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
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatinaNederlands
Death
LoveFriendshipHappinessHopeFearCourageDeathLifeTimeWarPeaceFreedomTruthWisdomKnowledgeScienceArtMusicNatureMoneyWorkPowerGodBeautyLaughterFamilySuccess and failureChangeDreamsBooks and reading
“There were two good fellows I used to know. —How distant it all appears! We played together in football weather, And messed together for years: Now one of them's wed, and the other's dead So long that he's hardly missed Save by us, who messed with him years ago: But we're all in the old School List.”
James Kenneth Stephen (1859–1892) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Old School List". Quo Musa Tendis? (1891)
“We are offered silence, free speech is all but dead in Europe. We live in a post free speech era, the attacks on Charlie Hebdo have proven that to the whole world.”
Tommy Robinson (born 1982) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Do not let Germany be dragged back to chaos and destruction': EDL founder Tommy Robinson speaks to 40,000 strong crowd at the Pegida anti-immigrant rally in Germany", Daily Mail (19 October 2015)
“Did America owe something to the slaves whose labor had been stolen? ... That debt...is best discharged through memory, because the slaves are dead and their descendants...are better off as a consequence of their ancestors being hauled from Africa to America.”
Dinesh D'Souza (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This empirical volition seduced by the vision of the sense-world, be this sensual or malicious, or be it ever so much raised above the brutal,—this willingness to stay where one temporally is, to accept the actual of experience for the ideal, the mere particular of sense for the universal of the spirit, the dead finite for the ever-living infinite, the world for God,—this is exactly what sin is.”
George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Under the suffocating burden of the old things that should have passed away, the Christian consciousness forgets, at least in part, that all things are become new, and that man is risen from the dead.”
George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was all in favor of fighting an all-out thermonuclear war that might devastate a fair fraction of civilization, to settle an argument with the USSR, but was dead set against using discriminate nuclear weapons that could settle arguments on the battlefield without devastating everything in sight. Genius, when applied to human problems, can manifest itself in strange ways.”
Samuel T. Cohen (1921–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The newspapers were saying, 'You have AIDS.' They actually said I was dead. I just threw myself into my work when the whispering campaign turned really ugly. I think Camille saved me. I felt incredibly paranoid, just as Camille did. And do you know? I was able to use that in doing Camille's scenes. It made them better.”
Isabelle Adjani (born 1955) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The 'Hounding' of Isabelle Adjani, 6 January 1990.
“Taiwanese independence is a dead end.”
Hau Pei-tsun (1919–2020) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hau Pei-tsun (2014) cited in "Taiwan’s fate not up to its people: Hau Pei-tsun" on Taipei Times, 4 September 2014
“Of every species of pride or expence I abominate and detest that most which is lavished on the dead.”
Joseph Ritson (1752–1803) said by 1803 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When it is another human being who is being... objectified, everybody (except the rapist) can clearly see the act as a crime. But when we objectify the natural world, turning it into a dead or stupid thing, we have another word for that. Science.”
Theodore Roszak (scholar) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In four centuries of taking wealth and comfort from the body of the Earth, modern science has not troubled to produce a single rite or ritual, not even a minor prayer, that asks pardon or gives thanks. But then what sense would it make to ask anything of a dead body?”
Theodore Roszak (scholar) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sonata form could not be defined until it was dead. Czerny claimed with pride around 1840 that he was the first to describe it, but then it was already part of history.”
Charles Rosen (1927–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Chemistry is the science of matter and the changes it can undergo. The world of chemistry therefore embraces everything material around us—the stones we stand on, the food we eat, the flesh we are made of, and the silicon we build into computers. There is nothing material beyond the reach of chemistry, be it living or dead, vegetable or mineral, on Earth or in a distant star.”
Peter Atkins (born 1940) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Peter Atkins and Loretta Jones, Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight, 4th ed. (2008)
“The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.”
Philip Sheridan (1831–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In response to Comanche Chief Tosawi stating "Me, Tosawi; me good Injun". Sheridan disputed having replied this, and biographer Roy Morris Jr. claims that popular history simply assumed that he did state it. Reported in…
“The evolutionary implication is that we are descended from a common ancestor with flies which used the same way of defining the pattern of the embryo more than 530 million years ago, and that the mechanism was so good that all this dead creature’s descendants have hung on to it.”
Matt Ridley (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is unjust to reproach the writers of today with bad taste, when the very notion of taste is dead.”
Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A cultivated soul is one where the din of the living does not drown out the music of the dead.”
Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Heartbroken the dead bird’s mate cried – Your long feathers! Your tuneful songs. A bird hunter came from the forest holding a bow. Valmiki’s heart was pounding and he cursed the killer.”
Valmiki (active around 201 BC) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You might also see why it seemed a bit odd, to Radchaai ears, to hear someone who believed gravity wells were the land of the dead call people superstitious for worshiping a lizard.”
Ann Leckie (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Arts have died in Europe, what we see now in the name of art are the pieces of those artists who are already dead. There is no living art. We, as Turkey, should start a lively, fresh understanding of art.”
Adnan Oktar (born 1956) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 23 June 2013.
“Every morning the gazelle wakes up knowing she must run faster than the lion or will be dead. Every morning the lion wakes up knowing he must run faster than the gazelle or he'll starve. It doesn't matter if you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun rises you better start to run.”
“To keep shooting at a folly after it is dead is unsportsmanlike.”
Samuel McChord Crothers (1857–1927) said by 1927 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had seen Hyle shoot, and he had seen only one man he thought was as good ... just one. He'd seen Con Vallian down in the Bald Knob country that time, and Con was quick. He was almighty quick at a time when a man was either quick or he was dead.”
Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) first seen 1526 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 4; L'amour here, and in the title of the work, uses a double entendre, with reference to archaic use of "quick" to mean "living" and a famous idiom regarding the living and the dead which originated in William Tynda…
“Of what benefit is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it? If a brother or a sister is lacking clothing and enough food for the day, yet one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but you do not give them what they need for their body, of what benefit is it? So, too, faith by itself, without works, is dead.”
James, son of Zebedee (1–44) said by 44 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't remember a thing There's fresh in my mind I've got a weakness bump on my head When a rock hits me harder, I'm dead”
Maia Mitchell (born 1993) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What do I care for the god?” the woman suddenly screamed, catching up her dead child. “What god is he that takes away my son and leaves me nothing?”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are the sum of our achievements, nothing more and nothing less. The mountain road which led us here was built by a dead people none of us would remember otherwise. What we create is the only part of us which can survive, or has the right to. Man is nothing, except to other men.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A tomb contains the dead, who are properly immobile and unspeaking. Though Masrians leave lamps for the ghosts, nobody expects they will be lighted.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To be dead was a state which played odd tricks on dreams of vengeance.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My gun diary indicates how many grouse were moved each day these dogs hunted, each productive point they made. For me, this is what gunning for grouse is about, not dead birds to tally up – to gun for grouse with a dog, not just over him, and once that has been savored, anything less seems watered down.”
George Bird Evans (1906–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I asked the panel to list the companies that would certainly be around in the future — and those that wouldn't be. ... There was some disagreement about Oracle. Microsoft and Oracle said that Oracle would survive; Apache said it wouldn't. I also asked which companies would be dead. The panel agreed that it would be Apple, Sun and Novell.”
Rob Enderle (born 1954) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Future of Transparent Computing: A Comdex Wrap-Up in Tech News World (24 November 2003)
“Gansey's partying with his mother," Ronan said. He smelled like beer. "And Noah's fucking dead. But Parrish is here”
Maggie Stiefvater (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m dead serious about being nonsensical.”
Edward Ruscha (born 1937) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Edward Ruscha in: "Me, you, us: Anthony d'Offay and others on ARTIST ROOMS," at tate.org.uk. 1 May 2009
“This is no time to talk of hedges and fields, or the beauties of any country. . . . Cry for the broken tribe, for the law and the custom that is gone. Aye, and cry aloud for the man who is dead, for the woman and children bereaved. Cry, the beloved country, these things are not yet at an end.”
Alan Paton (1903–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only the dead are free of the influence of others.”
Karl Schroeder (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the moment, anyway, political philosophy is dead.”
Peter Laslett (1915–2001) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Introduction', in Philosophy, Politics and Society: First Series, ed. Peter Laslett (1956), p.vii
“After some hours, the dogs, exhausted by running round, almost dead, their tongues hanging out, set upon one another and, not knowing what they are doing, tear one another into thousands of pieces with incredible rapidity. Yet they do not do this out of cruelty.”
Comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870) said by 1870 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I envied him these passions. If you had passions, you were living. Without them, you were watching––the way I was watching desert sand and half-dead creosote go by and wishing I’d stop craving attention from Charles.”
Andrea Lewis (writer) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tierra Blanca" Bryant Literary Review, Vol. 11 (2010)
“The dead walk among us. Zombies, ghouls — no matter what their label — these somnambulists are the greatest threat to humanity, other than humanity itself.”
Max Brooks (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Joy, sadness, confidence, anxiety, love, hatred, fear — all of these feelings and thousands more that make up the human “heart” are as useless to the living dead as the organ of the same name. Who knows if this is humanity’s greatest weakness or strength? The debate continues, and probably will forever.”
Max Brooks (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one would have expected [the escalation of nuclear hostilities], but then again, no one would have expected the dead to rise, now would they? Only one could have foreseen this, and I don’t believe in him anymore.”
Max Brooks (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The problem confronting the modern church is... to discover this new, and yet very old way of looking at reality mythologically. This is the Platonic, the psychological, the Christian way of expressing spiritual reality, through images and symbols, and it is the only way of approaching this realm as a living reality. Otherwise it must be broken down into elements and is dead.”
Morton Kelsey (1917–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“John: [S]piritually, you're as dead as a doorknob and heading straight for hell!.”
Jack T. Chick (1924–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“John: We're all like zombies. The spirits inside our souls are dead, thanks to Adam.”
Jack T. Chick (1924–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have said before that it is difficult to find the exact reasons for the growing popularity of the word democracy and democratic taken from a dead language which is thoroughly nonunderstandable to 999 out of 1000 Americans. The decline of classical education in favor of progressive "self-realization" has favored the increased use of wrong labels.”
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (1909–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only people who have no bad tendencies are dead.”
Dennis Prager (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ghosts are not the souls of the dead, but the souls of people written out of history when history changes.”
Alastair Reynolds (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A splendidly inept thing,” Sylveste said, nodding despite himself. “What?” “The human capacity for grief. It just isn’t capable of providing an adequate emotional response once the dead exceed a few dozen in number. And it doesn’t just level off—it just gives up, resets itself to zero. Admit it. None of us feel a damn about these people.”
Alastair Reynolds (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Haven’t you ever heard of morale-building?” Khouri had asked. “Heard of it,” Volyova said. “Don’t happen to agree with it. Would you rather be happy and dead, or scared and alive?”
Alastair Reynolds (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is he going to be okay?” Svetlana asked. “He was dead, Svieta,” Axford said patiently. “Anything else has to count as an improvement.”
Alastair Reynolds (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source