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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“It was irritating to have one’s physical shortcomings pointed out quite so plainly twice in one evening, once by a beautiful girl and once by a dying badger.”
“It was an indescribably beautiful thing, with the perfection of line and form that only something designed to be functional can have, lean and graceful and infinitely menacing, like a man-eating swan.”
“About six months ago, I listened to Siamese Dream. That was the first time I'd ever really heard my own album, because I had separated from the experience of making the record. And it really moved me. It made me cry, it's so beautiful.”
Billy Corgan (born 1967) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Out on a Limb." Details Magazine. October 1996.
“I wore that because it makes me look beautiful. I stare at myself in the mirror and I think, "Wow, I'm really great-looking." ... I think I'm the greatest, anyway.”
“I believe we made the most beautiful thing in the world. Nobody would criticize a renowned architect's blueprint that the position of a gate is wrong. It's the same as that.”
Ken Kutaragi (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is something beautiful, touching and poetic when one person loves more than the other, and the other is indifferent.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1892 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: After the Theatre (1892)
“Sports are positively essential. It is healthy to engage in sports, they are beautiful and liberal, liberal in the sense that nothing serves quite as well to integrate social classes, etc., than street or public games.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (March 16, 1895)
“People should be beautiful in every way—in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts and in their innermost selves.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In two or three hundred years life on earth will be unimaginably beautiful, astounding. Man needs such a life and if it hasn’t yet appeared, he should begin to anticipate it, wait for it, dream about it, prepare for it. To achieve this, he has to see and know more than did his grandfather and father.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. There's nobody as beautiful or as powerful as me!”
Billy Graham (wrestler) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Your hands hold roses always in a way that says They are not only yours; the beautiful changes In such kind ways, Wishing ever to sunder Things and things' selves for a second finding, to lose For a moment all that it touches back to wonder.”
Richard Wilbur (1921–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The dreamers are the saviours of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it cannot let their ideals fade and die; it lives in them; it knows them as the realities which it shall one day see and know.”
James Allen (1864–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it.”
James Allen (1864–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.”
James Allen (1864–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They can create something beautiful, useful, even something worthless. But they create. They don't destroy.”
Octavia Butler (1947–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Concern for the symbol has completely disappeared from our science. And yet, if one were to give oneself the trouble, one could easily find, in certain parts at least of contemporary mathematics... symbols as clear, as beautiful, and as full of spiritual meaning as that of the circle and mediation. From modern thought to ancient wisdom the path would be short and direct, if one cared to take it.”
Simone Weil (1909–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Need for Roots (1949), p. 292
“And rustic life and poverty Grow beautiful beneath his touch.”
Thomas Campbell (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Thomas Campbell
“But youth’s fair form, though fallen, is ever fair, And beautiful in death the boy appears, The hero boy, that dies in blooming years: In man’s regret he lives, and woman’s tears; More sacred than in life, and lovelier far, For having perished in the front of war.”
Thomas Campbell (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was a beautiful day to grow up.”
Christopher Golden (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe life is about balance. My mom was brilliant, yet manipulative. Beautiful, but had more voices in her head than the Wu-Tang Clan. Loves her kids, killed her last husband. I say "last husband" because you don't get another one after that.”
Christopher Titus (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful and that which is love. Therefore, since I have known all of these things, I have found them to be reason enough and — I wish to live. Moreover, because this is so, I wish others to live for generations and generations and generations.”
Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O time, arrest your flight! and you, propitious hours, arrest your course! Let us savor the fleeting delights of our most beautiful days!”
Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) first seen 1820 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Lake (1820), st. 6
“I think a beautiful product that doesn't work very well is ugly.”
Jonathan Ive (born 1967) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vanity Fair: "Jonathan Ives Shares Three Lessons He Learned From Steve Jobs" (9 October 2014)
“The complexity that we despise is the complexity that leads to difficulty. It isn't the complexity that raises problems. There is a lot of complexity in the world. The world is complex. That complexity is beautiful. I love trying to understand how things work. But that's because there's something to be learned from mastering that complexity.”
Ward Cunningham (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The stately Homes of England, How beautiful they stand! Amidst their tall ancestral trees, O'er all the pleasant land.”
Felicia Hemans (1793–1835) first seen 1828 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Homes of England, st. 1 (1828).
“Oh Lord! If you but knew what a brimstone of a creature I am behind all this beautiful amiability!”
Jane Welsh Carlyle (1801–1866) first seen 1836 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Eliza Stodart (29 February 1836).
“Some Saian mountaineer Struts today with my shield. I threw it down by a bush and ran When the fighting got hot. Life seemed somehow more precious. It was a beautiful shield. I know where I can buy another Exactly like it, just as round.”
Archilochus (688–645 BC) said by 645 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mother, though of Gamesman caste, seemed to have no Talent of any kind. She was so beautiful she did not need to be anything else.”
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sredni Vashtar went forth, His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white. His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death. Sredni Vashtar the Beautiful.”
Saki (1870–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sacrifices of friendship were beautiful in her eyes as long as she was not asked to make them.”
Saki (1870–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lisbeth was his — she was his . . . the words became a beautiful and tender hymn glorifying a love which triumphed over all worldly vicissitudes. The hymn resounded over all the plains, over the ice and snows. In the name of Christ Jesus, he raised the chalice to Bjorn's mouth. In the name of Christ Jesus!”
Johan Falkberget (1879–1967) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lisbeth of Jarnfjeld (1930), p. 52
“Sacred thy laughter on the air, Holy thy lightest word that fell, Proud the innumerable hair That waved at the enchanter's spell. Oh Master of the Beautiful, Creating us from hour to hour, Give me this vision to the full To see in lightest things thy power! This vision give, no heaven afar, No throne, and yet I will rejoice, Knowing beneath my feet a star, Thy word in every wandering voice.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But life is sweet, though all that makes it sweet Lessen like sound of friends’ departing feet; And Death is beautiful as feet of friend Coming with welcome at our journey’s end. For me Fate gave, whate’er she else denied, A nature sloping to the southern side; I thank her for it, though when clouds arise Such natures double-darken gloomy skies.”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) first seen 1874 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epistle to George William Curtis (1874)
“Hast thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou shalt stand, Ere the Doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust against our land? Though the cause of Evil prosper, yet ’tis Truth alone is strong, And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her throng Troops of beautiful, tall angels, to enshield her from all wrong.”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They come transfigured back, Secure from change in their high-hearted ways, Beautiful evermore, and with the rays Of morn on their white Shields of Expectation!”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Apocrypha... ought to be bound up with all your Bibles; it contains much that is beautiful and wise, and there is in history nothing finer than the description of Eleazar's end.”
John Tyndall (1820–1893) said by 1893 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Females are the most beautiful, gorgeous creatures in the whole world. And I think that we are gorgeous no matter what size we are.”
Alicia Keys (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The will is free; Strong is the soul, and wise, and beautiful; The seeds of god-like power are in us still; Gods are we, bards, saints, heroes, if we will!”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive and widely effective mode of saying things, and hence its importance.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A beautiful and ineffectual angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beautiful earth is being crapped up by an excess of people—lovely as individuals, towns, and cultures, but hideous in such profusion.”
John Barnes (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the stranger beliefs in science fiction is a passionate belief in Beautiful Writing--lots and lots of extraspecial exciting words thrown no hurled no CASCADED upon the reader in a shimmering shower of precious verbal gleaming gleanings and a singing pillar of righteous fiery syntactic spinach. The only thing that was good in that sentence was the spinach, and the hell with it.”
John Barnes (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I feel beautiful in love. There is a lot of love for you in the beholder's eye. That makes you feel very happy.”
Rani Mukerji (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh look, an ATM! Ok, here we go! I lost all my money, now what do I do? Get a gun! Rob a casino! Good idea! Look at all the lights! This is beautiful.”
Bill Burr (born 1968) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Premium Blend, episode [2.03], June 20, 1998
“Nothing—so it seems to me...is more beautiful than the love that has weathered the storms of life. … The love of the young for the young, that is the beginning of life. But the love of the old for the old, that is the beginning of—of things longer.”
Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Passing of the Third Floor Back" (1908)
“To the wisest and goofiest guy I know - thank you for helping raise me and for bringing two of my beautiful sisters into the world with mama J [Jill Vedder]! (this is us at @theohanafest, one of my favorite moments of 2019.”
Eddie Vedder (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You see?” he said. “You just wanted me to tell you I was wrong.” “Well, of course,” Anne answered, and poked him in the ribs. “What else does a woman want to hear from a man?” “How about, ‘I love you’? How about, ‘You’re beautiful’?” Potter suggested. “Those are nice, too,” she agreed with a smile. “As far as I’m concerned, though, nothing’s better than, ‘You were right.’”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Doris Lessing: We simply have no idea of Chicago … We never think of you as being on a lake, or of the city being beautiful. We think about the gangsters. You do still have gangsters, don't you? Terkel: Yes, but these days they're mostly in business, or politics.”
Studs Terkel (1912–2008) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conversation with Lessing in 1969, quoted in "Doris Lessing comes to town" (15 October 1969) by Roger Ebert