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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“Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken. . . .”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We're importing Hinduism into America. The whole thought of your karma, of meditation, of the fact that there's no end of life and there's this endless wheel of life, this is all Hinduism. Chanting too. Many of those chants are to Hindu Gods — Vishnu, Hare Krishna. The origin of it is all demonic. We can't let that stuff come into America. We've got the best defense, if you will — a good offense.”
Pat Robertson (1930–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let no man stop to plunder, But slay, and slay, and slay; The gods who live forever Are on our side to-day.”
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) said by 1859 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best way to be thankful is to use the goods the gods provide you.”
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Judge them by their works. What have they done for mankind beyond the spinning of airy fancies and the mistaking of their own shadows for gods?”
Jack London (1876–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we say that we believe in democracy, if we say that the fabric of a democratic society is one which allows for the free play of idea...then, in the name of all the gods, give that free play a chance to work within the constitutional framework.”
Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Legislative Assembly (4 October 1956)
“Before anything else [Numa] decided that he must instill in his subjects the fear of the gods, this being the most effective measure with an ignorant, and at that time uncultured, people.”
Livy (59 BC–17) said by 17 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Better and safer is an assured peace than a victory hoped for. The one is in your own power, the other is in the hands of the gods.”
Livy (59 BC–17) said by 17 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We deemed the secret lost, the spirit gone, Which spake in Greek simplicity of thought, And in the forms of gods and heroes wrought Eternal beauty from the sculptured stone — A higher charm than modern culture won, With all the wealth of metaphysic lore, Gifted to analyze, dissect explore.”
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gods are nothing but low blood sugar,” I said. “St. Augustine, Peyote Indians…you know how it works—”
Samuel R. Delany (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You understand, Pryn, I don’t believe in any of it: magic, miracles, religion, the calling of the gods, named or unnamed.”
Samuel R. Delany (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The modern world worships the gods of speed and quantity, and of the quick and easy profit, and out of this idolatry monstrous evils have arisen. Yet the evils go long unrecognized.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Foreword to the book Animal Machines by Ruth Harrison (1964).
“here the tailoring-the screening of basic truth is done, not to suit a party line-but to accommodate to the short-term gain-to serve the gods of profit and production.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The construction of temples of the Ionic order to Juno, Diana, Father Bacchus, and the other gods of that kind, will be in keeping with the middle position which they hold; for the building of such will be an appropriate combination of the severity of the Doric and the delicacy of the Corinthian.”
Vitruvius (80–15 BC) said by 15 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.”
Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Art and Eros: A Dialogue about Art", Acastos: Two Platonic Dialogues (1986).
“I felt both a state of envy and contempt. The yacht itself was not vulgar, but I smelt something vulgar about owning it...A few moments later I set off back to my dull daily penal colony of an existence on the far side of the dream, as Adam left the Garden of Eden perhaps…except I knew there were no Gods, and nothing was going to bar my return...”
John Fowles (1926–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is an Age of Gods, I am afraid, Master Corum. There are many, big and small, and they crowd the universe. Once it was not so. Sometimes, I suspect, the universe manages with none at all!”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I could come to hate all gods,” he said. “IT WOULD BE YOUR RIGHT. WE MUST USE MORTALS FOR ENDS WE CANNOT OURSELVES ACHIEVE.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mortals and gods come and go, but nature remains.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s what they call a “theocracy”—priest-ridden in the extreme, full of dark superstitions and darker myths and legends, where all gods and demons are honoured, doubtless to be on the safe side. The people are cruel, ignorant, dirty and proud—they look down their noses at all other races.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But beware of gods Elric. Beware of the Lords of the Higher Worlds and remember that their aid and their gifts must always be paid for.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As I believe I observed earlier,” said the albino prince to the still-cowed Gaynor, “the most powerful of beings are not necessarily the most intelligent, nor, indeed, sane, nor well-mannered. The more one knows of the gods, the more one learns this fundamental lesson...”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Are the gods mad or are they so subtle we cannot fathom the workings of their minds?”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her breath a warm fire In every lovers heart A mistress to magicians And a dancer to the gods”
Cat Stevens (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are no conventions, no tabus, no gods, no priests, princes, fathers, or revelations which they must accept. ... The prison door is wide open. They stagger out into trackless space under a blinding sun.”
Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The wise man is joyful, happy and calm, unshaken, he lives on a plane with the gods.”
Seneca the Younger (5 BC–65) said by 65 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was the hour before the Gods awake. Across the path of the divine Event The huge foreboding mind of Night, alone In her unlit temple of eternity, Lay stretched immobile upon Silence' marge. Almost one felt, opaque, impenetrable, In the sombre symbol of her eyeless muse The abysm of the unbodied Infinite; A fathomless zero occupied the world.”
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A planet of playthings We dance on the strings of powers we cannot perceive The stars aren't aligned or the gods are maligned Blame is better to give than receive -- Freewill (1980)”
Neil Peart (1952–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It doesn't matter," WisestFrog answered. "You knew that the thoughts were beneath you and you felt small. And here in the Land of the Gods, everything is so creative that your thoughts may give results you don't expect at all. But you really have no problem. Just think big yourself bigger. Go ahead, think a big thought.”
Jane Roberts (1929–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us.”
Roger Zelazny (1937–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They’re here and we’re here, and they think we’re gods—maybe because we do nothing for them but make them miserable.”
Roger Zelazny (1937–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He doubted that his petition would be heard, however, since he did not feel that the gods would devote much attention to anything emitted from this particular portion of the world.”
Roger Zelazny (1937–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have no vision of gods, not of Eros with love-arrows laden, Jupiter thundering death or of Juno his white-breasted queen, Yet have I seen All of the joy of the world in the innocent heart of a maiden.”
Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So kick away the burning sticks from beneath the water of your anger and let it cease from boiling, and go forth as you have promised, to see wonderful things and do wonderful deeds and snatch the pure and innocent out of the hands of evil gods or men.”
H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925) said by 1925 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before you can steal fire from the Gods you gotta be able to get coffee for the director”
David Mamet (born 1947) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business (2007)
“Croskley:Jake For Gods' sake...”
Richard McKenna (1913–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Forgetfulness of grief I yet may gain; In some wise may come ending to my pain; It may be yet the Gods will have me glad! Yet, Love, I would that thee and pain I had!”
William Morris (1834–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods of one age become the devils of the age to follow. The priests look forward to the age to come and see only the end of the world.”
Lon Milo DuQuette (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Out in deep space the planets sweep, inexorable, along their splendid orbits. Maxine bowed her head. From now on she would take the gods' dictation.”
Helen Garner (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She walked and walked, daring to be happy, risking the wrath of the Gods. She raised her large smiling face to the sun and when she was not struck down, dared to hope for herself again.”
Susan Johnson (Australian author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What really did I escape from, thought I saw Gods face on the design in my vintage Claiborne”
“But the ingenious machinery contrived by the Gods for reducing human possibilities of amelioration to a minimum — which arranges that wisdom to do shall come pari passu with the departure of zest for doing — stood in the way of all that.”
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) said by 1928 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They have no hope here or hereafter," answered Conan. "Their gods are Crom and his dark race, who rule over a sunless place of everlasting mist, which is the world of the dead. Mitra! The ways of the Aesir were more to my liking.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And he silently recanted his blasphemy, for if the brazen-hoofed gods made Man for their sport and plaything, they also gave him a brain that holds craft and cruelty greater than any other living thing.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We’re making tin gods out of those poor buffoons in Hollywood; I dote on movies and appreciate the scanty art therein but I consider the profession about the most debased and debasing I know.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (week of February 20, 1928)
“Howard had a great love for all that was lost and strange and faraway. One thinks of him sitting at his typewriter in Cross Plains, Texas, a young man dreaming great dreams of gods and heroes far beyond the narrow boundaries of his own space and time, roaming free across the wonderful landscapes he saw in his mind.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Leigh Brackett, "Introduction", in Sword Woman, Berkeley Books, New York, 1977.
“Myth was the mystery plus the fantasy — gods, anthropomorphized animals and birds, chimera, phantasmagorical creatures — that posits out of the imagination some sort of explanation for the mystery. Humans and their fellow creatures were the materiality of the story, but as Nikos Kazantzakis once wrote, 'Art is the representation not of the body but of the forces which created the body.'”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perhaps it is the positive knowledge that humans now possess the means to destroy their whole planet, the fear that they have in this way themselves become the gods, dreadfully charged with their own continued existence, that has made comic-book and movie myth escapist.”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men in their prayers beg the gods for health, not knowing that this is a thing they have in their own power. Through their incontinence undermining it, they themselves become, because of their passions, the betrayers of their own health.”
Democritus (461–361 BC) said by 361 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Seneca thinks the gods are well pleased when they see great men contending with adversity.”
Robert Burton (1577–1640) said by 1640 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source