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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Friendship
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“My own soul is my most faithful friend. My own heart, my truest confidant.”
Babur (1483–1531) said by 1531 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He would, when engaged in an animated conversation with a friend, talk quickly and well for a few minutes, and then suddenly and without any very apparent cause would begin to stutter so much, that it was often difficult to understand him.”
Isa Bowman (1874–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Learn to be your own best friend, as there will be times when you have no one else.”
Siddharth Katragadda (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I admit, I was fascinated by Adolf Hitler. He was a pleasant boss and a fatherly friend. I deliberately ignored all the warning voices inside me and enjoyed the time by his side almost until the bitter end. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said things and how he did things.”
Traudl Junge (1920–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in In Hitler's Bunker: A Boy Soldier's Eyewitness Account of the Fuhrer's Last Days (2005) by Armin D. Lehmann and Tim Carroll, p. 91, and in The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Ta…
“I sometimes think that ‘friend’ is just a word I use for all the people I haven't murdered yet.”
Scott Lynch (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Naturally you expect the moral thing from me. But I’ve learned something, friend. Morals don’t count for a hell of a lot in this galaxy. I rank them somewhere between straight teeth and the ability to carry a tune.”
James K. Morrow (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bitterness is not a philosophy, friend. Outrage is not an ethic. Stop counting corpses and reach a truce with the universe, or you’ll be stuck on the dung heap forever.”
James K. Morrow (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like the man who set fire to his friend’s overcoat upon hearing the command, “Light up a Chesterfield.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tell me something only you know and make a new friend.”
Dejan Stojanovic (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You have a grim taste in miracles, my friend.”
Michael F. Flynn (1947–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I walk out to play in Hyderabad, I will feel a deep void. A void that can never be fulfilled. My dear friend, VVS Laxman...”
V. V. S. Laxman (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mr. Grey was much obliged to his hon. friend for submitting the motion to the House. The length of time during which the nation had groaned under such vexatious and tyrannical institutions, was with him a reason why they should exist no longer, and he wished Mr. Curwen to move for a committee to inquire into the state of the game laws.”
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks in the House of Commons on the debate on Mr. Curwen's Motion to Repeal the Game Laws (4 March 1796), reported in The Parliamentary History of England, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803. Vol. XXXI (1818),…
“When I left Scientology, I lost every friend I ha. Then I went to see Marty. He gave me certainty, gave me hope, and made me realise I wasn't alone. He picked up the broken pieces of my life and put them back together.”
Mark Rathbun (born 1957) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Samantha Domingo, cited in (Adams 2012).
“Experience taught me that it is wise to be patient and forbearing with opponents and to use the divine cure of repeling with what is best (then verily he, between whom and you there was enmity, (will become) as though he was a close friend.) Quran 41:34”
Salman al-Ouda (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I use cracks on the sidewalk to walk down the street. I'd always walk on the lines. I never take anything but a calculated risk, and do it because it gives me a sense of identity. Fear is a man's best friend.”
“I hate to say I'm a Cinderfella, but I've been watching the Globes since I was an embryo. I got a Facebook message from an elementary school friend who said, 'I remember you standing up and talking about attending the Golden Globes when we were little.”
Chris Colfer (born 1990) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We made for him a great dinner of honor. At this dinner I said to him, for the last time, I thought, "Goodbye, dear friend, topic of my life, now we part." And to myself I said further: Finished. This is your lonesome bed. A lady what they call fat and fifty. You made it personally. From this lonesome bed you will finally fall to a bed not so lonesome, only crowded with a million bones.”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Goodbye and Good Luck" (1959)
“sometimes walking with a friend I forget the world.”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man needs a friend not to flatter him, but to strengthen him at his weak points.”
E. W. Howe (1853–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Taylor’s friend Henry Gantt explains to his fellow engineers in the middle of the First World War that they must "develop a task system on the basis of democracy that will yield as good, or better, results than those now in operation under autocracy”
Henry Gantt (1861–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 53 as cited in: Thibault Le Texier (2011) "Management Is By Nature Knowledge Management: Taylor, Scientific Management and the Early Organization of Knowledge".
“Everyday I fight a war against the mirror. I can't take the person starin' back at me. I'm a hazard to myself.Don't let me get me. I'm my own worst enemy. Its bad when you annoy yourself, So irritating. Don't wanna be my friend no more. I wanna be somebody else. I wanna be somebody else, yeah.”
Pink (singer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want more than anything for my children to be happy, and I love them because they are sad, and the erratic project of kneading that sadness into joy is the engine of my life as a father, as a son, as a friend—and as a writer.”
Andrew Solomon (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I went to a friend who's a girl and asked her, 'What's it like to have sex for the first time, if you're Irish – so you're modest, and it's the 1950s – so you've never seen it in a film?' I listened carefully to what she said, and I put it in the book. It was an important element, the detail was richly memorable for the person, it had to be in the book.”
Colm Tóibín (born 1955) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On a heterosexual sex scene in Brooklyn. Let's not talk about sex – why passion is waning in British books, The Guardian (16 October 2010)
“[1917 Winter] Rufus Jones called me in. "Warren," said he, "what is thee going to be?" And I said, "I don't know." "And what is thee going to do?" And again I said, "I have no idea; but there is one question I would like to answer: What is a number, that a man may know it, and a man, that he may know a number?" He smiled and said, "Friend, thee will be busy as long as thee lives.”
Warren S. McCulloch (1898–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My dear friend, a doctor and spokeperson of the Physicians' Coordinating Committee in Damascus was killed today by Syrian security forces”
Bassel Khartabil (1981–2015) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweet Dec 10, 2011, 10:41AM at Twitter.com
“If you have an ounce of common sense and one good friend you don't need an analyst.”
Joan Crawford (1905–1977) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview, New York Times (1964)
“You have never tasted freedom friend, or you would know it is purchased not with gold, but steel.”
Steven Pressfield (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Listen, Said. Things are no longer what they used to be. In the past, you were both a thief and my friend, for reasons you well know. Now the situation has changed. If you go back to a burglary you'll be a thief and nothing else.”
Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Things are no longer what they used to be. In the past you were both a thief and my friend, for reasons you well know. Now the situation has changed. If you go back to burglary you'll be a thief and nothing else”
Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All this was long ago. Nearly two-thirds of my classmates are dead, and not one of us is left on active duty. But there might be one if a close friend of mine received his justice. I refer, and will refer again, to Husband E. Kimmel.”
William Halsey Jr. (1882–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I got through the sexual side of my first marriage - for six years! - by pretending that my husband was my friend Peter York.”
Julie Burchill (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We may be saddled with Bush and Blair, but you've got Prince Charles (a big friend of the Islamic world, probably because of its large number of feudal kingdoms and hardline attitude to uppity women), the Catholic church (taking a brief break from buggering babies to condemn any western attack as "morally unacceptable") and posturing pansies such as Sean Penn, Sheryl Crow and Damon Albarn.”
Julie Burchill (born 1959) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Why we should go to war" The Guardian (1 February 2003).
“So one day at a friend's party, where there was plenty of alcohol, I decided to do a portrait of someone. And from there it just grew.”
“You know me better than anyone, and you're my best friend. I don't think there's anything you could say to me that would lead me to believe that you're doing it just to hurt me. If there's one thing I've come to know about you, it's that you're not even capable of something like that. Why do you think I like spending time with you so much? Because you're a good guy. A nice guy.”
Nicholas Sparks (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Alliteration the mind - Temple, life is a honeymoon vernal song on the humble bee's lips, Alcoholic realized in the mustard flower, as like friend .”
Ravindra Prabhat (born 1969) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Smriti Shesh (Poetry Collection), Kathyaroop Books, 2002.
“Now there’s a real competition going on up here... My good friend Joe (Biden)... he’s received contributions from 44 billionaires. Pete (Buttigieg) on the other hand, is trailing, you only got 39 billionaires contributing.”
Bernie Sanders (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The New Deal is a phase of the transition process from capitalism to managerial society. The New Deal is not Stalinism and not Nazism. But no candid observer, friend or enemy of the New Deal, can deny that in terms of economic, social, political, ideological changes from traditional capitalism, the New Deal moves in the same direction as Stalinism and Nazism.”
James Burnham (1905–1987) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 203, as cited in: Albert Lepawsky (1949), Administration, p. 13
“Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year.”
Narendra Modi (born 1950) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: PM speaks with President Putin" PM India (August 8, 2025)
“You're more than another, there could never be another. To make you feel the way you do. Ohh, we just get closer. I'd fall in love all over. Every time I look at you. I don't know where I'd be, without you here with me. Life with you makes perfect sense, my best friend.”
Tim McGraw (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, you'll not be any poorer if you smile along your way, And your lot will not be harder for the kindly things you say. Don't imagine you are wasting time for others that you spend: You can rise to wealth and glory and still pause to be a friend.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I hold no dream of fortune vast, Nor seek undying fame. I do not ask when life is past That many know my name.I may not own the skill to rise To glory's topmost height, Nor win a place among the wise, But I can keep the right.And I can live my life on earth Contented to the end, If but a few shall know my worth And proudly call me friend.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You're pretty low down," says I to him, "But nobody's holding you there, my friend. Life is a stream where men sink or swim, And the drifters come to a sorry end; But there's two of you living and breathing still — The fellow you are, and he's tough to see, And another chap, if you've got the will, The man that you still have a chance to be.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“During Partition, my entire family was saved by a Muslim. His name was Yakub -- a friend of my father's who lived a mile-and-a-half away from our village.”
Sunil Dutt (1929–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That tho' a Man were admitted into Heaven to view the wonderful Fabrick of the World, and the Beauty of the stars, yet what would otherwise be Rapture and Extasie, would be but melancholy Amazement if he had not a Friend to communicate it to.”
Archytas (430–345 BC) said by 345 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Archytus by Christiaan Huygens, The Celestial Worlds Discover'd (1722) Book 1, pt.4 and quoted by Arthur Beer, Vistas in Astronomy (1955) Vol.1 Cicero was reputed to have said the same thing.
“My friend (Finance Minister of Pakistan) states that there has been no case of persecution or oppression in East Bengal. Will he kindly tell us whether it is not a fact that house searches had been made in Jessore, Dinapur, Pabna, Meharpur, Barisal……”
Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882–1962) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: October 25, 1948 , Dr. B. C. Roy, Premier of West Bengal, in: **Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus inthe Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [https://www.sikhiw…
“Aristotle once said that the unexamined life is not worth living. I think it's time to examine what we do once more in the spirit of a critical friend. Let's pause for a moment to consider what we need to examine.”
Indra Nooyi (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The final level - of good ethics - is to deal with your enemy in the best kind of treatment as though he is a close friend!”
Mohammed Alkobaisi (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Each one of us should ask himself; Am I being the best I can be to my family? Am I being the best parent I can be? Am I being the best child I can be? The best friend? The best neighbor? The best for my brothers and sisters? The best for my society? The best for humanity? Where am I from the saying: “The best of people, is the best TO the people”?”
Mohammed Alkobaisi (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Under a Trump administration, the United States of America will be a loyal friend, not simply an ally, that Egypt can count on in the days and years ahead.”
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (born 1954) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump following his New York meeting with al-Sisi on 22 September 2016
“...a fakir singing a ghazal of Ghalib’s. They sat down and listened and when it was over Saigal put his hand in his pocket and whatever was in it – 5,000 rupees, a great sum in those days – gave to the fakir. And when the friend asked whether he knew how much he had given, Saigal said, “Did Oopar Wala count the money when he gave it to me?”
K. L. Saigal (1904–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source