Famous quotes

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

English Italiano Polski עברית Français Português فارسی Español 中文 Русский Deutsch العربية हिन्दी 日本語 Ελληνικά Latina Nederlands

Time

Love Friendship Happiness Hope Fear Courage Death Life Time War Peace Freedom Truth Wisdom Knowledge Science Art Music Nature Money Work Power God Beauty Laughter Family Success and failure Change Dreams Books and reading

“The knowledge of past times and of the places on the earth is both an ornament and nutriment to the human mind.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) said by 1519 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This writing distinctly about the kite seems to be my destiny, because among the first recollections of my infancy, it seemed to me that, as I was in my cradle, a kite came to me and opened my mouth with its tail, and struck me several times with its tail inside my lips.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) said by 1519 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Might not the spirit of creative art, desperately needed by man, lie in the proper use of the radical new technologies of our times, and so arise?”
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“‘Among the unfortunate developments that took place in India was the growth of purdah or seclusion of women […] purdah seems to have grown in India during Mughal times […] this custom of seclusion of women spread especially among the upper classes of those areas where Moslem influence had been most marked.’ (Nehru 1946: 242-243)”
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quoted in : Bhaskar Kamble, The Imperishable Seed: How Hindu Mathematics Changed the World and why this History was Erased, Garuda Prakashan Private Limited, 2022 ISBN 9798885750189
“The greater majority and main structures of the Muslim falahin in western Eretz Israel present to us one racial strand and a whole ethnic unit, and there is no doubt that much Jewish blood flows in their veins — the blood of those Jewish farmers, “lay persons,” who chose in the travesty of times to abandon their faith in order to remain on their land.”
David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Leverur Motsa Ha’Falahim,” Luach Achiezer, New York, 1917, pp. 118-27, reprinted in Anachnu U’Shcheneinu (Tel Aviv: Davar. 1931), pp. 13-25
“London times – the untiring energy, the business-like accuracy, the keen perception and reliable judgment, and above all the inflexible integrity which marked his private life, he carried without abatement of one jot into his public career. (Buckingham and Ross 1892, p. 663)”
Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Philadelphia Record – Like Caesar, who twice refused a knightly crown, Alexander Mackenzie refused knighthood three times. Unlike Caesar, he owed his political overthrow to his incorruptible honesty and unswerving integrity. (Buckingham and Ross 1892, p. 660)”
Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The practical activity of man had to lead his consciousness to the reptetition of various logical figures thousands of millions of times in order that these figures could obtain the significance of axioms.”
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are times when the interests of the proletariat call for ruthless extermination of its enemies in open armed clashes.”
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To think for oneself is not only, as Gide said, counterrevolutionary but also apostasy and, at certain times, treason.”
Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Entry (1953)
“You can't come up with good solutions unless you're realistic about what the problem is. I mean, it was only like 10 or 20 years ago that no state in America would vote for gay marriage. I mean, it was on the ballot like 35 times. Now it's the law of the land and no one is against it.”
Bill Maher (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My manners, abominable at times, can be sweet. As I grew older I became a drunk. Why? Because I like ecstasy of the mind. I'm a wretch. But I love, love.”
Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Satori in Paris (1966)
“That all men are equal is a proposition which at ordinary times no sane individual has ever given his assent.”
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cried, all right. I sat there at my desk and I cried for her, for me, for both of us, for all of us. I can't remember hurting any more in my life than I did then. Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right ... but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Among the Romans in Christian times Mithras-worship as very widely spread, and so late as the Middle Ages we meet with a secret Mithras-worship ostensibly connected with the order of the Knights-Templars. Mithras thrusting the knife into the neck of the ox is a figurative representation belonging essentially to the cult of Mithras, of which examples have been frequently found in Europe.”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, Lectures on the philosophy of religion, together with a work on the proofs of the existence of God. Vol 2 Translated from the 2d German ed. 1895 Ebenezer Brown Speirs 1854-1900, and J Bur…
“In recent times it just seems that women have been relegated to either romantic roles or fluff pieces. So the appeal, for me, is to make a picture about a real woman.”
Clint Eastwood (born 1930) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Maher, Kevin, "Clint Eastwood the bashful legend: somebody stop me," Times Online, (2008-11-13).
“I love them for finding what I can't find,and for loving me for the line I wrote, and for forgetting it so that a thousand times, till death finds them, they may discover it again, in other lines in other happenings. And for wanting to know it, forassuming there is such a secret, yes, for that most of all.”
Denise Levertov (1923–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was not delight, not wonder that arose among us, it was the peace of heaven. A thousand times have I said it to her and to myself: the most beautiful is also the most sacred. And such was everything in her. Like her singing, even so was her life.”
Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) said by 1843 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poets and priests were one in the beginning, and they only separated in later times. But the real poet is always a priest, just as the real priest always remains a poet.”
Novalis (1772–1801) said by 1801 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At times it seems to me that I am living my life backwards, and that at the approach of old age my real youth will begin. My soul was born covered with wrinkles—wrinkles my ancestors and parents most assiduously put there and that I had the greatest trouble removing.”
André Gide (1869–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Silver Shoes," said the Good Witch, "have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in the wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go.”
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think of you more often than of anyone else in this part of the world. I'd have liked to have you for a sweetheart, or a wife, or my mother or my sister — anything that a woman can be to a man. The idea of you is a part of my mind; you influence my likes and dislikes, all my tastes, hundreds of times when I don't realize it. You really are a part of me.”
Willa Cather (1873–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful.”
Rumi (1207–1273) said by 1273 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: III, 4129 (tr. Helminski, 1996)
“As he had so many times before, Taleswapper addressed a few silent words to God, which always came down to this question: Why do you put us to so much trouble, when it all comes to naught in the end?...And, as usual, God had nothing much to say to Taleswapper when his questioning was done.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm neutral on lying, seeing as how there's times when the truth just hurts people.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How strange a vehicle it is, coming down unchanged from times of old romance, and so characteristically black, the way no other thing is black except a coffin — a vehicle evoking lawless adventures in the plashing stillness of night, and still more strongly evoking death itself, the bier, the dark obsequies, the last silent journey!”
Thomas Mann (1875–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't say you can't give up drinking. It's easy. I've done it a thousand times.”
W. C. Fields (1880–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've never had the impertinence to be sorry for Helen Keller. I'd as soon be sorry for Niagara Falls. But now as I bring the story up to date, I'm shriveled with shame when I recall that at times in my life — my easy life — I've actually been sorry for myself. You too? We've got our nerve, haven't we?”
Alexander Woollcott (1887–1943) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Memorial for Anne Sullivan Macy (1936).
“But here's what they don't tell you. You can never make a woman happy, it's impossible. I've never met a happy woman in my life. They're always complaining about something. You can fuck a woman with a diamond dick and make her come ten times, and she'll still complain. "Why did you make me come so hard? This diamond dick is cloudy, why didn't you go to Tiffany's? You're so fucking cheap.”
Chris Rock (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm anything but skittish about government, but I must say this administration is truly scary and, given the times we live in, frighteningly dangerous.”
John Dean (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I never really have believed in the existence of friendship in big societies—in great towns and great crowds. It is a plant that takes times and space and air; and London society is a huge "squash," as we elegantly call it—an elbowing, pushing, perspiring, chattering mob.”
Henry James (1843–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]here are women who are for all your "times of life." They're the most wonderful sort.”
Henry James (1843–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And oft-times cometh our wise Lord God, master of every trade, And tells them tales of His daily toil, of Edens newly made; And they rise to their feet as He passes by, gentlemen unafraid.”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take up the White Man's burden-- In patience to abide, To veil the threat of terror, And check the show of pride; By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain To seek another's profit, And work another's gain. The White Man's Burden, Stanza 2 (1899).”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) first seen 1899 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The White Man's Burden, (1899).
“She has no strong white arms to fold you, But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you— Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) first seen 1906 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harp Song of the Dane Women, Stanza 3 (1906).
“[I]n all mammalian species that have so far been carefully studied, the rate at which their members engage in the killing of conspecifics is several thousand times greater than the highest homicide rate in any American city.”
Daniel Dennett (1942–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men, in all times! But should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot!”
Hippocrates (460–370 BC) said by 370 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why do [people] confuse probability and expectation, that is, probability [vs.] probability times payoff? Mainly because much... schooling comes from examples in symmetric environments... the... bell curve... is entirely symmetric.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maybe God has let everybody who ever lived be reborn — so he or she can see how it ends. Even Pitecanthropus erectus and Australopithecus and Sinanthropus pekensis and the Neanderthalers are back on Earth — to see how it ends. They're all on Times Square — making change for peepshows. Or recruiting Marines.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If today the Middle Ages are retiring into the thick shadows of convents, it is due to triumphant skepticism; and if the epidemic disease of religion no longer appears with the terrible intensity of former times, it is due to the diminution of the political power of the Church.”
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Foolish and reactionary and Conservative contraband practices must not be carried on under the Fascista flag... We are the first to recognize that a State law should grant the eight-hour day, and that there should be social legislation corresponding to the exigencies of the new times.”
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How Fascismo was Created” speech (3 April 1921) delivered at the Teatro Comunale of Bologna, p. 139
“Fortunately the Italian people has not yet accustomed itself to eat many times a day, and possessing a modest level of living, it feels deficiency and suffering less.”
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Carol F. Helstosky, Garlic and Oil: Food and Politics in Italy (2006)
“The part of my life I think I'm most disappointed in is that I have not had the great marriage. And I would have thought that would have happened, because I came from a home—you know, it's not like some of my friends, they get divorced, but their parents were divorced twice or three times. I came from a home where marriage was just incredible. I mean, my parents truly loved each other.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Good Morning America (2 December 1999), as quoted in The World According to Trump (2005) by Ken Lawrence, p. 46
“You know, when you put out policy, like a 14-point plan? A lot of times in the first hour of negotiation, that 14-point plan goes astray, but you may end up with a better deal. That's the way it works. That's the way really life works. When I do a deal, I don't say, "Oh, here's 14 points." I got out and do it. I don't sit down and talk about 14 points.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reporters at The New York Times are not journalists. They're corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and Hillary Clinton.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Times is, it's a great, great American jewel. A world jewel.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hey, I’m running against a guy, I’m going to Indict him 3 or 4 times to keep him busy.” Does anyone think that Crooked Joe Biden would have said something like this???”
Donald Trump (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is Martin Luther King on steroids. I told that to Mark. I said, 'I think you're better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two.'”
Donald Trump (born 1946) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said about candidate for North Carolina governor Mark Robinson, quoted in "Robinson not expected to attend Trump's North Carolina rally amid scandal: Sources", ABC News (September 21, 2024)
“I speak to him a lot about getting this thing done. And I always hang up and say, well, that was a nice phone call. And then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city. And I said, strange. And after that happens three or four times, you say the talk doesn't mean anything.”
Donald Trump (born 1946) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Referring to his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding ending the Russia-Ukraine war, quoted in Trump announces new weapon plan for Ukraine, threatens Russia with tariffs NPR (July 14, 2025)