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 moon walks east of midnight, The sun walks west of noon. And though I love you, sweetheart, I will not sing your tune.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I see myself in the contestants. I’m not the one to tell people, ‘You have to sing this way or that way.’ Talent is something God gave you when you were born. I don’t want to give them technical advice. I love mistakes. When talking about art, the most important thing is to not be perfect, ... I want to be a fan, and to be a fan you have to conquer my heart. I don’t want to give marketing advice.”
Laura Pausini (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's never been for love of money. I thank God for it because it makes me a living. But I sing because I love it, not because of the dollar signs.”
George Jones (1931–2013) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Billboard - 28 Oct 2006 - Page 48.
“A little stallion gallops across the leafing fingers- Black the gate leaps open, I sing; How did we live here?”
Paul Celan (1920–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tallow Lamp" in: Paul Celan (1972) Selected poems. p. 22
“I can sing as well as Fred Astaire can act.”
Burt Reynolds (1936–2018) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Reynolds in: Colin Jarman (1993). The Book of Poisonous Quotes. p. 129
“I had a chance to play that instrument for six days. Hearing German spoken around me made me think of my father, who died in 1960, and whom I hadn't thought much about in recent years. And I remembered what he meant to me. I played "Du, du liegst mir im Herzen" because my father used to sing it to me. So I sat there, thinking of my father, and weeping.”
Clare Fischer (1928–2012) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in the liner notes from Alone Together (1980)
“What is a strain is being forced into the lobster pot of good behaviour while being forced to sing its praises.”
Edward St. Aubyn (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A book of poems should have almost as many dedications as titles for the poet must always sing for some friend whether the friend knows it or not”
Harriet Monroe (1860–1936) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dedication 'You and I' Macmillan, New York October 1914
“Poetry, perhaps the finest of fine arts, certainly the shynest and most elusive? ,poetry which must have listeners, which cannot sing into a void.”
Harriet Monroe (1860–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Poets life, Seventy Years in Changing the World Macmillan, New York 1938
“Memoir- 'Sing for the Taxman' May 1 2009”
Dennis O'Driscoll (1954–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My immediate answer was, 'I don't have a singing butler and three maids who sing, but I will tell you what I can as an assistant professor.'”
Peter Ladefoged (1925–2006) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Los Angeles Times (2004); on his response to Cukor's request to assist Rex Harrison to behave like a phonetician.
“The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring In the days of long ago, Ranged where the locomotives sing And the prairie flowers lie low.”
Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931) said by 1931 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In many a situation, the images that words hide while walking forth are the desired meaning of particular words rather than the word itself. Those words sing and dance by coming out of the paper.”
Suman Pokhrel (born 1967) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Foreword, 'Tales of Transformation: English Translation of Tagore's Chitrangada and Chandalika', Lopamudra Banerjee, (2018)
“All my people sing of are memories. And so I will remember this death. It will burden me as it does not burden my fellow students - I must not let that change. I must not become like them. I'll remember that every sin, every death, every sacrifice, is for freedom.”
Pierce Brown (born 1988) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Arcadians both, in youth both flourishing, Both match'd to sing, to answer both prepar'd.”
John Ogilby (1600–1676) said by 1676 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Arms, and the Man I sing, who first did land, Fate-forc'd from Troy, on the Lavinian Strand; Whom angry Gods at Sea and Land engage, And cruel Juno's persecuting Rage. Much suffer'd he by War, whilst Walls he rear'd, And Trojan Gods to Latian Realms transferr'd; Whence Latins, and the Alban Princes come, And lofty Tow'rs of all-commanding Rome.”
John Ogilby (1600–1676) said by 1676 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Achilles Peleus Son's destructive Rage, Great Goddess, sing, which did the Greeks engage In many Woes, and mighty Hero's Ghosts Sent down untimely to the Stygian Coasts: Devouring Vultures on their Bodies prey'd, And greedy Dogs, (so was Jove's Will obey'd;) Because Great Agamemnon fell at odds With stern Achilles, Off-spring of the Gods.”
John Ogilby (1600–1676) said by 1676 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her shoulders sagging, her back hunched, her eyelids tired, Rose-Anna sewed for the feast, not daring even to sing for fear of frightening off her joy.”
Gabrielle Roy (1909–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I sing of arms and of a man: his fate had made him fugitive; he was the first to journey from the coasts of Troy as far as Italy and the Lavinian shores.”
Allen Mandelbaum (1926–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whoever can feel, the love I do tell, Would take by the heel, poor sinners from hell; As downward they're going, to bring them above; To sing of Christ's dying, a Heaven of love.”
Dorothy Ripley (1767–1832) first seen 1819 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Hymn From My Nativity (22 August 1819), p. 18
“I feel if I were to organize it correctly I would try to sing like a Mexican and think like a German. You know what I mean? I get it mixed up.”
Linda Ronstadt (born 1946) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her mixed heritage in a 1978 interview (as quoted in “Linda Ronstadt on New Live Album, Life With Parkinson’s and Modern Country Music” in Rolling Stone; 2019 Feb 7)
“I've learned never to say never. You just don't know. But I've reached an age when you start taking it easier. But I enjoy singing. I still sing – at home.”
Anni-Frid Lyngstad (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That means a lot, it goes from generation to generation, and you can't wonder why, and I think it's because it's such a good energy in it, and I think the girls and boys, they want to dress like us, and they want to sing along.”
Agnetha Fältskog (born 1950) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On other musicians who has 'grown up' listening to ABBA, who wants to work with Agnetha; Interview on 'Loose Women', Interviewer: Carol Vorderman, ITV 16 May 2013
“I've got no talent. Still sing flat as a table. I'm a sort of human spaniel. People come to see what I'm like. I make them feel, I exhaust them, I destroy them.”
Johnnie Ray (1927–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Buddy, you're a young man, hard man Shouting in the street, gonna take on the world someday You got blood on your face, you big disgrace Waving your banner all over the place We will, we will rock you, sing it! We will, we will rock you, yeah.”
Brian May (born 1947) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: We Will Rock You", on News of the World (1977)
“Rage: Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage, Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks Incalculable pain.”
Stanley Lombardo (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Autumn is beginning, the weather is turning chill. Crickets move in to sing under my bed. A thousand things surge into my mind And grieve my heart. A thousand tales search for words; But to whom will they be told? The morning breeze flows under my sleeves, The moonlight thins, And the cock crows, As I turn my horses' heads towards home.”
Ruan Ji (210–263) said by 263 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Autumn Is Beginning", translated by Jerome Ch'ên and Michael Bullock in Poems of Solitude (1960)
“Among animals, some learn to speak and sing; they remember tunes, and strike the notes as exactly as a musician. Others, for instance the ape, show more intelligence... would it be absolutely impossible to teach the ape a language? I do not think so.”
Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751) said by 1751 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a few years’ time, when Country Roads plays in Morgantown, thousands of students will be singing not only with pride in a Mountaineer victory. They will sing with pride knowing that their job… their family… and their future… will be right here in West Virginia.”
Patrick Morrisey (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I sing the goodly armes, and that Chieftaine Who great Sepulchre of our Lord did free. Much with his hande, much wrought he with his braine; Much in that glorious conquest suffred hee: And hell in vaine hitselfe opposde, in vaine The mixed troopes Asian and Libick flee To armes, for Heaven him favour'd, and he drew To sacred ensignes his straid mates anew.”
Richard Carew (antiquary) first seen 1594 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Godfrey of Bulloigne, or the Recoverie of Hierusalem. An Heroicall poeme written in Italian by Seig. Torquato Tasso, and translated into English by R. C. [Richard Carew] Esquire: and now the first part containing five c…
“Arms and the man I sing who first from Troy Came to the Italian and Lavinian shores, Exiled by fate; much tossed on land and sea By power divine and cruel Juno's rage; Much too in war he suffered, till he reared A city and to Latium brought his gods: Whence sprung the Latin progeny, the kings Of Alba, and the walls of towering Rome.”
Joseph Trapp (1679–1747) said by 1747 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Messenger banished darkness and narrowness of the human crowd. He effaced contagion and raised up joyous labor. Hatred was bridled and the sword of the Messenger remained upon the wall. But all were silent and could not sing.”
Helena Roerich (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At last the smallest of them remained on the green, lost in rapture at beholding the sun’s rays. Then the yellow oriole started its call. The little one followed it, whispering; then soon, joyously he exclaimed, “The sun is ours!” One by one, the children returned to the green and a new hymn to light rang out. The Messenger said, “Man has again begun to sing. Come is the date!”
Helena Roerich (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The cashier at the pump & payKnows everything's gonna be okayThe all night all right rent-a-copIs across the street at the donut shopThe waitress waits with whiskey sourAt the single mingle happy hourThe one man band begins to sing Accompanied by a drum machine”
John Prine (1946–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anyone who believes, much less preaches, that evangelical Christians are “one election away from losing everything” in November has forgotten how to sing the psalmist’s warning, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save” (Ps. 146:3).”
Michael Horton (theologian) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In 1920 the British philosopher Bertrand Russell spent five weeks in Bolshevik Russia as a member of a Labour Party delegation. The group hoped to discover a promised land, breaking into spontaneous choruses of the Internationale and Red Flag on spying the first Red banners across the border. After twenty-four hours Russell realized that there was not much to sing about.”
Michael Burleigh (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I feel like I could have been really effeminate, if I hadn’t gone to the school I went to. Where I felt like I had to toughen up. If I’d have been able to relax, prance around, sing in the street, I might be a different person now. I thank my dad for that, for not allowing me to go down that path. Because it’s probably given me the unique quality that people think I have.”
Russell Tovey (born 1981) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in the Guardian. Russell Tovey: he may be proud but is the ‘worst gay ever’ actually sorry? (3 March 2015). Tovey later apologised after others criticized him for suggesting that effeminacy was 'wrong'.
“The long struggle is ended. I must pass away. Good-by. Oh, men are so cold and hard and half conscious toward their suffering fellows. Nobody understands. Oh my mother! and Oh my little girl! What will become of you? And the poor four-footed! May the long years be merciful! Take me to my river. There, where the wild birds sing and the waters go on and on, alone in my groves, forever.”
J. Howard Moore (1862–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maybe it comes from living in San Francisco, city of clammy humors and foghorns that warn and warn-omen, o-o-men, o dolorous omen, o dolors of omens-and not enough sun, but Wittman Ah Sing considered suicide every day. Entertained it. (first lines)”
Maxine Hong Kingston (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything was a bigger struggle for me, everything required a bigger effort, so I understood that the sole basis for my future was discipline, and I maintain that discipline today, at 75...I mean, going out onstage to sing is an act of discipline and of absolute passion. Passion is natural, but discipline is willpower.”
Julio Iglesias (born 1943) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how he credits discipline as the secret of his success in "Julio Iglesias reflects on a life that 'has been a miracle'" in AP News (2019 Jun 14)
“I still have the passion in my heart. If I don’t sing, my heart doesn’t beat so strong...”
Julio Iglesias (born 1943) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On singing in "Julio Iglesias says 50-year singing career is 'a miracle'" in Reuters (2019 Jun 5)
“Funny time when most of the poor and disinherited parts of the world could live what the other party leaves on his plate ... And we continue to sing the joy, the peace, the love ... do we really believe?”
Doris Veillette (1935–2019) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chronicle "Interdit aux hommes" (Forbidden to men), by Doris Veillette-Hamel, Journal Le Nouvelliste, December 22, 1973, page 37.
“When people hear me sing…I want them to be happy, happy, happy. I don't want them thinking about when there's not any money, or when there's fighting at home. My message is always felicidad - happiness.”
Celia Cruz (1925–2003) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On what she hopes for her audience in “CELIA CRUZ: AT THE TOP OF SALSA” in New York Times (1985 Nov 19).
“…what I’ve learned about it throughout the years is that it’s my way of giving voice to the often voiceless; I write mostly about the sort of people on the opposite end of flush, and so when I hear them speak in this kinda jagged form of poetry, it moves me in a way I can’t even really describe. Technically speaking, some actors sing it beautifully, others can’t wrap their minds around it.”
Matthew Paul Olmos first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how language is utilized in his play living’life of the daughter mira in “Cafecito: Matthew Paul Olmos” (HOWLROUND THEATRE COMMONS; 2015 Sep 26)
“We’d just sing a lot of things and sometimes slip in a little something here and there…There are no limits, there are no laws, there are no rules, we’re just gonna do whatever.”
Sheila E. (born 1957) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On lyrics with a double entendre in “Sheila E. Remembers Private Life With Prince, Wild ‘Purple Rain’ Parties” in Rolling Stone (2017 Jun 7)
“On the grave of this poor stranger, let there be neither lamp nor rose, Let neither butterfly's wing burn nor nightingale sing.”
Nur Jahan (1577–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I grew up in the age of Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson … It was a time where a fat, ugly broad that could sing had value. Now everything is about image. It’s not poetry. This just isn’t my time.”
Bill Withers (1938–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They said the scene was going to be patriotic, with the flag and Apollo fighting the Russian, and it had to be pro-American. We said we didn’t really want to go flag waving. We just wanted to have a good time, write a funky number and sing about America.”
Dan Hartman (1950–1994) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the conception of the song “Living in America” that was to be performed by James Brown for Rocky IV in “Hartman to Produce James Brown Album” in Billboard (1986 Apr 5)
“The first step is to connect with like-minded people, and then collectively start questioning the dominant assumptions. Part of that is to listen to what really makes your heart sing. Where were you and what were you doing when you experienced moments of deep contentment and happiness? Listen to the answer and use it as a guide.”
Helena Norberg-Hodge (born 1946) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in On Radical Cultural Change, A conversation with political thinker and activist Helena Norberg-Hodge, William Powers, Earth Island Journal, (Spring 2020)
“Have you danced in the rain - seen all your money go down the drain? Picked yourself up with nothing to lose? Let someone else sing the blues! Ride this crazy life – day by day!”