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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“Life, even the hardest life, is the most beautiful, wonderful, and miraculous treasure in the world.”
Pitirim Sorokin (1889–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With all, the beautiful things of the earth become more dear as they elude pursuit; but with some natures utter elusion is the one special event which will make a passing love permanent for ever.”
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) said by 1928 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A surprising proportion of mathematicians are accomplished musicians. Is it because music and mathematics share patterns that are beautiful?”
Martin Gardner (1914–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Dover Math and Science Newsletter May 16, 2011
“In many cases a dull proof can be supplemented by a geometric analogue so simple and beautiful that the truth of a theorem is almost seen at a glance.”
Martin Gardner (1914–2010) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mathematical Games", in Scientific American (October 1973); also quoted in Roger B. Nelson, Proofs Without Words: Exercises in Visual Thinking (1993), "Introduction", p. v
“Let the Bible be the Bible! It’s not about science. It’s not accurate history. It is a grab bag of religious fantasies written by many authors. Some of its myths, like the Star of Bethlehem, are very beautiful. Others are dull and ugly. Some express lofty ideals, such as the parables of Jesus. Others are morally disgusting.”
Martin Gardner (1914–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is most beautiful is of necessity tyrannical.”
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am not suited to the role of going around selling the life-can-be-beautiful idea. It can be, indeed. But you don't buy the concept from your friendly door-to-door lecture salesman.”
John D. MacDonald (1916–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[They] revealed to me the most important truth concerning human life. Which is that a shared, a loyal, love between two people is the most beautiful, the most numinous, the most valuable thing of all.”
David Myatt (born 1950) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Myatt, David. Myngath - Some Recollections of the Wyrdful Life of David Myatt, Thormynd Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-557-56804-8
“We had a beautiful dream and that was all. The interest of my son is the only guide I have, and whatever happiness I could achieve by being free of this place I cannot consent to separate my self from him. I could not have any pleasure in the world if I abandoned my children.I do not even have any regrets.”
Marie Antoinette (1755–1793) said by 1793 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Marie Antoinette to the Chevalier Jarjayes on his persuading her to escape alone from the Tower; Lettres, II. p. 433; also quoted in Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2001) by Antonia Fraser, ISBN 0307277747.
“There will come a day when Berlin will be the most beautiful city in the world.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every man, however simple-minded he may be, has a feeling for what is beautiful or ugly.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Verily, the star of Azrael hovers over the birth of a beautiful woman, the King of the Dead laughs aloud, and ravens whet their black beaks.”
Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Any writer of any worth at all hopes to play only a pocket-torch of light — and rarely, through genius, a sudden flambeau — into the bloody yet beautiful labyrinth of human experience, of being.”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not greatly gifted, not deeply beautiful, Madonna tells America that fame comes from wanting it badly enough. And everyone is terribly good at badly wanting things.”
Martin Amis (1949–2023) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Madonna" (1992)
“You know, it's not the rich who're really different from us. It's the beautiful.”
Martin Amis (1949–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You were made for enjoyment, and the world was filled with things which you will enjoy, unless you are too proud to be pleased with them, or too grasping to care for what you cannot turn to other account than mere delight. Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless: peacocks and lilies, for instance.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beautiful objects are wrought by study through effort, but ugly things are reaped automatically without toil.”
Democritus (461–361 BC) said by 361 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Freeman (1948), p. 161
“I would not be standing here today if my skin were white or my religion were Presbyterian. I am here today only because my skin is yellow and my religion is Unification Church. The ugliest things in this beautiful country of America are religious bigotry and racism.”
Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012) first seen 1210 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the tax charges against him, in a speech at Foley Square in New York City (22 October 1981); published in a full page advertisement in the The New York Times (5 November 1981), as quoted in US Court of Appeals docume…
“Those who are the most devout, outstanding Unification Church members are they the most beautiful people externally or just so-so? Very often, those who have the features of an Idaho potato are the most loyal members of the Unification Church.”
Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our Pride 1981-12-13.
“With Lenin it was always a substantial commitment. I always have a certain admiration for people who are aware that somebody has to do the job. What I hate about these liberal, pseudo-left, beautiful soul academics is that they are doing what they are doing fully aware that somebody else will do the job for them.”
Slavoj Žižek (born 1949) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conversations with Žižek by Slavoj Žižek and Glyn Daly (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004), p. 50
“A woman is not complimentary to a man, but she embodies his lack (which is why Lacan can say that a beautiful woman is a perfect incarnation of man's castration).”
Slavoj Žižek (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To fall asleep in your embrace, Land of our dreams, what bliss, O you our cradle, you our grave, You the new hope we ever crave, Peninsula so beautiful, Finland for aye our all!”
Aleksis Kivi (1834–1872) said by 1872 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And for one beautiful day there was peace.”
Ezra Pound (1885–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want to say something to the National Union of Students. When you choose to ally yourselves with an organisation like CAGE, which called a “beautiful young man” and told people to “support the jihad” in Iraq and Afghanistan, it really does, in my opinion, shame your organisation and your noble history of campaigning for justice.”
David Cameron (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She has a fascination with Mayan prophecies, and she's writing a book that's sort of her remembrance of her past incarnation. Whatever she applies herself to, she makes it this beautiful, glorious world around her. All of us kids have always been artistic because of her influence.”
Brandon Boyd (born 1976) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: on his mom, Dolly Wiseman. Spin (October 2001)
“Endeavour to be beautiful, and then do at every moment that with which your heart will inspire you;" that is morality in a nutshell.”
Ernest Renan (1823–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As translated in Irving Babbitt, Rousseau and Romanticism (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919), Ch. IV, p. 133.
“Because your candle burns too brightwell, I almost forgot it was twilight. Even if I think that you are right, well, I'm tired of being down, I got no fight. You're wonderful, and it's beautiful, but I'm already somebody's baby. And if i went with you, I'd disappoint you, too.”
Elliott Smith (1969–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A wise man in the company of those who are ignorant, has been compared to a beautiful girl in the company of blind men.”
Saadi (1210–1292) said by 1292 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God, from a beautiful necessity, is Love in all he doeth, Love, a brilliant fire, to gladden or consume: The wicked work their woe by looking upon love, and hating it: The righteous find their joys in yearning on its loveliness for ever.”
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) said by 1889 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hush,—for the halo of calmness is spreading Over my spirit as mild as a dove; Hush,—for the angel of comfort is shedding Over my body his vial of love; Hush,—for new slumbers are over me stealing, Thus would I court them again and again, Hush,—for my heart is intoxicate,—reeling In the swift waltz of my beautiful brain!”
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) said by 1889 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You do not reach the sublime by degrees; the distance between it and the merely beautiful is infinite.”
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (1766–1817) said by 1817 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I assisted at the birth of that most significant word "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1754 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The World, No. 101 (5 December 1754)
Also quoted by: Earl Of Chesterfield
“Like Machiavelli would say, little Jovana was five months old, and I was prepared to write even "I saw Feldmarshall Göring three times", just to slip away from the barracks for two days and see my little girl and her beautiful mother.”
Đorđe Balašević (1953–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The story of the beautiful,” said Whistler, with the swagger that made all but his contemporaries love him, “is already complete—hewn in the marbles of the Parthenon, and broidered, with the birds, upon the fan of Hokusai—at the foot of Fuji-yama.”
James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had a very traditional background. My parents are neat people. I'm lucky to have been raised in the most beautiful place -- Amherst, Massachusetts, state of my heart. I'm more patriotic to Massachusetts than to almost any place.”
Uma Thurman (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I remember when singers were singers. Ugly people. Aretha Franklin needed a lot of room to eat her chicken wings. Janis Joplin used to come out in clothes woven from her own vomit. Nina Simone, amazing singer, could look at a railway track and buckle it. It didn’t matter; They were beautiful people because of what they could do.”
Dylan Moran (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The other morning, I woke up. I was frightened – I’m always frightened in the morning, I don’t know where I am. But I heard this beautiful reassuring sound, it sounded like my childhood. I thought, what’s that? Is it? Church bells behind the hill? Or, no – it’s an ice cream van, in the rain. It was me, BREATHING!”
Dylan Moran (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is from my granny. She was a beautiful, spiritual person. She always used to say: "Doesn't matter how big the fucker is. They all have a neck." Another thing she used to say was: "Never get involved with more than 11 people sexually at one time. You cannot keep everybody happy. Work on the farm deteriorates almost immediately. Don’t do that.”
Dylan Moran (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Each man kills the things he loves". I recognise that in myself, in relationships, even with guitars, beautiful things that I've had and wilfully destroyed.”
Pete Doherty (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are three things that I know a bit about in my life and that's QPR, my guitar and drugs. I know QPR are the best football team in the world, my guitar is the most beautiful thing I own and that I don't take enough drugs to kill me. It isnt drugs that I need to get rid of; it's the demons that fill my head. Once I have come to terms with my demons, maybe I'll be able to get clean.”
Pete Doherty (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you look at the world with parted lips and a pure heart, and will the good, won't that make a true and beautiful poem? One's heart tells one that it will; and one's heart is wrong. There is no direct road to Parnassus.”
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Recent Poetry," The Yale Review (Autumn 1955), p. 237
“They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed — I, too, am America.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I, Too", in the magazine Survey Graphic (March 1925); reprinted in Selected Poems (1959)
“The night is beautiful, So are the faces of my people.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My People", in the magazine Poems in Crisis (October 1923); reprinted in The Weary Blues (1926)
“He was, she thought, as beautiful as a young god, lying on his side among the grass and flowers”
Alice Borchardt (1939–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's very beautiful. But what would they nourish their intimate talk with? However contemptible the world may be, they still need it to be able to talk together.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Great cities, or the endless beautiful plains stretched out before his jaded gaze and disappeared into the nothingness of his feeling. ~ Fall in Love”
Steve Kilbey (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lady Cannon's gone to a matinée at the St. James's. We had tickets for the first night, but of course she wouldn't use them then. She preferred to go alone in the afternoon, because she detests the theatre, anyhow, and afternoon performances give her a headache. If she does a thing that's disagreeable to her, she likes to do it in the most painful possible way. She has a beautiful nature.”
Ada Leverson (1862–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The oldest, truest, most beautiful organ of music, the origin to which alone our music owes its being, is the human voice.”
Richard Wagner (1813–1883) first seen 1851 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Opera and Drama (1851)
“It never grows old, putting on a beautiful dress. For me, it's a great distraction. It's always ridiculous, and it always feels like it should be happening to somebody else.”
Sarah Jessica Parker (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source