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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“In the sudden change that had come over her heart, she no longer recognised herself.”
Émile Zola (1840–1902) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 26 (tr. E. A. Vizetelly, 1886)
“The vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital which have marked the development of our industrial system, create new conditions, and necessitate a change from the old attitude of state and the nation toward property.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (September 17, 1787); reported in James Madison, Journal of the Federal Convention, ed. E. H. Scott (1893), p. 741
“Accidents, try to change them - it's impossible. The accidental reveals man.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in Vogue, 1 November 1956.
“Though the great artists of the past could not change the course of history, it is only through their work that we are able to break bread with the dead, and without communion with the dead a fully human life is impossible.”
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Words and the Word". Secondary Worlds (1968) p. 141
“Harrow the house of the dead; look shining at New styles of architecture, a change of heart.”
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our military and our nation are entering another period of consequences – a time of rapid change and momentous choices.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[M]y administration is committed to a leadership role on the issue of climate change.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: June 11, 2001. "President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change".
“The federal government and the state government must not fear programs who change lives, but must welcome those faith-based programs for the embetterment of mankind.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks at a luncheon for gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon in Stockton, California, August 23, 2002.
“This time of adversity offers a unique moment of opportunity — a moment we must seize to change our culture. Through the gathering momentum of millions of acts of service and decency and kindness, I know we can overcome evil with greater good. And we have a great opportunity during this time of war to lead the world toward the values that will bring lasting peace.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No act of the terrorists will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter their fate. Their cause is lost; free nations will press on to victory.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We're facing a radical ideology with inalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world. No act of ours invited the rage of the killers — and no concession, bribe, or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Civilization exists,” Crane said, “by geological consent, subject to change without notice.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A single neutron begins the chain-reaction that in an instant can destroy a million lives and the toil of generations. Equally insignificant and unimportant are the trigger-events which can sometimes change a man’s course of action and so alter the whole pattern of his future.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Generals are usually a conservative force who can be relied on to oppose social change.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Egyptians (1967), p. 93
“Inertia! Our ruling class knows one law; no change. Despotism! They know one rule; force. Maldistribution! They know one desire; to hold what is theirs.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chapter 11 “Bride and Groom”; in part II, “The Mule” originally published under the same title in Astounding (November-December 1945)
“It was such a relief to program in user mode for a change. Not having to care about the small stuff is wonderful.”
Linus Torvalds (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Which mindset is right? Mine, of course. People who disagree with me are by definition crazy. (Until I change my mind, when they can suddenly become upstanding citizens. I'm flexible, and not black-and-white.)”
Linus Torvalds (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So here's a plea: if you have anything to do with security in a distro, and think that my kids (replace "my kids" with "sales people on the road" if you think your main customers are businesses) need to have the root password to access some wireless network, or to be able to print out a paper, or to change the date-and-time settings, please just kill yourself now. The world will be a better place.”
Linus Torvalds (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And they don't really know even what they're talkin' about And I can't image what empty heads can achieve Leave me alone, don't want your promises no more 'Cos rock & roll is my religion and my law Won't ever change, may think it's strange You can't kill rock & roll, it's here to stay”
Ozzy Osbourne (1948–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I warned you then and I'm warning you now If you mess with me you're playing with fire Winds of change that are fanning the flames Will carry you to your funeral pyre”
Ozzy Osbourne (1948–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Young man, the games we play are lessons we learn. The assumptions we make, things we ignore, and things we change make us what we become.”
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was still Dodger, of course, but what kind of Dodger? Because he was most definitely not the Dodger he had been a week ago. And he thought, if people change like this, how can you be sure about what you get and what you lose?”
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“9) Ethics change with technology.”
Larry Niven (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It takes me six months to do a story. I think it out and then write it sentence by sentence—no first draft. I can't write five words but that I change seven.”
Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview, The Paris Review (Summer 1956)
“I will not let you in. I face towards the wind. I change into the Mule.”
“Without the pain there'd be no learning Without the hurting we'd never change.”
“Let's change things. Let's danger it up. We're crazy enough. I just can't take it.”
“What a lovely afternoon On a cloudbusting kind of day. We took our own 'Mystery Tour' And got completely lost somewhere up in the hills. And we came up on a bee-keeper, And he said "Did you know they can change it all?”
“A change of opinions is almost unknown in an elderly military man.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Utopia of Usurers (1917)
“Sleep till the end, true soul and sweet! Nothing comes to thee new or strange. Sleep full of rest from head to feet; Lie still, dry dust, secure of change.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) first seen 1832 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To J. S., stanza 19, from Poems (1832)
Also quoted by: Alfred Tennyson
“A good woman is a wondrous creature, cleaving to the right and to the good under all change: lovely in youthful comeliness, lovely all her life long in comeliness of heart.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Emily Sellwood, quoted in Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son, by Hallam T. Tennyson (1897)
“Nothing will die; All things will change Thro’ eternity. ‘Tis the world’s winter; Autumn and summer Are gone long ago; Earth is dry to the centre, But spring, a new comer, A spring rich and strange, Shall make the winds blow Round and round, Thro’ and thro’, Here and there, Till the air And the ground Shall be fill’d with life anew.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He comes with western winds, with evening's wandering airs, With that clear dusk of heaven that brings the thickest stars; Winds take a pensive tone and stars a tender fire And visions rise and change which kills me with desire.”
Emily Brontë (1818–1848) first seen 1841 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Prisoner, st. 10 (October 1841)
“When weary with the long day's care, And earthly change from pain to pain, And lost and ready to despair, Thy kind voice calls me back again: Oh, my true friend! I am not lone, While thou canst speak with such a tone!”
Emily Brontë (1818–1848) first seen 1846 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Imagination", st. 1 (1846)
“Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers, From those brown hills, have melted into spring: Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers After such years of change and suffering!”
Emily Brontë (1818–1848) said by 1848 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most of the change we think we see in life Is due to truths being in and out of favor.”
Robert Frost (1874–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued.”
Robert Frost (1874–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is probable that what we call thought is not an actual being, but no more than the relation between certain parts of that infinitely varied mass, of which the rest of the universe is composed, and which ceases to exist as soon as those parts change their position with regard to each other.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) said by 1822 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) said by 1822 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life may change, but it may fly not; Hope may vanish, but can die not; Truth be veiled, but still it burneth; Love repulsed, — but it returneth!”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) said by 1822 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The One remains, the many change and pass; Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly; Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity, Until Death tramples it to fragments.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) said by 1822 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything that makes diversity of kinds, of species, differences, properties... everything that consists in generation, decay, alteration and change is not an entity, but a condition and circumstance of entity and being, which is one, infinite, immobile, subject, matter, life, death, truth, lies, good and evil.”
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) said by 1600 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we consider the being and substance of that universe in which we are immutably set, we shall discover that neither we ourselves nor any substance doth suffer death; for nothing is in fact diminished in its substance, but all things, wandering through infinite space, undergo change of aspect.”
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) said by 1600 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature, and the means perhaps of its conservation.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe (1792)
“A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) said by 1797 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions.”
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Moscow State University (31 May 1988)
“The lesson of all this was, of course, that because we're a great nation, our challenges seem complex. It will always be this way. But as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours. And something else we learned: Once you begin a great movement, there's no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world.”
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.”
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I only know that in our choice of friends and lovers and teachers who will change our lives, we are guided by forces which have nothing to do with the rationalizations we give.”
Erica Jong (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source