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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“Whosoever has a natural leaning towards a science, even if it was less noble than another, should not abandon it for the other because if he did he would be like someone who would be growing coconuts in al-Andalus and olive trees in India, crops that would never fructify.”
Ibn Hazm (994–1064) said by 1064 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In general, the books of RV level I (RV 4-6) are thoroughly South Asian and have reference to local climate, trees and animals. We therefore have to take them seriously at their word, and cannot claim that they belong just to Afghanistan.”
Michael Witzel (born 1943) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: WITZEL 2000: The Languages of Harappa. Witzel, Michael. Feb. 17, 2000. (WITZEL 2000a:§13). Quoted in Talageri, S. G. (2010). The Rigveda and the Avesta. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.
“If I was to safeguard Taiwan, I would have to plant trees.”
Lai Pei-yuan first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lai Pei-yuan (2013) cited in "Taiwan's 'King of the Trees' fights for the forests" on Terra Daily, 10 February 2013.
“Your highness is forgetting that I see as clearly in your heart what is going on now as I saw your carriage coming from the Carmelite convent, traversing the town and stopping under the trees fifty paces off from my house.”
Alessandro Cagliostro (1743–1795) said by 1795 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The leaves were still on the trees but were becoming dry, perched like birds ready to fly off.”
Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Native American teachings describe the relations all around-animals, fish, trees, and rocks as our brothers, sisters, uncles, and grandpas. Our relations to each other, our prayers whispered across generations to our relatives, are what bind our cultures together.”
Winona LaDuke (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just because the coal exists, do they have to strip mine it? Just because the water flows, does that mean they have to dam it? Just because the trees are there, does that mean they have to cut them? At what point do we restrain ourselves in this society so that something is left because it has value on its own?”
Winona LaDuke (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have heard that a number of times in my life. "You guys should get over it, it happened a long time ago." You cannot get over it if you are still in the same circumstance as a consequence of what happened a hundred years ago. You cannot get over it if you are still in exactly the same relationship as you were a hundred years ago. Some try to keep their trees and some try to take them.”
Winona LaDuke (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have such a vivid memory of listening to this song ("Brooklyn Baby" by Lana Del Rey) with the top down of my dads 1960s car and just feeling like I was in a music video or something. My hair was blowing in the wind and all I could see was the palm trees above me. I seriously had never felt cooler in my life.”
Lilia Buckingham (born 2003) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Article in Notion (8 February 2019)
“Meta-Programming Erlang is not really easy because of the way the trees are parsed.”
Joe Armstrong (programmer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“According to the Ninth Insight, by the middle of the next millennium, he continued, humans will typically live among five hundred year old trees and carefully tended gardens, yet within easy travel distance of an urban area of incredible technological wizardry.”
James Redfield (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And if my friends refused to listen to me, then the walls had to hear me or the stones in the fields and the trees of the forests.”
Julius Bahnsen (1830–1881) first seen 1830 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Harry Slochower in "Julius Bahnsen, Philosopher of Heroic Despair, 1830-1881" (1932), The Philosophical Review, 41(4), p. 371
“Bud Wilkinson was a big, blond, articulate man with a soft, modulated voice and a smile that would charm the birds out of the trees. When he was standing talking with somebody, he would sometimes shuffle his feet, bob his head, and, clasping his hands in front of him, rub them softly together. You felt comfortable in his presence and drawn to him even before you were introduced.”
Harold Keith (1903–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We did not see ourselves as remaking cinema at the time, at least not in my view. Myself and the other actors were not part of the industry; we weren’t inside the star system. We were running around, shooting in the streets, hiding behind trees to do our makeup. It was a very simple way of working.”
Anna Karina (1940–2019) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Anna Karina Recalls Her Life in Film With Jean-Luc Godard" by Glenn Kenny, 4 May 2016, The New York Times (nytimes.com)
“In rural areas the Vanavasis attacked the Muslim moneylenders, shopkeepers and the forest contractors. They used their traditional bows and arrows as also their implements used to cut trees and grass while attacking Muslims. They moved in groups and used coded signals for communication. Apparently, the accumulated anger of years of exploitation ... had become explosive.”
Nicole Elfi wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ashes looked around at the palm trees, the perfect ocean, and the immaculate beach. “Ugh,” he said. “I’m in hell.”
Django Wexler wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whenever one tree is cut, two trees should be planted in return.”
Mirza Masroor Ahmad (born 1950) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Virtual Meeting with Waqf-e-Nau From Indonesia, 23rd January 2021
“Even the trees were dying, from roots upwards,' he said. 'Does everything die like this?' 'No,' she said. 'You may see no rivers on the ground but we keep the rivers inside us. That is why all good things and all good people are called rain. Sometimes we see the rain clouds gather even though not a cloud appears in the sky. It is all in our heart.'”
Bessie Head (1937–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have been filming a lot away from home this year. So the minute I finish, I will dash home to be with my family and be surrounded by Christmas trees and Christmas cheer.”
Michelle Yeoh (born 1962) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Under No Circumstances Will Michelle Yeoh Be Serving a Christmas Turkey" in Vogue (19 November 2019)
“Most of my professors can’t see the wider forest of meaning because they’ve become obsessed with a few mostly meaningless trees.”
Charles E. Gannon (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I scribble on oak trees Pretty please you can sing my syllables credible My cordon bleu sonnets you just wishing they edible”
Example (musician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Somebody told me once money does not grow on trees. Well, if that's true, then how do you explain apples oranges and lemons, not forgetting melons?”
Gilbert O'Sullivan (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even before I became a certified tree doctor, I had transplanted more than 100 giant trees, mostly between 500 and 1,000 years old, and I can say that I never had one failure.”
Konami Tsukamoto (born 1949) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nippon.com Profile/Article by Julian Ryall - Woman Arborist Heals Trees, Parks, Souls - 9 May 2016 - Archive
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
Dora Akunyili (1954–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mr Chairman, distinguished delegates, I leave you with the words of these Greek proverb “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
Dora Akunyili (1954–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We inherited a rich natural environment; we inherited a country that was not so degraded. We inherited many fruit trees planted in farms and others growing freely,”
Samia Suluhu Hassan (born 1960) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tanzania: Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan Breaks the Ice On Tree-Planting Choice allafrica (27 January 2026)
“At the sight of the Neckar slopes wreathed with flowering cherry trees, I had a strong sense of having come home. What a beautiful country it was, and eminently worth our blood and our lives. Never before had I felt its charm so clearly. I had good and serious thoughts, and for the first time I sensed that this war was more than just a great adventure.”
Ernst Jünger (1895–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Can you imagine a planet full of assholes who used to just…cut down trees?”
Elizabeth Bear (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sometimes while traveling in Mexico or India or any elsewhere, I feel that luminous sense of being invisible as a traveler, having no long, historical ties, simply being a drifting eye…but after awhile, I grow tired of that feeling and want to be somewhere where the trees are my personal friends again.”
Naomi Shihab Nye (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“ground resilient beneath our feet, sky glimmering between branches of trees older than any of us.”
Lisa Suhair Majaj (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She did not want to bury him here, she thought, under a twisted wire cross. There was a stone vault for him under the lime trees in California, where he could sleep with all those other shadows who had worn down their steps on carpeted altars by candlelight. Broken their hearts, minds, sex and entrails in the imperfect service of their Holy One, their Hanged Man.”
Robert Stone (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Riding beneath dark trees at the close of that first day’s travel, they sing; it lifts the tired heart, and dispels spirits lurking in the verges; never underestimate the superstition of the average Englishman.”
Hilary Mantel (1952–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For us Jews no sacrifice is too great for the sake of Palestine and of our National Home. Soil shall be created in Palestine where there is none at present, and trees shall be planted however many times Arab hooligans uproot them; and Haifa and Tel-Aviv shall grow into ports and cities equal to, or greater than, Alexandria.”
Lewis Namier (1888–1960) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to The Times (20 May 1936), p. 17
“I feel like a city is strange when there is no source of escape. You need mountains, ocean, or forest. My parents have a sailboat and love being in the ocean. I am a forest person. I like to climb trees, to have things over me, to be isolated and hidden.”
Aurora (singer) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Aurora interview: I want to fight for everything that can't fight for itself" by David Smyth, in Evening Standard (4 May 2018)
“I advice the people of the state and Ogoni to plant more trees in the environment, it helps in redeeming the environment. I also propose a collaboration of the scientists and toxicologists.”
Roseline Konya wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. Exactly how they do this, we don’t yet know. But what we see is the power of unity. What happens to one happens to us all. We can starve together or feast together.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If citizenship is a matter of shared beliefs, then I believe in the democracy of species. If citizenship means an oath of loyalty to a leader, then I choose the leader of the trees. If good citizens agree to uphold the laws of the nation, then I choose natural law, the law of reciprocity, of regeneration, of mutual flourishing.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To plant trees is an act of faith.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“resurrection ferns that wait for a rain like dead things and then open up new and green and beautiful like they are doing right now out on the hurricane felled trees, like they didn’t know it was catastrophe that gave them life. Maybe, I think, I am like those ferns. Ama’s like the rain. (Chapter 5, p101)”
Linda Hogan (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She looked out out to the horizon She didn't have much left to see Greed had taken the trees away Greed had taken the bees away ...She looked up to where there should've been stars”
Alice Phoebe Lou (born 1993) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: She, Track 9 on Live at Funkhaus (2016)
“Trees are vital part of our natural environment and an immense contributor to human life. Most often, we plant tree to provide shade and beautify our landscape.”
Bidemi Lafiaji Okuneye (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A child who appreciates trees grows into an adult who cherishes the environment.”
Rachel Ruto (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We want our leaders in Africa and in the Sahel region to understand that the Sahel needs more trees than weapons.”
Kaossara Sani (born 1994) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I felt like these trees I was finding in my town, and then eventually all over Maine and other places, were a gift to me by someone whom I had never met, who had no idea who I was, who had no idea that I was ever going to be.”
John Bunker first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Why Your Supermarket Sells Only 5 Kinds of Apples" Mother Jones (April, 2013).
“there's singing in the mountains, laughter in the trees, dancing in the light of evening fires. There's whispering in hearts and minds and shadows. That's enough for me. (chapter 31 p238)”
Patricia Grace (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was born and raised on a farm, ringed with fields and forests, where even to arrive at the nearest village was a serious journey, especially for a child’s tiny feet. I had no friends. Instead of friends, I had trees, and I spoke to them.”
Rachel Korn (1898–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just in the past two days the cherry trees had become a riot of blossoms. ("In the Village")”
Fradl Shtok (1887–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Later she used to say: The place where everything almost ended. She meant the long, gray stone building on the circular plaza planted with trees. But why that place? After all, there were other places equally, if not more deserving of that description. And yet, thirty years later, it was that place she went to see, only that one place. (p226)”
Ida Fink (1921–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even the doves were in mourning. The trees seemed to sigh at her leave-taking, and the windows of each building looked, to her, like sorrowful eyes. (first lines)”
Kathleen Alcalá (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We celebrities are human beings. We hurt. We get our hearts broken. We break hearts. It all comes back to who you are. Who am I today? Am I living on purpose? Or am I clawing at the void? Will I walk in my joy today and acknowledge the color purple? I’ve got jacaranda trees around my house. Three months out of the year, it’s purple. I lay here in this plethora of purple and I give thanks.”
Jenifer Lewis (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source