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. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“The earth is the earth as a peasant sees it, the world is the world as a duchess sees it, and anyway a duchess would be nothing if the earth was not there as the peasant tills it.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the stars are suns and the earth is the earth and there are men only upon this earth and anything can put an end to anything and any dog does anything like anybody does it what is the difference between eternity and anything.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who is this that cries from the ends of the earth? Who is this one man who reaches to the extremities of the universe? He is one, but that one is unity. He is one, not one in a single place, but the cry of this one man comes from the remotest ends of the earth. But how can this one man cry out from the ends of the earth, unless he be one in all?”
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) said by 430 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Earth hath no sorrows that earth cannot heal, or heaven cannot heal, for the earth as seen in the clean wilds of the mountains is about as divine as anything the heart of man can conceive!”
John Muir (1838–1914) first seen 1872 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1872(?), page 99
“I'm usin' smarter tactics to overcome this slum I won't become as dumb as some and succumb to scum It's cumbersome, I'm tryin' to do well on this Earth But it's been hell on this Earth since I fell on this Earth”
“Principles of Earth Democracy, #10: Earth Democracy connects people in circles of care, cooperation, and compassion instead of dividing them through competition and conflict, fear and hatred. In the face of a world of greed, inequality, and overconsumption, Earth Democracy globalizes compassion, justice, and sustainability. (p. 11)”
Vandana Shiva (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the moon and earth were not retained in their orbits by their animal force or some other equivalent, the earth would mount to the moon by a fifty-fourth part of their distance, and the moon fall towards the earth through the other fifty-three parts, and they would there meet, assuming, however, that the substance of both is of the same density.”
Johannes Kepler (1572–1630) said by 1630 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Earth is cylindrical, three times as wide as it is deep, and only the upper part is inhabited. But this Earth is isolated in space, and the sky is a complete sphere in the center of which is located, unsupported, our cylinder, the Earth, situated at an equal distance from all the points of the sky.”
Anaximander (610–546 BC) said by 546 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Science Attests the Accuracy of the Bible" in The Watchtower (1 October 1980)
“The earth is brief, as brief as a man’s solemnity. ……… When you, Earth, stop palpitating in my flesh I, flesh, will give you all my earth.”
Juan Antonio Villacañas (1922–2001) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Earth and I”, from De-triumphant March (1960)
“The circumference of earth at equator is 40,000 km and by dividing it with 24 hours (earth completes its rotation in a day), it comes out to 1,667 km. This reverse phenomenon happened at 60 degrees latitude because their jet plane managed a speed of 833.5 km which is half of circumference of the earth.”
Jayant Narlikar (1938–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A good poem cannot be written with one's mind on the earth. Though one has to write poems about the earth and existence, one cannot write poems while staying grounded. To write an outstanding poem, a flight to the heights of transcendence is needed. However, a person cannot always remain in that elevated state. When one descends, they touch the earth and write ordinary stuff.”
Suman Pokhrel (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The stories I think we need to tell are ones of what it is like to be in a relationship with the Earth. What is it like to live on an abundant Earth? What are communities that are thriving by being in relationship to the Earth? What does enough feel like?”
Adrienne Maree Brown (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The whole of creation was called into existence by God unto His glory,” and each creature has its own hymn of praise wherewith to extol the Creator. Heaven and earth, Paradise and hell, desert and field, rivers and seas—all have their own way of paying homage to God. The hymn of the earth is, “From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, glory to the Righteous.”
Louis Ginzberg (1873–1953) said by 1953 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I predict 30 years from now, the number of smart robots, the smart robot population on this earth will be 10 billion. By that time, human population will be around 10 billion. So here on this earth we will have 10 billion population of mankind and 10 billion population of smart robots. This is the first time on this earth that we live together with 10 billion robots.”
Masayoshi Son (born 1957) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Morning Agenda: Masayoshi Son Warns of the Singularity" in The New York Times (20 April 2017)
“Man is a product of the earth’s surface. This means not merely that he is a child of the earth, dust of her dust; but that the earth has mothered him, fed him, set him tasks, directed his thoughts, confronted him with difficulties that have strengthened his body and sharpened his wits, given him his problems of navigation or irrigation, and at the same time whispered hints for their solution”
Ellen Churchill Semple (1863–1932) said by 1932 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We came to earth and alcohol was here, and drink it here on earth, and will leave it here on earth.”
Warren Masemola (born 1983) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Warren Masemola: 'Pasop, strata le bojwala ase maemo!' Daily Sun (9 June 2025)
“What struck me wasn't necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly [sic] in the universe... So I may have not learned (I know I haven't learned) everything this journey has yet to teach me. But there's one new thing I know, and that is, planet Earth: you are a crew.”
Christina Koch (born 1979) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At a press conference in Houston following the successful splashdown of Artemis II in the Pacific Ocean (11 April 2026).
“Thy business is changing things and bestowing favours, My business is mistakes and forgetfulness and error, Change my mistakes and forgetlulness to knowledge I am altogether vile; make me temperate and meek. O thou that convertest salt earth into bread And bread again into the life of men, Thou makest some earth-born men as heaven And multipliest heaven-born saints on earth.”
Rumi (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The earth attracts inert bodies in space towards itself. The attracted body appears to fall down on the earth. Since the space is homogeneous, where will the earth fall?”
Bhāskara II (1114–1185) said by 1185 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quoted in : Bhaskar Kamble, The Imperishable Seed: How Hindu Mathematics Changed the World and why this History was Erased, Garuda Prakashan Private Limited, 2022 ISBN 9798885750189
“A Jew waits for Messiah to come and redeem the world from fear and pain, from the cataclysmic conflicts between rich and poor. All shall enjoy the earth. This means, in popular imagination, that bread and clothes shall grow, ready-made, on trees. Do you have more winged ideals?”
Isaac Leib Peretz (1852–1915) said by 1915 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Advice to the Estranged. S. Liptzin. Peretz. Yivo, 1947, p. 348.
“Hark, below, the many-voiced earth, The chanting of the old religious trees, Rustle of far-off waters, woven sounds Of small and multitudinous lives awake, Peopling the grasses and the pools with joy, Uttering their meaning to the mystic night!”
William Vaughn Moody (1869–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We lived in places that we never knew. We could not name the birds perched on our sill, Or see the trees we cut down for our view. What we possessed we always chose to kill."We claimed the earth but did not hear her claim, And when we died, they laid us on her breast, But she refuses us — until we earn Forgiveness from the lives we dispossessed.”
Dana Gioia (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today is Sunday and the city is lovely. There is no one on the streets and all the trees exist solitary and sovereign. The worries and desires and hatreds have dwindled, stretched out upon the earth, tired of existing. And at the level of my mouth all I find is the sweet, pure air of calm renunciation. (from "Cartas a Hermengardo")”
Clarice Lispector (1920–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I see them, crowd on crowd they walk the earth, Dry leafless trees no autumn wind laid bare; And in their nakedness find cause for mirth, And all unclad would winter's rudeness dare; No sap doth through their clattering branches flow, Whence springing leaves and blossoms bright appear; Their hearts the living God have ceased to know, Who gives the springtime to th' expectant year.”
Jones Very (1813–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The desolate, deserted trees, The faded earth, the heavy sky, The beauties she so truly sees, She thinks I have no eye for these, And vexes me for reason why.”
Robert Frost (1874–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees.”
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) first seen 1799 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal (wr. 1799; pub. 1800)
“The cold north wind which bows to earth The lightness of the willow's birth Bends not the mountain cedar trees; Folding their branches from the breeze, They stand as if they could defy The utmost rage of storm and sky.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The earth was parched, the trees were sear'd, And blasted every branch appear'd; At one end yawned a gloomy cave, Black, as its mouth were that of the grave; And dark, as if the waters of death Were in its depths, rose a well beneath.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am so happy, I cannot be contained in the world; But like a spirit, I am hidden from the eyes of the world. If the foot of the trees were not tied to earth, they would be pursuing me; For I have blossomed so much, I am the envy of the gardens.”
Rumi (1207–1273) said by 1273 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1740:1-3 (tr. Fatemeh Keshavarz, 1998)
“And then he realized that he could never make anything out of the Unmaker, could never make the Unmaker do or be anything because it was only Undoing and Unbeing. It wasn't the Unmaker he needed to call to, it was all the living things around him, the trees, the grass, the earth, the air itself. It was the greensong that he needed to restore.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So breaks the sun earth's rugged chains, Wherein rude winter bound her veins; So grows both stream and source of price, That lately fettered were with ice. So naked trees get crispèd heads, And coloured coats the roughest meads, And all get vigour, youth and spright, That are but looked on by his light.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1613 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Irish Masque at Court (1613)
“Life is a beautiful, magnificent thing, even to a jellyfish. … The trouble is you won't fight. You've given up. But there's something just as inevitable as death. And that's life. Think of the power of the universe — turning the Earth, growing the trees. That's the same power within you — if you'll only have the courage and the will to use it.”
Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Calvero's answer to Terry's question: "What is there to fight for?" in Limelight (1952)
“With the ripening of the fruits in Autumn the leaves begin to wither and the trees, taking up their sap from the earth through the roots, recover themselves and are restored to their former solid texture. But the strong air of winter compresses and solidifies them.”
Vitruvius (80–15 BC) said by 15 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This vast pile of natural beauty, those crags and fir trees and hovering hawks, those echoing ravines and vast tumblings of snow and earth, brought me swiftly to the understanding of my own insignificance and, indeed, the insignificance of all human struggle.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've been 15 years in the nut ward for trying to stop the trees from being cut down, from trying to rearrange the lifestyle of a bunch of people who don't want to change. But they're gonna change because a cold wind is blowing. You're gonna change or else there's going to be no life left on the planet Earth.”
Charles Manson (1934–2017) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Penny Daniels (1989)
“In the Craft, we do not believe in the Goddess — we connect with her; through the moon, the stars, the ocean, the earth, through trees, animals, through other human beings, through ourselves. She is here. She is within us all.”
“I have no creative use for guilt, yours or my own. Guilt is only another way of avoiding informed action, of buying time out of the pressing need to make clear choices, out of the approaching storm that can feed the earth as well as bend the trees.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can enchant the trees and rocks, and fill The dumb brown lips of earth with mystery, Make them reveal or hide the god. I breathe A deeper pity than all love, myself Mother of all, but without hands to heal: Too vast and vague, they know me not.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These are just the rules and regulations Of the birds, and the bees The earth, and the trees, Not to mention the gods, not to mention the gods.”
Rufus Wainwright (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art is no isolated, unconnected, or inexplicable phenomenon. It draws its life from the life of the universe, and with the universe it ascends from epoch to epoch towards the Almighty. It owes its power over the souls of men to that collective life — even as the trees and plants draw their life from earth, the common mother; and its power would be destroyed should it attempt to forsake its source.”
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872) first seen 1861 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Life and Writings of Joseph Mazzini (1864 translation), Preface (1861) Vol. II, p. viii
“With its weird red earth and its alien flora and fauna – the eucalyptus trees and kangaroos – Australia was the eighteenth-century equivalent of Mars. This helps explain why the first official response to the discovery of New South Wales by Captain Cook in 1770 was to identify it as the ideal dumping ground for criminals.”
Niall Ferguson (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I dreamt last night Christ came to earth again To bless His own. My soul from place to place On her dream-quest sped, seeking for His face Through temple and town and lovely land, in vain. Then came I to a place where death and pain Had made of God's sweet world a waste forlorn, With shattered trees and meadows gashed and torn, Where the grim trenches scarred the shell-sheared plain.”
Eva Dobell (1876–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The air's grip on the wings rips our wheels free from the earth and we pass in the nick of time over the tops of the trees.”
Edmond Thieffry (1892–1929) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Edmond Thieffry, Doctor of Laws, Ace of War 1914-1918, pioneer of the Belgium-Congo airline Edmond Thieffry about arriving in Leopoldville.
“The clearing was the beginning of an expressway. Building companies had levelled the trees. In places the earth was red. We passed a tree that had been felled. Red liquid dripped from its stump as if the tree had been a murdered giant whose blood wouldn’t stop flowing.”
“Since God is continuously present, why do you worry? For in Him we live and move. We are carried in His arms. We breathe God; we are vested with God; we touch God; we consume God in the Mystery. Wherever you turn, wherever you look, God is everywhere: in the heavens, on the earth, in the abysses, in the trees, within the rocks, in your nous, in your heart.”
Joseph the Hesychast (1897–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why I Need the Birds ...By the time I arrive at evening, ...they are turning into the dreamwork of trees; and all of us... myself and the purple finches, and rusty blackbirds, the ruby cardinals, the white-throated sparrows with their liquid voices— ride the dark curve of the earth toward daylight, which they announce from their high lookouts before dawn has quite broken...”
Lisel Mueller (1924–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Next door lived Lucy Crook, an old lady in an even older house surrounded by craggy plum trees. Plums would fall on the ground and rot there, making a wonderful smell of purple earth ferment that stained the air of our street.”
Jan Kerouac (1952–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our earth has never lingered so dry, in the season of falling showers, clouds journey over trees and over hills, miserly with their liquid treasure”
Niyi Osundare (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the beginnings of history are to be found in wide-apart regions of the earth at a date as remote as twenty centuries before the common era, how great must be the. distance of that childhood of the race and that early youth when the mind, still surrounded with all visions and dreams, looked forth into a landscape and beheld on every side men as trees walking!”
John Clark Ridpath (1840–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I like to think how easily Nature will absorb London as she absorbed the mastodon, setting her spiders to spin the winding-sheet and her worms to fill in the grave, and her grass to cover it pitifully up, adding flowers—as an unknown hand added them to the grave of Nero.”
Edward Thomas (poet) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The South Country (London: J. M. Dent & Co., 1909), pp. 98-99.