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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“Magic is not about having a puzzle to solve. It's about creating a moment of awe and astonishment. And that can be a beautiful thing”
David Blaine (born 1973) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Brett Martin for Time Out New York (April 1-8, 1999, on-line).
“About ten degrees upslope of Fiction, I could see our nearest neighbor: Artistic Criticism. It was an exceptionally beautiful island, yet deeply troubled, confused and suffused with a blanketing layer of almost impenetrable bullshit.”
Jasper Fforde (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I guess I’m just an old mad scientist at bottom. Give me an underground laboratory, half a dozen atom-smashers, and a beautiful girl in a diaphanous veil waiting to be turned into a chimpanzee, and I care not who writes the nation’s laws.”
S. J. Perelman (1904–1979) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Captain Future, Block That Kick!," The New Yorker (20 January 1940) p. 23
“Nobody taught me how to say no when a beautiful naked woman begs me to take my clothes off.”
Charles Stross (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a city [world] as dirty as this, You gather up, save, and show me Purely beautiful things.”
Ayumi Hamasaki (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is a beautiful country.”
John Brown (abolitionist) first seen 1859 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Last words (2 December 1859), as quoted in John Brown and his Men (1894) by Richard Josiah Hinton, p. 397.
“Good manners without sincerity are like a beautiful dead lady.”
Yukteswar Giri (1855–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do not allow yourself to be thrashed by the provoking whip of a beautiful face. How can sense slaves enjoy the world? Its subtle flavours escape them while they grovel in primal mud. All nice discriminations are lost to the man of elemental lusts.”
Yukteswar Giri (1855–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Things That Lose by Being Painted Pinks, cherry blossoms, yellow roses. Men or women who are praised in romances as being beautiful.Things That Gain by Being Painted Pines. Autumn fields. Mountain villages and paths. Cranes and deer. A very cold winter scene; an unspeakably hot summer scene. (p. 138)”
Sei Shōnagon (966–1025) said by 1025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Among both the Northern and Eastern Hamites are to be found some of the most beautiful types of humanity.”
Ashley Montagu (1905–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was lost and double crossed, With my hands behind my back. I was longtime hurt and thrown in the dirt, Shoved out on the railroad track. I've been used, abused and so confused, And I had nowhere to run. But I stood and looked, And my eyes got hooked On that beautiful morning sun.”
Van Morrison (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Say que sera, whatever will be But then I keep on searching for immortality She's so beautiful but she's going to die some day Everything in life just passes away But, precious time is slipping away You know she's only queen for a day It doesn't matter to which God you pray”
Van Morrison (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's the things that aren't accepted as conventionally beautiful that I find more attractive.”
Marc Jacobs (born 1963) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Freeman, Hadley (2007). "The geek of chic" TheAge.com.au (accessed April 19, 2007)
“In the creation of a garden, the architect invites the partnership of the Kingdom of Nature. In a beautiful garden, the majesty of Nature is ever present, but Nature reduced to human proportions and thus transformed into the most efficient haven against the aggressiveness of contemporary life.”
Luis Barragán (1902–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Multitudes, of beautiful works, Believed, served with us.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poetry can be criticized only through poetry. A critique which itself is not a work of art, either in content as representation of the necessary impression in the process of creation, or through its beautiful form and in its liberal tone in the spirit of the old Roman satire, has no right of citizenship in the realm of art.”
Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) first seen 1797 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Selected Aphorisms from the Lyceum (1797)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #117
“Well, I thought it was, like, a fairy tale ... I think she is very beautiful, and I am glad Prince Charles has picked her.”
Justin Trudeau (born 1971) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As a nine-year-old remarking on the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, in a 1981 CBC interview
“And, oh! what beautiful years were these When our hearts clung each to each; When life was filled and our senses thrilled In the first faint dawn of speech.”
Langdon Smith (1858–1908) said by 1908 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Light like this does not exist, but we wish it did. We wish the sun could make us young and beautiful, we wish our clothes could glisten and ripple against our skins, most of all, we wish that everyone we knew could be brightened simply by our looking at them.”
Susanna Kaysen (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Through all God's works there runs a beautiful harmony. The remotest truth in his universe is linked to that which lies nearest the throne.”
Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was well on the way to forming my present attitude toward politics as it is practiced in the United States; it is a beautiful fraud that has been imposed on the people for years, whose practitioners exchange gelded promises for the most valuable thing their victims own: their votes. And who benefits the most? The lawyers.”
Shirley Chisholm (1924–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A religion so cheerless, a philosophy so sorrowful, could never have succeeded with the masses of mankind if presented only as a system of metaphysics. Buddhism owed its success to its catholic spirit and its beautiful morality.”
William Winwood Reade (1838–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I get scared because I regard women as the most beautiful creatures in the world.”
Blake Lewis (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a Republican because I believe in the constitution, strength in national defense, limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility as the concrete foundation for American government. They reinforce the resolve that the United States is the greatest country in the world and we can all be eternally grateful to our founding fathers for the beautiful legacy they left us today.”
Martha Raye (1916–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't think any woman wants to be known for being beautiful or busty. I think you want to be known for who you are.”
Jamie Lee Curtis (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before — such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength.”
Max Lucado (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Written poetry is worth reading once, and then should be destroyed. Let the dead poets make way for others. Then we might even come to see that it is our veneration for what has already been created, however beautiful and valid it may be, that petrifies us.”
Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is beautiful in the grotesque.”
Guillermo del Toro (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Philippines is where Asia wears a smile. Beautiful products can only be made by happy people.”
Imelda Marcos (born 1929) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At a press conference in Bloomingdale's, at the opening of the Philippine exhibit, cited in Ang Katipunan (May 1982).
“They went into my closets looking for skeletons, but thank God, all they found were shoes, beautiful shoes.”
Imelda Marcos (born 1929) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement made upon opening the Marikina City Footwear Museum in Manila, as quoted in "Homage to Imelda's shoes" at BBC News (16 February 2001).
“I seem to be able to only see the positive things in life and the beautiful things in life and when I see, for instance, garbage or ugliness, then I turn my back or I seem to be able to skip it.”
Imelda Marcos (born 1929) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Imelda (2003).
“I've always maintained that the only things to uphold are the good, the true and the beautiful. We have to reject what's ugly.”
Imelda Marcos (born 1929) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best compliment I ever got in my life came from Chairman Mao of China. When I went there, at a time when nobody wanted to touch China with a 10-foot pole, Mao told me that I'm beautiful because I'm a natural, and he said natural is perfection. So, no character assassination can diminish me and my perfection.”
Imelda Marcos (born 1929) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only a woman who can think strongly can make beautiful and correct decisions.”
Abdullah Öcalan (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is interesting to note that poetry, a literary device whose very construct involves the use of words, is itself the word of choice by persons grasping to describe something so beautiful, it is marvelously ineffable.”
Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We call interconnected order beautiful. When interrupted, we call it chaos.”
Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To the degree it is efficient, a spaceship is elegant and beautiful.”
Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A spaceship rhymes with all the dreams, nascent wonder, and hope of a humanity looking up in awe at an excruciatingly beautiful Cosmos, with”
Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While in America beautiful is skinny, in Barbados it's thick — girls with huge butts and nice curves.”
“Jussie is my friend - a very talented & beautiful human being. It is so hurtful that homophobic haters would dare hurt someone so loving and giving. I'm dedicated to finding the culprits and bringing them to justice. Jussie did not deserve to be harmed by anyone!”
Maxine Waters (born 1938) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 29 January 2019 regarding Jussie Smollett
Also quoted by: Jussie Smollett
“Here we are, naked lovers, beautiful to each other—and that's enough. The leaves of our eyelids our only covers, we're lying amidst deep night.”
Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It may be we shall know in the hereafter Why we, begetting hopes, give birth to fears, And why the world's too beautiful for laughter, Too gross for tears.”
Percy Addleshaw (1866–1916) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: It May Be (1895).
“I even went all the way to Greenland, because C. D. Friedrich painted that beautiful picture of The Wreck of the 'Hope'. I took hundreds of photos up there and barely one picture [Richter's quote refers to his artwork 'Iceberg in Fog', 1982] came out of it.”
Gerhard Richter (born 1932) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good and beautiful things may easily be spoiled by suggestions of rights and duties”
A. C. Benson (1862–1925) said by 1925 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Extracts from the Letters of Dr. A.C. Benson to M.E. Allen, Jarrolds, 1926. Quoted in Murphy, Edward F. Webster's Treasury of Relevant Quotations, Greenwich House, New York, 1983 (pg. 228).
“To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold — brothers who know now they are truly brothers.”
Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The New York Times, December 25, 1968 quoted in the book "Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations" by James H. Billington, Library of Congress
“Politics can be a battle of ideas, not insults. It can be about solutions. It can be about making a difference. It can be about always striving to do better. That’s what it can be and what it should be. This is the system our Founders envisioned. It’s messy. It’s complicated. It’s infuriating at times. And it’s a beautiful thing too.”
Paul Ryan (born 1970) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: College Republican National Committee, "Paul Ryan's Unshakeable Optimism in the American Dream" 15 April 2016
“O my own, my beautiful, my blue-eyed! To be young once more and bite my thumb At the world and all its cares with you, I’d Give no inconsiderable sum.”
Charles Stuart Calverley (1831–1884) said by 1884 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First Love; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“Remember, my dear Evelina, nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman; it is at once the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things.”
Frances Burney (1752–1840) said by 1840 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again, and interesting, and modern.The country is grey and brown and white in trees, snows and skies of laughter always diminishing, less funny not just darker, not just grey.It may be the coldest day of the year, what does he think of that? I mean, what do I? And if I do, perhaps I am myself again.”
Frank O'Hara (1926–1966) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mayakovsky, st. 4, from Meditations in an Emergency (1957).
“When a man paints a naked woman he gives her less than poor Nature did. I can conceive of few circumstances wherein I would have to paint a woman naked, but if I did I would not mutilate her for double the money. She is the most beautiful thing there is — except a naked man, but I never saw a study of one exhibited.”
Thomas Eakins (1844–1916) first seen 1867 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his father, Benjamin Eakins (1867), quoted in Thomas Eakins: His Life and Work (1933) by Lloyd Goodrich