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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“Stories and legends, Teft,” Kaladin said. “We want to believe that there were better men once. That makes us think it could be that way again. But people don’t change. They are corrupt now. They were corrupt then.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We just need to be more optimistic.” “Being optimistic does not change facts.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These are the men…well, these are the men who actually change the world. And they terrify me. For men never see as far as they think they do.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You make it sound like having the power to change the world is a bad thing.” “Bad? No. Abhorrent, depressing, ghastly. Having power is a terrible burden, the worst thing imaginable, except for every other alternative.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m telling you to think!” his father snapped. “I’m telling you that if you want to change the world, you have to stop being part of the problem!”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Each one of you can change the world, for you are made of star stuff, and you are connected to the universe.”
Vera Rubin (1928–2016) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Smithsonian snapshot from graduation address to University of California, Berkeley class of 1996
“You take a change... Calculate the odds, research the international market properly, establish the Southern Africans' taste, style, appetite and enjoyment, aim at giving them a good time at the best quality that they can afford - then go for it!”
Sol Kerzner (1935–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never let academics falter; you have to be successful to have authority to champion change”
Shirley Ann Jackson (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center.”
Rahm Emanuel (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Subtlest thought shall fail, and learning falter, Churches change, forms perish, systems go, But our human needs, they will not alter, Christ no after age shall e'er outgrow.”
John Campbell Shairp (1819–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Climate change is a common challenge to mankind, and all countries need to work together to address it.”
Qin Gang (born 1966) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Global Nature of Science, Technology and Innovation: An interview with Ambassador Qin Gang, China's Ambassador to the U.S." in Science & Diplomacy (17 December 2021)
“It is, I claim, nonsense to say that it does not matter which individual man acted as the nucleus for the change. It is precisely this that makes history unpredictable into the future. The Marxian error is a simple blunder in logical typing, a confusion of individual with class.”
Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my paintings, the question on whether figures are similar or not is not of any importance, the slightest change of figure or color can create a new painting and it doesn't really matter if a subject is revisited by an artist repeatedly. With enough time in between paintings, an artist can always bring to it something new.”
Guity Novin (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My goal has not ever been to change minds, my goal is to open minds.”
Michael Franti (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's so much bullshit around now in pop and hip-hop, and everybody's talking about the same fucking shit, like get the fuck outta here. That shit is horrible. I don't hate anybody, but that shit pisses me off. It's bullshit. So I wanna change things up and make people go, "Aw, man, this is the hot shit. Eamon talks from the heart. He's real.”
Eamon (singer) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Jon Wiederhorn, MTV News, February 24, 2004 (link)
“I get pissed off when people at radio and TV shows say, "Can you keep a clean show?" Motherfuckers! Don't they know who they booked? It was the same with the single ["Fuck It"]. They wanted me to change the words to "Forget it" or some bullshit.”
Eamon (singer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the ordinary man, instability—change—means dislocation, war, uncertainty, misery, and death.”
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It sounds rather silly, doesn’t it? One little man thinking he can change history all by his lonesome. A lot of trouble has been caused by that delusion.”
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If anything does change man,” he said, “it’s science and technology. Just think about the fact—while it lasts—that parents need not take for granted some of their babies will die. You get a completely different concept of what a child is.”
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have learned much in two thousand years, but nothing about any gods, except that they too, arise, change, age, and die. Whatever there is beyond the universe, if anything, I doubt it concerns itself with us.”
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I also know you cannot pick and choose. Change is a medicine bundle. You must refuse it altogether, or take the whole thing.”
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have taken to foraging alone after nightfall when the city quiets and becomes introspective. I walk as an intruder on its solipsistic dream. I came by darkness, I live by darkness. The savage brightness of the desert is like some legend I heard a long time ago. My existence grows nocturnal. My beliefs change.”
China Miéville (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We say: votes for all and vote for change!”
China Miéville (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I suppose there were other institutions in Embassytown where the dynamic of the quotidian sustained—some hospitals, perhaps some schools, perhaps houses where shiftparents most deeply loved the children. Whenever any society dies there must be heroes whose fightback is to not change.”
China Miéville (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Governments which live in fear of tomorrow's headline are incapable of any change.”
Tony Abbott (born 1957) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First speech of Tony Abbott to Australian Parliament, 1994.
“I am, as you know, hugely unconvinced by the so-called settled science on climate change... and I think that the economics of an ETS are a bit dodgy... [but] whatever second thoughts people like me might be having, I don't think it's a good look for the Opposition to be browner than Howard going into the (2010) election.”
Tony Abbott (born 1957) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "ABC 7.30 Report", July 22, 2009.
“The argument is absolute crap. However, the politics of this are tough for us. Eighty per cent of people believe climate change is a real and present danger.”
Tony Abbott (born 1957) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks quoted by Craig Wilson, editor of the Pyrenees Advocate, quoted in "Town of Beaufort changed Tony Abbott's view on climate change" in the Australian, December 12, 2009. [no recording was made, and accounts diffe…
“I have often pondered the psychology of people who seem uncomfortable with the society that has formed them. There is much about Australia I would like to change, but not its fundamentals.”
Tony Abbott (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The tools threatening President Trump with impeachment have one bag of tricks stuffed with power tools: they audit, indict, arrest, bomb, change regimes. They don't make profitable business deals; they tax them. They don't make peace; they wage war.”
Ilana Mercer first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Trump Fends Off 'Showboat' Comey And The Federal Zombies," The American Thinker, June 9, 2017.
“To change our laws and culture, the green movement must attract and include the majority of all people, not just the majority of affluent people.”
Van Jones (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The slogan "Stop climate change" is a very public advertisement of absolute total ignorance as it is not cognisant of history, archaeology, geology, astronomy, ocean sciences, atmospheric sciences and the life sciences.”
Ian Plimer (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Second, the only proven technique for treatment for chemically dependent people involves use of a spiritual program of self-change.”
Virgil Miller Newton (1938–2025) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Miller Newton (1983). The Teenage Drug Epidemic, El Paso Physician, vol 6, pp. 5-6.
“Even if we don't know the answer, a change of perspective can help us improve the question.”
Sean M. Carroll (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m not that concerned about professional politicians. I always believe that we can change the world by grass-roots movements. It is a very important thing to do. It is the first time that I realized that I respect America so much because there are so many Americans trying to shift the axis of the world to peace.”
Yoko Ono (born 1933) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quoted in "Imagine Peace—A Ray of Light in Dark Times" by Amy Goodman (2007)
“Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world. Power works in mysterious ways. You don’t have to do much. Visualise the domino effect And just start thinking PEACE. The message will circulate faster than you think. It’s Time For Action. The Action is PEACE. Spread the word. Spread PEACE. I love you!”
Yoko Ono (born 1933) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 9 October 2009.
“It is important that in the process of change, existing institutions of value and means of production are not destroyed. The fabric of society, however critical one may be of its present structures, should be adopted and modified where required, but not destroyed.”
Harry Schwarz (1924–2010) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lecture at University of British Columbia (12 October 1976).
“To enter your Castle (soul) is not a journey that takes you away from the world; rather it brings you directly into the world. It brings you fully into your soul, and into your power in the world...Mystics change the world around them more dramatically and more positively than can ever be measured. The mystic works on the invisible plane, relying on God, prayer and grace.”
Caroline Myss (born 1952) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Entering the Castle : An Inner Path to God and Your Soul (2007), p. 85
“You never really know how or when your life is going to change, and that's for the best.”
Caroline Myss (born 1952) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Defy Gravity : Healing Beyond the Bounds of Reason (2009), p. 17
“We were recording a song called "I Don't Ever Want To Be Without You." The same Christian record company radio guy called me and asked me if we could change the song's title and lyrics. when I asked why, he said, "Because there are two negative words in the title-don't and without … I'd like some positive ones; can you call the song, 'I Always Want To Be With You?"'”
Mark Heard (1951–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mars has global warming, but without a greenhouse and without the participation of Martians. These parallel global warmings -- observed simultaneously on Mars and on Earth -- can only be a straightline consequence of the effect of the one same factor: a long-time change in solar irradiance.”
Khabibullo Abdusamatov (born 1940) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted by Lawrence Solomon in Look to Mars for the truth on global warming, National Post, January 26, 2007.
“Probability is expectation founded upon partial knowledge. A perfect acquaintance with all the circumstances affecting the occurrence of an event would change expectation into certainty, and leave neither room nor demand for a theory of probabilities.”
George Boole (1815–1864) said by 1864 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 244; Cited in: Michael J. Katz (1986) Templets and the Explanation of Complex Patterns, p. 123
“When the law can stop the blades of grass From growing as they grow, And when the leaves in summer time Their verdure dare not show, Then I will change the colour I wear in my caubeen, But till that day I'll stick for aye To wearing of the green.”
Dion Boucicault (1822–1890) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Wearing of the Green, in Arragh na Pogue, or the Wicklow Wedding (1864)
“The problem is that too often the only people who can act don’t want change. Power doesn’t so much corrupt as it breeds conservatism.”
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tides are like politics. They come and go with a great deal of fuss and noise, but inevitably they leave the beach just as they found it. On those few occasions when major change does occur, it is rarely good news.”
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The notion that we need a higher power, that’s more a human failing than a reflection of reality. The universe pays no attention to what we need. Truth is what it is, and the inconveniences it might cause us don’t change anything.”
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“MacAllister wasn’t always right, but he was smart enough to know that. He was willing to change his mind when the evidence pointed in a different direction. That fact alone put MacAllister very nearly in a class by himself.”
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Starships, of course, have few limitations with regard to design, the prime specification being simply that they not disintegrate during acceleration or course change.”
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Irish were actually Iranians who migrated to Western Europe, tried to change the word "Iran", removed "an" and replaced it with "eland" and became "Ireland". Germanics were Iranians who migrated from Kerman province to the center of Europe.”
Sadegh Hedayat (1902–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I must freely confess that by continuing my sweeps of the heavens my opinion of the arrangement of the stars and their magnitudes, and of some other particulars, has undergone a gradual change...”
William Herschel (1738–1822) said by 1822 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They (Dynamo) won't let me play, but they won't let me change teams either. There were offers from other teams, but Dynamo did not find them satisfactory. They told me I'm an expensive player.”
Dmitri Bulykin (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source