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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“A few days before the talent show, I went to a pep rally at school that also included a talent show. I really wanted to sing in that talent show, too. I knew I could nail it. Then I thought about how some of the kids always teased me, and I wondered if they would make fun of me more. Maybe they would, but then I thought: Who cares? It felt amazing to realize that.”
Austin Mahone (born 1996) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The heart has a resiliency. Strained to breaking, it can contract again. Even the waiting women, Iseult and Penelope, learned, as they sat sorrowing and watching, to sing to the swing of the sea.”
Fannie Hurst (1889–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of true benevolence, its charms divine, With other motives to call forth its power, And its grand triumphs, multiplied beyond All former bounds, in this its golden age, Humbly I sing, awed by the holy theme; A theme exalted, though as yet unsung, In beauty rich, of inspiration full, And worthy of a nobler harp than that From which heroic strains sublimely sound.”
Carlos Wilcox (1794–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well I wish I could be like a bird in the sky/How sweet it would be/If I found I could fly/I'd soar to the sun/And look down at the sea/And I sing 'cause I know/How it feels to be free”
Nina Simone (1933–2003) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free 1967
“Luck, fate, destiny, karma. No matter how well one might be able to sing or dance or how beautiful one is, I think something else comes into play. I am a person who didn't want to become an actress at all. But the fact that I ended up being an actress indicates to me that there is something of destiny involved. So I don't think it is something that you can study to become.”
Shima Iwashita (born 1941) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Movie Experience: Conversation with actress Shima Iwashita and director Masahiro Shinoda/Advice to Students (February 27, 1999)
“Unfortunately, it’s in human nature to be aggressive, destroy each other and make war… I wish this wasn’t the case, even though I would have to sacrifice the band. I’d rather sacrifice the band and have world-wide peace, that would be a good thing. Unfortunately, people kill each other, there is war in the world, and we sing about them when they become history.”
Pär Sundström (born 1981) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Pär Sundstrom (Sabaton) (October 21, 2012)
“The characters are teenagers in high school, it is natural that they will want to explore their sexual desires, date people, and want to make out. That is what puberty does to you. It is very disturbing when something as natural as this is scrutinised, scandalised and made into gossip. (about moral policing of teenagers in Bulbul Can Sing)”
Rima Das (born 1977) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Firstpost Article - TIFF 2018: Rima Das on Bulbul Can Sing, and India’s Oscar pick Village Rockstars - 23 September 2018 - Archive
“When I'm holding a guitar, I got a little more confident. You know, actually, before that, I would say I was a shy guy. You know, I was trying to looking for some better way. And then finally, I found a guitar and I really can sing. And people give more attention on me and I thought, "OK, this is the thing I will do forever".”
“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
“I shout peace from the mountains.. I preach peace in the caves Through peace we shall find equity & justice. I sing peace, blessed peace.”
Julie Gichuru (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I sing for peace amongst us. I am praying most of the time for the people, not just for myself. I talk to Mother Earth; she is the one who holds all the energies that keep us strong.”
Stella Chiweshe (1946–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Give place to Gentleness in your soul and call its children - Selflessness and Meekness together with Politeness and Good nature. And when you do all this, give thanks to God for His help to guard you from evil and to place you in His abode in safety. Sing and praise the Lord in your souls, because your salvation is reality and Heaven is your home.”
Peter Deunov (1864–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As a grown-up little child, I always had the flare for the arts. I just wanted to sing in front of people, dramatize and make people happy and laugh. For me, it was an escape as a little child because I was quite a very shy one”
Chioma Akpotha (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Negritude is an ideology of the elite, completely devoid of meaning for the masses ... Negritude is an ideology suggesting that Africans are blessed with a soul and not reason. They would have us believe that Africans can sing, dance and feel, but not think.”
Sarah Ladipo Manyika (born 1968) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In Dependence (2008)
“When I think of dangerous women I don’t think of women in whose presence I am in danger. When I think of dangerous women I think of women in whose presence the dangers of life finally meet their match. The kind of dangers I’m talking about are the hypocrisies, the patriarchy, the rules that are no rules at all but simply ways to cheat freedom and oppress those who dare sing out”
Yewande Omotoso (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So many people have asked me what Duduke means— it’s the beat of your heart or the beat of the drums you move your body to, or the beat you sing a melody to.”
Simi (singer) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Her definition of what one of her songs mean, "Simi’s ‘Duduke’ makes her unborn baby a symbol of love and hope", Vanguard (May 10, 2020)
“I don’t go around blowing my own trumpet but I do know for sure that I’m good at what I do. I put in the work and nobody will say I can’t sing because I know that I sure can.”
Simi (singer) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Her take on people alluding the entire success of the song(Duduke) to the sentimentality of being pregnant, "Don’t get too comfortable with Simi", Pan American Music (April 1, 2021)
“There's a lyric in our opening number where we sing, "I'm an islander." And they heard this and leapt to their feet and started clapping and crying. And the cast just started bawling. We didn't know what to do. It was so beautiful. They really - they gave us the OK to come to Broadway. They really kind of blessed the show.”
Jenn Colella (born 1974) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On performing a concert version of Come From Away for Gander in "Jenn Colella And The Phantom Broadway Tattoo" on NPR (2018-05-04)
“I learned how much I love to do musical theater because I get to sing and dance and act, do it all in two hours.”
Laura Bell Bundy (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have three older sisters who definitely encouraged me to lark around. I’m pretty sure they spent their Sundays dressing me up (in suitably androgynous clothing) and forcing me to sing Sister Sledge. They were my heroes growing up.”
Jonathan Bailey (born 1988) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jonathan Bailey: 20 Questions With ... South Downs' Jonathan Bailey" on WhatsOnStage (19 April 2012)
“Culture for me is when you sing or dance, when you have theatre, when you read a book, a beautiful poem. It doesn't matter whether it's Shakespeare who wrote it or whether it is an African poet – it is communicating with all of us, regardless of who you are, your colour, your social structure.”
Graça Machel (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poets sing of a coming federation of the world, and we applaud. Idealists dream that in this commonwealth of all humanity the divine spark in man shall be the only test of citizenship, and we think of their dream and future history.”
Zitkala-Ša (1876–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So how can we continue to help-be tuning forks in some way? I guess that's the job of writers. We're tuning forks. We strike a note and it's not what we sing, so much, just that we strike this note-and then that note resonates in someone else's life, maybe they hear a harmonious note in their own lives.”
Naomi Shihab Nye (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We'd go to singing and he'd say, "Velma, how can you sing? They're working the hell out of you." And I said, "I'm singing the hell out of you."...it made you forget how hard you were being worked and the treatment you were going through. Singing is something that is good for the soul, and we used to do lots of it. We had to.”
Velma Hopkins (1909–1996) said by 1996 at the latest 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
“Did you find God, or did you buy Him off?” “It’s all a matter of viewpoint,” answered Socrates. “I contribute thousands of credits to His churches and sing His praises every morning, and He pretty much protects me and helps take care of business. It’s a mutually nourishing relationship.”
Mike Resnick (1942–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Written words can also sing.”
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (1938–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Freestyling, for me, feels like a release. A lot of things I feel, I can't explain, I just sing it. So it was one of those days when it was just inside me. I don't know where it came from. By the time I finished, I knew I had something special.”
“don’t ever think I’ve had a ‘this-is-it’ moment. I’ve just known that I love to sing and this is what I want to do.” “When you are serving, you just want the world to be a part of it.”
“When you are an artist you are telling your story and other people stories…As a South African, when I had the platform to sing, I took it as a platform to tell my story, to inspire those who were fighting for equal right and freedom.”
Yvonne Chaka Chaka (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...and if Rwandans, can feel me like this, I knew that there was nothing else I could do but to sing words that could change their lives.”
Miss Jojo (born 1983) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: , She is best known for her contemporary Rwandan music, but really she is skilled in many different aspects of music. Miss Jojo is currently the most famous female Rwandan musician (19 November 2009)
“I knew that I could sing and dance...my mother would give me a nickel sometimes to stop.”
Hattie McDaniel (1893–1952) said by 1952 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“when all of them joined in to sing about lovers and fights and broken-down cars, it was a shared world, between all tribes, all nations. (p 296)”
Linda Hogan (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I that my slender oaten pipe in verse was wont to sound Of woods, and next to that I taught for husbandmen the ground, How fruit unto their greedy lust they might constrain to bring, A work of thanks: Lo now of Mars, and dreadful wars I sing, Of arms, and of the man of Troy, that first by fatal flight Did thence arrive to Lavine land, that now Italia hight.”
Thomas Phaer (1510–1560) said by 1560 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Beginning of the first Book of the Aeneidos of Virgil, as quoted in The Oxford History of Poetry in English, Vol. IV (Oxford University Press, 2022), p. 269
“I am Laguna, woman of the lake, daughter of the dawn, sunrise, kurena. I can see the light making the world anew. It is the nature of my blood and heritage to do this. There is surely cause to weep, to grieve; but greater than ugliness, the endurance of tribal beauty is our reason to sing, to greet the coming day and the restored life and hope it brings.”
Paula Gunn Allen (1939–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why am I taking part? Because I love to dance. And whether I can dance well—I'm like those who sing in the shower. I think I can dance well, but we’ll see in a few days if it’s really the case.”
Auma Obama (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But in spite of all this, freedom here is incomparable; no wonder then that the Negro can be lynched, and yet a Negro can stand and sing My Country Tis of Thee.”
Fatima Massaquoi (1904–1978) said by 1978 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even in the concentration camps, even by the glare of the crematorium flames, there were those who wrote. We were like those humming birds who sing most beautifully when in captivity”
Chava Rosenfarb (1923–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take your head out from under the yoke of slavery And sing the hymn of life Break the longing you have Tell with the whole world Let go, let go, Don't miss your dreams”
Mehdi Yarrahi (born 1981) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Soroode Zendegi", 2022.
“If we trivialize Communion, we trivialize everything, and we cannot lose a moment as important as that of receiving Communion, of recognizing the real presence of Christ there, of the God who is the love above all loves, as we sing in a hymn in Spanish.”
Antonio Cañizares Llovera (born 1945) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Spanish cardinal recommends that Catholics receive Communion on the tongue (28 July 2011) Catholic News Agency
“The hen knows the sun has risen and yet lets the rooster sing”
Adame Ba Konaré (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[A]cademics and politicians continue to sing the praises of abstract markets as if... descended... from heaven while maintaining... silence about the fact that without government help, countless... corporations would have landed in the dustbin of history.”
John Komlos (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some of us have learnt how not to cry in public. How to dance with broken bones. How to sing with a sore...How to laugh even when life is not being funny...How to stumble, stagger and still walk with a swag. And yet how to know and trust without a shadow of doubt that God cannot fail even if He tried to fail!”
Roselyn Ngissah first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Berlinda Entsie, Roselyn Ngissah's birthday style is a lesson for plus-size women, Pulse.com.gh, February 8, 2023.
“Plus, I cannot walk. Sometimes I wake up feeling as if I can’t think properly, as if I’m losing my mind. Otherwise, I can sit on my wheelchair and sing.”
Deborah Fraser (1965–2022) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: ‘I’m losing my mind’: Deborah Fraser’s last interview before her death by Naledi de Wee,17-05-2022 Retrieved 13/11/2023
“Everyone sings in my family. But I’m the only one who dared to sing ‘for real'”
Aya Nakamura (born 1995) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don’t go to church because the churches around where I stay currently make too much noise which doesn’t invite me to worship with them. I believe we go to church to worship God, sing and pray but what goes on in my area is beyond measure.”
Wiyaala (born 1986) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: SQuarshie, Clothe yourself; stop praising the devil - Morris BabyFace tells Wiyaala, Pulse.com.gh, 1 May 2015.
“And they shot the singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori | on a night of youth, | they shot him out of love, | so he doesn't sing anymore. | They shot him because he was handsome | remember it as it was before | alternative, self-reduced | outside the system's perspective. (from Vaudeville (Last Cannibal World), n. 3, Side A)”
Roberto Vecchioni (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But as long as I sing I have you in front of me, the years are just moments, you have always been here in front of me. (from I miss you)”
Roberto Vecchioni (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men sing when words aren't enough, when they can't say them, perhaps because on their own they would even be ridiculous.”
Roberto Vecchioni (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's the water flea | that the shadow stole from you | and now you are sick | and the green snake | that you crushed | he will not forgive you. | And then you have to sing for a long time | to make you forgive me | and the water flea, who knows | the shadow will make you. (from The Water Flea, n. 6)”
Angelo Branduardi (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source