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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“We need a regime change in this country.... If we launch a pre-emptive strike on Iraq we lose all moral authority.”
Jesse Jackson (1941–2026) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech against the Iraq War, reported in Brian Dakss (26 October 2002) "Shades Of The Sixties" CBS News
“When we divide, we cannot win. We must find common ground as the basis for survival and development and change, and growth.”
Jesse Jackson (1941–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For a writer, to change languages is to write a love letter with a dictionary.”
Emil Cioran (1911–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are young, and your bitter recollections have time to change themselves into sweet remembrances.”
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) said by 1870 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[On fully transitioning to being a woman via surgery] If I looked beautiful, like Julian Clary, then maybe I would do it. But the way I look, everyone would know I was a bloke who had had a sex change. Besides, it would confuse things because I like girls.”
Eddie Izzard (born 1962) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview, as cited in "I'm all boy", The Telegraph (30 July 2006)
“... a fellow is more afraid of the trouble he might have than he ever is of the trouble he’s already got. He’ll cling to trouble he’s used to before he’ll risk a change. Yes. A man will talk about how he’d like to escape from living folks. But it’s the dead folks that do him the damage. It’s the dead ones that lay quiet in one place and don’t try to hold him, that he can’t escape from.’”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The doctor didn't even take out his stethoscope nor even touch him. “He’s all right,” the doctor said. “He didn’t even catch cold. He just quit.” “Quit?” McCaslin said. “Yes. Old people do that sometimes. Then they get a good night’s sleep or maybe it’s just a drink of whisky, and they change their minds.”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I see a face of love, Fair as sweet music when my heart was strong: Yea — art thou come again to me, great Song?" The face bent over him like silver night In long-remembered summers; that calm light Of days which shine in firmaments of thought, That past unchangeable, from change still wrought.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men are but children of a larger growth; Our appetites as apt to change as theirs, And full as craving, too, and full as vain.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But various are the ways to change the state, To plant, to bud, to graft, to inoculate.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Autumn was falling, but the pine Seem'd as it mock'd all change; no sign Of season on its leaf was seen, The same dark gloom of changeless green. But like the gorgeous Persian bands 'Mid the stern race of northern lands, The chesnut boughs were bright with all That gilds and mocks the autumn's fall.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Awakening hope has named the name Of love, or blown its spark to flame. Restlessness, but as the winds range From leaf to leaf, from flower to flower; Changefulness, but as rainbows change, From colour'd sky to sunlit hour. Ay, well indeed may minstrel sing,— What have the heart and year like spring?”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is an indolence in grief Which will not even seek relief. What is the toil, or care, or pain, The human heart cannot sustain? Enough if struggling can create A change or colour in our fate; But where's the spirit that can cope With listless suffering, when hope, The last of misery's allies, Sickens of its sweet self, and dies.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beautiful weakness! oh, if weak, That woman's heart should tinge her cheek! 'Tis sad to change it for the strength That heart and cheek must know at length.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Which is the best,— Beauty and glory, in a southern clime, Mingled with thunder, tempest ; or the calm Of skies that scarcely change, which, at the least, If much of shine they have not, have no storms?”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But o'er CYRENE'S cheek the rose, Like moon-touch'd water, ebbs and flows; And eyes that droop like Summer flowers Told they could change with shine and showers.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is so sad — So very lonely — to be the sole one In whom there is a sign of change!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Knight’s Tale from The London Literary Gazette: 31st July 1824 Poetic Sketches - 5th Series - Sketch the Third
“Which is the best, Beauty and glory in a passionate clime, Mingled with thunder, tempest; — or the calm Of skies that scarcely change — which, at the least, If much of shine they have not, have no storms?”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1826 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (20th May 1826) Life
“We say that people and that things are changed; Alas ! it is ourselves that change : the heart Makes all around the mirror of itself.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We differ widely from each other ; do we not, as circumstances change around us, moulding us like slaves to their will — do we not differ yet more from ourselves ?”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, which is the most rational theory about these ten millions of species? Is it most likely that there have been ten millions of special creations? or is it most likely that, by continual modifications due to change of circumstances, ten millions of varieties have been produced, as varieties are being produced still?”
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Evolution is definable as a change from an incoherent homogeneity to a coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.”
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'You're still the same girl. What people do doesn't change their nature.' She shook her head.[…] 'What they do is their nature,' she said.”
Kingsley Amis (1922–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more we sink into the infirmities of age, the nearer we are to immortal youth. All people are young in the other world. That state is an eternal spring, ever fresh and flourishing. Now, to pass from midnight into noon on the sudden, to be decrepit one minute and all spirit and activity the next, must be a desirable change. To call this dying is an abuse of language.”
Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On a day like today it’s worth saying, I believe survivors. Men must not close our eyes and minds to what happens to women in this world. We must fight, alongside them, for them to be believed, at the ballot box & with art & by listening, and change this world for the better.”
Neil Gaiman (born 1960) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 28 September 2018 tweet
“Will she be the same?” The old woman guffawed, as if I had said the funniest thing in the universe. “Nothing’s ever the same,” she said. “Be it a second later or a hundred years. It’s always churning and roiling. And people change as much as oceans.”
Neil Gaiman (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even the gods cannot change destiny.”
Neil Gaiman (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What has changed is that my life then was less difficult and my future seemingly less gloomy, but as far as my inner self, my way of looking at things and of thinking is concerned, that has not changed. But if there has indeed been a change, then it is that I think, believe and love more seriously now what I thought, believed and loved even then.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, Theo, why should I change - I used to be very passive and very gentle and quiet — I'm that no longer, but then I'm no longer a child either now - sometimes I feel my own man.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“..How glad I was when this doctor took me for an ordinary workingman and said: "I suppose you are an iron worker." That is just what I have tried to change in myself; when I was younger, I looked like one who has been intellectually overwrought, and now I look like a skipper or an iron worker.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) first seen 1885 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Antwerp, Belgium, 28 Dec. 1885; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935], (letter 442) p. 22
“I've always tried to go a step past wherever people expected me to end up. I'm not about to change now.”
Beverly Sills (1929–2007) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Beverly : An Autobiography (1988), p. 356
“the most tragic moment in the Tale comes in II 323 ff. ['The Stairs of Cirith Ungol'] when Sam fails to note the complete change in Gollum's tone and aspect. 'Nothing, nothing', said Gollum softly. ‘Nice master!'. His repentance is blighted and all Frodo's pity is (in a sense) wasted. Shelob's lair became inevitable.”
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: September 1963 letter to Eileen Elgar here
“In order to render this change eligible as well to the society as to the slaves, it would be necessary that a complete incorporation of the latter into the former should result from the act of manumission. This is rendered impossible by the prejudices of the whites, prejudices which proceeding principally from the difference of color must be considered...”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Last words, to his niece, according to A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison (1865) by Paul Jennings, p. 20; his testimony on his death reads:
“do Not create anything, it will be misinterpreted. it will not change. it will follow you the rest of your life.”
Bob Dylan (born 1941) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Advice for Geraldine on Her Miscellaneous" (1964)
“I change during the course of a day. I wake and I'm one person, and when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else. I don't know who I am most of the time. It doesn't even matter to me.”
Bob Dylan (born 1941) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dylan Revisited, Newsweek (1997)
“You tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn't enough to change my heart”
“Man thinks 'cause he rules the earth, he can do with it as he please. And if things don't change soon, he will.”
“Do we, holding that the gods exist, deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams and lies, while random careless chance and change alone control the world?”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are all caught in the current of history whose headwaters rise in the dark mountains of the past. You cannot change it; you survive and help others to survive by adapting to it.”
Morris West (1916–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It wasn't that people were antagonistic; it was more that they were accustomed to doing their work in a certain way, and change always causes some people to be uncomfortable.”
John Ashcroft (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I used to think that information was destroyed in black holes. But the AdS/CFT correspondence led me to change my mind. This was my biggest blunder, or at least my biggest blunder in science.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stephen Hawking at 70: Exclusive interview" in New Scientist, (4 January 2012). In his comment that he "used to think that information was destroyed in black holes", he is referring to the black hole information paradox.
“Even as President, with the most fascinating possible vantage point, there were times when I was so busy managing progress and helping to lead change that I didn't always show the joy that was in my heart. But the biggest thing that has happened in the world in my life, in our lives, is this: By the grace of God, America won the cold war.”
George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Corvallis took to the air and went for a spin on some tempting thermals while the visitors were shown in... He had known them now for forty years and resigned himself to the fact that their appearance did not change over time. He wheeled around them anyway, peering down on them from all angles. “Calling a meeting of the Societas Eruditorum?” C-plus asked. “You’re the only member left.”
Neal Stephenson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the United States, except for slaves, servants and the destitute fed by townships, everyone has the vote and this is an indirect contributor to law-making. Anyone wishing to attack the law is thus reduced to adopting one of two obvious courses: they must either change the nation's opinion or trample its wishes under foot.”
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) said by 1859 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When occurs, entropy has reached... maximum. If entropy can no longer grow.., no change can occur. This... I applied to physical-chemical and to radiation equilibria.”
Max Planck (1858–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Richard Heffner: You say "We can create ourselves and our future" Salk: — by shaping our selves not our cells — thats the important distinction. … We are shaping our cells, but we will not change our selves in the course of shaping our cells.”
Jonas Salk (1914–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are united in our determination to change the present system of international relations, based as it is on injustice, inequality and oppression. In international politics we act as an independent world force.”
Fidel Castro (1926–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is not man born with a love of change — an Englishman to be discontented — an Anglo-Indian to grumble?”
Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) first seen 1851 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Goa, and The Blue Mountains; or, Six Months of Sick Leave (1851)