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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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Books and reading

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• “This time Milo had gone too far. Bombing his own men and planes was more than even the most phlegmatic observer could stomach, and it looked like the end for him...Milo was all washed up until he opened his books to the public and disclosed the tremendous profit he had made.”

  Joseph Heller (1923–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There’s a big cocktail party on Martha’s Vineyard. Someone comes up to this writer, I think it’s Joseph Heller, and says, “Joe, see that guy over there? He’s a hedge fund manager, and he made more money yesterday than you made on all the books you have ever published.” Heller looks over, pauses, and says, “Yeah, but I have something he’ll never have: enough.”

  Joseph Heller (1923–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: CNN "Money" Magazine, April 2007, p. 97

• “The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books.”

  Rex Stout (1886–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “One day I was sitting one side of the fireplace, and my wife was sitting on the other, and I suddenly said to her, “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to write a story about some boys on an island, showing how they would really behave, being boys and not little saints as they usually are in children’s books.” And she said, “That’s a first-class idea! You write it!” So I went ahead and wrote it.”

  William Golding (1911–1993) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Introduction to his reading of Lord of the Flies in the unabridged audio version (1980)

• “Diamond, however, had not been out so late before in all his life, and things looked so strange about him! — just as if he had got into Fairyland, of which he knew quite as much as anybody; for his mother had no money to buy books to set him wrong on the subject.”

  George MacDonald (1824–1905) said by 1905 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The advice of the elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.”

  Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Sometimes my courage fails me and I think I ought to stop working, live in the country and devote myself to gardening. But I am held by a thousand bonds, and I don't know when I shall be able to arrange things otherwise. Nor do I know whether, even by writing scientific books, I could live without the laboratory.”

  Marie Curie (1867–1934) said by 1934 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Today in science history(September 19, 2026)

• “One day's exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books. See how willingly Nature poses herself upon photographers' plates. No earthly chemicals are so sensitive as those of the human soul.”

  John Muir (1838–1914) first seen 1872 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 1872(?), page 95

• “There are things I know I know about I don't write about, which I could not responsibly put into my books. Interestingly enough, though, the scariest one of those things is not classified at all. But nevertheless, I don't write about it, because it would make the world a somewhat more dangerous place.”

  Tom Clancy (1947–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Rainbow Six" was sort of a spinoff of one my books, which did pretty well. … Interestingly enough, I never play the games. I just sort of — it's more fun for me to help formulate them than it is to play them.”

  Tom Clancy (1947–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “You would see me there now, cultivating the earth and carrying firewood on my back up the hills to my home, where I would light a fire and cook the evening meal. I would not tell stories, because they have been replaced by books, the radio, and television”

  Wangari Maathai (1940–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “You win in battles with the timing in the Void born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies' timing, and this using a timing which the enemy does not expect. All the five books are chiefly concerned with timing. You must train sufficiently to appreciate all this.”

  Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.”

  John Wesley (1703–1791) first seen 1768 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Letter to Joseph Benson (7 November 1768); published in The Letters of John Wesley (1915) edited by George Eayrs

• “I guess I should have written two books of my life, one for the adults and another for the kids.”

  Babe Ruth (1895–1948) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speaking shortly before his death, as quoted in "Sports of the Times: Down Memory Lane with the Babe" by Arthur Daley, The New York Times ((August 18, 1948), p. 32

• “I sure have. I'd like to break every hitting record in the books. When I walk down the street, I'd like for them to say, "There goes Ted Williams, the best hitter in baseball.”

  Ted Williams (1918–2002) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Responding to question posed by UP's George Kirksey, as to whether Williams had any desire to break Joe DiMaggio's newly set consecutive game hitting record; as quoted in "Ace Ted Williams is 'Bughouse on Basehits'; Red…

• “When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty. books.google”

  Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede (1871–1946) first seen 1758 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: This famous quotation is similar to the one Philip Snowden used in his introduction to Truth and the War, by E. D. Morel. London, July 1916: "'Truth,' it has been said, 'is the first casualty of war.'" Samuel Johnson#Th…

• “If I let my fingers wander idly over the keys of a typewriter it might happen that my screed made an intelligible sentence. If an army of monkeys were strumming on typewriters they might write all the books in the British Museum. The chance of their doing so is decidedly more favourable than the chance of the molecules returning to one half of the vessel.”

  Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “These books ain't window dressing. I think Machiavelli's the most sophisticated writer outside of Shakespeare. Way ahead of his time. Such a manipulative person. Everything he accomplished he did by kissin' ass.”

  Mike Tyson (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “As a writer, my goal, (which I'm never going to achieve, and I know that, and no writer can achieve that,) but my goal is to make you almost live the books... I want you to fall through that page and feel as if these things are happening to you.”

  George R. R. Martin (born 1948) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Audio Interview with Geekson in Episode 54, (4 August 2006)

• “Ten years from now, no one is going to care how quickly the books came out. The only thing that will matter, the only thing anyone will remember, is how good they were. That's my main concern, and always will be.”

  George R. R. Martin (born 1948) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Official blog, (July 2007)

• “Those who want to burn books are either afraid of the ideas contained within the covers or they haven't the courage to stand up for the views which they themselves profess to hold.”

  Tommy Douglas (1904–1986) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech, Saskatchewan Legislature, February 17, 1954.

• “With books and money plac'd for show Like nest-eggs to make clients lay, And for his false opinion pay.”

  Samuel Butler (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Also quoted by: Samuel Butler

• “So let us write down into our copy books two of the maxims of that great French aphorist, the Marquis de Vauvenargues: 'Obscurity is the kingdom of error'; and, 'For the philosopher clarity is a matter of good faith.' 5.12”

  Antony Flew (1923–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There's more to life than books you know, but not much more”

  Morrissey (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Literary imagination is an aesthetic object offered by a writer to a lover of books.”

  Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The true test of any scholar's work is not what his contemporaries say, but what happens to his work in the next 25 or 50 years. And the thing that I will really be proud of is if some of the work I have done is still cited in the text books long after I am gone.”

  Milton Friedman (1912–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in The Power of Choice (January 2007)

• “I am convinced that the minimum-wage law is the most anti-Negro law on our statute books—in its effect, not its intent.”

  Milton Friedman (1912–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “i keep drinking the ink from my pen and i'm balancing history books up on my head but it all boils down to one quotable phrase if you love something give it away”

  Conor Oberst (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I just wanted to be the first one to fly for America, not because I'd end up in the pages of history books.”

  Alan Shepard (1923–1998) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Marcia Dunn, Associated Press Aerospace Writer (May 1, 1991) "Ex-Astronaut Recalls Thrill of 1st U.S. Space Flight", The Deseret News, p. A1.

• “Unless, governor, teacher, inspector, visitor, This map becomes their window and these windows That shut upon their lives like catacombs, Break O break open 'till they break the town And show the children green fields and make their world Run azure on gold sands and let their tongues Run naked into books, the white and green leaves open History is theirs whose language is the sun.”

  Stephen Spender (1909–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “For every age there is a popular idea about what madness is, what causes it, and how a mad person should look and behave; and it's usually these popular ideas, rather than those of medical professionals, that turn up in songs and stories and plays and books.”

  Margaret Atwood (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Gloria Estefan is going to be here. She writes these books about her dog, Noelle . . . and she also dances and sings well, too.”

  Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Gretchen Carlson, anchor of Fox and Friends television program (October 12, 2006)

• “Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.”

  Norman Mailer (1923–2007) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Mr. Mailer Interviews Himself" in The New York Times Book Review (17 September 1965)

• “The rifts between Shia and Sunni, Eastern Orthodox and Catholic, Israelis and Palestinians, Tibetans and Chinese, obviously have real political, theological, or economic substance behind them, but they are often reduced to symbolism. If you study the history of nationalism, it is often a story of symbols. What flag shall we fly? What icon shall we mount? What books will we revere — or burn?”

  Jonah Goldberg (born 1969) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Border Wall Is a Symbol of Our Symbolic Politics" (28 December 2018), National Review

• “One of the things I tell new parents is something that was told to me when my daughter still had that new-baby smell: “Prepare for long days but short years.” No statement more succinctly captures the exhaustion, excitement, and melancholy nostalgia that come with parenthood. I have no doubt whole books have not covered it more eloquently.”

  Jonah Goldberg (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “For ten years I never left my books; I went up ... and won unmerited praise. My high place I do not much prize; The joy of my parents will first make me proud.”

  Bai Juyi (772–846) said by 846 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals. It can only be ensured by instinct, sharpened by thought practicing the stroke so often that at the crisis it is as natural as a reflex.”

  T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I had no money to buy books, so between classes and work, I haunted the library. I even tutored in French with a sliding scale of payment: twenty dollars for an A, fifteen for a B, ten for a C, five for a D.”

  Hubert Humphrey (1911–1978) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Of his university years. From Hubert H. Humphrey, The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics 43 (1976)

• “No. Books take a long time, and I don't get to hear the laughs.”

  Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Most of the memex contents are purchased on microfilm ready for insertion. Books of all sorts, pictures, current periodicals, newspapers, are thus obtained and dropped into place. Business correspondence takes the same path. And there is provision for direct entry.”

  Vannevar Bush (1890–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Ignoring for a moment the power of the American Medical Association, we still wouldn't see a huge amount of books on neurosurgery for dummies in 21 days or whatever. It's just plain inappropriate, and it's intentionally out of people's reach.”

  Erik Naggum (1965–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “This is going to be an image for the history books. If you come, I believe this may, and it may be in 100 years from now or 200 years from now, I believe this will be remembered as the moment America turned the corner. I don't know how it works out. I don't know if it even works out in my lifetime. But I believe this is the pivot point. Be there, with your children.”

  Glenn Beck (born 1964) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: on his Restoring Honor rally on 2010-08-28

• “Be aware of wonder. And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned — the biggest word of all — LOOK.”

  Robert Fulghum (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “It is certainly curious that among all the millions of books that have been written on every conceivable subject, so few writers have really tried to describe the tissue of their thoughts and the actual taste of consciousness. And yet this is, after all, our most immediate and direct experience, the only experience of whose reality we are absolutely certain.”

  Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The enormous and half-educated publics of present-day England and America… acclaim as masterpieces books that are soon forgotten, while ignoring all that is exquisite and rare.”

  Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “She pulls in at the airport, beating a limousine to the last open space, then lifts my bag filled with books out of the trunk as if it were a feather. "You should write about take-no-shit women like me. Girls need to know they can break the rules. If the nuns had told me that, I could have saved twenty years.”

  Gloria Steinem (1934–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Paradoxically, we are in a golden age of books, documentaries, and films that... expose the abuses, crimes and authoritarian essence of corporate commercialism. ...[N]ever ...have they had less impact for change.”

  Ralph Nader (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “One of my all-time favorite "shake 'em up books," which is almost impossible to describe briefly, is Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual.”

  Ralph Nader (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “In the end all books are written for your friends. The problem after writing One Hundred Years of Solitude was that now I no longer know whom of the millions of readers I am writing for; this upsets and inhibits me. It's like a million eyes are looking at you and you don't really know what they think.”

  Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I would like for my books to have been recognized posthumously, at least in capitalist countries, where they turn you into a kind of merchandise.”

  Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

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