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Dreams

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“Honey, I jes' walked round an' round in a dream. Jesus loved me! I knew it - I felt it. Jesus was my Jesus. Jesus would love me always. I didn't dare tell anybody; it was a great secret. Everything had been taken away from me that I ever had; an' I thought that if I let white folks know about this, maybe they'd get him away - so I said, 'welcome folks, ready for some giggles~?'”
Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) first seen 1878 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Olive Gilbert & Sojourner Truth (1878), Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Bondswoman of Olden Time, page 159. (text at sojournertruth.org)
“I am in no way facetious, nor disposed for the mirth and galliardize of company, yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests, and laugh myself awake at the conceits thereof.”
Thomas Browne (1605–1682) said by 1682 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have had a dream my whole life... and it was not this good.”
Joss Whedon (born 1964) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On being attached to direct The Avengers at the San Diego Comic-Con 2010
“I would say if you have a dream, follow it.”
Kalpana Chawla (1962–2003) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: {{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/STS-87_Archive.txt |title=STS-87 Mission Archive (Complete) |author= |authorlink= |last=Harwood |first=William |coauthors= |date=5 December 1997 |year= |month=
“Seated each afternoon in the darkened screening room, Halliday came to recognize the targeted numerals of the Academy leader as sigils preceding the dream state of a film.”
William Gibson (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men are made fools by the gleaming limbs of women, and, lo, in a minute they are become discolored carnelians. A trifle, a little, the likeness of a dream. And death comes as the end.”
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Are we a dream in the mind of a deity, or is each of us a separate dreamer, evoking his own reality?”
Gore Vidal (1925–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we can't dream any longer we die.”
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Margaret C. Anderson in "Emma Goldman in Chicago", Mother Earth magazine (December 1914)
“I want to thank some very special people without whom I would not be here today. George Bush, Sarah Palin and the Pope. When I came to Hollywood in 1983, I had one dream— to sleep with Jodie Foster. That didn't work out, but this is nice, too.”
Bill Maher (born 1956) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (14 September 2010), as reported on Larry King Live (14 September 2010)
“The happiness consists in realizing that it is all a great strange dream.”
Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If only I had the magic self of babyhood when I remembered what it was like before I was born, I wouldn't worry about death now knowing both to be the same empty dream.”
Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She certainly gave me what I've been losing. Youth's intensity, its craving, the soul-priapism, huge lust and fierce to her, clamour for her to realize with me that mightiest marriage-dream, that Sacrament of Satan that may be consummated only beneath Night's dome, in utmost silence, because its Elements are not symbols of things, but They themselves.”
Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You sometimes wake up from a dream and think, "Thank God, I didn't really do that!" Reconstructing a period of blackout you think, "My God, did I really do that?" The line between saying and thinking is blurred. Did you say it or just think it?”
William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was born, I think, with the desire to make beautiful books — brave books that would preserve the glories of the Dream untarnished, and would re-create them for battered people, and re-awaken joy and magnanimity.”
James Branch Cabell (1879–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With wonderful deathless ditties We build up the world's great cities, And out of a fabulous story We fashion an empire's glory: One man with a dream, at pleasure, Shall go forth and conquer a crown; And three with a new song's measure Can trample a kingdom down.”
Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1844–1881) first seen 1847 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At least as early as 1921 there seem to have arisen variants with "trample an empire down", but the 1847 original has "trample a kingdom down.
“We, in the ages lying In the buried past of the earth, Built Nineveh with our sighing, And Babel itself with our mirth; And o'erthrew them with prophesying To the old of the new world's worth; For each age is a dream that is dying, Or one that is coming to birth.”
Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1844–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[The Brexit] dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt”
Boris Johnson (born 1964) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Theresa May's new-look cabinet meets amid Brexit turmoil BBC News (10 July 2018)
“And not till he saw the angel had left him, alone and free to resume the ecstatic, dangerous, wearisome roads of what he had still to do, not till then did he recognize this was no dream.”
Denise Levertov (1923–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imagination places the future world for us either above or below or in reincarnation. We dream of travels throughout the universe: is not the universe within us? We do not know the depths of our spirit. The mysterious path leads within. In us, or nowhere, lies eternity with its worlds, the past and the future.”
Novalis (1772–1801) said by 1801 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Frederick C. Beiser, "Bildung in Early German Romanticism", Amélie Rorty (ed.) Philosophers on Education: Historical Perspectives (1998) p. 294
“I suppose my formula might be: dream, diversify and never miss an angle.”
Walt Disney (1901–1966) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Walt's Profit Formula: Dream, Diversity, and Never Miss an Angle" in Wall Street Journal (4 February 1958)
“If you haven’t already noticed, all my books are about a lonely person looking for some way to connect with other people. In a way, that is the opposite of the American Dream: to get so rich you can rise above the rabble, all those people on the freeway or, worse, the bus.”
Chuck Palahniuk (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That's the American Dream: to make your life into something you can sell.”
Chuck Palahniuk (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is. And the faith to trust our own admission. The admitting is often very difficult.”
Julia Cameron (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.”
Miguel Ángel Ruiz (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Capital is a coward. It flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict and unpredictability. It shuns ignorance, disease and illiteracy. Capital goes where it is welcomed and where investors can be confident of a return on the resources they have put at risk. It goes to countries where women can work, children can read, and entrepreneurs can dream.”
Colin Powell (1937–2021) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Ambassador Cameron R. Hume in a speech on U.S. Government Initiatives in South Africa at the American Chamber of Commerce, Johannesburg, South Africa (18 September 2002).
“It does not matter much whom we live with in this world, but it matters a great deal whom we dream of.”
Willa Cather (1873–1947) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Youth and the Bright Medusa, "A Gold Slipper" (1920)
“Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?”
William James (1842–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is both rhyme and reason in what I say, I have made a dream poem of humanity. I will cling to it. I will be good. I will let death have no mastery over my thoughts. For therein lies goodness and love of humankind, and in nothing else.”
Thomas Mann (1875–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is the moment when it becomes clear that the images of madness are nothing but dream and error, and that if the unfortunate sufferer who is blinded by them invokes them, it is the better to disappear with them into the annihilation for which they are destined.”
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They are the only honest hypocrites. Their life is a voluntary dream; a studied madness.”
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) first seen 1817 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Actors and Acting" (The Examiner, 5 January 1817)
“Happy are they who live in the dream of their own existence, and see all things in the light of their own minds; who walk by faith and hope; to whom the guiding star of their youth still shines from afar, and into whom the spirit of the world has not entered! They have not been "hurt by the archers", nor has the iron entered their souls. The world has no hand on them.”
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) said by 1830 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I couldn't survive my own pessimism if I didn't have some kind of sunny little dream. … Human beings will be happier — not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie — but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. That's my utopia. That's what I want for me.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sadly, the American dream is dead. But if I get elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before, and we will make America great again.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach. America will no longer settle for anything less than the best.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Victory Speech (9 November 2016)
“It's our insides that make us who we are, that allow us to dream and wonder and feel for others. That's what's essential. That's what will always make the biggest difference in our world.”
Fred Rogers (1928–2003) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Commencement Address at Middlebury College May, 2001
“If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
Fred Rogers (1928–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music is like a dream. One that I cannot hear.”
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) first seen 1804 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conversations (January 1804)
“When I was a kid, my dream was to be a farmer and marry Charlie Brown. I wanted to rescue him and make him happy. Besides, he was always lusting after "the little redhead girl".”
Alicia Witt (born 1975) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Seventeen (1996)
“The ending of the dream, the beginning of the wide awake something big is coming...”
Alicia Witt (born 1975) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lyrics from the song "The Director" on her upcoming album Between Heaven and Earth, posted to her official facebook account (6 June 2026)
“This was ecstacy indeed, he assured himself. It seemed to him that he was now in the Ninth and topmost Heaven, where a few select heroes luxuriate and dream and submit themselves to almost unendurable pleasures, at whiles glancing down with lazy amusement at all the gods toiling at their sparrow-watching and incense-sniffing and destiny-directing on the many tiers below.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humans aren’t as you idealized them, Blanda. Humans are dream-killers. They took the bubbles out of soapsuds, Blanda, and called it detergent. They took the moonlight out of romance and called it sex.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Home really was very small and we had no mod cons and I remember having a dream that the one thing I really wanted was to live in a nice house, you know, a house with more things than we had...We had not got hot water. We only had a cold water tap. We had to heat all the hot water in a copper. There was an outside toilet. So when people tell me about these things, I know about them.”
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: TV Interview for Yorkshire Television Woman to Woman (2 October 1985)
“Nixon will be remembered as a classic case of a smart man shitting in his own nest. But he also shit in our nests, and that was the crime that history will burn on his memory like a brand. By disgracing and degrading the Presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These horrifying digital snapshots of the American dream in action on foreign soil are worse than anything even I could have expected. I have been in this business a long time and I have seen many staggering things, but this one is over the line. Now I am really ashamed to carry an American passport.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Let's Go to the Olympics!" (18 May 2004)
“Stuff your eyes with wonder . . . live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And though the debate may run another hundred thousand years: What is Love? perhaps we may find that love is the ability of someone to give us back to us. Maybe love is someone seeing and remembering, handing us back to ourselves just a trifle better than we had dared to hope or dream...”
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In science fiction, we dream. In order to colonize in space, to rebuild our cities, which are so far out of whack, to tackle any number of problems, we must imagine the future, including the new technologies that are required.”
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scientifically speaking, a butterfly is at least as mysterious as a superstring. When something ceases to be mysterious it ceases to be of absorbing interest to scientists. Almost all things scientists think and dream about are mysterious.”
Freeman Dyson (1923–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have five minutes left to give you a message to take home. The message is simple. "God forbid that we should give out a dream of our own imagination for a pattern of the world". This was said by Francis Bacon, one of the founding fathers of modern science, almost four hundred years ago. Bacon was the smartest man of his time, with the possible exception of William Shakespeare.”
Freeman Dyson (1923–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source