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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“You know, everybody has setbacks in their life, and everybody falls short of whatever goals they might set for themselves. That's part of living and coming to terms with who you are as a person.”
Hillary Clinton (born 1947) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: People interview (December 28, 1992)
“In this case the problem was simply death. A quick decline indeed. And given the nature of life and of time, this was a problem that no living organism would ever truly solve. Postponements, yes; solutions, no. “Reality itself is mortal,” he said.”
Kim Stanley Robinson (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life yields only to the conqueror. Never accept what can be gained by giving in. You will be living off stolen goods, and your muscles will atrophy.”
Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1925–1930
“Only in democratic countries is there the beginning of a suspicion that the old axioms about the press being the bulwark of liberty is something that affects the daily life of the people—that it is a living warning rather than an ancient wisecrack. A people that wants to be free must arm itself with a free press.”
George Seldes (1890–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.”
William Golding (1911–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How are we to reconcile our supreme duty towards memory with the need to forget that is essential to life? No generation has had to confront this paradox with such urgency. The survivors wanted to communicate everything to the living: the victim's solitude and sorrow, the tears of mothers driven to madness, the prayers of the doomed beneath a fiery sky.”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Bar Association of Boston, in Speeches (1913), p. 86.
“When we don't allow ourselves to hope, we don't allow ourselves to have purpose. Without purpose, without meaning, life is dark. We've no light within, and we're just living to die.”
Dean Koontz (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To subdue destruction is one of the most important affirmations of which we are capable in this world. It is the affirmation of this life, bound up with yours, and with the realm of the living: an affirmation caught up with a potential for destruction and its countervailing force.”
Judith Butler (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a dilemma in any High Standard of Living in a profit economy. I am referring to the embarrassing truth that the best things in life are free. ... things like friendly competitive sports, friendly gambling, love-making and sex, solitary study and reading, contemplation of nature and cosmos, art-working, music, religion.”
Paul Goodman (1911–1972) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Leisure and Work" (1962)
“Tears and fears and feeling proud, To say "I love you" right out loud, Dreams and schemes and circus crowds, I’ve looked at life that way. But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say I’ve changed Well something’s lost, but something’s gained In living ev’ry day.”
Joni Mitchell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Any soldier will tell you, if he tells the truth, that proximity to death brings with it a corresponding proximity to life. After a firefight, there is always the immense pleasure of aliveness. The trees are alive. the grass, the soil — everything. All around you things are purely living, and you among them, and the aliveness makes you tremble.”
Tim O'Brien (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The greatest theatre that I experienced in my life was The Living Theatre and they were Off-Off-Broadway. And that was in the fifties.”
“We are living beyond our means. As a people we have developed a life-style that is draining the earth of its priceless and irreplaceable resources without regard for the future of our children and people all around the world.”
Margaret Mead (1901–1978) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: * "The Energy Crisis — Why Our World Will Never Again Be the Same", in Redbook (1974); later in Progress As If Survival Mattered : A Handbook For A Conserver Society (1977) by Hugh Nash, p. 166
“The life is worth living. It's not true, what the tired and reactionary say. We're not on this earth to suffer and die. We're here to fulfill a mission.”
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To realize freedom the mind has to learn to look at life, which is a vast movement, without the bondage of time, for freedom lies beyond the field of consciousness — care for watching, but don't stop and interpret "I am free," then you're living in a memory of something that has gone before.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I never make songs to disrespect women / or to judge people about the way that they're living / but the way I am is based on the life I was given / Like those white boys "Losing My Religion”
Immortal Technique (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Government is not a machine, but a living thing. It falls, not under the theory of the universe, but under the theory of organic life. It is accountable to Darwin, not to Newton.”
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving, England is mine and it owes me a living”
“I never enjoyed life in my twenties, not one minute of it. It was a test of endurance that I'm surprised I survived. Professionally, of course, I was doing very well but personally it couldn't have been worse or more difficult for me if I'd been living in a mud hut in Leeds.”
Morrissey (born 1959) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: from an interview with Q magazine (1995)
“I will not be presumptuous enough to say that my life can be a role model for anybody; but some poor child living in an obscure place in an underprivileged social setting may find a little solace in the way my destiny has been shaped. It could perhaps help such children liberate themselves from the bondage of their illusory backwardness and hopelessness.”
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Living, just by itself - what a dirge that is! Life is a classroom and boredom's the usher, there all the time to spy on you; whatever happens, you've got to look as if you were awfully busy all the time doing something that's terribly exciting - or he'll come along and nibble your brain.[32]”
Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The story of the labor movement needs to be taught in every school in this land... America is a living testimonial to what free men and women, organized in free democratic trade unions can do to make a better life … we ought to be proud of it!”
Hubert Humphrey (1911–1978) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to the 1977 Minnesota State AFL-CIO Convention.
“I think my reputation is something that I'll probably try to spend the rest of my life living it down and it probably won't work.”
Russell Crowe (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe that the unity of man as opposed to other living things derives from the fact that man is the conscious life of himself. Man is conscious of himself, of his future, which is death, of his smallness, of his impotence; he is aware of others as others; man is in nature, subject to its laws even if he transcends it with his thought.”
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, "I 'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We regard our living together not as an unfortunate mishap warranting the introduction of protective barriers, but as a deliberate act of God to make us a joint community of brothers and sisters jointly involved in the quest for a composite answer to the varied problems of life.”
Steve Biko (1946–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My vision is clear and far. I could almost believe in God. But" - and his voice changed and the light went out of his face - "what is this condition in which I find myself? This joy of living? This exultation of life? This inspiration, I may well call it? It comes when there is nothing wrong with one's digestion, when the stomach is in trim and and his appetite has an edge, and all goes well.”
Jack London (1876–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first consideration for all, throughout life, is the earning of a living.”
Ihara Saikaku (1642–1693) said by 1693 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of all the backgrounds it seems to me that the typical suburban community must be by far the worst. The child’s parents have already compromised with life by living in such a place. It would be far better from the child’s point of view to be raised in an actual slum. The danger is, of course, that the child quickly comes to regard comfort as the number one priority.”
Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What's interesting is, in the months leading up to this, I was probably at the lowest ebb in my life. I was feeling just teenage angst. I didn't know if I wanted to continue living — that kind of despair. I was praying to a God I didn't know was listening.”
“The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable; the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but in living tissues is for the most part irreversible.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there were a billion people living on the planet, we could do whatever we please. But there are nearly seven billion. At this scale, life as we know it today is not sustainable.”
James Lovelock (1919–2022) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climate (2010) as quoted by Jeff Goodell
“And is adventure and sensation all we should seek, Meliadus?” “Aye—why not? All is chaos, there is no meaning to existence, there is only one advantage to living one’s life and that is to discover all the sensations the human mind and body is capable of feeling.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must therefore not be discouraged by the difficulty of interpreting life by the ordinary laws of physics. For that is just what is to be expected from the knowledge we have gained of the structure of living matter. We must also be prepared to find a new type of physical law prevailing in it. Or are we to term it a non-physical, not to say a super-physical, law?”
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lot of people would have loved me to keep singing … You come to a point where you have sung, more or less … your whole repertoire and you want to get down to the job of living. You know, up until that point, I hadn't had a life. I'd been searching, been on the road.”
Cat Stevens (born 1948) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On leaving the music business in 1979,in an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning (12 August 2007)
“Hard is it to be in the world, free, yet living the life of ordinary men; but because it is hard, therefore it must be attempted and accomplished.”
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People die when they are ready to die, for reasons that are their own. No person dies without a reason. You are not taught that, however, so people do not recognize their own reasons for dying, and they are not taught to recognize their own reasons for living — because you are told that life itself is an accident in a cosmic game of chance.”
Jane Roberts (1929–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This crowded world of Space was perfectly real to him. How he had got to it I do not know. Perhaps his mind, dwelling constantly on the problem, had unsealed some atrophied cell and restored the old instinct. Anyhow, he was living his daily life with a foot in each world.”
John Buchan (1875–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would like to be remembered as a man who had a wonderful time living his life, and who had good friends, a fine family. I don't think I could ask for anything more than that, actually.”
Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a 1965 interview with Walter Cronkite, as quoted in "Just A Couple Of Legends" CBS News.com (20 May 1998)
“Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you’re trying to say on stage... Success makes life easier. It doesn’t make living easier.”
Bruce Springsteen (born 1949) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Q magazine (August 1992)
“Is it a gun, is it a knife? Is it a wallet, this is your life? It ain't no secret, It ain't no secret, No secret my friend. You can get killed just for living In your American skin.”
Bruce Springsteen (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Living in an institution, rumours of change can make life more bearable, and starting rumours can be a wonderful pleasure for those without much hope. The National Theatre was like that.”
“Nothing's for certain, It could always go wrong, Come in when it's raining, Go on out when it's gone, We could have us a high time, Living the good life, Well I know”
Robert Hunter (1941–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Death is a mirror which reflects the vain gesticulations of the living. The whole motley confusion of acts, occasions, regrets and hopes which is the life of each one of us finds in death, not meaning or explanation, but an end.”
Octavio Paz (1914–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Having the foresight to plan to earn a living, is half of the peace and leisure in life.”
Ja'far al-Sadiq (699–765) said by 765 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Writing should never be allowed to become a substitute for living. Style cannot breath in a void. It should not be forgotten that Dickens was at one time a reporter, Balzac a lawyer's clerk and Tchekov a county doctor. Art is different from life but cannot exist without it.”
André Maurois (1885–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Socrates had no system to teach. Throughout, his philosophy was a spiritual exercise, an invitation to a new way of life, active reflection, and living consciousness.”
Pierre Hadot (1922–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Up with life. Stamp out all small and large indignities. Leave everyone alone to make it without pressure. Down with hurting. Lower the standard of living. Do without plastics. Smash the servo-mechanisms. Stop grabbing. Snuff the breeze and hug the kids. Love all love. Hate all hate.”
John D. MacDonald (1916–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How can Life grant us boon of living, compensate For dull grey ugliness and pregnant hate Unless we dare The soul's dominion? Each time we make a choice, we pay With courage to behold the restless day, And count it fair.”
Amelia Earhart (1897–1939) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Poetry written around the time of breaking of her "tenuous engagement" to Samuel Chapman (c. 1928), published in Amelia, My Courageous Sister : Biography of Amelia Earhart (1987) by Muriel Earhart Morrissey and Carol L.…