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. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

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“The extraordinary patience of things! This beautiful place defaced with a crop of suburban houses — How beautiful when we first beheld it, Unbroken field of poppy and lupin walled with clean cliffs; No intrusion but two or three horses pasturing...”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What good is modesty? — It makes us seem more beautiful when we are beautiful, and less ugly when we are ugly.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) said by 1824 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us look to beautiful poetry for the material of a beautiful prose.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) said by 1824 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There must be several voices together in one voice for it to be beautiful. And several meanings in one word for it to be beautiful.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) said by 1824 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You, who are so-called illegal aliens, must know that no human being is "illegal." That is a contradiction in terms. Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, they can be fat or skinny, they can be right or wrong, but illegal? How can a human being be illegal?”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful.”
Sophia Loren (born 1934) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Subtlety of Emotions (2001) by Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, p. 204.
“What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.”
Susan Sontag (1933–2004) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes on 'Camp'" (1964), note 9, p. 279; originally published in Partisan Review, Vol. 31 No. 4, (Fall 1964)
“In old age it is no longer possible to credit the sheer, almost physical agony which is caused in youth by the passage of time, when the turning of spring into summer arouses pain as lively as the pain of toothache. The succession of the seasons is like a recurrent inescapable catastrophe, which sweeps away what is young and beautiful, and what is beautiful because it is young.”
Enoch Powell (1912–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sound is beautiful, it's perfect! The sound of her young legs in stockings, The rhythm of her walk, it's beautiful! Just let it twist, let it break, Let it buckle, let it bend, I want to hear the noise of my Zoo-Music Girl.”
Nick Cave (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in New York World Telegram & Sun (21 August 1960); also in Threads: My Life Behind the Seams in the High-Stakes World of Fashion (2004) by Joseph Abboud, p. 79
“She never came back. The family Sort of drifted off. Nobody wears shiny boots like that now. But I know she is beautiful forever, and lives In a beautiful house, far away. She called my name once. I didn't even know she knew it.”
Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The paintings of Francis Bacon to my eye are very beautiful. The paintings of Bosch or Goya are to my eye very beautiful. I've also stood in front of those same paintings with people who've said, "let's get on to the Botticellis as soon as possible." I have lingered, of course.”
Clive Barker (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ah, ah, Beautiful is the mother. Ah, ah, Beautiful is her son.”
Sufjan Stevens (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thunder, there are so many beautiful things! The world was beautiful and we — we — Boys, boys, tell me, what did we ever take the time to enjoy?”
Karel Čapek (1890–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are very lovely now and soon you will be beautiful. Ant not in an ordinary way. Youth is always beautiful, but you are like some creatures of fairy born to bring ill to mortals. Only trouble can follow such gifts”
Alice Borchardt (1939–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air; No mist obscures; nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain, Breaks the serene of heaven: In full-orbed glory, yonder moon divine Rolls through the dark blue depths; Beneath her steady ray The desert circle spreads Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky. How beautiful is night!”
Robert Southey (1774–1843) first seen 1800 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Thalaba the Destroyer, Bk. I, st. 1 (1800).
“It is, indeed an incredible fact that what the human mind, at its deepest and most profound, perceives as beautiful finds its realization in external nature.… What is intelligible is also beautiful.”
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910–1995) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a lecture, "Beauty and the Quest for Beauty in Science" given at the International Symposium in recognition of Robert R. Wilson on April 27, 1979 at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois.
“Beautiful dawn (beautiful dawn) You're just blowing my mind again Thought I was born to endless night, until you shine.High. Running wild among all the stars above Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me.”
James Blunt (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One needs only to study a certain positioning of the hand in relation to the keys to obtain with ease the most beautiful sounds, to know how to play long notes and short notes and to [attain] certain unlimited dexterity... A well formed technique, it seems to me, [is one] that can control and vary a beautiful sound quality.”
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To see a man as beautiful – means to make him really beautiful. There is no cunning, no deceit; this happens every time, everyone knows that.”
Simon Soloveychik (1930–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here lies a most beautiful lady, Light of step and heart was she; I think she was the most beautiful lady That ever was in the West Country.”
Walter de la Mare (1873–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There at the moment in .. .Boudin and Jongkind are here; we get on marvelously. There's lots to be learned and nature begins to grow beautiful.. .I shall tell you I'm sending a flower picture to the exhibition at Rouen; there are very beautiful flowers at present.”
Claude Monet (1840–1926) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in a letter to ; as cited in: Edward B. Henning, Cleveland Museum of Art. Creativity in art and science, 1860-1960. (1987), p. 95
“I admire Tebaldi's tone; it's beautiful — also some beautiful phrasing. Sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice.”
Maria Callas (1923–1977) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Discussing rival soprano Renata Tebaldi, in a television interview with Norman Ross, Chicago (17 November 1957)
“Where this area had been beautiful with its many trees and bright grass and the colored blooms of the vines that covered the trees, it was now like a battlefield. It had been necessary to create ugliness to build a beautiful boat.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The whole of French art is a matter of seeing Nature as beautiful, very beautiful, in fact. But on the whole this is not enough. You have to create your own Nature – Van Gogh!”
Alexej von Jawlensky (1864–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In: Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art, Dietmer Elger, Taschen, 2002, p. 166
“In my work, I have always tried to unite the true with the beautiful; but when I had to choose one or the other, I usually chose the beautiful.”
Hermann Weyl (1885–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can't imagine something being beautiful at this point in history if it's destroying the planet or causing children to get sick. How can anything be beautiful if it's not ecologically intelligent at this point?”
William McDonough (born 1951) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: William McDonough: Godfather of Green", WNYC Studio 360 (18 March 2008).
“Why do beautiful songs make you sad?" "Because they aren't true." "Never?" "Nothing is beautiful and true." (p. 43)”
Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I somehow always have this idea that as soon as I can get through this work that’s piled up ahead of me, I’ll really write a beautiful thing. But I never do. I always have the idea that someday, somehow, I’ll be living a beautiful life.”
Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Written in the 1920s, as quoted in The Ghost in the Little House, ch. 8, by William V. Holtz (1993).
“Ask any girl what she'd rather be than beautiful, and she'll say more beautiful.”
Martha Raye (1916–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her face is a map of the world Is a map of the world You can see she's a beautiful girl She's a beautiful girl. And everything around her is a silver pool of light The people who surround her feel the benefit of it — It makes you calm She holds you captivated in her palm.”
KT Tunstall (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A good education would be devoted to encouraging and refining the love of the beautiful, but a pathologically misguided moralism instead turns such longing into a sin against the high goal of making everyone feel good, of overcoming nature in the name of equality. … Love of the beautiful may be the last and finest sacrifice to radical egalitarianism.”
Allan Bloom (1930–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Holmes said Emerson had a beautiful voice, and, of course, Holmes had one of the most beautiful voices the Lord ever put into a throat.”
Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nudity in a picture is such a delicate thing, and it is so rarely right. But it can be right if it's done by people with beautiful vision and if it becomes part of the melody of the situation. The body, after all, is a beautiful and secret thing.”
Nastassja Kinski (born 1961) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Denise Worrell (1989), Icons: Intimate Portraits.
“It is beautiful to express love and even more beautiful to feel it.”
Dejan Stojanovic (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How can you read such a beautiful book and turn your back on it?” “Never said it wasn’t a beautiful book. I just don’t believe there’s some man up there in the black who gets off on watching us pound our head on the pavement six times a day.”
Kameron Hurley (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Free verse may be written as very beautiful prose; prose may be written as very beautiful free verse. Which is which ?”
John Livingston Lowes (1867–1945) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nation (February 1916)
“She laughed out loud. It was a very nice laugh. No girl looks beautiful when she’s laughing hard, and girls who worry about looking beautiful don’t do it. Dorotha Keefer looked like a healthy, pretty girl having a good time, which when you come down to it is about the best way for a girl to look.”
Frederik Pohl (1919–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man having a beautiful girl by his side shows the world that he is worth something, because obviously that beautiful girl sees some sort of worth in him”
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The notion of "intricate and beautiful complexities" is almost an oxymoron. Unix programmers vie with each other for "simple and beautiful" honors — a point that's implicit in these rules, but is well worth making overt.”
Doug McIlroy (born 1932) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Doug McIlroy (2003). The Art of Unix Programming: Basics of the Unix Philosophy
“Those who strive on the path of God become beautiful. Those who face difficulties on the path of God become beautiful. Those who do not face any difficulties become ugly, their meaning would be lost, they would become dull and blunt. I mean they would become coarse.”
Adnan Oktar (born 1956) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 30 December 2013.
“There is no place for conflicts, there is no place for hatred in this world. We will teach love to the world. Hatred is very painful, it is agonizing, it is tiresome and disgusting; love on the other hand is very beautiful. Israel, Jordan and all those places are incredibly beautiful. Make peace, hold on to each other, be brothers.”
Adnan Oktar (born 1956) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1 January 2014.
“Why should we do as those who do not have other joys than to believe, as night falls, in their double beds.. .that it is to be great and sanctified by love to jostle the companions of their bed. Our passion must be like our love – illusory and artistic, having no other end than the desire to be beautiful. To remain beautiful in unsated [unstated?] passion...”
Marianne von Werefkin (1860–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’d like to thank my beautiful husband, my beautiful three children who are at home watching.”
Beyoncé (born 1981) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Beyoncé Thanks Her Uncle Johnny & Queer Community During Grammy Speech Out magazine (February 05 2023)
“Scoundrels [...] simply don't die. The ones who die are always the gentle, sweet, and beautiful people. [...] Scoundrels live a long time. The beautiful die young.”
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is beautiful, and this work is even more beautiful than life.”
Kees van Dongen (1877–1968) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in: Modern Dutch painting: an introduction, Netherlands Information Service, (1960), p. 26
“This is just an ordinary day Wipe the insecurities away I can see that the darkness will erode Looking out the corner of my eye I can see that the sunshine will explode Far across the desert in the sky Beautiful girl Won't you be my inspiration? Beautiful girl Don't you throw your love around What in the world, what in the world Could ever come between us?”
Dolores O'Riordan (1971–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I even believe aesthetics are like ethics. Something that is beautiful is ethical, and unethical things aren’t beautiful.”
Gianni Agnelli (1921–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is nothing more beautiful than a beautiful woman.”
Gianni Agnelli (1921–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source