Sign in with your pod

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

Nature

LoveFriendshipHappinessHopeFearCourageDeathLifeTimeWarPeaceFreedomTruthWisdomKnowledgeScienceArtMusicNatureMoneyWorkPowerGodBeautyLaughterFamilySuccess and failureChangeDreamsBooks and reading

• “Once when Bion was at sea in the company of some wicked men, he fell into the hands of pirates; and when the rest said, "We are undone if we are known," – "But I," said he, "am undone if we are not known.”

  Bion of Borysthenes (born 325 BC) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Also quoted by: Diogenes Laërtius, Tertullian

• “The likeness of this world is as the water of the sea - however much a thirsty person drinks from it, his thirst increases so much so that the water kills him.”

  Musa al-Kadhim (745–799) said by 799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The night-sea journey may be absurd, but here we swim, will-we nill-we, against the flood, onward and upward, toward a Shore that may not exist and couldn't be reached if it did.”

  John Barth (1930–2024) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Night-Sea Journey" (Esquire, June 1966). Reprinted in Lost In the Funhouse (New York: Doubleday, 1968). Anchor Books edition (1988), p. 5

• “Of Christian souls more have been wrecked on shore Than ever were lost at sea.”

  Charles Henry Webb (1834–1905) said by 1905 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: With a Nantucket Shell, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

• “How oft have I descending Titan seen His burning locks couch in the sea-queen's lap, And beauteous Thetis his red body wrap In watery robes, as he her lord had been!”

  Robert Greene (dramatist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Until last year, although this town was barely fifty miles from Denver, the road had been bad and only a handful of visitors had chanced on it. The increasing tendency for people to take mountain vacations, however, since the sea had become too filthy to be tolerable, could not be ignored. The road now was excellent and the area had exploded.”

  John Brunner (1934–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Even this far from shore, the night stank. The sea moved lazily, its embryo waves aborted before cresting by the layer of oily residues surrounding the hull, impermeable as sheet plastic: a mixture of detergents, sewage, industrial chemicals and the microscopic cellulose fibers due to toilet paper and newsprint. There was no sound of fish breaking surface. There were no fish.”

  John Brunner (1934–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “All this time, though, this feeling that the world was ‘’bound’’ to go to hell! Okay, so it’s true these mothers have turned prairies into dustbowls and used the sea for a giant sewer and laid concrete where there used to be forests. So stop them! Don’t just let them walk over you, crush you face-down into the dirt! Crush them first!”

  John Brunner (1934–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When did you last bask in the sun, friends? When did you last dare drink from a creek? When did you last risk picking fruit and eating it straight from the tree? What were your doctor’s bills last year? Which of you live in cities where you don’t wear a filtermask? Which of you spent this year’s vacation in the mountains because the sea is fringed with garbage?”

  John Brunner (1934–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “What do you want — a cliff over a city? A foreland, sloped to sea and overgrown with roses? These people live here.”

  Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I do not like this place [ Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a small fishing-village on the Spanish border]. I find it arid and dried up. The sea here is ugly. It is either all blue - I hate it like that - or dark and dull.”

  Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Go, view the settling sea: the stormy wind is laid. The billows still tremble on the deep. They seem to fear the blast.”

  James Macpherson (1736–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “So best of luck to the Sea Shadow and its disguise-me ship, which I have to say are the most adorable multimillion dollar bits of scrap heap-bound Cold War ephemera that we have seen in a long time.”

  Rachel Maddow (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Ordinary human motives will appeal in vain to the ears which have heard the tones of the heavenly music; and all the pomp of life will show poor and tawdry to the sight that has gazed on the vision of the great white throne and the crystal sea.”

  Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Nothing but Christian faith gives to the furthest future the solidity and definiteness which it must have if it is to be a breakwater for us against the fluctuating sea of present cares and thoughts.”

  Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Be not cast down. If ye saw Him who is standing on the shore, holding out His arms to welcome you to land, ye would wade, not only through a sea of wrongs, but through hell itself to be with Him.”

  Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661) said by 1661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The wind came steadily, like the rushing of a great cataract heard at a great distance, but the noises of the sea were continually changing, rising and falling, with the stupendous modulations of an orchestra played by giants.”

  Liam O'Flaherty (1896–1984) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Landing", from Spring Sowing (1924; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926) p. 70

• “Time, flowing like a river Time, beckoning me Who knows when we shall meet again If ever But time Keeps flowing like a river To the sea”

  Alan Parsons (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Give a man a horse he can ride, Give a man a boat he can sail; And his rank and wealth, his strength and health, On sea nor shore shall fail.”

  James Thomson (poet, born 1834) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Give a man a girl he can love, As I, O my love, love thee; And his heart is great with the pulse of Fate, At home, on land, on sea.”

  James Thomson (poet, born 1834) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The mighty river flowing dark and deep, With ebb and flood from the remote sea-tides, Vague-sounding through the City’s sleepless sleep, Is named the River of the Suicides.”

  James Thomson (poet, born 1834) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The most destructive criticism has not been able to dethrone Christ as the incarnation of perfect holiness. The waves of a tossing and restless sea of unbelief break at His feet, and He stands still the supreme model, the inspiration of great souls, the rest of the weary, the fragrance of all Christendom, the one divine flower in the garden of God.”

  Herrick Johnson (1832–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “You must realize that living organisms will do anything to survive. Castaways at sea will drink their own urine in their need for water. Disgust at this is only the attitude of the overprotected who have never experienced extreme thirst or hunger.”

  Harry Harrison (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Balthazar B standing on this grey wet pavement. The rain falling through a halo of lamplight. A post office, butcher, grocer and newsagent. Lonely houses behind high hedges. The wind with a seaweed smell off the sea. This girl thinly standing, clutching her handbag. The rear red light of the taxi still seen after its sound is gone.”

  J. P. Donleavy (1926–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I swim back to the shores of privilege out of the sea of the dispossessed.”

  J. P. Donleavy (1926–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “As this brook not merely washes off impurities, but overwhelms them, so that they can no longer be found, even so Thy Divine mercy, and the stream of my Saviour's blood, not only purge away, but extinguish my sins, sweeping them into the depths of the sea, where through all eternity they shall be remembered no more.”

  Christian Scriver (1629–1693) said by 1693 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Whether she won or lost, she would continue to wrestle with life. It would not be with her own life alone but with all of life. Something had finally been released within her. And there it was, the sea.”

  Clarice Lispector (1920–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There it is, the sea, the most incomprehensible of non-human existences.”

  Clarice Lispector (1920–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A Lady that was drown'd at Sea, and had a wave for her Winding sheet.”

  George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1627–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.”

  John Archibald Wheeler (1911–2008) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Quoted by author John Horgan in "The New Challenges," in Scientific American (1992), Vol. 267, Num. 6, page 20. https://www-jstor-org.proxy.library.cornell.edu/stable/24939319?seq=1

• “The sea was so open, so welcoming. Pay her a little respect, and she would carry you anywhere you wished to go. She’d even feed you along the way and lull you to sleep with her songs at night.”

  Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The sea was a strange mistress indeed. Open. Welcoming. Inviting. Sometimes a little too much so.”

  Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When times are stable, and the sea is calm and secure, no one is really tested.”

  T. B. Joshua (1963–2021) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Inspiration from his late mother - "'ATTRIBUTING THE SATELLITES SUCCESS TO ME IS BLASPHEMY' – T.B. JOSHUA" Modern Ghana (November 4 2009)

• “The sea ebbs and flows, but the rock remains unmoved.”

  Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813–1843) said by 1843 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The mind is like a sea, few are those who dare sail, most stand on the shore and watch. Artist pages. (A.S.)”

  Avner Strauss (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “All of the boats in question were in the Indonesian search and rescue zone and I want the fullest possible cooperation between Indonesia and Australia in places where Indonesia has, if you like, the legal responsibility under the law of the sea, but Australia has more practical capacity to help.”

  Tony Abbott (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “More than 100 years of photography at Manly Beach in my electorate does not suggest that sea levels have risen despite frequent reports from climate alarmists that this is imminent.”

  Tony Abbott (born 1957) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Quoted in "'I've learnt to speak my mind': 10 excerpts from Tony Abbott's climate change speech in London'", Sydney Morning Herald, October 10, 2017

• “Ah, what a life is theirs who live in Christ; How vast the mystery! Reaching in height to heaven, and in its depth The unfathomed sea!”

  Elizabeth Prentiss (1818–1878) first seen 1873 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Mystery of Life in Christ", stanza 5, in Religious Poems‎ (New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Company, 1873), p. 41.

• “He has married me with a ring, a ring of bright water Whose ripples spread from the heart of the sea, He has married me with a ring of light, the glitter Broadcast on the swift river.”

  Kathleen Raine (1908–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “At night the sea is very loud, And voices ride the tide. At another time, in another place, Beneath the silent moon, We laughed together.”

  Jack McDevitt (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Jesus is offering us a holiday at the sea, but we must be willing to abandon our mud pies in the slums.”

  Skye Jethani (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee! Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!" So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea, While we were marching through Georgia.”

  Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) said by 1884 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “So let me fly please lead me and I'll follow you Above the clouds beyond the stormy sea I long to share a world of sweet contentment there In that bright land where grows the olive tree.”

  Tom Springfield (1934–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”

  Patrick Rothfuss (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The General Theory caught most economists under the age of 35 with the unexpected virulence of a disease first attacking and decimating an isolated tribe of south sea islanders. Economists beyond 50 turned out to be quite immune to the ailment. With time, most economists in between began to run the fever, often without knowing or admitting their condition.”

  Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Lord Keynes and the General Theory", Econometrica (1946)

• “Red sails in the sunset, Way out on the sea, Oh carry my loved one Home safely to me.”

  Jimmy Kennedy (1902–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “How could I help if tears were starting? Goodbye to tender nights beside the silv'ry sea. I longed to hold you near and kiss you just once more, But you were on the ship and I was on the shore.”

  Jimmy Kennedy (1902–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Excuse me Mr. But isn't that your oil in the sea? And the pollution in the air Mr. Whose could that be?So excuse me Mr. But I'm a mister too And you're givin' Mr. a bad name, Mr. like you.”

  Ben Harper (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Virtuous or vile, decent or indecent, rich or poor, receive and rest upon Christ nim. as He is so freely offered you; and then you may believe (not feel) that your sins are in the depths of the sea.”

  William Paton Mackay (1839–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The question may thus be asked: What are the norms for international behavior? The nations' animal instincts? The tiger in them? Do the laws of the fishes in the sea or of the beasts in the forest apply?”

  Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

More