
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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“The battle was over. There were no victors.”
Greg Bear (1951–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a real battle, atemi is seventy percent, technique is thirty percent.”
Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Total Aikido (1997) by Gōzō Shioda, p. 24
“The battle we have fought, and are still fighting, for the forests is a part of the eternal conflict between right and wrong, and we cannot expect to see the end of it. … So we must count on watching and striving for these trees, and should always be glad to find anything so surely good and noble to strive for.”
John Muir (1838–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A field commander never has the information he needs. He has to go with his best hunch. The more information he has, the easier it is for him to win the battle.”
Tom Clancy (1947–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified.”
Tony Blair (born 1953) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Blair launches stinging attack on 'absurd' British Islamists" The Observer (1 July 2007).
“We are a workers’ party because we see in the coming battle between finance and labor the beginning and the end of the structure of the twentieth century. We are on the side of labor and against finance. . . The value of labor under socialism will be determined by its value to the state, to the whole community. Labor means creating value, not haggling over things.”
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) first seen 1932 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Those Damn Nazis: Why Are We a Workers’ Party?” written by Joseph Goebbels and Mjölnir, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken, Nazi propaganda pamphlet (Munich: Verlag Frz. Eher, 1932)
“Who'll love Aladdin Sane? Battle cries and champagne just in time for sunrise.”
David Bowie (1947–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To know the times" means to know the enemy's disposition in battle. Is is flourishing or waning? By observing the spirit of the enemy's men and getting the best position, you can work out the enemy's disposition and move your men accordingly.”
Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As Duke Ellington once said, "the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Elkton." [...] About that Wellington guy, I wouldn't know. Ellington, yes. As for that Eton business — well, I married my first wife in Elkton, and I always hated the place. It musta stuck.”
Babe Ruth (1895–1948) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Failed attempt—during a partially scripted radio interview, broadcast live on August 13, 1930—to deliver a familiar but apparently apocryphal quote, followed by his explanation for that failure; as quoted in The Tumult …
“Today we need a special kind of courage. Not the kind needed in battle, but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics, so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future.”
Elizabeth II (1926–2022) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1957 Christmas Broadcast; quoted on royal website (25 December 1957)
“Death is better than a vegetating ignorant life; it is better to die on the battle-field than to live a life of defeat.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We seemed to see our flag unfurled, Our champion waiting in his place For the last battle of the world, The Armageddon of the race.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rantoul, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“I possess no weapon but love. With that I have come to do battle. Help me!”
Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks of Senator Barack Obama on New Hampshire Primary Night (8 January 2008)
“These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength. Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned — as it was on Saturday morning.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The test was not, and never has been, whether the doors of opportunity are cracked a bit wider for a few. It was whether our economic system provides a fair shot for the many -- for the black custodian and the white steelworker, the immigrant dishwasher and the Native American veteran. To win that battle, to answer that call -- this remains our great unfinished business.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before 1959, some Americans saw Cuba as something to exploit, ignored poverty, enabled corruption. And since 1959, we’ve been shadow-boxers in this battle of geopolitics and personalities. I know the history, but I refuse to be trapped by it.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first serious infowar is now engaged. The field of battle is WikiLeaks. You are the troops.”
John Perry Barlow (1947–2018) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter comments, in regard to WikiLeaks controversies, as quoted in "Analysis: WikiLeaks battle: a new amateur face of cyber war?" at Reuters (9 December 2010)
“Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this as the time, and ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down — they are truly down.”
Joseph McCarthy (1908–1957) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Wheeling, West Virginia (February 9,1950), as quoted at History Matters
“Roughneck and rudeness, We should be using, On the ones who practice wicked charms, For the sword and the stone, Bad to the bone, Battle’s not over, Even when it's won, And when a child is born into this world, It has no concept, Of the tone the skin is living in.”
Neneh Cherry (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am for lasting peace... United, I believe, we can win the battle for peace. But it must be a different peace, one with full recognition of the rights of the Jews in their one and only land: peace with security for generations and peace with a united Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of the Jewish people in the state of Israel forever.”
Ariel Sharon (1928–2014) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ariel Sharon. "I an for lasting peace." at New York Post Forum, November 13, 2000, cited at Freeman.org, November 14, 2000.
“I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (28 July 1965)
“But these are the problems which America faces. They are problems which can only be solved by an informed citizenship. This requirement calls all of us to give them attention. This recurrent sounding of the call to battle is one of the most valuable contributions that can be made by the labor press in the United States.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For at the real heart of battle for equality is a deep-seated belief in the democratic process. Equality depends not on the force of arms or tear gas but upon the force of moral right; not on recourse to violence but on respect for law and order.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And a third danger is timidity. Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.”
Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ordinary man puts up a struggle against all that is not himself, whereas it is against himself, in a limited but all-essential field, that the artist has to battle.”
André Malraux (1901–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mr. Hoover, if you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you and you have to battle with only one of them.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As recounted by Herbert Hoover ; from Coolidge: An American Enigma, Robert Sobel, Regnery Publishing (2000), p. 242 : , 9780895262479
“If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.”
Thomas Sowell (born 1930) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wimps Versus Barbarians, May 21, 2013
“Bubba: Bill Clinton is a real man, and Bill Clinton could give a fuck whether Hillary wins or loses. He's just playing the role right now. He's trying to get some whores. He doesn't give a fuck about that battle-ax. He's trying to keep her busy right now.”
Tucker Carlson (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My father believed moral courage to be the rarest species of bravery. Rarer even than the physical courage of soldiers in battle or great intelligence. He thought it the one vital quality required to salvage the world.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (born 1954) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From his foreword to Plague of Corruption by Kent Heckenlively and Judy Mikovits, blurb cited by AP News (April 30, 2020)
“I warn you that when the princes of this world start loving you it means they are going to grind you up into battle sausage. ― [6]”
Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They have got rid of me for a time...but it will only be for a time. I am out to fight in exactly the same cause to which I have consecrated my strength during the whole of my life—the cause of the people, the downtrodden and the oppressed. I hope that the people will stand with me in fighting the great battle of liberty and progress.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Cardiff station (9 November 1922), quoted in John Campbell, Lloyd George: The Goat in the Wilderness, 1922–1931 (1977), p. 35
“Asquith and his party have no positive policy, no fighting policy. That came out at the election. But for the Liberal party a fighting policy is essential... The real ground of attack is the Land. On that the Tories would be bound to make a stand and you would have a real battle with an unanswerable case.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1911 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to C. P. Scott (6 December 1922), quoted in The Political Diaries of C. P. Scott, 1911–1928, ed. Trevor Wilson (1970), p. 434
“It was an old struggle that Liberalism stood for. There was the great battle of Naseby when that great Liberal leader Oliver Cromwell planted the standard of liberty, fought a very good by-election for liberty, and won.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1927 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Hinckley during the Bosworth by-election campaign (30 May 1927), quoted in The Times (31 May 1927), p. 18
“Neurosis can be understood best as the battle between tendencies within an individual; deep character analysis leads, if successful, to the progressive solution.”
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[D]espite the indignation and horror with which most of us regard the actions of the Provisionals, we must not allow our policy to be dictated by revenge or by passion. If we do, we shall not only behave in an immoral way; we shall lose the battle.”
James Callaghan (1912–2005) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (17 November 1971)
“October's bellowing anger breakes and cleaves The bronzed battalions of the stricken wood In whose lament I hear a voice that grieves For battle's fruitless harvest, and the feud Of outrage men. Their lives are like the leaves Scattered in flocks of ruin, tossed and blown Along the westering furnace flaring red. O martyred youth and manhood overthrown, The burden of your wrongs is on my head.”
Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love the battle between chaos and imagination. Remember: Acting is living truthfully in imaginary circumstances. Remember: Acting is the way to live the greatest number of lives. Remember: Acting is the same as real life, lived intentionally. Never forget: The Fruit is out on the end of the limb. Go there.”
Robert Fulghum (born 1937) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alice-Alice" in Third Wish (2006)
“After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world is full of warfare 'twixt the evil and the good; I watched the battle from afar as one who understood The shouting and confusion, the bloody, blundering fight— How few there are that see it clear, how few that wage it right!”
Henry van Dyke (1852–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The storm is ended! The impartial sun Laughs down upon the battle lost and won, And crowns the triumph of the cloudy host In rolling lines retreating to the coast.”
Henry van Dyke (1852–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We come here with no peaceful intent, but ready for battle, determined to avenge our wrongs and set our country free. Let your masters come and attack us: we are ready to meet them beard to beard.”
William Wallace (1270–1305) first seen 1297 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement before the Battle of Stirling Bridge (11 September 1297), as quoted in History of Scotland (1841) by Patrick Fraser Tytler, p. 121
“God has been very good to us. That we won the revolution was extraordinary. The Battle of Midway was extraordinary. I think one of the reasons God has been good to us is that we have done him honor. Unlike the other countries of the world that do not even invoke his name we do him honor. In presidential addresses, in Thanksgiving proclamations and in many other ways.”
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.”
Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Sir Winston Churchill, in a CBS broadcast (30 November 1954)
“There can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those that fight for population control unite in a common effort.”
Norman Borlaug (1914–2009) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1970 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
“We cannot afford to ignore HIV/AIDS. We can only ignore this battle at the cost of being regarded by future generations of Pacific Islanders as lacking the will, the foresight, the understanding to tackle this issue, which threatens our very future.”
Epeli Ganilau (1951–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we wrong God, he does not let us go, he makes us pay for our wrongs but through the death of his own son Jesus Christ. When God's people (Jews) wronged him, he weakened them in battle and caused them to be captives in Babylon for 70 years.”
Frank Bainimarama (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fractures in the state, divisions in the ruling class and indecision on the part of the intermediate classes pave the way for dual power, which, in Russia, led to the creation of new institutions and later, in China, Vietnam, and Cuba, rested on revolutionary armies with varying class compositions that were locked in battle against their respective state machines.”
“Who would have planted the cane, run the mills and funded the colony if they had gone to battle?”
Joni Madraiwiwi (1957–2016) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Poppy Drive speech, 21 October 2005.
“(About the battle of Kunersdorf) "I shall not survive this cruel misfortune. The consequences will be worse than defeat itself. I have no resources left, and, to speak quite frankly I believe everything is lost. I shall not outlive the downfall of my country. Farewell, forever!”
Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786) said by 1786 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source