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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“Burning 2000 people took about 24 hours in the five stoves. Usually we could manage to cremate only about 1700 to 1800. We were thus always behind in our cremating because as you can see it was much easier to exterminate by gas than to cremate, which took so much more time and labor.”
Rudolf Höss (1900–1947) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn, April 9, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004
“Not that there weren't real communists in the labor unions, and real spies in Washington, but these had nothing to do with the show that was being put on for us, which seemed entirely designed to Make Us Take This Thing Seriously. From abroad, where I was for much of the time, it looked as if the United States were trying to act like a superpower by holding its very own show trials.”
Wilfrid Sheed (1930–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men must have life, the opportunity to learn, to labor, to love. Without these fundamental virtues we cannot achieve. We must not give up the struggle until this is obtained.”
Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.”
Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) said by 1792 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Time magazine December 8, 1930
“Mein background bestand ja darin, daß ich ein Labor gegründet hatte, das Biological Computer Lab an der University of Illinois – da sind sehr viele freaks gewesen, also Leute, die nicht so denken wie alle anderen.”
Heinz von Foerster (1911–2002) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Von Foerster in: "Interview mit Heinz von Foerster". by Kai Lorenz, Gernot Grub. Berlin, 23 January 1997.
“The Soviet Army, Air Force and Navy are strong enough to thwart any attempts of imperalist reaction to disrupt the peaceful labor of our people or the unity and solidarity of the socialist camp.”
Rodion Malinovsky (1898–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Diplomacy of Power: Soviet Armed Forces as a Political Instrument" - Page 93 - by Stephen S. Kaplan - Political Science - 1981
“Labor has a universal position of opposition to the death penalty both at home and abroad... It is not possible in our view to be selective in the application of this policy.”
Kevin Rudd (born 1957) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement made in 2002.
“Labor’s message then is this: we believe in a strong economy; we believe also in a fair go for all, not just for some.”
Kevin Rudd (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Quicquid Venus imperat Labor est suavis, quę nunquam in cordibus habitat ignavis.”
Archpoet (1130–1165) said by 1165 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While soldiers were winning victories, so-called labor leaders were engaged in high treason.”
Werner von Blomberg (1878–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "A History of Militarism: Civilian and Military" - Page 430 - by Alfred Vagts - History - 1967
“From the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism; from the waste of idle lands to the joy of useful labor; from the prejudice based on race and sex; from the loneliness of the aging poor and the despair of the neglected sick: come home, America.”
George McGovern (1922–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In short, ‘one-size-fits-all’ rules for business ignore the reality of the market place. And setting thresholds for regulatory guidelines at artificial levels--e.g., 50 employees or more, $500,000 in sales--takes no account of other realities, such as profit margins, labor intensive vs. capital intensive businesses, and local market economics.”
George McGovern (1922–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ye rigid Plowmen! Bear in mind Your labor is for future hours. Advance! spare not! nor look behind! Plow deep and straight with all your powers!”
Richard Henry Horne (1802–1884) said by 1884 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Plow, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919); reported as The Plough in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 18-19.
“Unlike Arafat or Nasir, Sadat had been an avid admirer of Hitler... In assessing Sadat's enthusiasm for Hitler, however, it should be noted that unlike the many Zionist leaders (of both the Labor and Revisionist camps) who collaborated with the Nazis, some up to 1941 but others as late as 1944, Sadat only supported them from afar.”
Joseph Massad (born 1963) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Massad, in "Palestinians and Jewish History: Recognition or Submission?", Journal of Palestine Studies (2000)
“I have pleaded (labor's) case, not in the quavering tones of a feeble mendicant asking alms, but in the thundering voice of the captain of a mighty host, demanding the rights to which free men are entitled.”
John L. Lewis (1880–1969) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at United Mine Workers convention at Indianapolis (March 1940), quoted in Melvyn Dubofsky and Warren R. Van Tine, John L. Lewis: A Biography (1986), p. 278
“No tin-hat brigade of goose-stepping vigilantes or bibble-babbling mob of blackguarding and corporation paid scoundrels will prevent the onward march of labor, or divert its purpose to play its natural and rational part in the development of the economic, political and social life of our nation.”
John L. Lewis (1880–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Labor is marching toward the goal of industrial democracy and contributing constructively toward a more rational arrangement of our domestic economy.”
John L. Lewis (1880–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Workers have kept faith in American institutions. Most of the conflicts which have occurred have been when labor's right to live has been challenged and denied.”
John L. Lewis (1880–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Through idleness, lusts and harmful thoughts grow, but through the exercise of labor, vices are likewise diminished.”
Isidore of Seville (560–636) said by 636 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward us openly.”
Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What delight will it afford to renew the sweet counsel we have taken together, to recount the toils, the combats, and the labor of the way, and to approach, not the house, but the throne of God, in company, in order to join in the symphonies of heavenly voices, and lose ourselves amidst the splendors and fruitions of the beatific vision.”
Robert Hall (1764–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The essence of a software entity is a construct of interlocking concepts: […] I believe the hard part of building software to be the specification, design, and testing of this conceptual construct, not the labor of representing it and testing the fidelity of the representation.”
Fred Brooks (1931–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maybe I should ask for blessings on my mission against all those who wear white after Labor Day.”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I eat a meal, I think of all the people whose labor has contributed to my nourishment, and that thought nourishes my appreciation. I hope it nourishes you too.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We think of the division of labor as being outdated, but in fact it has reemerged. In the early ‘80s, a mother was 43 times more likely than the father to leave the workplace for family responsibilities; more recently, a mom is 135 times more likely to leave the workplace for family responsibilities.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is a good day for the world's children. Children who today have no right to their own childhood, to education, to personal inviolability, have with these two representatives, these prize winners, got a voice both for the right to education — particularly for girls — and against unfair and exploitative child labor.”
Angela Merkel (born 1954) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reaction to the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize announcement CTV News, (10th October 2014)
“But man, being, as I have said, essentially an active being, he must find in activity his joy, as well as his duty and glory. And labor, like everything else that is good, is its own exceeding great reward.”
Edwin Percy Whipple (1819–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Loafing and Laboring", The North American Review, Vol. CLIII, No. 416 (July 1891), p. 34. Sometimes misattributed to Henry Benjamin Whipple.
“I will act now. For now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the evil become good. I am not evil. Tomorrow is the day when the weak become strong. I am not weak. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now.”
Og Mandino (1923–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Profane history shows that the Lacedaemonians, who were gentiles, did not practice capital punishment; but they imprisoned them and them at labor.”
Menno Simons (1496–1561) said by 1561 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“if you increase living standards you make labor more productive. This is why Asia today is becoming more productive than the United States.”
Michael Hudson (economist) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Higher Taxes on Top 1% Equals Higher Productivity", Video Interview (13:28), Real News Network (TRNN), (January 1, 2011)
“Labor may be paid more and more, but its rising wages are stripped away to pay the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE) sector. p 391”
Michael Hudson (economist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most serious problems lie in the financial sphere, where the economy’s debt overhead has grown more rapidly than the ‘real’ economy’s ability to carry this debt. … The essence of the global financial bubble is that savings are diverted to inflate the stock market, bond market and real estate prices rather than to build new factories and employ more labor.”
Michael Hudson (economist) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Financial Capitalism v. Industrial Capitalism (September 3, 1998)
“I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.”
John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Labor is the true alchemist that beats out in patient transmutation the baser metals into gold.”
William Morley Punshon (1824–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Division of labor is central to our way of life. Each person must perform as a tiny cog in a big machine. If, on the other hand, your primary goal is wholeness, egalitarianism, autonomy, and an intact world, then there's quite a lot wrong with it.”
John Zerzan (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the fact that most Americans want others to fund or subsidize their healthcare, it does not follow that they have such a right. A need is not a right. A man's life, liberty and the products of his labor were not intended to be up for grabs by grubby, greedy majorities.”
Ilana Mercer first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Defunct Foundations of the Republic,” WorldNetDaily.com, January 1, 2010.
“The plain truth is that labor is the chief representative force that keeps the real special interests from dominating American political life.”
Lane Kirkland (1922–1999) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cited by Arthur B. Shostak, Robust Unionism: Innovations in the Labor Movement (1991), p. 190.
“Organized labor should organize its women along industrial lines. Politics is only the servant of industry. The plutocrats have organized their women. They keep them busy with suffrage and prohibition and charity.”
Mother Jones (died 1930) said by 1930 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures.”
Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Shoe workers' journal, Volume 16‎ (1915) p. 4
“What does labor want? We want more school houses and less jails. More books and less guns. More learning and less vice. More leisure and less greed. More justice and less revenge. We want more … opportunities to cultivate our better natures.”
Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Mantsios, Gregory. A New Labor Movement for the New Century. Florence, Ky.: Taylor & Francis, 1998, p. 51.
“As far as is possible under the ruthless tyranny the organized labor of [Soviet] Russia is everywhere in a state of full revolt.”
Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Out of Their Own Mouths: A Revelation and an Indictment of Sovietism, New York: NY, E.P Dutton and Company (1921) p. 87, co-authored with William English Walling.
“We feel as if we were hard labor convicts where everything but our feeding has been made subject to iron rules. We have become lost as human beings, and have been turned into slaves.”
Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Out of Their Own Mouths: A Revelation and an Indictment of Sovietism, New York: NY, E.P Dutton and Company (1921) p. 84. Resolution from the Petrograd workers, (Sept. 5, 1920). Co-authored by William English Walling.
“It is absolutely outrageous that a spin doctor for Labor's NBN Co is being paid $450,000 per annum by Australian taxpayers to promote a company that generates no revenue, has no customers and provides no services to anybody”
Nick Minchin (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Someone once said that Margaret Thatcher satisfied the average Englishman's longing for the perfect dominatrix. No doubt about it, she could deliver pain. The Iron Lady should best be remembered as the Leather Lady. Indeed, today Thatcherism leaves its dreary imprint not only on the Conservative Party but---thanks also to Tony Blair---on a Labor Party that accepts most of her regressive policies.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Requiem for a Dominatrix" (2013)
“The withholding of labor by workers is called a strike, but not the withholding of capital by employers. The latter is never treated as a controversial disruption of the production process.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Russia became a juicy chunk of the Third World, with immense reserves of cheap labor, a vast treasure of natural resources, and industrial assets to be sold off at giveaway prices.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can see China still cannot offer any real value to the world except as cheap labor, manufacturer, and its own so-called stability. Besides that, I don’t see any creative values and creative mind or thinking [that] can be announced from China. So this is the struggle China has to face in the next decades.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is they who glorify, who shall enjoy Him; they who deny themselves, who shall not be denied; they who labor on earth, who shall rest in heaven; they who bear the cross, who shall wear the crown; they who seek to bless others, who shall be blessed.”
Thomas Guthrie (1803–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Apartheid was based on a fallacy: the fallacy that nonwhites could be used as labor to drive society; that nonwhites could physically form a majority inside South Africa, but that they could not determine the nature of South African society.”
Arthur Kemp (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Somehow, white South Africans believed that black labor was like a lawn mower: you could have it around, and when you didn’t need it, you could hide it in its little shed where it would be good and quiet-until you needed it again.”
Arthur Kemp (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source