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

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Truth

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“Numbers instill a feeling for the lie of the land, and furnish grist for the mathematical mill that is the physicist's principal tool.”
Hans Christian von Baeyer (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a stranger. You do not need to lie to me or pretend. Only with friends do you need masks.”
David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Within one thing lie all things, but if all things are brought together not one thing can arise...A person can analyze and investigate a butterfly as far as he likes, but he cannot make a butterfly.”
Masanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's not much to hide behind We can see for a mile Without our eyes. I can see through a smile To any lie.”
Happy Rhodes (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am completely convinced that the ultimate weapon is one that you can hold in your hand, point at a person, and thereby completely disrupt his sense of balance. All that he could do is lie in a huddled heap and puke. It would probably disrupt the concept of heroics for all time.”
Alexei Panshin (1940–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mirror can lie it doesn't show you what's inside And it can tell you you're full of life It's amazing what you can hide just by putting on a smile.”
Demi Lovato (born 1992) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can be manipulated only so many times Before even 'I love you' starts to sound like a lie.”
Demi Lovato (born 1992) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are many other ways in which language can be used to manipulate an audience. one obvious way is to simply lie.”
Randal Marlin (1938–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear is good for us and helps us to escape from great dangers. Those who do not feel it are in permanent peril because they cannot see the risks that lie at their feet.”
Peter Hitchens (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a dangerous deception within international organizations, called Participation of local communities. This is essentially based on a lie. Communities are invited to participate on the terms of the donor who has the money. Unless all the choices and decisions are owned and made by the communities, there can be no authentic lasting development.”
Michael Elmore-Meegan (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The biggest lie and dishonesty about change or the impact of projects is created by the lords of poverty who profit from the business and industry of aid.”
Michael Elmore-Meegan (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It kind of reminds... I could use the Third Reich, the Big Lie. You say something over and over and over and over again, and people will believe it, and that's their strategy... A hot summer has nothing to do with global warming. Let's keep in mind it was just three weeks ago that people were saying, "Wait a minute; it is unusually cool.”
James Inhofe (1934–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“War, as Rousseau pointed out long before Tolstoy took up the theme, only makes manifest events already determined by moral causes (Emile,Bk. IV). For this reason our main energies must be directed against the moral causes of war. Those moral causes lie within ourselves — and pacifists should not suppose for a moment that they are pure in heart in this respect.”
Herbert Read (1893–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Redemption of the Robot (1969).
“It's truly a lie, I counterfeit myself.”
Josh Homme (born 1973) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I'm Designer", Era Vulgaris (2007)
“That old saw about a problem shared being a problem halved? Damnable lie. A problem shared is a problem doubled.”
Ian McDonald (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She had not won a clean victory. Tinkering with time and history offended her political sensibilities. History was written in the stones. It was not a numinous thing to be tossed sparkling in the air to lie where it fell. She did not like to think of her life and world as a mere mutability of potentials.”
Ian McDonald (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To act nobly, a noble heart is not enough. It needs help from a sharp mind. Though the beginnings of ethical virtue lie in habituation, starting in our youth, and though the core of moral virtue is the right-shaping of our loves and hates, by means of praise and blame, reward and punishment, the perfection of character finally requires a certain perfection of the mind.”
Leon Kass (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To keep a man (slave or servant) for your own advantage merely, to keep an animal that you may eat it, is a lie. You cannot look that man or animal in the face.”
Edward Carpenter (1844–1929) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: England's Ideal and Other Papers on Social Subjects (1887), Routledge, 2016, p.
“If financial markets aren't efficient, then what are they? According to the 'fractal market hypothesis', they are highly unstable dynamic systems that generate stock prices which appear random, but behind which lie deterministic patterns.”
Steve Keen (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hitherto no rival hypothesis has been proposed as a substitute for the doctrine of transmutation; for 'independent creation,' as it is often termed, or the direct intervention of the Supreme Cause, must simply be considered as an avowal that we deem the question to lie beyond the domain of science.”
Charles Lyell (1797–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The strength of capitalism does not lie in the neoclassical idea of stability, but in its ability to unleash this creative energy. like a chaotic mathematical system, it is capable of producing surprise.”
David Orrell (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never underestimate the value of a falsehood, friends. Never doubt the power of a lie. Blessed are the mendacious, for they shall grow wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.”
James K. Morrow (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They dont know the terrors that go through your mind as you lie there in the pit waiting for a hint of light to tell you that the night is over.”
Hubert Selby Jr. (1928–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A smiling lie is a whirlwind, easy to enter, but hard to escape.”
Dejan Stojanovic (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is fateful and ironic how the lie we need in order to live dooms us to a life that is never really ours.”
Ernest Becker (1924–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more you speak of yourself, the more you are likely to lie; say but little, 'twill scarcely gain belief; so strong are partiality and envy.”
Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–1795) said by 1795 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Aphorisms and Reflections on Men, Morals, and Things, 1800, p. 4.
“The characteristic of life does not lie in a distinctiveness of single life processes. [Lebensvorgänge], but rather in a certain order among all the processes.”
Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901–1972) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: L. von Bertalanffy (1934). "Wandlungen des biologischen Denkens", Neue Jahrbücher für Wissenschaft und Jugendbildung, 10:339-366; as cited in Manfred Drack (2008). "Ludwig von Bertalanffy's Early System Approach
“Once more in that hour of darkness In dark black waters they arise Dark songs pass before their eyes They lie awake gazing into darkness”
Ataol Behramoğlu (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was happy, but I am now in possession of knowledge that this is wrong. Happiness isn't so bad for a woman. She gets fatter, she gets older, she could lie down, nuzzling a regiment of men and little kids, she could just die of the pleasure. But men are different, they have to own money, or they have to be famous, or everybody on the block has too look up to them from the cellar stairs.”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Interest in Life" (1959)
“The best training is to read and write, no matter what. Don’t live with a lover or roommate who doesn’t respect your work. Don’t lie, buy time, borrow to buy time. Write what will stop your breath if you don’t write.”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“you're in love many times in your life, several times in one's life. And romantic love is very... a lot of fun, I don't want to knock it. With all the troubles that come afterward, and it may all be a lie and imposed on us, but falling in love is peachy. And if it can happen to you, boy, that's great. And if it doesn't, then by all means, you should stick to your friends. (1981)”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Other media outlets endorsed the lie while at least avoiding what CNN did by personally vouching for it. “Humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela was set on fire, seemingly by troops loyal to Mr Maduro,” The Telegraph claimed. The BBC uncritically printed: “There have also been reports of several aid trucks being burned – something Mr Guaidó said was a violation of the Geneva Convention.”
Glenn Greenwald (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That lie – supported by incredibly powerful video images – changed everything. Ever since, that Maduro burned trucks filled with humanitarian aid was repeated over and over as proven fact on U.S. news outlets. Immediately after it was claimed, politicians...U.S. news stars and think tank luminaries...took a leading role in beating the war drums...”
Glenn Greenwald (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything the New York Times so proudly reported last night has been known for weeks, and was already reported in great detail, using extensive evidence, by a large number of people... While the NYT’s article and video are perfectly good and necessary journalism, the credit they are implicitly claiming for themselves for exposing this lie is totally undeserved.”
Glenn Greenwald (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Western culture has made, through language, a provisional analysis of reality and, without correctives, holds resolutely to that analysis as final. The only correctives lie in all those other tongues which by aeons of independent evolution have arrived at different, but equally logical, provisional analyses.”
Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Freud’s] concepts are radical in their pursuit of society where it allegedly does not exist: in the privacy of the individual. Freud undid the primal bourgeois distinction between private and public, the individual and society. … Freud exposed the lie that subject was inviolate; he showed that at every point is was violated.”
Russell Jacoby (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The effect if not the function of the mass media seems to lie, therefore, in the reproduction of non- transparency through transparency, in the reproduction of non-transparency of effects through transparency of knowledge.”
Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That we shall succeed, I have no doubt. But years of toil and perseverance, of restraint and even privation, lie ahead. We have to free ourselves from the grip of economic imperialism, and protect our freedom. We have at the same time to work ceaselessly for the complete liberation and unity of Africa.”
Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love, where did You enter the heart unseen? Lovable Love, joyful Love, unthinkable Love, In Your plenitude You lie far beyond the reach of reason. Love, jocund and joyous, Divine fire, You do not stint Of your endlessly beautiful riches”
Jacopone da Todi (1230–1307) said by 1307 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Indeed, it was for this that intelligent beings came into existence; namely, that the riches of the Divine blessings should not lie idle. The All-creating Wisdom fashioned these souls, these receptacles with free wills, as vessels as it were, for this very purpose, that there should be some capacities able to receive His blessings and become continually larger with the inpouring of the stream.”
Gregory of Nyssa (born 335) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'He who does nothing is the one who does nothing.'...'Blessed are the lazy who lie in boats, for they shall inherit a suntan.'”
Nicholas Sparks (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hold the door, say please, say thank you. Don't steal, don't cheat, and don't lie. I know you got mountains to climb, but always stay humble and kind. When the dreams you're dreamin' come to you. When the work you put in is realized. Let yourself feel the pride, but always stay humble and kind.”
Tim McGraw (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though shall not steal nor kill; Not speak a lie; Be angry with no one, Nor scorn another man; Nor glory in thyself; Nor others hold you to blame This is your inward purity; This is your outward purity; This is the way to win our Lord: Kudalasangama”
Basava (1134–1196) said by 1196 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People should be blessed in life with friends who are both "Mirrors & Shadows"! Mirrors don't lie & shadows never leave.”
Lata Mangeshkar (1929–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Through the wide open window on great star, Swinging her lamp above the pear-tree high, Looks in upon these dreaming forms that lie So near in body, yet in soul so far As those bright worlds thick strewn ion that vast depth of sky.”
Eva Dobell (1876–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Welsh boy has it by his bed, (He's lame - one leg blown away - He'll lie propped up with pillows there, And wind the handle half the day. His neighbour, with the shattered arm, Picks out the records he must play.”
Eva Dobell (1876–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His face was lit up with a divine look as lie uttered these words. Though not a handsome man, and ungainly in his person, yet in his enthusiasm he seemed the personification of manly beauty, and that sad face of his looked down in kindness upon these ignorant blacks with a grace that could not be excelled. He really seemed of another world.”
David Dixon Porter (1813–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In fact, making up a spiteful lie has become respectable. Today's "jesters" are outright public nuisances.”
Lindsey Davis (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The art of agriculture is the realization of some ideal object. lie who practises it has received from others, without considering the reasons on which it is founded, the idea or rule by which he proceeds. The skilful practice of an art consists, therefore, in the adoption of new ideas, in the study of new rules, and in judging the fitness of their being carried into practice.”
Albrecht Thaer (1752–1828) said by 1828 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only let them not desire to impose their own form of bliss on everybody else, nor insist that the kind of happiness which seems to them at this stage the only one desirable and satisfying, must be stereotyped to all eternity, through all the millions of years that lie before us.”
Annie Besant (1847–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source