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. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Friendship
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“Engvall: Yesterday, my son was out in the yard playing with his friend, and he hit his friend. I walked up to him, and I said, "Hey..." (pantomimes hitting his son) "We don't hit". He looked at me like, "Here's your sign, Dad".”
Bill Engvall (born 1957) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cheap Drunk: An Autobiography (2002)
“The Fifth Amendment is an old friend and a good friend, one of the great landmarks in men's struggle to be free of tyranny, to be decent and civilized.”
William O. Douglas (1898–1980) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Almanac of Liberty (1954), p. 238.
“The third big idea is that we confess our sins to someone close to us--a friend or our spouse. I don't mean a public declaration of our shortcomings; I mean confession in the security of a trusted and living friend.”
Ted Haggard (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have appointed you [ his friend, the sculptor Francis Chantry ] one of my executors. Will you promise to see me rolled up in it [in Turner's painting 'Carthage'? ('Yes', responded his friend 'and I promise you also that, as soon as you are buried, I will see you taken up and unrolled.'”
J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) first seen 1830 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote from Turner's remark, c. 1830's to his friend Chantry; as cited in 'The life of J.M.W. Turner', Volume II, George Walter Thornbury; Hurst and Blackett Publishers, London, 1862, p. 244
“120. A Friend to all, is a Friend to none.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“2437. He's a Friend to none, that is a Friend to all.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“6103. A Friend in Need Is a Friend in Deed.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A friend came to see me on one of the evenings of the last week — he thinks it was on Monday, August 3rd. We were standing at a window of my room in the Foreign Office. It was getting dusk, and the lamps were being lit in the space below... My friend recalls that I remarked on this with the words, "The lamps are going out all over Europe: we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.”
Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his famous remark, in August of 1914, about the impending outbreak of the First World War
“If you are going to write what a friend of a friend once called 'Made up space shit', then if it's going to have any ring of truth that means sometimes some of the horrible characters get to live, and for there to be any sense of jeopardy, especially in future novels, the good people have to die. Sometimes.”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/15/iain-banks-the-final-interview
“Any friend of fossil is a friend of mine. … We've got to do everything we can to get people out of their automobiles and into mass transit.”
Michael Bloomberg (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why," said I — "why should you suppose that I dislike the place?" "You told me so yourself," was the decisive reply. "You said, at least, that you could not live contentedly, without a friend; and that you had no friend here, and no possibility of making one — and, besides, I know you must dislike it.”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This paper will serve instead of a confidential friend into whose ear I might pour forth the overflowings of my heart. It will not sympathise with my distresses, but then it will not laugh at them, and, if I keep it close, it cannot tell again; so it is, perhaps, the best friend I could have for the purpose.”
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A friend in need is a friend to be avoided.”
David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A post-war anti-Communist paranoia was constructed by J. Edgar Hoover, a friend and manipulator of every president since the 1920's. It flared in the machinations of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), formerly the Dies Committee. It spread like the proverbial prairie fire, fanned by the shameful Senate hearings conducted by Hoover's close friend Joseph McCarthy.”
Elaine Brown (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have a feeling that you despise your body and that you only value art, you only value your argent needs, but eating and sleeping aren’t enough. You believe that your appearance is your enemy, and the only friend you have is music. Why look just in the mirror, look at your reflection, you’ll never find a better friend that yourself.”
Elfriede Jelinek (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How great is the difference between The hidden child and the secret friend! For the friend makes only loving, Living but measured ascents toward God. But the child presses on to lose its own life upon the summits, in that simplicity which knoweth not itself.”
John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) said by 1381 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Evelyn Underhill Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness (1912), p. 433
“There were those who insisted this had already happened, but they could never come up with any solid examples, only vague stories involving the cousin of a daughter of a friend-of-a-friend who overheard someone on an all-night bus telling someone else about it.”
Pat Cadigan (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me; I'd like to be the help that you've been always glad to be; I'd like to mean as much to you each minute of the day as you have meant, old friend of mine, to me along the way.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every woman needs a special friend of her own sex with whom she can 'have a haircombing' about everything from menstruation to male monsters, and Julie had become that kind of special friend.”
Susan Howatch (born 1940) 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
“If a person cannot solve a conflict with a friend, how can they possibly contribute to larger efforts for peace? If we refuse to speak to a friend because we project our anxieties onto an email they wrote, how are we going to welcome refugees, immigrants, and the homeless into our communities? The values required for social repair are the same values required for personal repair.”
Sarah Schulman (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She wanted to crawl into his arms and be soothed, and soothe him in return, and forget all the grand ideas she’d ever had about true love, and the necessity for it. Because true love was a load of baloney. Finding a good friend...a good friend who trusted you...was more than enough.”
M. K. Hobson (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He rolled his eyes in a kind of disbelieving amusement. “What, the single friend will seduce the husband, or the single friend will make the wife want to be single again?”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What sweeter than this in the world! Friend met friend and the lover joined his Beloved. That was all sorrow, this is all joy Those were all words, this is all reality.”
Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr (967–1049) said by 1049 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best Dorothy Parker-like riposte to nosy questions about adoption was uttered by a friend of a friend of mine on a New York City bus. This white mother and her Chinese baby daughter were riding up Madison Avenue when an older woman got on, sat down across from them, and barked out: “Is her father Chinese?” “I don’t know,” the mother replied. “It was dark.”
Maureen Corrigan (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I just want to be the best friend who comes in, steals the scene, and bounces ...and then use that small amount of fame to sell out theaters and play to bigger audiences…So as we were starting to write the show, I kept saying to [her co-writers] 'You know what? [Abishola] needs a funny friend ... a confidant.'”
Gina Yashere (born 1974) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her role in the television sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola in “There Was 'No Chance Of Me Going Into The Arts,' Says Comedian Gina Yashere” in NPR (22 Sep 2019)
“Working-class women's literature, women of color, specifically Latina women's writing like my friend Ana Castillo's, or my friend Cherrie Moraga's, Helena Viramontes's, Elena Poniatowska's, and Marguerite Duval's sends me all the way to my typewriter as much as Manuel Puig's stories.”
Sandra Cisneros (born 1954) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1990 interview in Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers
“Dwell in the company of the Lord and forsake the company of the world because one should associate oneself with a friend and there is no friend superior to the Lord.”
Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani (963–1033) said by 1033 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Patience, my friend.” “I’m not your friend. And I’m not patient.”
Django Wexler wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm no stranger to the rain. I'm a friend of thunder, Friend, is it any wonder lightning strikes me? I've fought with the devil, Got down on his level, But I never gave in, so he gave up on me.”
Keith Whitley (1954–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hey Michael, it’s Doug Ford calling. Thanks so much for the message my friend. Uh, you know something? I love those polls. They make me laugh. But Michael, you got to be very, very careful when you tell someone that they’re corrupt. Very, very, very careful. OK, my friend? I’ll talk to you later.”
Doug Ford (born 1964) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Responding to a parent accusing him of corruption (24 May 2019)
“The political friend of today is the possible enemy of tomorrow. And vice versa. All those who work by a calculation of interest in politics must take that into account. Neither give your secrets to the friend nor give the adversary blows that cannot be forgotten.”
Daniel Salamanca (1869–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is there any devil equal to a flatterer, to an envious man, to a false friend, to an evil companion ? Well, the poor man is free from all these; for he is neither flattered, nor envied; he has no friend, good of bad, and no one keeps him company. The poor it is that live well and die better.”
Francisco de Quevedo (1584–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Russia is not a new friend. It is a traditional friend that has stood with Tanzania for many years.”
Samia Suluhu Hassan (born 1960) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Samia dismisses East-West divide, says Tanzania chooses partners, not blocs the citizen (June 08, 2026 )
“Tonight I wanted to pay a tribute to my friend, to our friend, Gaspard. I have chosen to do so in the form of a letter, which is as follows:”
Xavier Dolan (born 1989) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Esther was indeed a friend, but a friend is not as deeply rooted in one's heart as one's misery, as one's grief.”
Fradl Shtok (1887–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you’re a chubby or plus-size girl or whatever you want to call it, you’re the comically funny friend. You’re always going to be that friend in the corner who’s like, ‘girrrl’ or whatever sassy little comment. It’s irritating.”
Lesego Tlhabi (born 1988) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Google is your friend, that sister who has a child is your friend because you want to talk about what's coming. That's why I started a movement called Mommy Diaries, where mothers come together and talk about all things motherhood.”
Mapaseka Koetle (born 1989) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think it is just marrying your best friend more than anything. A man that will understand you; a man that will support you in good and bad times. My husband is my best friend.”
Oluchi Onweagba (born 1980) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vivian Onyebukwa, I’m real African woman — Oluchi Onweagba-Orlandi, Modern Ghana, 4 July 2010.
“I have also learnt that there is no permanent friend or enemy. Everybody has to be your friend; you obviously need to lean on each other to achieve.”
Femi Adebayo (born 1978) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Femi Adebayo: My father doubles as my boss in the industry. The Guardian (Nigeria), 04 June 2022
“Among the best things in life is to have a holy friend. I feel I am a friend of John Paul II, and it is significant that the contemporary saints moved about this life amid the same difficulties, temptations, and problems we experience. And in the midst of all this, they reached the goal.”
César Mauricio Velásquez Ossa (born 1966) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Colombia to Mark 25 Years Since John Paul II's Visit (28 November 2011) Zenit
“I had a true-love, none so dear, And a friend both leal and tried. I had a cask of good old beer, And a gallant horse to ride.A little while did Fortune smile On him and her and me. We sang along the road of life Like birds upon a tree.My lady fell to shame and hell, And with her took my friend. My cask ran sour, my horse went lame,— So alone in the cold I end.”
John Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley (1835–1895) first seen 1893 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fortune’s Wheel"; Poems Dramatic and Lyrical (1893), p. 20
“As a child, the person of Jesus Christ was really really present to me. I wasn't a particularly pious child but I knew that Jesus was real in my life, I knew that he was with me, and again my prayer as a kid wouldn't have been a pious type of prayer. It would have just been a conversation with a friend and sometimes as curt and straight forward as a conversation with a friend.”
Terence Patrick Drainey (born 1949) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bishop of Middlesbrough Shares Personal Account of Faith (5 November 2012) Bishops' Conference of England and Wales
“Bouncer was a friend of mine, and when I was going to be married to Miss Tallon, with £50,000, Bouncer said, 'Q., introduce me, old fellow, as your friend! I did; and in six weeks he married the lady. My only consolation was that her father became insolvent before the end of the year.”
Marcus Clarke (1846–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Friendship", in A Marcus Clarke Reader (1963)
“My mum will tell stories of me hiding behind her skirt when we went up the road to visit her closest friend, whose daughter was my best friend.”
Sue van der Merwe (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you're out there fightig, everybody's your friend, and you're everybody's friend. The bullets have no color, no names.”
Paris Davis (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do good to your friend to keep him, and to your enemy to make him your friend.”
E. W. Scripps (1854–1926) said by 1926 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Editor & Publisher (January 12, 1952), p. 9, col. 3
“I came to Harare through tertiary education at the University of Zimbabwe, I was fortunate enough to get my first friend there and still my friend helped me get used to the Harare life and I quickly adjusted”
Charlotte Muziri (born 1997) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before, it was different. Your mother wasn’t your friend. She always said no. She would tell you something couldn’t be done. She was your protector, your everything. Your mother wasn’t your friend. She always said no. She would tell you something couldn’t be done. She was your protector, your everything.”
Gloria Diaz (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Calling someone your best friend doesn't necessarily mean you are friend-zoning them.”
Lisa Soberano (born 1998) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: https://www.pep.ph/news/local/171818/liza-soberano-quotes-a4399-20230228-lfrm]. "The times Liza Soberano's quotes made headlines". PEP.ph. 28 February 2023.