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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“If I'm not at my desk by 4 AM, I feel like I'm missing my most productive hours. In addition to starting early, I keep an antique hour glass on my desk and every hour break briefly to do pushups, sit-ups, and some quick stretches. I find this helps keep the blood (and ideas) flowing.”
“That’s what I wanted to do. You know, 2 hours. It’s like long-distance running or playing in a football game when you totally run out of steam and the moves you make after you run out of steam, because you’re totally unselfconscious, you’re not even thinking about the mechanics anymore. The moves you make then are incredible.”
Jeff Buckley (1966–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I got bored of the tedious conversations, talking to the dealer in a stairwell where you're not supposed to be, then going back to a depressing room and spending nine hours locked up going "eeerh", then going back to get more with what little money you have left.”
Dylan Moran (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you say 'Bedtime, bedtime, bedtime!' that's not what the child hears. What the child hears is 'Lie down in the dark... for hours... and don't move... I'm locking the door now.'.”
Dylan Moran (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Midnight, when the monotonous tick-tock of diurnal progress is for one throbbing moment replaced by the cool but smokey honk of a saxophone, alternately seductive and threatening. Midnight. The black growth on the clock face that has to be biopsied every twenty-four hours to see whether it is malignant or benign.”
Tom Robbins (1932–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take me to the driest county in the most conservative state, and in two hours this determined hedonist will find you all the drugs, whores, and booze you'll need to pass an eventful weekend.”
Dan Savage (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Ognev] recalled endless, heated, purely Russian arguments, when the wranglers, spraying spittle and banging their fists on the table, fail to understand yet interrupt one another, themselves not even noticing it, contradict themselves with every phrase, change the subject, then, having argued for two or three hours, begin to laugh.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Verotchka (1887)
“recently I went along with a field secretary of the N.A.A.C.P. in Mississippi to investigate a murder that had been hushed up. We rode around through those back roads for hours talking to people who had known the dead man, trying to find out what had happened. And the Negroes talked to us as the German Jews must have talked when Hitler came to power. (1969)”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In recent years, hours of work have been reduced, holidays have been increased, the age of entry into employment has gone up, and above all, our general health and expectation of life as a people have markedly improved. It is a natural corollary of these changes that we should work longer and retire later.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Budget speech in the House of Commons (10 April 1951)
“Our hours in love have wings; in absence, crutches.”
Colley Cibber (1671–1757) first seen 1699 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Xerxes, Act IV, sc. iii (1699).
“He was within a few hours of giving his enemies the slip forever.”
Laurence Sterne (1713–1768) said by 1768 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This presentation had lasted for more than three hours, but it had enthroned a new sense of reality in the hearts of those present, a sense of man on earth. With the exception of the church and its myths and legends, there was no agency in the world so capable of making men feel the earth and the people upon it as the Communist party.”
Richard Wright (1908–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work fifteen and sixteen hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example.”
Mario Cuomo (1932–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The acme of judicial distinction means the ability to look a lawyer straight in the eyes for two hours and not hear a damned word he says.”
John Marshall (1755–1835) said by 1835 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reportedly said to a young John Bannister Gibson, who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, when Gibson remarked that Marshall had reached the acme of judicial distinction; in David Goldsmith …
“[The Joker is a] psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy. … Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.”
Heath Ledger (1979–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What though my wingèd hours of bliss have been Like angels visits, few and far between.”
Thomas Campbell (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is a waste of wearisome hours Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns; And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers, Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the best of all ways To lengthen our days Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear!”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He knew he wasn't going to win, so why stand there for 3 hours?|Brian”
Brian Regan (comedian) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A wiki is always in the process of being organized. But for every hour spent organizing, two more hours are spent adding new material. So the status quo for a wiki is always partially organized.”
Ward Cunningham (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What has happened to our courts system when career burglars and muggers get a few dozen hours' community service, or a couple of months in prison if they are unlucky, while people defending their homes against the very same criminals risk long prison sentences?”
William Hague (born 1961) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Alcester, Warwickshire (26 April 2000), quoted in Melissa Kite and Russell Jenkins, 'Tory leader hits a raw nerve in rural Alcester', The Times (27 April 2000), p. 5
“To me the moral is that he has the last word who disposes over the greatest force. I mean the executioner and his assistants, both great and small. If I were the Irish woman, I should rest most uneasy in my grave knowing to what interpreter the story of my last hours has been consigned.”
J. M. Coetzee (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By insisting on having your bottle pointing to the north when the cork is being drawn, and calling the waiter Max, you may induce an impression on your guests which hours of laboured boasting might be powerless to achieve. For this purpose, however, the guests must be chosen as carefully as the wine.”
Saki (1870–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For beauty called to beauty and there thronged at the enchanter's will The vanished hours of love that burn within the Ever-living still.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Still as the holy of holies breathes the vast Within its crystal depths the stars grow dim; Fire on the altar of the hills at last Burns on the shadowy rim. Moments that holds all moments; white upon The verge it trembles; then like mists of flowers Break from the fairy fountain of the dawn The hues of many hours.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There were many burning hours on the heart-sweet tide, And we passed away from ourselves, forgetting all The immortal moods that faded, the god who died, Hastening away to the King on a distant call.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With aching hands and bleeding feet We dig and heap, lay stone on stone; We bear the burden and the heat Of the long day and wish’t were done. Not till the hours of light return All we have built do we discern.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Morality", l. 7 (1852)
“No. Sorry, but no. I fully appreciate how much “trouble” I will get into for this, but no. I cannot let this pass without comment. Using the only hours past death of your own mother to make a point about a comic book story? There are not sufficient words in the English language to properly express my disgust. (2008)”
John Byrne (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.”
Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) said by 1927 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What between tipping the man who had brought us home, and paying for the broken sculls, and for having been out four hours and a half, it cost us a pretty considerable number of weeks’ pocket-money, that sail. But we learned experience, and they say that is always cheap at any price.”
Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) said by 1927 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the rash lustihead of my young powers, I shook the pillaring hours And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears, I stand amid the dust o’ the mounded years— My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap. My days have crackled and gone up in smoke, Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.”
Francis Thompson (1859–1907) said by 1907 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“DANGER / CONTAMINATED AREA / RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL" [Fake sign glued into St. James' Park, next to Buckingham Palace, 2004. Became an unlikely collaboration with the Metropolitan Police who made it look far more realistic by stationing a community support officer on the bridge nearby telling people not to be alarmed. Lasted 22 hours.]”
“I like ironies unless they're real. I was arrested for painting a picture about corruption over a billboard. As a result I spent 40 hours in a cell with the cops taking the piss and telling me lies, followed by a spell of community service and a hefty fine for which I never got a receipt and no record appeared to be kept.”
“We are on the field doing what we love to do. They have to work in the mill or other places eight hours a day, and work much harder than us and they pay their way in.”
Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Explaining to reporters why it's the players who should pay the fans, and not vice versa; at post-game press conference on Roberto Clemente Day, as quoted in "Roberto Clemente's a Man of 2 Lives ... and 2 Loves" by the …
“I used to go out with Severin a lot to dance clubs but we wouldn't dance. It'd be more like take drugs and try to get to the toilet which would usually take about two hours...we became good friends but we were never really good for each other. Our friendship was based entirely on altered states. Whenever we went out together I would never come home until the next day. Mary hated it. (Faith, 1983)”
Robert Smith (musician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.”
Elton John (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lately I've been thinking how much I miss my lady. Amoreena's in the cornfield brightening the daybreak, Living like a lusty flower, running through the grass for hours, Rolling through the hay like a puppy child.”
Elton John (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After collecting, using, and recommending scores of other Bible versions for about 25 years, I spent hundreds of hours studying the Bible version topic and have been dragged to the conclusion that God preserved His Word for the English-speaking people in the King James Bible (KJB). I have been unable to find any errors in it and trust it, word for word.”
Kent Hovind (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never do hymns seem so long as in the days of childhood, never is their world and their language so alien to the soul. In old age the opposite is true, the hours are then too short for the hymns.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I ask questions about religion that my grandparents didn’t ask, it is not because I am intellectually advanced. I wonder about the existence of God because, unlike my grandparents, I live much of my day in a secular city where I do not measure the hours with the tolling bells of a church.”
Richard Rodriguez (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Apart from a 20-minute stunt as Eeyore at Disneyland for “Disney Way One” and countless joyful hours of volunteering with my fellow colleagues, my job at Disney Online was mainly to make children happy by creating entertaining and educational games.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imagine what $1.57 trillion in cash and 7.9 billion hours of service could have done to solve some of the most pressing issues today. We may not achieve an immediate unalloyed success without a few bumps along the way, but the successful Moon landing was preceded by many failures.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The house and its occupants mold to each other twenty-four hours a day, and the building accumulates the record of that intimacy.”
Stewart Brand (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have loved colours, and not flowers; Their motion, not the swallows wings; And wasted more than half my hours Without the comradeship of things.”
Arthur Symons (1865–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While I stayed at the Ashram, I spent many hours a day with Mira behn.... Even today at this distance, I remember her with great affection in my heart. ... She gave me the impression that she had found what she was looking for.”
Ram Swarup (1920–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a limitation on debate, which is unlike other bills, for 20 hours, but there is no limitation on amendments. In other words, Republicans if they wanted to, and I suspect they do, could offer literally thousands of amendments and keep Senate in session for weeks and months.”
Rick Santorum (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world is wide; no two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world.”
John Constable (1776–1837) said by 1837 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in C.R. Leslie, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Composed Chiefly of His Letters (1843) (Phaidon, London, 1951) p. 273
“Hours of research can cut months of field work.”
E. Lee Spence (born 1947) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: from 'About the Author' by Charles King, Treasures of the Confederate Coast: the 'Real Rhett Butler' & Other Revelations by Dr. E. Lee Spence (Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, 1995), p. 517.
“My working hours are not that conventional. I often get up about two in the morning and do a painting, and then I'll have a bath, and then I often feel very hungry around 4am, so I'll go into Soho and have a meal somewhere like Balans. That's what I love about living here - there's always life around me.”
Stella Vine (born 1969) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Williams-Akoto. "My Home: Stella Vine, artist", The Independent, (2005-11-30)
“It is the vanity of women to spend hours in front of the mirror. It is the vanity of men not to bother.”
Simon Munnery (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source