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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“I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship and faith and truth I will bear unto you to live and die against all manner of folks.”
Charles III (born 1948) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oath of fealty taken by the Prince at his investiture at Caernarfon Castle, 1 July 1969.
“I'm not gonna live my life on one side of an ampersand.”
Amanda Palmer (born 1976) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ampersand" Live (2006)
“All we know is that life is sweet and that it does not last long. Why should people be envious of each other? Why do we hate each other? Why can't we live at peace in a world that is so beautiful and so wide?”
William March (1893–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most appropriate type of daily life for me was a day-by-day world destruction; peace was the most difficult and abnormal state to live in.”
Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“..for most painters nowadays [1954] examination is self-examination – this is all that we are accustomed to – while the relation to the audience is a social matter. And it is our pictures, not ourselves, that live the social life and meet the public.”
Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The main thing for me right now is just to live my life with my family and friends. They treat me like Leo, not 'Leonardo, Master Thespian'. That's all I need to keep my sanity.”
Leonardo DiCaprio (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As I was painting today, some thoughts came to me and I want to write them down for the people I love. I know that I shall not live very long. But I wonder, is that sad? Is a celebration more beautiful because it lasts longer? And my life is a celebration, a short, intense celebration.”
Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876–1907) first seen 1900 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In her Journal-entry, 26 July 1900; as quoted in Tromp M, Ravelli AC, Reitsma JB, Bonsel GJ, Mol BW: Increasing maternal age at first pregnancy planning: health outcomes and associated costs, in: 'J Epidemiol Community …
“Each and every one of you has the power, the will and the capacity to make a difference in the world in which you live in. ... You should go through life knowing, "I am somebody.”
Harry Belafonte (1927–2023) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Belafonte tells children that they are somebody" in The Deseret News (18 January 2005)
“I am not yet born; forgive me For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words When they speak me, my thoughts when they think me, My treason engendered by traitors beyond me, My life when they murder by means of my Hands, my death when they live me.”
Louis MacNeice (1907–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We were at the age when a friend's conversation seems like oneself talking, when one shares a life in common the way I still think, bachelor though I am, some married couples are able to live.”
Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It had to happen to you, to concentrate your whole life on one point, and then discover that you can do anything except live at that point.”
Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of my favorite phrases that brings me great comfort: We are not on earth as museum keepers, but to cultivate a flourishing garden of life and to prepare a glorious future. The Pope is dead. Long live the Pope!”
Pope John XXIII (1881–1963) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry on the day Pope Pius XII died (9 October 1958); published in Journal of a Soul (1965)
“Life is too short to live with any but the greatest books.”
Leo Strauss (1899–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't suppose that hard work, discipline, and a perfectionist attitude toward my work did me any harm. They are a big part of my makeup today, as any of my co-workers will tell you. And when life seemed unbearable, I learned to live in my imagination, and to step inside other people's skins- indispensable abilities for an actress.”
Lucille Ball (1911–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe that every Filipino—rich or poor, young or old, man or woman, educated or not, good-looking or not, pedigreed or not, whether they live in Makati or in the provinces — has the ability, capacity, and right to devote his or her life to serving our country. Because no single person or family has a monopoly over the talent, intelligence, skill, and good intentions for our country.”
Francis Escudero (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We live in a highly competitive society, each of us trying to outdo the other in wealth, in popularity or social prestige, in dress, in scholastic grades or golf scores. [...] One is often tempted to say that conflict, rather than cooperation, is the great governing principle of human life.”
S. I. Hayakawa (1906–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The art of biography seems to have fallen on evil times in England. … With us, the most delicate and humane of all the branches of the art of writing has been relegated to the journeymen of letters; we do not reflect that it is perhaps as difficult to write a good life as to live one.”
Lytton Strachey (1880–1932) said by 1932 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What would it mean to live in a city whose people were changing each other's despair into hope?-- You yourself must change it.-- what would it feel like to know your country was changing?-- You yourself must change it.-- Though your life felt arduous new and unmapped and strange what would it mean to stand on the first page of the end of despair?”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: fragment from "Dreams Before Waking" (1983)
“it came to me that every one of those piles of corpses, mountains of shoes and clothing had contained, simply, individuals, who had believed, as I now believed of myself, that they were intended to live out a life of some kind of meaning, that the world possessed some kind of sense and order, yet this had happened to them.”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life seems to be an experience in ascending and descending. You think you're beginning to live for a single aim — for self-development, or the discovery of cosmic truths — when all you're really doing is to move from place to place as if devoted primarily to real estate.”
Margaret Caroline Anderson (1886–1973) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Fiery Fountains (1951), part 1
“You played and sang a snatch of song, A song that all-too well we knew; But whither had flown the ancient wrong; And was it really I and you? O, since the end of life's to live And pay in pence the common debt, What should it cost us to forgive Whose daily task is to forget?”
William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is hard, Kid, you gotta be harder. You gotta take it on and fight for it and be a fucking man about how you live it. If you're too much of a pussy to do that, then maybe you should leave, 'cause you're dead already.”
James Frey (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I came into the world a Jew, and although I did not live my life entirely as a Jew, I think it is fitting that I should leave as a Jew. I don’t want to … turn my back on a great and noble heritage.”
Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Garson Kanin in Atlantic (March 1964).
“I believe in action. … I believe in doing rather than talking. All my life I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice. This is why I traveled all over the world to adopt 11 youngsters.”
Josephine Baker (1906–1975) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jo Baker helps civil rights groups : Renowned star 'deeply concerned', Jet Vol. 25, No. 19 (27 February 1964), p. 60
“Deep in the secret chambers of my heart I muse my life-long hate, and without flinch I bear it nobly as I live my part.”
Claude McKay (1889–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I went out the other night for the first time in ages, just because I'd been so busy. As I came out of the cinema, I ran down the street to get cigarettes, and 30 guys followed me with cameras and shouted at me. It's all so strange. It's not a life I really live or understand.”
Sienna Guillory (born 1975) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sienna Guillory Interview. Vanity Fair. December 2001.
“You live alone, creating your life as you go.”
Edie Sedgwick (1943–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“# Realize that the people in your present environment might very well be the people with whom you will live out your life, and who will be with you at the time of death.”
Bhakti Tirtha Swami (1950–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Write whatever the blast you want, and if you live in an environment where doing so doesn't endanger your life or career, count yourself blessed.”
Nalo Hopkinson (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same. (4)”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O God! methinks, it were a happy life, To be no better than a homely swain; To sit upon a hill, as I do now, To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, Thereby to see the minutes how they run: How many make the hour full complete, How many hours bring about the day, How many days will finish up the year, How many years a mortal man may live.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) said by 1616 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They live forever, but many of them are even more lonely and miserable than we are. Why do you think they bother with us? We teach them life’s value.”
N. K. Jemisin (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you want great relationships, live your life fully. Your enthusiasm will spark those around you, who then become better company themselves.”
Nicholas Lore (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are not made for life at all, old horse. It is made for us. We live it. We leave it.”
David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I did understand from the rebirth process was that the rebirth reproduced a physical duplicate of the original. But this is my point. It is physical. What truly makes a man who he is? Is it the strength of his arms, or the courage of his soul? You have your own soul, Harad. You are not Druss. Live your own life.”
David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s no reason to trade insults. We have our way of life and they have theirs. I wouldn’t live as they do, but disrespect seems pointless. I’m sure there are good people among them.”
Alexei Panshin (1940–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He put his hand over mine, the one with the dead cigarette crumbled in it, and gave me a wonderful smile. "Easy, child, easy. I’m only teasing you. Don’t think I disapprove for Christ’s sake. Live it up, I say. Don’t say no to life, Gorce, you’re only young once.” We were on last name terms, Keevil and I.”
Elaine Dundy (1921–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tangentopoli never ended; on the contrary, it became a way of life that Italians learned to live with thanks to distorted models imposed by the political class and celebrated by an increasingly less independent media. :*La mia storia attraverso Tangentopoli (My story through Tangentopoli), September 16, 2008.”
Antonio Di Pietro (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While some no other cause for life can give But a dull habitude to live.”
John Oldham (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Easier to keep changing your life than to live it.”
James Richardson (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The question concerns the texture of daily life. Does the individual live with the assurance, conscious or unconscious, that We are absolute—or with the challenge of being, both as I and as We, finite and human?”
Merold Westphal (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I’ve had and also the people I’ve had around me. I want to stay hopeful, even though I get scared about why we’re even alive at all.”
Lana Del Rey (born 1985) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Daily Mail (25 January 2012)
“Life-expectancies of lower-class and upper-class [vary] …society determines how long and in what manner the individual organism shall live…”
Peter L. Berger (1929–2017) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1991, p. 202)
“Society determines how long and in what manner the individual organism shall live. This determination may be institutionally programmed in the operation of social controls, as in the institution of law. Society can maim and kill. Indeed, it is in its power over life and death that it manifests its ultimate control over the individual.”
Peter L. Berger (1929–2017) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1991; p. 202)
“My approach to the job can be summed up pretty simply — I never viewed politics as my career. Important, yes, worthy of intense commitment, of course — but it was not my whole life. … I saw politics as a way to make a contribution and satisfy my penchant for public policy, but not as something I couldn't live without.”
Angus King (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, it has been a long time since manna last fallen from heaven. We cannot live alone; we rely on others to produce the stuff of our material and intellectual life, and we have to organize society so that its members will cooperate toward the common good.”
Ivar Ekeland (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Murder and assault are not lunacy; they are the logical conclusions if you live a life without an assured financial foundation.”
Elfriede Jelinek (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The disease may not be too difficult to live with.” “I thought you said it was terminal?” “So I did. But then, everything is terminal, even health, even life itself. The only question is how long, and in what manner.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I always remember my disappointment the next morning when I found that my hand was still on because I thought, well, if I lost my hand I'm all right, I shall live, they can't send me out without a hand again. I was 20 then, it's not altogether a right thought for a young man to hope that he's been maimed for life.”
Arnold Ridley (1896–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Suddenly they asked me, as only the French would, ‘Madame, what is your philosophy of life?’ What a cosmic question, but I had to answer, and answer quickly, because it was live. So I said, in French, ‘I think that you’ve got to play the hand that you’re dealt and stop wishing for another hand.’”
Maeve Binchy (1939–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source