Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“One thing we know about incentives is you can't incent a dead person. No matter what we do, Hawthorne will not produce any more works, [even if] we can give him all the money in the world.”
Lawrence Lessig (born 1961) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Debate with Jack Valenti at Harvard University Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society (1 October 2000)
“We consoled ourselves with the thought that we would never face terrorists as well trained, equipped, or courageous as Delta operators. "Go home tonight and pray to God that no Delta personnel ever decide to go bad," I told Don Brigham, one of our 'dead'.”
Danny Coulson (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mosalsky: Good folk! Maria Godunov and her son Feodor have poisoned themselves. We have seen their dead bodies. [The People are silent with horror.] Why are ye silent? Cry, Long live the Tsar Dimitry Ivanovich! [The People are speechless.]”
Aleksandr Pushkin (1799–1837) said by 1837 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He ran like a mad thing into the night And the words in his mouth were stinking. By the time he had hurt his first white man He was no longer thinking. By the time he had hurt his fourth white man Rudolph Reed was dead. His neighbors gathered and kicked his corpse. "Nigger—" his neighbors said.”
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) said by 2000 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The time for running has come to an end. You tell them white folk in Mississippi that all the scared niggers are dead!”
Stokely Carmichael (1941–1998) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: addressing a crowd alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others during the March Against Fear (1966), Link
“First of all, you have to marry the right person. If you marry the wrong person for the wrong reasons, then no matter how hard you work, it's never going to work, because then you have to completely change yourself, completely change them, completely — by that time, you're both dead. So I think you have to marry for the right reasons, and marry the right person.”
Anne Bancroft (1931–2005) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On successful marriage. Associated Press interview (1997).
“The only good Dorig is a dead Dorig.”
Diana Wynne Jones (1934–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The dance industry is flogging a dead house.”
Mixmaster Morris (born 1965) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mixmag 1997. Morris was fired from this job for this comment.
“The commonest error in politics is sticking to the carcass of dead policies.”
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) first seen 1877 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord Lytton (25 May 1877), quoted in G. Cecil, The Life of Robert, Marquis of Salisbury. Volume II, p. 145
“So dazzling was the spread of constellations that it had the impact of a vision, of some hidden insight. I drove home saying to myself: The dead, too, are like this, blazing within us — invisibly.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in No More Words : A Journal of My Mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh (2001) by Reeve Lindbergh, p. 41
“Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest. Shrouded by the night and by the secret stair I quickly fled. The veil concealed my eyes while all within lay quiet as the dead.”
Loreena McKennitt (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As I suggested to John Major (a British Prime Minister) when he told us that socialism was dead, he should not be too triumphant. After all, until his predecessor Mrs Thatcher revived it, we thought feudalism pretty much over and done with, too.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s in the nature of a good despot to say anything that will convince someone to do as he wishes. Only when he does not need them does he really say what he thinks. And by that time, of course, because he has no need of them, they are usually as good as dead. The secret of becoming a successful tyrant lies in an early ability to be all things to all people.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Could you punish a heretic?” “Madam, I do not know what a heretic really is. The word is made much of, these days. It seems to describe anyone you wish dead.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Personally, I am dead against the burning of books.”
Augustine Birrell (1850–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can rest when I’m dead.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I will see you tonight. Or I will see you dead.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you are not mine, then you are dead.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man without trust might as well be dead.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let the dead rest, and care for the living.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The dead are never silent.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only the dead could afford oblivion.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And Dr. Dre said… Nothing, you idiots! Dr. Dre's dead! He's locked in my basement!”
“Vietnam is the dead albatross around Johnson's neck that may pull him down.”
Thomas A. Bailey (1902–1983) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The New York Times (November 6, 1966)
“I always suspect an artist who is successful before he is dead.”
Edgar Degas (1834–1917) said by 1917 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Murray Gibbon, Pagan Love (1922), ch. xiv
“Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth and justice! I did not come on this voyage for gain, honor or wealth, that is certain; for then the hope of all such things was dead. I came to Your Highnesses with honest purpose and sincere zeal; and I do not lie. I humbly beseech You Highnesses that, if it please God to remove me hence, you will help me to go to Rome and on other pilgrimages.”
Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) said by 1506 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.”
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the conditions of the "Schrödinger's cat" thought-experiment, as presented in The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics (1935), translated by John D. Trimmer
“Árt is dead. Long live Tatlin's new machine art.”
George Grosz (1893–1959) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Grosz and Heartfield, 1920: text on their billboard at the Dada fair in Berlin
“The most solid advice for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My uncle jumped up from the desk, loving him more than he loved any other man in the world, and through him loving the lost nation, the multitude dead, and the multitude living in every alien corner of the world.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's all over. We can begin to forget Armenia now. Andranik is dead. The nation is lost. I'm no Armenian. I'm an American. Well, the truth is I am both and neither. I love Armenia and I love America and I belong to both, but I am only this: an inhabitant of the earth, and so are you, whoever you are. I tried to forget Armenia but I couldn't do it.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mrs. Sandoval," Homer said swiftly, "your son is dead. Maybe it's a mistake. Maybe it wasn't your son. Maybe it was somebody else. The telegram says it was Juan Domingo. But maybe the telegram is wrong.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is a street? It is where the living weep, where the dead go off in silence to their peace.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A writer wants what he has to say to be heard again and again. He wants it to be heard after he is dead.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Better a live donkey than a dead lion.”
Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922) said by 1922 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here, where the noises of the busy town, The ocean's plunge and roar can enter not, We stand and gaze around with tearful awe, And muse upon the consecrated spot. No signs of life are here: the very prayers Inscribed around are in a language dead; The light of the "perpetual lamp" is spent That an undying radiance was to shed.”
Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) first seen 1867 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Touro Synagogue, Newport, RI (July 1867)
“Oh deem not dead that martial fire, Say not the mystic flame is spent! With Moses' law and David's lyre. Your ancient strength remains unbent. Let but an Ezra rise anew, To lift the Banner of the Jew!”
Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lo — a black line of birds in wavering thread Bore him the greetings of the deathless dead!”
Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now I’m not making love to anyone’s wishes, Only for that light I see ‘Cause when I’m dead and lowered low in my grave, That’s gonna be the only thing that’s left of me”
Cat Stevens (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“News is what a chap who doesn't care much about anything wants to read. And it's only news until he's read it. After that it's dead.”
Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His head was so beautiful. I tried to hold the top of his head down, maybe I could keep it in... but I knew he was dead.”
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I went to Ithaca, found the Grateful Dead and my life was changed.”
David Boreanaz (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou mastering me God! giver of breath and bread; World’s strand, sway of the sea; Lord of living and dead; Thou hast bound bones and veins in me, fastened me flesh, And after it almost unmade, what with dread, Thy doing: and dost thou touch me afresh? Over again I feel thy finger and find thee.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) said by 1889 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Felix Randal the farrier, O he is dead then? my duty all ended, Who have watched his mould of man, big-boned and hardy-handsome Pining, pining, till time when reason rambled in it and some Fatal four disorders, fleshed there, all contended?”
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) said by 1889 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music I heard with you was more than music, And bread I broke with you was more than bread; Now that I am without you, all is desolate; All that was once so beautiful is dead.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O sweet clean earth, from whom the green blade cometh! When we are dead, my best belovèd and I, Close well above us, that we may rest forever, Sending up grass and blossoms to the sky.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The poet walked alone in a cold late rain, And thought his grief was like the crying of sea-birds; For his lover was dead, he never would love again.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want to go south, where there is no autumn, where the cold doesn't crouch over one like a snow leopard waiting to pounce. The heart of the North is dead, and the fingers of cold are corpse fingers.”
D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to John Middleton Murry (3 October 1924)
“I never saw a wild thing Sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.”
D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Self-Pity (1929)
“Truscott: Why aren't you both at the funeral? I thought you were mourners. Fay: We decided not to go. We were afraid we might break down. Truscott: That's a selfish attitude to take. The dead can't bury themselves, you know.”
Joe Orton (1933–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source