square where the sky and the earth, as symbolized by the ancient Oriental religions; they formed a kind of rudimentary alphabet by means of which everything could be expressed with the most limited means. They evoked prehistoric runes and the early I-Ching, or Book of Changes.”
Michel Seuphor (1901–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But who does not see that the work goes beyond the one who created it? It marches before him and he will never again be able to catch up with it, it soon leaves his orbit, it will soon belong to another, since he, more quickly than his work, changes and becomes deformed, since before his work dies, he dies.”
Michel Seuphor (1901–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you think anything ever changes, Salazar asked. That we can make a difference? That we will become a better species? I don’t know, I’m not sure if it even matters. I think all that matters is that we don’t shrink away from the truth and that we keep trying, Sunil said. I like that. Push the stone up the fucking hill because we should. Yes,”
Chris Abani (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To make a story both more alive and more suspenseful one has to think of altering the point of view of each chapter. In doing that one changes styles because each person thinks differently. I find it stimulating though a little daunting, but as reader and writer I am not interested in anything less.”
Edna O'Brien (1930–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want to know what became of the changes We waited for love to bring. Were they only the fitful dreams Of some greater awakening? I've been aware of the time going by; They say in the end it's the wink of an eye.”
Jackson Browne (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you are wired to your memory, repetitions will happen and redundancy will come; but if you are paying attention, that changes your ability to look at things”
Sadhguru (born 1957) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Economic Times, 21 December 2012
“We must now ask how changes of this sort can come about, considering first discoveries, or novelties of fact, and then inventions, or novelties of theory. That distinction between discovery and invention or between fact and theory will, however, immediately prove to be exceedingly artificial.”
Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 52 (2012 ed.)
“We may, to be more precise, have to relinquish the notion, explicit or implicit, that changes of paradigm carry scientists and those who learn from them closer and closer to the truth”
Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The concept of communication includes all of those processes by which people influence one another... This definition is based on the premise that all actions and events have communicative aspects, as soon as they are perceived by a human being; it implies, furthermore, that such perception changes the information which an individual processes and therefor influences him.”
Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 6 as cited in: Stewart L. Tubbs, Robert M. Carter (1978) Shared Experiences in Human Communication. p. 1
“The scientific man seeks truth as a continually developing revelation, and he changes his outlook on the world... as it unfolds itself before his eyes. The priest teaches that in some remote period... God... revealed Truth once and for all time, and his profession is to guard it against all comers.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Chemical analysis classifies according to... systems of electrons which surround a... nucleus, whereas radioactive changes.., [i.e.] veritable transmutations, concern the... constitution of this... nucleus. ...[T]he same exterior may conceal very different interiors in... atomic structure.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“William Ramsay and I had shown in 1903 that was... continuously generated from in a spectroscopically detectable quantity... [S]ubsequent work showed... helium is generated, as α-particles, in all the radioactive changes... [expelling] α−rays...”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What we’re seeing is a manifestation of the layered nature of our descriptions of reality. At the deepest level we currently know about, the basic notions are things like “spacetime,” “quantum fields,” “equations of motion,” and “interactions.” No causes, whether material, formal, efficient, or final. But there are levels on top of that, where the vocabulary changes.”
Sean M. Carroll (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man is entitled to only one great passion in a lifetime. Whether it’s music or a profession or a woman, everything else pales in its afterglow. The searing shock so changes one’s chemistry that if the object is lost, the experience can never be repeated. Only anticlimax remains.”
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What obstacle are you facing? Ask God for breakthrough thinking. Don't think about small changes. Think radically.”
Craig Groeschel (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Philosophy is in history, and is never independent of historical discourse. But for the tacit symbolism of life it substitutes, in principle, a conscious symbolism; for a latent meaning, one that is manifest. It is never content to accept its historical situation. It changes this situation by revealing it to itself.”
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is continuity, you travel, perhaps in your mind, a paper world real, God reeling up and down landscapes and buildings, knocks down, opens new roads, doesn’t like it, changes again, but there isn’t a seam, His world is onefold, and you perceive neither seam nor contradiction, continuity only.”
Dimitris Lyacos (born 1966) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From: Poena Damni Z213: Exit, Shoestring Press, 2010.
“Christianity, … welcomed at first among the religions of escape, changes into a religion that gives cohesion to society”
Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Should anarchists vote? ... For my part, like many anarchists, I think not. To vote is to take part in the organization of the false democracy that has been set up forcefully by the middle class. ... The political game can produce no important changes in our society and we must radically refuse to take part in it.”
Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can accept no responsibility for any changes in your existence, miraculous or otherwise. You must take responsibility for your own life. You must have your own life because if you haven’t had at least that, what have you had?”
Martin Firrell (born 1963) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in What’s On in London (15 August 2001).
“The Internet changes the structure of society all the time—this massiveness made of individuals.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ai Weiwei, "interview for Unilever Series at the Tate Modern, October 12, 2010.
“New York City is a living organism; It evolves, it devolves, it fluctuates as a living organism. So my relationship with New York City is as vitriolic as the relationship with myself and with any other human being which means that it changes every millisecond, that it's in constant fluctuation.”
Timothy Levitch (born 1970) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Cruise (1998)
“The general method involved may be very simply stated. In cases where the equilibrium values of our variables can be regarded as the solutions of an extremum (maximum or minimum) problem, it is often possible regardless of the number of variables involved to determine unambiguously the qualitative behavior of our solution values in respect to changes of parameters.”
Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They are no longer the same because I myself am no longer the same. India always changes people, and I have been no exception.”
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today, no one would dispute that information technology has become the backbone of commerce. It underpins the operations of individual companies, ties together far-flung supply chains, and, increasingly, links businesses to the customers they serve. Hardly a dollar or a euro changes hands anymore without the aid of computer systems.”
Nicholas G. Carr (born 1959) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Why IT Doesn't Matter Anymore, Harvard Business Review, June 9, 2003.
“In fact, changes like the elimination of limbo don’t come from new information, but from secular currents in society that make church dogma seem insupportable or even barbaric.”
Jerry Coyne (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Christian's life on this side and beyond the grave is essentially the same, differing only as a song which, at a certain point, changes from the minor to the major key, and thenceforth wells along with still more glorious harmonies.”
John McClellan Holmes (1834–1911) said by 1911 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dissenting, Shelby County v. Holder (2013)
“And in terms of the peace process, if you don't engage, then by definition, Hamas becomes stronger. We've seen that. Senator Obama won't deal with a non-state actor like Hamas unless Hamas changes its position, unless it's prepared to recognize Israel, unless it makes it clear [that] it gives up on terror, unless it's prepared to recognize previous agreements.”
Dennis Ross (born 1948) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dennis Ross on Why He's Working for Obama and How He'd Talk to Iran", Haaretz (October 23, 2008).
“I've been through so many changes in my life woman It's a wonder I ain't lost my mind And I ain't never said how much I need you sugar But I sho' need you by my side.My love, just thinking about you baby Just blows my mind.”
Lionel Richie (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Lord Jesus is a friend who never changes. There is no fickleness about Him. Those whom He loves, He loves unto the end.”
J. C. Ryle (1816–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A culture truly changes only when a new way of operating has been shown to succeed over some minimum period of time.”
John Kotter (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While it's well known that as one gets older, one tends to find changes in the world at large unsettling, confusing, fucking irritating, a rebuke to one's very existence, it's generally not a good idea to make a career out of saying so. (emphasis in the original)”
Greil Marcus (born 1945) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Marcus on Don Henley in his "Real Life Rock Top Ten" column in Salon (30 May 2000) reprinted in Real Life Rock: The Complete Top Ten Columns, 1986-2014 (2015), p. 206.
“If any changes were to be made in society it had to be by the mothers.”
Leymah Gbowee (born 1972) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gruber Foundation, Women's Rights Prize (2009)
“All’s well that changes least.”
David Levy (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perhaps only some young women, perhaps only a minority of all women, will be able to effect such changes through consciousness alone, through the strength of understanding, which, if transformed into wisdom, always means the performance of necessary actions.”
Phyllis Chesler (born 1940) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Women and Madness (2005), p. 349, and see Women and Madness (1972), p. 302 (similar text).
“I say that religion isn’t about believing things. It’s ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness.”
Karen Armstrong (born 1944) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Profile at TEDprize.org (2009)
“Just when you think you know something, it gets turned around and challenged in some way. But those changes are welcome because you end up learning more.”
Jennifer Beals (born 1963) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview in First for Women magazine (February 8, 2010, p. 46).
“The wonderful and terrible thing about politics in the very broadest sense is that you never know enough, you always find out more and more, and, of course, as you find it out, it changes, too.”
Joanna Russ (1937–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Kalecki thus precisely predicted the economic and political U-turn that occurred with the advent of neoliberalism. Kalecki also argued that fundamental institutional changes, especially regarding wage-setting and other aspects of the employment relationship, would be essential if full employment was to be sustained.”
Jim Stanford (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Human society, like the natural world, has both sunny and rainy days in its development. Our world today is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, and it has entered a new phase of uncertainty and transformation.”
Xi Jinping (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By taking the time to contemplate where you are and where you want to be, you greatly empower yourself. It's a wonderful opportunity to finally set in motion the changes you want in your life.”
Steve Maraboli (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A work of art is not valued because it changes itself for each person who views it, it retains its own integrity and thus means something unique and marvelous to those who see it.”
Charles A. Reich (1928–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Politics is a subordinate matter; its form of appearance constantly changes depending on the needs of the masses, the same way cocottes adjust to the needs of men by transforming and masking themselves. Because of that it is not fundamental. That is about what endures, what is unique, what is in the stream of illusions – what is eliminated from the workings of the shadows.”
Max Beckmann (1884–1950) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a letter to Stephan Lackner, Amsterdam, 29 January 1938; as quoted in Max Beckmann – On my Painting, in the preface, Mayen Beckmann; Tate Publishing London, 2003
“A profile is never motionless before our eyes, but it constantly appears and disappears. On account of the persistency of an image upon the retina, moving objects constantly multiply themselves; their form changes like rapid vibrations.. .To paint a human figure you must not paint it; you must render the whole of its surrounding atmosphere.”
Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Futurism, ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 172.
“Stumbling into the midst of anarchists, barely 18 years old, I too started to dream of 'inevitable changes, inhuman society, free love', etc.”
Carlo Carrà (1881–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The typical Westerner wishes to be the cause of as many changes as possible in his environment; the typical Chinaman wishes to enjoy as much and as delicately as possible.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Problem of China (1922), Ch. XII: The Chinese Character
“Nicias, do you think you can erase with good deeds the wrongs you committed against your mother? What good deed will ever reach her? Her soul is a scorching noon time, without a single breath of a breeze, nothing moves, nothing changes, nothing lives there; a great emaciated sun, an immobile sun eternally consumes her.”
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source