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. 1,159,190 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Music
LoveFriendshipHappinessHopeFearCourageDeathLifeTimeWarPeaceFreedomTruthWisdomKnowledgeScienceArtMusicNatureMoneyWorkPowerGodBeautyLaughterFamilySuccess and failureChangeDreamsBooks and reading
“Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence... Someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence, certainly never.”
Franz Kafka (1883–1924) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Silence of the Sirens" (October 1917)
“I guess I'll call it sickness gone, It's hard to say the meaning of this song.”
Neil Young (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou goest thine, and I go mine — Many ways we wend; Many days, and many ways, Ending in one end. Many a wrong, and its curing song; Many a road, and many an inn; Room to roam, but only one home For all the world to win.”
George MacDonald (1824–1905) said by 1905 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who are you and who am I To say we know the reason why Some are born, some men die, Beneath one infinite sky? There'll be war, there'll be peace, But everything one day will cease, All the iron turned to rust, All the proud men turned to dust, And so all things time will mend, So this song will end.”
David Gilmour (born 1946) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Childhood's End", on Obscured by Clouds (1972)
“Are there any paranoids in the audience tonight? (the crowd cheers) Is there anyone who worries about things? (the crowd cheers again) Pathetic. This is for all the weak people in the audience! Is there anyone here who's weak? (the crowd cheers once more) This is for you, it's called Run Like Hell! (the song starts)”
Roger Waters (born 1943) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: During the Los Angeles performance of "The Wall" at the Los Angeles Arena, California, February 1980
“Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone. They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on. And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song. Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you. And even though it all went wrong I'll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I know there is an eye that watches all of us. There is a judgment that weighs everything we do. And before this great force, which is greater than any government I stand in awe and I kneel in respect and it is to this great judgment that I dedicate this next song, "Hallelujah".”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My friends are gone and My hair is grey. I ache in the places where I used to play. And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on. I'm just paying my rent everyday In the Tower Of Song.”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At the audition, your assignment is to find something new in the song. Something you've never noticed before. A breath carried over, a thought that ties the whole thing together. Then take the risk and do it.”
Pete Seeger (1919–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(about "River.") We needed a sad Christmas song, didn't we?”
Joni Mitchell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(about "Both Sides Now") I wrote it when I was 21. I took a lot of ridicule, too. "What do you know about life? You're only 21." You know, but I really think it took me to — that was done in my 50s — to, you know, it took a mature woman to bring it to life...I grew into that song.”
Joni Mitchell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By the time we got to Woodstock We were half a million strong And everywhere there was song and celebration. And I dreamed I saw the bombers Riding shotgun in the sky And they were turning into butterflies Above our nation.”
Joni Mitchell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This sounds like the soundtrack of a coma." (On U2's song One Step Closer)”
“The theme song states "YOU GOT THE POWER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE... YOU GOT THE POWER TO MAKE A CHANGE." Wow, thank you MTV, for making me feel empowered and independent, like only a multinational media conglomerate can.”
“Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another.”
John Muir (1838–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Storms of every sort, torrents, earthquakes, cataclysms, "convulsions of nature," etc., however mysterious and lawless at first sight they may seem, are only harmonious notes in the song of creation, varied expressions of God's love.”
John Muir (1838–1914) first seen 1901 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Fountains and Streams of the Yosemite National Park", The Atlantic Monthly, volume LXXXVII, number 519 (January 1901) pages 556-565 (at page 565); reprinted in Our National Parks (1901), chapter 8: The Fountains and…
“Prayer does not use up artificial energy, doesn't burn up any fossil fuel, doesn't pollute. Neither does song, neither does love, neither does the dance.”
Margaret Mead (1901–1978) said by 1978 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Margaret Mead: A Life (1984) by Jane Howard; cited in Journey Through Womanhood : Meditations from Our Collective Soul (2002) by Tian Dayton, p. 46
“Polaroid is warning customers not to listen to the part of the Outkast song Hey Ya! that tells people to "shake it like a Polaroid picture", because that could actually ruin the pictures. In a related story, Bacardi is warning shorties to be responsible and not “sip Bacardi like it’s Dey birfday.”
“Let's dance — put on your red shoes and dance the blues. Let's dance — to the song they're playin' on the radio. Let's sway — while colour lights up your face. Let's swa —, sway through the crowd to an empty space.”
David Bowie (1947–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would like to state at this time that I am not now and have never been... a member of the Boy Scouts of America. Their motto is, as you know, "Be Prepared!" and that is the name of this song.”
Tom Lehrer (1928–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'd like to take you now, on wings of song as it were, and try and help you forget for a while your drab, wretched lives.”
Tom Lehrer (1928–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I recall this sergeant's informing me and my "room-mates" of this rather deplorable fact the army didn't have any official, excuse me, didn't have no official song and suggested that we work on this in our copious free time.”
Tom Lehrer (1928–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Things are much more complicated. Feminism versus pornography, for example. There are a lot of feminists who think it is bad, but others think it's good. I have become, you might call it mature — I would call it senile — and I can see both sides. But you can't write a satirical song with 'but on the other hand' in it, or 'however'. It's got to be one-sided.”
Tom Lehrer (1928–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Marcia: Lovely. Yeah, go the rock chick. Yeah, um, you've been so great through this competition. Um, we've said no, you've come back blah blah blah blah. (sic). You know, um, its great to see you grow Hayley. Uh huh, and step out of that place that's comfortable because that's what being a performer is. Congratulations and a great choice of song.”
Hayley Jensen (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Marcia: One of the hardest things to do as a singer is to stand still and deliver a song and you did it. And you did it very well and I congratulate you.”
Hayley Jensen (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Marcia: You look great, you're beautiful and this song suits you. You were being yourself and you did great.”
Hayley Jensen (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dicko: Can I say that you look absolutely fabulous tonight? I thought that was going to be a great song for you, but I can still hear you thinking. You're worth a lot more than you realise, you have to learn to feel more. I think that your greatest barrier is yourself...”
Hayley Jensen (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The harp at Nature's advent strung Has never ceased to play; The song the stars of morning sung Has never died away.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Worship of Nature, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“O Sun, great Oriental, my proud mind's golden cap, I love to wear you cocked askew and to burst in song to rouse our hearts, so long as you and I both live.”
Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fools, art is a heavy task, more heavy than gold crowns; it's far more difficult to match firm words than armies, they're disciplined troops, unconquered, to be placed in rhythm, the mind's most mighty foe, and not disperse in air. I'd give, believe me, a whole land for one good song, for I know well that only words, that words alone, like the high mountains, have no fear of age or death.”
Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm tryin' to right my wrongs But it's funny, them same wrongs helped me write this song.”
Kanye West (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I hear you jeering. Pfui. Those of you who know my work only from A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE may not be aware that I was once considered the most romantic science fiction writer of the 70s, back when I was doing my Thousand Worlds stuff.”
George R. R. Martin (born 1948) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On romance in science fiction and fantasy, in his blog (January 2010)
“He was annoyed 'cause I didn't say that he'd written one line of this song "Taxman." But I also didn't say how I wrote two lines of "Come Together" or three lines of "Eleanor Rigby," you know? I wasn't getting into any of that. I think, in the balance, I would have had more things to be niggled with him about than he would have had with me!”
George Harrison (1943–2001) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When asked about John Lennon's feelings towards his autobiography, interview with Selina Scott on West 57th Street, aired 12 December 1987
“I got tired of people saying "But what can I do?" Also, the reluctance of the press to report the full details created the need to bring attention to it. So the song "Bangla Desh" was written specifically to get attention to the war prior to the concert.”
George Harrison (1943–2001) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: – George Harrison, 1979, George Harrison, I Me Mine, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA, 2002; ISBN 0-8118-3793-9).
“If you're listening to this song You may think the chords are going wrong But they're not We just wrote it like that”
George Harrison (1943–2001) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Only a Northern Song (1967)
“Only when two times, two forms are drawn Together and their legibility Disturbed, do you see that immortality Is not very different from the present And is for its sake. You pick a fragment Of grenade which pierced the body of a song On Daphnis and Chloe.”
Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Book in the Ruins" (1941), trans. Renata Gorczynski and Robert Hass
“Montserrat Caballé is sensational. She has that same kind of emotion as Aretha Franklin. The way she delivers a song is so very natural. It's a very different gift.”
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I am the Champion" by Nick Ferrari in The Sun (19 July 1985).
“This next song is only dedicated to beautiful people here tonight. That means all of you. Thank you for coming along... and making this a great occasion.”
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Source: Live Aid, 1985/07/13 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A22oy8dFjqc?t=12m5s
“I don't know why my brain has kept all the words to the Gilligan's Island theme song and has deleted everything about triangles.”
Jeff Foxworthy (born 1958) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Tonight Show, 27 March 2007
“For a song I was bought Now I lie when I talk With a careful eye on the cue card. Onto a stage I was pushed, With my sorrow well rehearsed. So give me all your pity and your money, now (all of it).”
Conor Oberst (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I dreamt this ship was sinkin' there was people screaming all around And I awoke to my alarm clock it was a pop song it was playin' loud”
Conor Oberst (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am not insecure enough to count the bouquets I receive on my birthday, I don’t assess my popularity by the number of magazine covers I am on, I don’t get worried if my song is on the seventh position on countdown charts.”
Shahrukh Khan (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Biblical words about the genesis of heaven and earth are not words of information but words of appreciation. The story of creation is not a description of how the world came into being but a song about the glory of the world's having come into being.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Wisdom of Heschel (1970), p. 150
“I think continually of those who were truly great. Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history Through corridors of light where the hours are suns, Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition Was that their lips, still touched with fire, Should tell of the spirit clothed from head to foot in song.”
Stephen Spender (1909–1995) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Think of Those Who Were Truly Great"; also in Collected Poems 1928-1953 (1955)· Full text online and audio file of recitation by Spender, at the Poetry Archive
“If my serenade of song and story should serve as a pillow for some composer's head, as yet perhaps unborn, to dream and build on our fond melodies in his tomorrow, I have not labored in vain.”
W. C. Handy (1873–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An open society is always in danger. It must constantly reaffirm its principles in order to survive. We are being sorely tested, first by 9/11 and then by President Bush's response. To pass the test we must face reality instead of finding solace in false certainties. This election transcends party loyalties. Our future as an open society depends on resisting the Siren's song.”
George Soros (born 1930) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the rest of my life, the one song that people will remember -- regardless -- is "Conga" . . . I never get tired of singing it. It never gets old for me.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: iTunes interview (released June 2, 2007)
“Get on Your Feet" is really my motto. I look always forward. I look ahead. That's why I choose to record that song, because I really love the message.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: iTunes interview (released June 2, 2007)
“: You liked the arrangement? Monk: Did you make the arrangement? It was crazy. Feather: No. Monk: It was a bunch of musicians who were together, playing an arrangement. It sounded so good, it made me like the song better! Solos ... the trombone sounded good ... that was a good lead trumpet player too ... I don't know how to rate it, but I'd say it was top-notch.”
Thelonious Monk (1917–1982) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reviewing 's arrangement of Monk's "Straight, No Chaser"—featuring trombonist and trumpeter John Audino—from Here and Now! (Bold, Swinging Big Band Ideas), for DownBeat's "Blindfold Test" (c. 1966); reproduced in The En…