Famous quotes
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“All true opinions are living, and show their life by being capable of nourishment; therefore of change. But their change is that of a tree — not of a cloud.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume V, Preface (1860)
“It is a sad place, young man, for you to put your young life into. It is to me far more like a graveyard than like a camp for the living. Look at it! It is billowed all over with the graves of dead issues, of buried opinions, of exploded theories, of disgraced doctrines.”
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Come down the glorious steps of our banner. Every great record we have made we have vindicated with our blood and with our truth. It sweeps the ground, and it touches the stars. Come here, young man, and put in your young life where all is living, and where nothing is dead but the heroes that defended it.”
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Loving truth and living honestly is my attitude to life. Be true to yourself and be true to others, thus you can be the judge of your behavior.”
Ba Jin (1904–2005) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Living legend: Ba Jin" in News Guangdong (26 November 2003)
“The real issue is not whether two and two make four or whether two and two make five, but whether life advances by men who love words or men who love living.”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cézanne's painting is strictly painting, and its value is immense; but Van Gogh's painting has the Outsider's characteristic: it is a laboratory refuse of a man who treated his own life as an experiment in living; it faithfully records moods and developments of vision on the manner of a Bildungsroman.”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Without the Way, there is no going, Without the Truth, there is no knowing, Without the Life, there is no living.”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ask no more, then, "what is best, How shall those you love be blest," Ask at once eternal Rest, Peace and assurance giving. Rest of Life and not of death, Rest in Love and Hope and Faith, Til the God who gives their breath Calls them to rest from living.”
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) first seen 1854 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Part III Poems, "On St. David's Day. To Mrs. E. C. Morrieson." (March 1, 1854)
“Everyone has to find what is right for them, and it is different for everyone. Eating for me is how you proclaim your beliefs three times a day. That is why all religions have rules about eating. Three times a day, I remind myself that I value life and do not want to cause pain to or kill other living beings. That is why I eat the way I do.”
Natalie Portman (born 1981) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On vegetarianism. Interview with The New Zealand Herald (5 May 2011), quoted in “Natalie Portman: 'Eating For Me Is How You Proclaim Your Beliefs'”, in ecorazzi.com.
“Take God here / I have to talk to him / I want to tell him / about a life I have lived / and which I haven't understood / what it has been worth living / what has changed / or better / what have I earned?”
Vasco Rossi (born 1952) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: from Portatemi Dio, 1983)
“Beloved-of-the-Gods speaks thus: Father and mother should be respected and so should elders, kindness to living beings should be made strong and the truth should be spoken. In these ways, the Dhamma should be promoted. Likewise, a teacher should be honored by his pupil and proper manners should be shown towards relations. This is an ancient rule that conduces to long life. Thus should one act.”
Ashoka (304–232 BC) said by 232 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had spent seven years of his life with Tereza, and now he realised that those years were more attractive in retrospect than they were when he was living them.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It seems to me that all of the evil in life comes from idleness, boredom, and psychic emptiness, but all of that is inevitable when you become accustomed to living at others’ expense.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1896 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Life (1896)
“It seemed that if a band of brigands had been living in his rooms his life would not have been so hopelessly, so irremediably ruined as by the presence of this woman.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We cannot avoid conflict, conflict with society, other individuals and with oneself. Conflicts may be the sources of defeat, lost life and a limitation of our potentiality but they may also lead to greater depth of living and the birth of more far-reaching unities, which flourish in the tensions that engender them.”
Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Turning Conflict Into Profit : A Roadmap for Resolving Personal and Organizational Disputes (2005) by Larry Axelrod and Rowland Johnson
“He had fled a world that he had known and that had emotionally crucified him, but what was he here in this world whose impact loosed storms in his blood? Could he ever make the white faces around him understand how they had charged his world with images of beckoning desire and dread? Naw, naw…No one could believe the kind of life he had lived and was living.”
Richard Wright (1908–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Having a child changes every aspect of your life — for the better, of course. The sacrifices are large, but what you get in return is even bigger than the sacrifices you make. I feel, in a sense, ready to die because you are living on in your child. Not literally, not ready to die — but you know, that sort of feeling in a profound way.”
Heath Ledger (1979–2008) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: November 2007 interview remarks quoted by Susan Chenery, "Who Is That Man?", In Touch Weekly, January 23, 2008.
“We have become accustomed to living our life with joy amidst pain and challenges.”
Dana Reeve (1961–2006) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Access Hollywood Interview (May 2005)
“What is this creature, Music, save the Art, The Rhythm that the planets journey by? The living Sun-Ray entering the heart, Touching the Life with that which cannot die?”
John Masefield (1878–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The cruel law of life is that a solved problem creates two new problems, and the best prescription for happy living is not to solve any more problems than you have to.”
Russell Baker (1925–2019) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Big Problem Binge," The New York Times (1965-03-18)
“The people of Earth did not understand that humans were part of a worldwide organism, that something as tiny as a cluster of bacteria could mean the difference between life and death for every living thing, the difference between a functioning, flourishing planet and a desolation.”
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The instinctive Indian sense that nothing begins and nothing ends. We are all living in an eternal present in which what was and what will be is contained in what is, or to put it in a more contemporary idiom, that life is a series of sequel to history.”
Shashi Tharoor (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The day before is what we bring to the day we're actually living through, life is a matter of carrying along all those days-before just as someone might carry stones, and when we can no longer cope with the load, the work is done.”
José Saramago (1922–2010) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Page 61, 2002 (Harvest Hardcover edition)
“The nature of life is to delight in all possible loopholes. Every creature is in some way hacking a living by reinterpreting the rules.”
Kevin Kelly (editor) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think that on the whole man would be living a more natural life if he were a vegetarian.”
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]ime passed and there was really no romance in life anymore, only the tedious tranquility of marriage without excitement or curiosity, the dull routine of making a comfortable living with nothing to nourish the imagination.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The isness of things is well worth studying; but it is their whyness that makes life worth living.”
William Beebe (1877–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in On Aggression by Konrad Lorenz (1963)
“And in the name of this gospel of freedom, she had imprisoned herself; in the name of "living life honestly," she would go to her death. It was, he supposed, the only way she could make herself feel special.”
Matthew Stover (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have to go along a road covered with blood. We have no other alternative. For us it is a matter of life or death, a matter of living or existing. We have to be ready to face the challenges that await us.”
Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gamal Abdel Nasser, speech to Egypt's National Assembly, Cairo (November 6, 1969), as reported by The Washington Post (November 7, 1969), p. 1.
“Life needs a meaning and living requires a purpose. Without meaning and purpose, are the livings really alive?”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You made me come to Paris. You pestered me to start living again. Well, now it's up to you to make my life livable. You mustn't let three whole days go by without coming to see me. … You wanted me to take notice of you. Now nothing else matters to me. I know you're alive and I feel emptiness inside me when you're away.”
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It frequently happens that an element of the standard of living which set out with being primarily wasteful, ends with becoming, in the apprehension of the consumer, a necessary of life.”
Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When Man evolved Pity, he did a queer thing — deprived himself of the power of living life as it is without wishing it to become something different.”
John Galsworthy (1867–1933) first seen 1910 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Hardy (27 March 1910)
“A book, too, can be a star, “explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly,” a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are not to retreat from life, pinning our hopes on ‘elsewhere.’ but to know that we will come to that final destination best by living full here and now, be it through joy, or pain, or a mix of both.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything to me is connected-religion, the body, politics, our relation to each other and all other living beings, the environment. Life is of a piece. To me it's all one vision, and poetry is at the center.”
Marge Piercy (born 1936) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have been living a hermit-life, though always with my pencil in my hand.. .How much real delight have I had with the study of landscape this summer! Either I am myself improved in the art of seeing nature, which Sir Joshua call painting, or nature has unveiled her beauties to me less fastidiously. Perhaps there is something of both, so we will divide the compliment.”
John Constable (1776–1837) first seen 1812 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote from Constable's letter to Rev. John Fisher (22 July 1812), as quoted in Richard Friedenthal, Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock (Thames and Hudson, London, 1963), p. 40
“You see few people here in America who really care very much about living a Christian life in a democratic world.”
Clare Boothe Luce (1903–1987) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Europe in the Spring, ch. 12 (1940)
“He [the naturalist] looks upon every species of animal and plant now living as the individual letters which go to make up one of the volumes of our earth's history; and, as a few lost letters may make a sentence unintelligible, so the extinction of the numerous forms of life which the progress of cultivation invariably entails will necessarily render obscure this invaluable record of the past.”
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1863) "On the physical geography of the Malay Archipelago." The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 33:217-234.
“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)
“On turning 30: "I kind of feel like the same person except more time has gone by. I hate to say that I feel like an adult now. I have to admit I wish I was still 18. After all, even through the time while I was representing that wild kid, I really wasn't. I was just living my life. I was just not making movies at the time.”
Leonardo DiCaprio (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I always felt mean, jogging back over the logging road, As if I had broken the natural order of things in that swampland; Disturbed some rhythm, old and of vast importance, By pulling off flesh from the living planet; As if I had committed, against the whole scheme of life, a desecration.”
Theodore Roethke (1908–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe in nonviolence as a way of life, as a way of living.”
John Lewis (1940–2020) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Academy of Achievement web site (url accessed on October 22, 2008)
“In all of living have much of fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.”
Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stand True and Faithful, Ensign, May 1996, 91.
“Conformity may give you a quiet life; it may even bring you to a University Chair. But all change in history, all advance, comes from the nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.”
A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The awareness of imagery is part of living... a life which derives its power from within itself will focus on the perception... of images.”
Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I was fifteen, I became a professional musician. I got involved with people and did certain things which led me to start making records and touring. And leaving Belfast and going to London and America, one thing led to another and I got caught up in the life that I'm living now...I was very young and i followed something. (1993)”
Van Morrison (born 1945) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography (2003) by Clinton Heylin
“I am not slighting intellect; but life is common to us along with poorer living things than ourselves. He who kills an animal, however lowly it may be, unless there is necessity, is an assassin.”
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To understand life, and love it to its depths in a living being, that is the being's task, and that his masterpiece; and each of us can hardly occupy his time so greatly as with one other; we have only one true neighbor down here.”
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No age can have everything and in material ways ours is more fortunate than any preceding one. Our ancestors appear to have mastered the art of living better than we are able to when an easy conscience, largely due to the unshaken faith of the time, left a marging of spiritual energy with which to enjoy life.”
Flora Thompson (1876–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: May Chapter The Peverel Papers - A yearbook of the countryside ed Julian Shuckburgh Century Hutchinson 1986