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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“In time you shall see Fate approach you In the shape of your own image in the mirror; Or you shall sit alone by your own hearth, And suddenly the chair by you shall hold a guest, And you shall know that guest, And read the authentic message of his eyes.”
Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is as though a star throws the whole secret history of its being into its spectrum, and we have only to learn how to read it aright in order to solve the most abstruse problems of the physical Universe.”
Herbert Dingle (1890–1978) said by 1978 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The body is shaped, disciplined, honoured, and in time, trusted. The movement becomes clean, precise, eloquent, truthful. Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it. This might be called the law of the dancer's life — the law which governs the outer aspects.”
Martha Graham (1894–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I just don’t trust any of it. Every time I read something about how there’s been another ridiculous climb of the Dow Jones, there’s a part of me that goes, “This can’t be good.” None of this is real money. You know what I mean? It’s not like there’s actually more of anything. It’s just ideas. When people are getting richer and richer but they’re not actually producing anything, it can’t end well.”
Louis C.K. (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“John Updike is always fun. And one of my former students, Tom Pynchon. I like to read Archie Ammons, my great friend. And Harold Bloom, another former student.”
M. H. Abrams (1912–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you read quickly to get through a poem to what it means, you have missed the body of the poem.”
M. H. Abrams (1912–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had many different assignments and I was doing things that I thought were important... no, I didn't either: I didn't think they were important. But I found out afterwards when I read up on my history that some of the things that I did were quite important.”
Frank Buckles (1901–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why should I read something someone made up when real events are so interesting?”
Frank Buckles (1901–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No poet is ever completely lost. He has the secret of his childhood safe with him, like some secret cave in which he can kneel. And, when we read his poetry, we can join him there.”
Peter Ackroyd (born 1949) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chatterton (London: Abacus, [1987] 1991), ch. 10, p. 151.
“Kitty: Shikspur? Shikspur? Who wrote it? No, I never read Shikspur. Lady Bab: Then you have an immense pleasure to come.”
James Townley (1714–1778) first seen 1759 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: High Life below Stairs (1759), Act ii, Scene 1.
“Very few people ever meet celebrities. All we really know is what we read about them and the most memorable lines are jokes. That's how we tend to define what we think of a public figure.”
Robert Orben (1928–2023) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Janet Cawley (September 22, 1988) "The Joke's On George, Mike, Dan and Lloyd", Chicago Tribune, p. 23.
“Mary: You can read? Pocket: I was raised in a nunnery, wench. I'm a walking library of learning bound in comely leather, suitable for stroking at your service, should you fancy a bit of culture to go with your lack of breeding...or vice verse of course.”
Christopher Moore (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A devout and serious Christian, she was often bothered by what she read of socialists because she could not, instantly and absolutely, see where they were so wrong. To her horrified ear, they kept sounding as though they had ideas rather like Christ's.”
Claud Cockburn (1904–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stand! the ground's your own, my braves! Will ye give it up to slaves? Will ye look for greener graves? Hope ye mercy still? What's the mercy despots feel? Hear it in that battle-peal! Read it on yon bristling steel! Ask it,—ye who will.”
John Pierpont (1785–1866) first seen 1825 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Warren's Address to the American Soldiers" (A Song for the Table, Written for the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1825), st. 1. Airs of Palestine, and Other Poems (1840), p. 243
“We read his words and our heart opens. Suddenly we realize our home is with God.”
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (1900–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Didn't come up here to read. Came up here to hit.”
Hank Aaron (1934–2021) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Response to Yogi Berra, who told him to turn his bat around so he could see the trademark during the 1957 World Series, as quoted in Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes (2000) by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard
“I read, I study, I examine, I listen, I reflect, and out of all of this I try to form an idea into which I put as much common sense as I can. I shall not speak much for fear of saying foolish things; I will risk still less for fear of doing them, for I am not disposed to abuse the confidence which they have deigned to show me. Such is the conduct which until now I have followed and will follow.”
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his father-in-law, the Duc d'Ayan (4 December 1776), as quoted in George Washington's Generals and Opponents: Their Exploits and Leadership (1994) by George Athan Billias, p. 219
“[A]n icy sharpness prevails in their dialogue. In fact, to read in these days a page of Compton Burnett dialogue is to think of the sound of glass being swept up, one of these London mornings after a blitz.”
Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884–1969) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Elizabeth Bowen, 'Parents and Children', The New Statesman and Nation, Vol. XXI, No. 535 (24 May 1941), p. 536
“When we read or hear how some professed Christian has turned defaulter, or lapsed into drunkenness, or slipped from the communion table into open disgrace, it simply means than a human arm has broken. The man has forsaken the everlasting arms.”
Theodore L. Cuyler (1822–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though I am long dead as you read this, explorer, I offer to you a valediction. Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so. I feel I have the right to tell you this because, as I am inscribing these words, I am doing the same.”
Ted Chiang (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How to Come Out to Your Parents," she read out loud. "LUKE. Don't be ridiculous. Simon's not gay, he's a vampire.”
Cassandra Clare (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the things I miss about teaching is that students would tell me what I ought to read. One of my students, back in the 1960s, put me onto Borges, and I remember another mentioning Flann O'Brien's At Swim Two-Birds in the same way.”
John Barth (1930–2024) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Boston Sunday Globe, C7 (2 Nov 2008)
“A week after you read this chapter, misandry will become apparent in commercials, in films, in everyday conversations. But the bias that is hardest to see is the bias we share.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I read "Up From Slavery," by Booker T. Washington, and then my doom--if I may so call it--of being a race leader dawned upon me in London after I had traveled through almost half of Europe.”
Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing lives in literature but that which has the vitality of creative art; and it would be safe advice to the young to read nothing but what is old.”
Edwin Percy Whipple (1819–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think actors look for good material and I had heard about this script by Aaron and I read it and thought I had to come back to television. I'm here mostly because of how good the script is and how bad The Whole 10 Yards was.”
Matthew Perry (1969–2023) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On joining the NBC program Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – Kevin D. Thompson (September 18, 2006) "'Studio 60' Is Best Show of the Fall", Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc., p. 1D
“Remember, early Christians weren't converted by the Scriptures. Instead, they were saved by a spoken message. Most couldn't read anyway. The New Testament hadn't been compiled. There was no such thing as the printing press.”
Ray Comfort (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Jesus is without question the most eloquent man who ever lived. Those who heard Him said, 'Never a man spoke like this Man.' The most eloquent of philosophers sits at His feet and marvels at both His words and His life. To those who disagree, I would simply challenge you to read the Gospel of John, and see for yourself. Never did any man speak like this Man.”
Ray Comfort (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am in love with the gopis, ... charmed with Krishna, an enthusiastic admirer of Rama and a devout adorer of Brahma. Yudhisthir, Arjuna, Bhirna and other warriors of the Mahabharata appear greater in my eyes than Agamemnon, Ajax, and Achilles appeared when I first read the Iliad.”
William Jones (philologist) first seen 1784 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Charles Wilkins (1784), quoted in John Keay, India Discovered (London: Collins, 1988) p. 28
“[It is difficult] to read the Vedanta, or the many fine compositions in illustration of it, without believing that Pythagoras and Plato derived their sublime theories from the same fountain with the sages of India.”
William Jones (philologist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Am I new minted by thy Stamp indeed? Mine Eyes are dim; I cannot clearly see. Be thou my Spectacles that I may read Thine Image and Inscription stampt on mee.”
Edward Taylor (1642–1729) said by 1729 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wherever public worship has been established and regularly aintained, idolatry has vanished from the face of the earth. There is not now a temple to a heathen god where the word of God is read.”
Matthew Simpson (1811–1884) said by 1884 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Matthew Simpson reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 34.
“A virtuous youth and frugal manhood always create a Pisgah for the veteran in righteousness, from which he may calmly survey the stars, and read his " title clear to mansions in the skies," while yet in the flesh he can soar on the wings of meditation above the clouds, and catch glimpses of the heavenly world that lies in the placid and everlasting orient before him.”
Elias Lyman Magoon (1810–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Traditionalists may be shocked by the opinions expressed here; others will come to welcome them. Regardless of your own views, The Christian Agnostic demands to be read and pondered.”
Leslie Weatherhead (1893–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I once knew a girl In the years of my youth With eyes like the summer All beauty and truth In the morning I fled Left a note and it read Someday you will be loved.”
Ben Gibbard (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...we were brainwashed into believing... that the only important thing was individualism. They called it freedom. There is no such thing as freedom. There is something called liberty; it's quite different. ...read [Guido de] Ruggiero's History of European Liberalism... Freedom is freedom from restraints. We're always under restraints.”
Carroll Quigley (1910–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Q: I have read that you also, at least sometimes, had a chain around your neck, and you were tied to a tree?”
Íngrid Betancourt (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I mean, there is a certain element that, when you read the bad press about yourself and post it on the web-site, takes the pressure off.”
Brian Viglione (born 1979) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: June 1, 2006 - OndaRock Interview
“I never read contemporary fiction – with one exception: the works of Simenon concerned with Inspector Maigret.”
Georges Simenon (1903–1989) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: T. S. Eliot in the Sunday Times, 1952; cited from David Chinitz T. S. Eliot and the Cultural Divide (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003) p. 56
“There seemed an unwritten agreement that the Thunder God should be left in peace, which was probably due to the very clearly written message painted on a whitewashed wall in what looked like lumpy congealed blood, which read: Leave me in peace and I probably won't kill you. No promise, mind. Probably is absolutely the best I can do.”
Eoin Colfer (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are willing to worship a God only if God makes us safe. Thus you get the silly question, How does a good God let bad things happen to good people? Of course, it was a rabbi who raised that question, but Christians took it up as their own. Have you read the Psalms lately? We're seeing a much more complex God than that question gives credit for.”
Stanley Hauerwas (born 1940) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From the Chronicle for Higher Education, The Chronicle Review, "A Complex God" September 28, 2001 The Chronicle Review Page: B6
“Read a work on the "Evidences of Christianity," and it may become highly probable that Christianity, etc., are true. This is an opinion. Feel God. Do His will, till the Absolute Imperative within you speaks as with a living voice, " Thou shalt, and thou shalt not;" and then you do not think, you know that there is a God.”
Frederick William Robertson (1816–1853) said by 1853 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't classify me, read me. I'm a writer, not a genre.”
Carlos Fuentes (1928–2012) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How I Started to Write", in Rick Simonson and Scott Walker (eds.) The Graywolf Annual Five: Multi-Cultural Literacy (St. Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 1988); cited from Myself With Others (London: Pan, 1989) p. 27.
“I would urge that just as democracy initially meant the right of man to defend himself, to have a sword, and then meant the right to write, and then meant the right to read — so, now, democracy means the right to have the scientific experience.”
Edwin H. Land (1909–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After I read a script about three times, it sinks into my head. With Harry Potter, it took about six times because it was a lot bigger.”
Daniel Radcliffe (born 1989) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“....We write our lives indeed, But in a cipher none can read, Except the author”
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879) said by 1879 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is no small comfort that God hath written some Scriptures to you which He hath not to others. Read these, and think God is like a friend who sendeth a letter to a whole house and family, but who speaketh in His letter to some by name that are dearest to Him in the house.”
Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661) said by 1661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, if we read the Bible as a whole we would expect order in the world. Purpose would imply order, and what we actually find is order.”
Arno Allan Penzias (1933–2024) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Voice of Genius : Conversations with Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries (1995) by Denis Brian
“You read a lot of crap about photographic craftsmanship in those days, and technique; but you didnt hear shit about vision. I knew that I had an eye, a gift for seeing where the ripped edges of the world begin to peel away and something else shows through.”
Elizabeth Hand (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Julian was into black magic. Well, okay—he never called it that. But something to do with the dark arts. “Magick” with a K, that Aleister Crowley bullshit. So fucking pretentious. Most of Crowley’s quote-unquote magick was just a way of getting laid—he was a total con man. If you can read his stuff with a straight face, you’re a stronger woman than me.”
Elizabeth Hand (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source