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

English Italiano Polski עברית Français Português فارسی Español 中文 Русский Deutsch العربية हिन्दी 日本語 Ελληνικά Latina

Work

Love Friendship Happiness Hope Fear Courage Death Life Time War Peace Freedom Truth Wisdom Knowledge Science Art Music Nature Money Work Power God Beauty Laughter Family Success and failure Change Dreams Books and reading

“Instead of saying, "It will never work," with-it people say, "What if this does work?”
Craig Groeschel (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Money is neither a material to work upon nor a tool to work with.”
David Ricardo (1772–1823) first seen 1810 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The High Price of Bullion (1810)
“The secret to wealth usually is not to work hard, but to have others work hard for you.”
Michael Parenti (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We see plenty of artistic work that reflects superficial social conditions, but very little work that questions fundamental values.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To me, to be political means you associate your work with a larger number of people’s living conditions, and that includes both mental and physical conditions. And you try to use your work to affect the situation.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every dollar counts And every morning hurts We mostly work to live Until we live to work”
Ezra Koenig (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A literary work can only be received through symbols, through concepts — for that is what words are; but cinema, like music, allows for utterly direct, emotional, sensuous perception of the work.”
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All scientific work is incomplete – whether it be observational or experimental. All scientific work is liable to be upset or modified by advancing knowledge. That does not confer upon us a freedom to ignore the knowledge we already have, or to postpone the action that it appears to demand at a given time.”
Austin Bradford Hill (1897–1991) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Environment and Disease: Association or Causation?,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 58 (1965), 295-300
“We are not saved on account of the Holy Ghost's work in us; we are saved by means of it. We are saved on account of Christ's work for us. The Spirit never tells us to look iiiwara even to His own operations, for peace, but outward to Christ.”
William Paton Mackay (1839–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are multitudes in our congregations who are just waiting while they ought to be acting. They must work, if they would have God work in them. There can be no religion without obedience.”
Ichabod Spencer (1798–1854) said by 1854 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do I think that we should work with the community or the police or the medical people down there to work out what to do if there’s another Scientologist who needs care and we want to avoid psychiatric treatment? Yes I do. And why is that? No matter what the circumstance … anybody would want to do something to avoid someone dying.”
David Miscavige (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My Master and my Lord! I long to do some work, some work for Thee; I long to bring some lowly gift of love For all Thy love to me.”
Hetty Bowman (1838–1872) said by 1872 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 120.
“People do not work, consume, or invest to pay taxes. They work and invest to earn after-tax income, and they consume to get the best buys after tax. Therefore, people are not concerned per se with taxes, but with after-tax results. Taxes and after-tax results are very similar, but have crucial differences.”
Arthur Laffer (born 1940) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Executive Summary: The Laffer Curve: Past, Present, and Future” The Heritage Foundation, (June 1, 2004)
“People don’t work to pay taxes, they work to consume.”
Arthur Laffer (born 1940) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jim McTague, “How Arthur Laffer Would End Trade Warfare" Barron’s (Feb. 13, 2015)
“I get to my desk at eight in the morning and I leave it at seven in the evening and I just work away. I'm a work machine.”
Gyles Brandreth (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In speaking of the work of machines and of natural forces we must, of course, in this comparison eliminate anything in which activity of intelligence comes into play. The latter is also capable of the hard and intense work of thinking, which tries a man just as muscular exertion does.”
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Conservation of Force" (1862), p. 280
“We have lost the old love of work, of work which kept itself company, which was fair weather and music in the heart, which found its reward in the doing, craving neither the flattery of vulgar eyes nor the gold of vulgar men.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Having a tradition is a great thing to work within, and maybe today [it] is the only way to land musically dramatic work.”
Alan Menken (born 1949) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Inside Movies interview 24 Nov 2010.
“There can never be too many of us doing this type of work … The work that we do is necessary beyond accolades or honors. In fact, to do it for accolades or honors alone is criminal. I am my brother’s keeper, may I always behave as such!”
Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For over a decade now in the literature of social psychology there has been good work on stigma - the situation of the individual who is disqualified from full social acceptance. This work has been added to from time to time by useful clinical studies, and its framework applied to ever new categories of persons.”
Erving Goffman (1922–1982) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface, lead paragraph. p.9 [Page numbers per the Penguin Books Pelican paperback, 1976 reprint.]
“In a nutshell, the idea of Juche means that the masters of the revolution and the work of construction are the masses of the people and that they are also the motive force of the revolution and the work of construction. In other words, one is responsible for one's own destiny and one has also the capacity for hewing out one's own destiny.”
Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mainichi Shimbun (17 September 1972) "On Some Problems of Our Party's Juche Idea and the Government of the Republic's Internal and External Policies," in Works vol. 27
“You know, even when the material wasn't so good, I've gotten to work with the greats, and I've always given it my best shot. I'm satisfied with my work. I could stop tomorrow, and if Bright Young Things was my last role, I could say I tidied it up with dignity.”
Dan Aykroyd (born 1952) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "I'm still haunted by Belushi" by Sean O'Hagan in The Observer (28 September 2003)
“..I believe, they always say to me that I'm an expressionist, I don't know why, because perhaps the technique is [not understood] and the colour is strong.. .But for some years, I work, I feel much more of, of the space, that is: magic is spacious if you like. Because for me man is an infinitely creative space. And because of that I am always looking to expand my work, you know, to find space.”
Karel Appel (1921–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I left Paris in 1954, I saw no art that was being 'made' like mine and returning to the U.S. I found no one 'making' art that way either. In my own work, I have never been interested in painterliness (or what I find is) a very personal handwriting, putting marks on a canvas. My work is a different way of seeing and making something and which has a different use.”
Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. unknown : 'Notes from 1969'
“Every man knows that in his work he does best and accomplishes most when he has attained a proficiency that enables him to work intuitively. That is, there are things which we come to know so well that we do not know how we know them. So it seems to me in matters of principle. Perhaps we live best and do things best when we are not too conscious of how and why we do them.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No, this trick won't work. The same trick does not work twice. How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A comment to T. H. Morgan, as recalled by Henry Borsook. Einstein was visiting Cal Tech where Morgan and Borsook worked, and Morgan explained to Einstein that he was trying to bring physics and chemistry to bear on the …
“[T]he plan we are advocating amounts essentially to this: that a certain small income, sufficient for necessaries, should be secured to all, whether they work or not, and that a larger income, as much larger as might be warranted by the total amount of commodities produced, should be given to those who are willing to engage in some work which the community recognizes as useful.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important, and that to take a holiday would bring all kinds of disaster. If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The money-getter who pleads his love of work has a lame defense, for love of work at money-getting is a lower taste than love of money.”
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All civilization", said Lord Curzon, quoting Renan, "all civilization has been the work of aristocracies". ... It would be much more true to say "The upkeep of aristocracies has been the hard work of all civilizations".”
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The People's Rights [1909] (1970), pp. 53-54
“The average man won't really do a day's work unless he is caught and cannot get out of it. There is plenty of work to do if people would do it.”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in The Zanesville Sunday Times-Signal [Zanesville, Ohio] (15 March 1931): On reasons for the Great Depression
“Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to the country and to mankind is to bring up a family. But here again, because there is nothing to sell, there is a very general disposition to regard a married woman's work as no work at all, and to take it as a matter of course that she should not be paid for it.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every really able man, in whatever direction he work,—a man of large affairs, an inventor, a statesman, an orator, a poet, a painter,—if you talk sincerely with him, considers his work, however much admired, as far short of what it should be.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gary Kildall was one of the original pioneers of the PC revolution. He was a very creative computer scientist who did excellent work. Although we were competitors, I always had tremendous respect for his contributions to the PC industry. His untimely death was very unfortunate and he and his work will be missed.”
Bill Gates (born 1955) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Computer Chronicles. "Special Edition: Gary Kildall." 1995
“A source of strength in the early days was that groups in various parts of the world were prepared to construct experimental computers without necessarily intending them to be the prototype for serial production. As a result, there became available a body of knowledge about what would work and what would not work.”
Maurice Wilkes (1913–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The rest of the story, to Grand's thinking, was very simple. The common lot of married couples. You get married, you go on loving a bit longer, you work. And you work so hard that it makes you forget to love.”
Albert Camus (1913–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have a great aim before us; a mighty work of reform of ourselves and our lives, of our life in common, of our economy, of our culture. This work does not disturb the rest of the world. We have enough to do in our own house.”
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Gera (17 June 1934), quoted in The Times (26 September 1939), p. 9
“The more is given the less the people will work for themselves, and the less they work the more their poverty will increase.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) first seen 1892 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Help for the Starving, Pt. III (January 1892)
“Understand then all of you, especially the young, that to want to impose an imaginary state of government on others by violence is not only a vulgar superstition, but even a criminal work. Understand that this work, far from assuring the well-being of humanity is only a lie, a more or less unconscious hypocrisy, camouflaging the lowest passions we possess.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Passage written for for The Law of Love and the Law of Violence (1908), released in 1917, as quoted in Equality in Liberty and Justice (2001) by Antony Flew, p. 89
“Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.”
Robert Benchley (1889–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in The Algonquin Wits, (1968) by R E Drennan, p. 5
“I've always considered my work one piece and I consider that my work won't be finished until I am dead and buried and I hope that's a long, long time.”
John Lennon (1940–1980) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with RKO Radio on the day of his murder (8 December 1980)
“I don't pity any man who does hard work worth doing. I admire him. I pity the creature who does not work, at whichever end of the social scale he may regard himself as being.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in Chattanooga, Tennessee (8 September 1902).
“The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight; that he shall not be a mere passenger, but shall do his share in the work that each generation of us finds ready to hand; and, furthermore, that in doing his work he shall show, not only the capacity for sturdy self-help, but also self-respecting regard for the rights of others.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at New York (11 November 1902)
“It seems to me that I may be living too long. Indeed: my nearest relations have all died, and so have some of my best friends, and even some of my best pupils. However, I do not have a reason to complain. I am grateful and happy to be alive, and still be able to continue with my work, if only just. My work seems to me more important than ever.”
Karl Popper (1902–1994) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "At 90, and Still Dynamic : Revisiting Sir Karl Popper and Attending His Birthday Party" by Eugene Yue-Ching Ho, in Intellectus 23 (Jul-Sep 1992)
“Members, you and I will work together in the months ahead on other issues: productive farm policy, a cleaner environment, broader home ownership, especially among minorities, and ways to encourage the good work of charities and faith-based groups. I ask you to join me on these important domestic issues in the same spirit of cooperation we've applied to our war against terrorism.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was going to say he's a piece of work, but that might not translate too well. Is that all right, if I call you a 'piece of work'?”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: to Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg (June 20, 2005)
“If you have ever done any security work – and it did not involve the concept of "network of trust" – it wasn't security work, it was – masturbation. I don't know what you were doing. But trust me, it's the only way you can do security, it's the only way you can do development.”
Linus Torvalds (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“David Bowie had everything. He was intelligent, imaginative, brave, charismatic, cool, sexy and truly inspirational both visually and musically. He created such staggeringly brilliant work, yes, but so much of it and it was so good. There are great people who make great work but who else has left a mark like his? No one like him.”
Kate Bush (born 1958) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tribute to David Bowie, in "David Bowie, as remembered by…" in The Guardian (17 January 2016)
“Where the bricks are fallen We will build with new stone Where the beams are rotten We will build with new timbers Where the word is unspoken We will build with new speech There is work together A Church for all And a job for each Every man to his work.”
T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source