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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“It was this idea (Be nice!) that fueled liberals' rage at Reagan when he vanquished the Soviet Union with his macho "cowboy diplomacy" that was going to get us all blown up. As the Times editorial page hysterically described Reagan's first year in office: "Mr. Reagan looked at the world through gun sights." Yes, he did! And now the Evil Empire is no more.”
Ann Coulter (born 1961) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Are videotaped beheadings covered by Geneva?" (September 20, 2006).
“And why is it "homophobic" for Senate Republicans to look askance at sex in public bathrooms? Is the Times claiming that sodomy in public bathrooms is the essence of being gay? I thought gays just wanted to get married to one another and settle down in the suburbs so they could visit each other in the hospital.”
Ann Coulter (born 1961) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cruising While Republican" (September 5, 2007).
“When the history of our times is written, will we be remembered as the generation that turned our backs in a moment of global crisis or will it be recorded that we did the right thing?”
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nelson Mandela on Aids, 46664 Concert, Tromso, Norway (11 Jun 2005). Source: From Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations © 2010 by Nelson R. Mandela and The Nelson Mandela Foundation
“One out of three hundred and twelve Americans is a bore, for instance, and a healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience.”
John Updike (1932–2009) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Confessions of a Wild Bore”, Assorted Prose (1965)
“[Nelson] "...People are crazy. At times when I'm with clients I can't see the difference between them and me, except for the structure we're all in. I get paid, a little, and they get taken care of, a little.”
John Updike (1932–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.”
Denis Diderot (1713–1784) said by 1784 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cracking the Code of Our Physical Universe : The Key to a Whole New World of Enlightenment and Enrichment (2006) by Matthew M Radmanesh, p. 91
“What's Rome to me, what business have I there? I who can neither lie, nor falsely swear? Nor praise my patron's undeserving rhymes, Nor yet comply with him, nor with his times?”
Juvenal (55–200) said by 200 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At the age of ten, twenty, a hundred, very young, a little older, and very old, an artist is always an artist. Isn't he better at some times, some moments, than at others? Never impeccable, since he is a living, human being?”
Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) first seen 1903 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 219: quote from 1903
“Administration is, or ought to be, a necessary overhead to aid production, and should at all times be kept as low as possible.”
Hyman G. Rickover (1900–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O who knows what slumbers in the background of the times?”
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) said by 1805 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What's old collapses, times change, And new life blossoms in the ruins.”
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) said by 1805 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Act IV, sc. ii, in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 15th ed. (1980), p. 414
“Let me move over here. (Jay would then move barely a few inches to the left or right. He generally repeats this a few times per show)”
Jay London (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think we made love three times that final summer. Made love! Preposterous euphemism for fucking, almost as bad as the most grotesque of all, slept together. Whatever Sundara and I made, in those three pressings of flesh to flesh, love couldn’t have been the commodity; we made sweat, we made rumpled sheets, we made heavy breathing, we even made orgasms, but love? Love?”
Robert Silverberg (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To hinder, besides, the farmer from selling his goods at all times to the best market, is evidently to sacrifice the ordinary laws of justice to an idea of public utility, to a sort of reasons of state; an act of legislative authority which ought to be exercised only, which can be pardoned only in cases of the most urgent necessity.”
Adam Smith (1723–1790) said by 1790 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I voted numerous times when I was a Senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in.”
Hillary Clinton (born 1947) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Town hall event at a high school in Windham; transcript: "Clinton: ‘You Have to Control Your Borders’" by Julio Ricardo Varela, Latino USA (9 November 2015)
“One of my favorites is Angela Merkel because I think she's been an extraordinary, strong leader during difficult times in Europe, which has obvious implications for the rest of the world and, most particularly, our country... her bravery in the face of the refugee crisis is something that I am impressed by.”
Hillary Clinton (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The clumsiest literal translation is a thousand times more useful than the prettiest paraphrase.”
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Problems of translation (1955).
“But all I have is hearsay, passed on by others of my kind.” “Including this ‘nameless’ stuff,” I said. “That’s true. And at various times in my life, I’ve wondered whether it might not be a delusion—some sort of fiction that we share. Like a religion: there’s no way you or I could prove that the nameless don’t exist.”
Joe Haldeman (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No Man is wise at all Times, or is without his blind Side.”
Erasmus (1466–1536) said by 1536 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The illusion that times that were are better than those that are, has probably pervaded all ages.”
Horace Greeley (1811–1872) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The American Conflict, A History of the Great Rebellion (1864).
“I'm blowing, and just as wild and whirling as you are, and lots of times I've been picked up, throwed down, and picked up; but my eyes has been my camera taking pictures of the world and my songs has been my messages that I tried to scatter across the back sides and along the steps of the fire escapes and on the window sills and through the dark halls...”
Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bound For Glory (1943). QUoted in
“The Assembly has witnessed over the last weeks how historical truth is established; once an allegation has been repeated a few times, it is no longer an allegation, it is an established fact, even if no evidence has been brought out in order to support it.”
Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On accusations by Nikita Khrushchev, as quoted in The Times [London] (4 October 1960)
“A burning at the stake, an afternoon in the rack, headscrews, a douche with boiling water, nails into hands, induced vomiting, ripped tongues, dead babes, human target practice, possession by devils, rape, transvestism, nude orgies in the nunnery. Put them all together and they spell Committed Art, because these are modern times and I certainly hope none of us is opposed to truth.”
Roger Ebert (1942–2013) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Review of The Devils (1 January 1971)
“You're unsure and you're not ready, So that must mean I want you. You're unavailable and disinterested, To you I look for comfort. A million times in a million ways, I will try to change you. A million months and a million days, I'll try to convince you.”
Alanis Morissette (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’ve been in Parliament for forty-one years. I’ve been in the Soviet Union many, many times, to Moscow, and I love it; but I hope you will not equate democracy with capitalism, because capitalism imposes great hardship on people.”
Tony Benn (1925–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are many qualities that make a great leader but having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader.”
Rudy Giuliani (born 1944) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech before the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. August 30, 2004.
“No little appetite or pain, no carelessness or meanness in him escaped her; no thought or dream or longing in him ever reached her. And yet several times in her life she had seen the stars.”
John Steinbeck (1902–1968) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Moon Is Down (1942), p. 7
“In these times when, to express ourselves, we must speak in a way others do not.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) said by 1824 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In such times, if you want neither to lie nor to wound, you are reduced to being silent.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) said by 1824 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In these times gain is not only a matter of greed, but of ambition.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) said by 1824 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Greatness of name in the father oft-times overwhelms the son; they stand too near one another. The shadow kills the growth: so much, that we see the grandchild come more and oftener to be heir of the first.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His opinion of verses. That he wrote all his first in prose, for so his master Camden had learned him.That verses stood by sense without either colours or accent; which yet other times he denied.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Charles: Anything interesting in The Times? Ruth: Don't be silly, Charles.”
Noël Coward (1899–1973) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Blithe Spirit (1941)
“In tropical climes There are certain times Of day When all the citizens retire To take their clothes off and perspire. It's one of those rules That the greatest fools Obey, Because the sun is far too sultry And one must avoid its ultry- Vi'let ray.”
Noël Coward (1899–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Until the Yom Kippur War, in 1973, until then Israel didn't have a chance but to fight for her life. We were attacked five times, outgunned, outnumbered, on a small piece of land, and our main challenge was to remain alive.”
Shimon Peres (1923–2016) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Harvard University (20 October 2004)
“Language alone includes all the senses in interplay at all times. (p. 253)”
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not insignificant that the Church, in the rare places and times when she had power to do so, did not compel the mind. During all that intense intellectual life of the thirteenth century instruction was by choice: endowed—so that the poorest could reach the highest inspiration, but at the choice of the individual or family will, to be taken or left.”
Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) said by 1953 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no need to make an inventory of the times. It is demoralizing to describe ourselves to ourselves yet again. It is especially hard on us since we believe (as we have been educated to believe) that history has formed us and that we are all mini-summaries of the present age.”
Saul Bellow (1915–2005) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mozart: An Overture" (1992), pp. 13-14
“It seems hard for the American people to believe that anything could be more exciting than the times themselves. What we read daily and view on the TV has thrust imagined forms into the shadow. We are staggeringly rich in facts, in things, and perhaps, like the nouveau riche of other ages, we want our wealth faithfully reproduced by the artist.”
Saul Bellow (1915–2005) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Facts That Put Fancy to Flight" (1962), p. 67
“Apparently the rise of consciousness is linked to certain kinds of privation. It is the bitterness of self-consciousness that we knowers know best. Critical of the illusions that sustained mankind in earlier times, this self-consciousness of ours does little to sustain us now. The question is: which is disenchanted, the world itself or the consciousness we have of it?”
Saul Bellow (1915–2005) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Matter of the Soul" (1975), pp. 75-76
“I deplore the letter today in The Times from a distinguished orthopaedist, who talked about private practice as though it should be the glory of the profession. What should be the glory of the profession is that a doctor should be able to meet his patients with no financial anxiety.”
Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (9 February 1948)
“In times of crisis the Conservative Party invariably attacks State expenditure on the social services so as to relieve the burden on property. The Socialist Party, on the other hand, rushes to the defence of State spending: their supporters are the poor and defenceless who most need it.”
Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It has been a certain position with me that firmness is the characteristick of an Englishman, that consequently when a Minister will shew a resolution boldly to advance that he will meet with support... the times require vigour, or the state will be ruined.”
George III (1738–1820) first seen 1768 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord North (14 November 1778), quoted in The Correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North, From 1768 to 1783, Vol. II, ed. W. Bodham Donne (1867), pp. 214, 216
“There are not infrequent times when a bottle of wine, a good dinner, a girl of some trivial sort can fill the hour for me.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) first seen 1843 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William James, as quoted in Henry James: The Untried Years: 1843-1870 (1953) by Leon Edel, p. 229.
“Their [U.S.] defense budget in absolute figures is almost 25 times bigger than Russia's. This is what in defense is referred to as "their home — their fortress". And good for them, I say. Well done!”
Vladimir Putin (born 1952) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the United States 2006 annual address to the Federal Assembly
“At times those who do not want to have their inconsistencies pointed out say in a super-sweet voice to me "Judge not, lest ye be judged." I reply "O.K., judge me, then.”
Ammon Hennacy (1893–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is the sweetest victory of all. This is a victory for the true believers; the people who, in difficult times, have kept the faith.”
Paul Keating (born 1944) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1993 election victory speech.
“My technique is laughable at times. I have developed a style of my own, I suppose, which creeps around … I don't have to have too much technique for it. I've developed the parts of my technique that are useful to me. I'll never be a very fast guitar player. I don't really know what to say about my style. There's always a melodic intent in there.”
David Gilmour (born 1946) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Sounds : Guitar Heroes (May 1983)
“There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.”
Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...any move made in a state of tension will be of more important, and will have more results, than it would have made in a state of equilibrium. In times of maximum tension this importance will rise to an infinite degree.”
Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source