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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“He did not feel that he was stealing, for the cleaver, the radio, the money, and the typewriter were all on the same level of value, all meant the same thing to him. They were the serious toys of the men who lived in the dead world of sunshine and rain he had left, the world that had condemned him, branded him guilty.”
Richard Wright (1908–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I told him, "Give up the dough, before you get smoked! Oh you broke? ( *shots* ) Now you're dead broke”
Big L (1974–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I beat chumps till they head splits, break 'em like breadsticks, I sex chicks, I'd even fuck a dead bitch”
Big L (1974–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There're are worse things than being dead." (p253)”
Octavia Butler (1947–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The people of your world became so stupid and rude that my companions and I no longer enjoyed teaching them. You must surely have heard of us: we were called oracles, nymphs, spirits, fairies, household gods, lemures, larvas, lamias, sprites, water-nymphs, incubi, shades, spirits of the dead, specters and ghosts.”
Cyrano de Bergerac (1619–1655) said by 1655 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My days among the Dead are past; Around me I behold, Where'er these casual eyes are cast, The mighty minds of old; My never-failing friends are they, With whom I converse day by day.”
Robert Southey (1774–1843) first seen 1818 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Days Among the Dead Are Past, st. 1 (1818).
“What have I done, or tried, or said In thanks to that dear woman dead? Men triumph over women still, Men trample women's rights at will, And man's lust roves the world untamed. * * * * O grave, keep shut lest I be shamed.”
John Masefield (1878–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“American critics are like American universities. They both have dull and half-dead faculties.”
Edward Albee (1928–2016) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to New York Cultural League (6 May 1969)
“I feel like one, Who treads alone Some banquet-hall deserted, Whose lights are fled, Whose garlands dead, And all but he departed!”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) first seen 1815 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oft in the Stilly Night, st. 2 (1815).
“Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, But turn to ashes on the lips.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Osama Bin Laden is dead? Oh my God, that was so easy! And it only took two trillion dollars, two wars and too many good men.”
Christopher Titus (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The songs of the dead are the lamentations of the living.”
Christopher Paolini (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The boy stood on the burning deck, Whence all but him had fled; The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead.”
Felicia Hemans (1793–1835) first seen 1826 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Casabianca, st. 1 (1826).
Also quoted by: Felicia D. Hemans
“My head was like an ardent coal, My heart as solid ice; My wretched, wretched soul, I knew, Was at the Devil's price: A dozen times I groaned: the dead Had never groaned but twice!”
Thomas Hood (1799–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh would I were dead now, Or up in my bed now, To cover my head now, And have a good cry!”
Thomas Hood (1799–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Table of Errata; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“If they had said that the sun or the moon had gone out of the heavens, it could not have struck me with the idea of a more awful and dreary blank in creation than the words: "Byron is dead!”
Jane Welsh Carlyle (1801–1866) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Carlyle (20 May 1824]).
“Be bold! That's one way Of getting through life. So I turn upon her And point out that, Faced with the wickedness Of things, she does not shiver. I know how to love those Who love me, how to hate. You whom the soldiers beat, You who are all but dead, How the gods love you And I, alone in the dark, I was promised the light.”
Archilochus (688–645 BC) said by 645 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are those who must find fault somewhere, among the dead if they cannot find enough among the living.”
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why are we wondering why the world wishes itself dead when we are doing nothing to heal it?”
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He rejoices to have done with the dead. The living need our attentions more, he says. Who can argue with that?”
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don't have any civil liberties if you're dead.”
Pat Roberts (born 1936) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My thoughts ran to Friday… Had I not been there to restrain him, would he in his hunger have eaten the babe? I told myself I did him wrong to think of him as a cannibal or worse, a devourer of the dead. But Cruso had planted the seed in my mind, and now I could not look on Friday’s lips without calling to mind what mean must once have passed them.”
J. M. Coetzee (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is he happy? By most measurements, yes, he believes he is. However, he has not forgotten the last chorus of Oedipus: Call no man happy until he is dead.”
J. M. Coetzee (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth never yet fell dead in the streets; it has such affinity with the soul of man, the seed however broadcast will catch somewhere and produce its hundredfold.”
Theodore Parker (1810–1860) first seen 1842 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Discourse of Matters Pertaining to Religion (1842).
“The blue dusk ran between the streets; my love was winged within my mind; It left to-day and yesterday and thrice a thousand years behind. To-day was past and dead for me for from to-day my feet had run Through thrice a thousand years to walk the ways of ancient Babylon.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There were ruby dews were shed when the heart was riven, And passionate pleading and prayers to the dead we had wronged; And we passed away unremembering and unforgiven, Hastening away to the King for the peace we longed.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ah, when I think this earth on which we tread Hath borne these blossoms of the lovely dead, And made the living heart I love to beat, I look with sudden awe beneath my feet As you with erring reverence overhead.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is the use of speech? Silence were fitter: Lest we should still be wishing things unsaid. Though all the words we ever spake were bitter, Shall I reproach you, dead?”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Midnight on the water I saw the ocean's daughter Walking on a wave's chicane Staring as she called my name And I can't get it out of my head No, I can't get it out of my head Now my old world is gone for dead 'Cos I can't get it out of my head”
Jeff Lynne (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wandering between two worlds, one dead, The other powerless to be born, With nowhere yet to rest my head, Like these, on earth I wait forlorn.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He went; his piping took a troubled sound Of storms that rage outside our happy ground; He could not wait their passing, he is dead!”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Weep bitterly over the dead, for he is worthy, and then comfort thyself; drive heaviness away: thou shall not do him good, but hurt thyself.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary entry for the day he died (15 April 1888); from Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii
“A Sonnet is a moment's monument,— Memorial from the Soul's eternity To one dead deathless hour.”
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.”
Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Song, st. 1 (1862).
“Once I’m dead, I can afford to be patient.”
John Barnes (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Liberalism, as we have known it, is dead beyond resurrection.”
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to John Hartman Morgan (6 May 1919), quoted in J. H. Morgan, John, Viscount Morley: An Appreciation and Some Reminiscences (1924), p. 99
“I should like to have been there if only to have got up and said, “If Mr. G.'s Home Rule Bill had been passed 30 years ago could Ireland have been worse than it is now? Would it not have been better?” And then fallen dead like Lord Chatham.”
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to John Hartman Morgan on the House of Lords' debate on the Irish Home Rule Bill (6 January 1921), quoted in J. H. Morgan, John, Viscount Morley: An Appreciation and Some Reminiscences (1924), p. 51
“And now impatiently despairest, see How nought is changed: Joy's wisdom is attired Splended for others' eyes if not for thee: Not love or beauty or youth from earth is fled: If they delite thee not, 'tis thou art dead.”
Robert Bridges (1844–1930) said by 1930 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I consider the dead and their families, I cannot repress my mental agony.”
Hirohito (1901–1989) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Draft of undelivered speech (1948); published in the magazine Bungeishunju as quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald (11 June 2003).
“I am glad this asshole is dead. Sorry for his wife and kids, but relieved they are in no further danger from his lunacy!”
John Byrne (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the rash lustihead of my young powers, I shook the pillaring hours And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears, I stand amid the dust o’ the mounded years— My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap. My days have crackled and gone up in smoke, Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.”
Francis Thompson (1859–1907) said by 1907 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He rode forward at the gallop, brave but stupid. A moment later, he was brave and stupid and dead.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He still couldn't believe she was dead. She’d been one of those fiercely vital people you thought of as going on forever. But life didn't work like that, and war had an obscene power all its own. What it wanted, it took, and an individual’s vitality mattered not at all to it.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All things considered, we got away cheap.” “Thank you, Mr. Cooley,” Sam said. We got away cheap. The dead and the maimed would not agree with the exec. Sam found that he was inclined to. War measured what you dished out against what you took.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What did he do for fun? Anything? Poor bastard, Sam thought. Zwilling probably got his kicks telling other people what to do. If that wasn’t a dead-end street, Sam had never seen one.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then he realized what it really was: a possum. It looked like a cat-sized rat that had got its nose stuck in a pencil sharpener. The long, bare pinkish tail seemed vaguely obscene. Lieutenant Colonel Torricelli was looking in the same direction. “If that’s not the ugliest thing God ever made, damned if I know what it is,” he said. “Now that Jake Featherston’s dead, I agree with you.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Historians are left forever chasing shadows, painfully aware of their inability ever to reconstruct a dead world in its completeness however thorough or revealing their documentation. We are doomed to be forever hailing someone who has just gone around the corner and out of earshot.”
Simon Schama (born 1945) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations) p. 320 (1991)
“I wanted an autograph from Northern Calloway, when we were in Stony Lodge together, I asked and was dragged away. He was the only celebrity I met as a kid. I still remember, the sheet over his face, his body on a stretcher. And the only food for thought that would feed my head was like my childhood, David from Sesame Street was dead.”
Northern Calloway (1948–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cage, who was also a patient of the Stony Lodge facility where Calloway stayed briefly, in the song "Tongue in a Shark's Mouth" (2009).