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 world's major trends are still peace, cooperation, and development, but there are more obstacles and difficulties, more rapid developments, more complicated, and more difficult to predict; Competition between major countries is increasingly fierce; outbreak of conflicts and wars in regions; increasing arms race, especially the risk of nuclear arms race and nuclear war.”
Võ Văn Thưởng (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must understand the religious nature of Islamic expansion and the methods used to achieve it. By trying to abstract these motivation from the soul of this particular religion, which is, on this score, unlike most others, only makes it impossible to describe what in fact is going on in the mind of the adversary that is Islam. Wars are first fought in minds—and this is a war.”
James V. Schall (1928–2019) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Realism and Islam (17 April 2016) Catholic World Report
“We should heap skepticism on any group launching a small war or brief attack claiming that they possess workable mechanisms for keeping small wars small.”
Lauren Benton (born 1956) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lauren Benton & Hendrik Simon, Between War and Peace – On the Logic and Language of Imperial Violence. An Interview with Lauren Benton, Völkerrechtsblog, 13.09.2024
“Yet have we well begun, Battles so bravely won Have ever to the sun By fame been raisëd.”
Michael Drayton (1563–1631) said by 1631 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Freedom of speech is not the property of those who happen to belong to the elites of a country. It is an inalienable right, the birthright of our people. For centuries battles have been fought for it, and now it is being sacrificed to please a totalitarian ideology.”
Geert Wilders (born 1963) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech (7 February 2011)
“Only ambition is fired by the coincidences of success and easy accomplishment but nothing is quite as splendidly uplifting to the heart as the defeat of a human being who battles against the invincible superiority of fate. This is always the most grandiose of all tragedies, one sometimes created by a dramatist but created thousands of times by life.”
Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) said by 1942 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stellar Moments in Human History [Sternstunden der Menschheit] (1953), p. 280, as translated by Marion Sonnenfeld
“I can't figure out who might appreciate this movie. Those who are expecting to sit back, stop thinking, and watch cool wall-to-wall battles are going to be disappointed. Those who yearn for a movie to recapture the long-lost horror and glory of the original creatures are going to be borderline suicidal. … Simply put, [Alien vs. Predator: Requiem] is trash.”
James Berardinelli (born 1967) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Review of Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007).
“It’s not that I don’t have convictions, or that I won’t defend them. I save my battles for things that have meaning instead of tilting at every mild irritation that comes my way. You can fritter away your whole life with those kinds of windmills.”
Charles de Lint (born 1951) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Saskia in Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (eds.), Space Opera (1996), p. 341
“Even the British Arthur becomes an Englishman, a Germanic hero, brave, daring and open-handed. We are in a world of feasts and vaunting speeches, flytings and lusty battles, fierce deeds and bloody humour, with the Fiend, the Adversary of Man, always round the next corner.”
Layamon (1200–1300) said by 1300 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gwyn Jones, in Wace and Layamon (trans. Eugene Mason) Arthurian Chronicles (London: Dent, [1912] 1976) p. xi.
“More history's made by secret handshakes than by battles, bills, and proclamations.”
John Barth (1930–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“... This is what I did by the favor of Ahuramazda in one and the same year after that I became king: 19 battles I fought; by the favor of Ahuramazda I smote them and took prisoner 9 kings.”
Darius I of Persia (550–486 BC) said by 486 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Great physicists fight great battles.”
Jean-Pierre Vigier (1920–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We can all fight the battles of just one day. It is when we add the burdens of two uncontrollable days, yesterday and tomorrow, that we get overwhelmed.”
Steve Maraboli (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Apparently, as in so many ancient battles, the beaten side were the victims of misunderstanding and the fate of the day was decided against them before the bulk of the forces realised that a serious engagement had begun. Reserves descended from the hills too late to achieve victory, but in good time to be massacred in the rout.”
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning.”
Napoleon (1769–1821) first seen 1815 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Napoleon: A Biography by Frank McLynn, p. 145. Translated from Gourgaud's Journal de Sainte-Hélène 1815-1818, entry of 25 December 1817.
“The secret of great battles consists in knowing how to deploy and concentrate at the right time.”
Napoleon (1769–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun.... The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins!”
Saddam Hussein (1937–2006) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Broadcast on Baghdad state radio, January 17, 1991.
“Here while I lie beneath this walnut bough, What care I for the Greeks or for Troy town, If juster battles are enacted now Between the ants upon this hummock's crown?”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) first seen 1842 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Summer Rain", st. 3. The Dial (October 1842) p. 224
“I can’t quite define my aversion to asking questions of strangers. From snatches of family battles which I have heard drifting up from railway stations and street corners, I gather that there are a great many men who share my dislike for it, as well as an equal number of women who … believe it to be the solution to most of this world’s problems.”
Robert Benchley (1889–1945) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ask That Man" in Pluck and Luck (1925)
“And as Americans know from our history on our own old frontier, gun battles are caused by outlaws, and not by officers of the peace.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago.”
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Battles, in these ages, are transacted by mechanism; with the slightest possible development of human individuality or spontaneity: men now even die, and kill one another, in an artificial manner.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There were several Battles between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, in which the former (as they ought) usually won.”
Jane Austen (1775–1817) said by 1817 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anglers have a way of romanticizing their battles with fish and of forgetting that the fish has a hook in his mouth, his gullet, or his belly and that his gameness is really an extreme of panic in which he runs, leaps, and pulls to get away until he dies. It would seem to be enough advantage to the angler that the fish has the hook in his mouth rather than the angler.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction to S. Kip Farrington Jr., Atlantic Game Fishing (1937)
“Even in the most uneventful of our lives, we are called upon to choose our battles (p165)”
Arundhati Roy (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Know yourself and your adversary and you will be able to fight a hundred battles without a single disaster." This Chinese aphorism is as valuable for guerrilla warfare as a biblical psalm.”
Che Guevara (1928–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imperialism has been defeated in many partial battles. But it remains a considerable force in the world, and we cannot expect its final defeat save through effort and sacrifice on the part of us all.”
Che Guevara (1928–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So, when my Days of Impotence approach, And I'm by Pox and Wine's unlucky chance Driv'n from the pleasing Billows of debauch On the dull Shore of lazy Temperance;My Pains at least some Respite shall afford While I behold the Battles you maintain When Fleets of Glasses sail about the Board, From whose Broad-sides Volleys of Wit shall rain.”
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647–1680) said by 1680 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain; Fought all his battles o'er again; And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Two battles your auspicious cause has won; Thy sword can perfect what it has begun.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To this fine spirit our earth owes her greatest: For the future is purchased by scorning the present, And life is redeemed from its clay soil by fame. * King, not a vestige remains of your palaces; Conqueror, forgotten the fame of your battles: But the Poet yet lives in the sweetness of music— He appeal'd to the heart, that never forgets.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1829 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Three Brothers from The London Literary Gazette (20th June 1829) as Fame : An Apologue
“The only advice that I'm in the mood to give - and that I give regularly - to young people is this: fight for what you believe in. You will lose, just like I have lost, all the battles. You may only win one. The one that you engage every morning, in front of the mirror.”
Indro Montanelli (1909–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Soltanto un giornalista, Rizzoli, 2002.
“KRETON: Well, you know how one feels about history, the glamour of the past; I expected to hear everybody talking about great events—battles, poets, that kind of thing—but of course you don’t. You just squabble among yourselves.”
Gore Vidal (1925–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have to recognise that the old concepts of fighting big tank battles on European land mass are over, and there are other, better things we should be investing in, in FCAS, in the future combat air system, in cyber, this is how warfare in the future is going to be.”
Boris Johnson (born 1964) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At the Liaison Committee of the House of Commons (17 November 2021) in response to Tobias Ellwood (Conservative MP and chairman of the Defence Select Committee) querying a decline in British army tank deployment, cited …
“Are you all right, sir?” asked Hezekiah. “Just fighting over old battles in my mind,” said John. “It’s the problem with age. You have all these rusty arguments, and no quarrel to use them in. My brain is a museum, but alas, I’m the only visitor, and even I am not terribly interested in the displays.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have sinned and I have suffered, Played the hero and the knave; Fought for belly, shame, or country, And for each have found a grave. I cannot name my battles For the visions are not clear, Yet, I see the twisted faces And I feel the rending spear.”
George S. Patton (1885–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life was cheap in the Middle Ages. It has become cheaper since. It is only in specific battles for specific lives that our culture is put to the test, and with it our humanity.”
Peter Ustinov (1921–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We play upon every cord of the lyre, from violence to religion, from art to politics. We are politicians and we are warriors. We are syndicalists and we also fight battles in the streets and the squares. That is Fascismo as it was conceived at Milan...”
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Fascista Dawning of New Italy” speech (6 October 1922) delivered at Milan at the “Sciesa,” p. 168
“Afterward loses too many battles to Too Late.”
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A scientist is no more a collector and classifier of facts than a historian is a man who complies and classifies a chronology of the dates of great battles and major discoveries.”
Peter Medawar (1915–1987) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (with Jean Medawar) Aristotle to Zoos: A Philosophical Dictionary of Biology, 1983, p. 27.
“There’s a good time coming, boys! A good time coming. We may not live to see the day, But earth shall glisten in the ray Of the good time coming. Cannon-balls may aid the truth But thought’s a weapon stronger; We’ll win our battles by its aid, Wait a little longer.”
Charles Mackay (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mythology is wondrous, a balm for the soul. But its problems cannot be ignored. At worst, it buys inspiration at the price of physical impossibility […]. At best, it purveys the same myopic view of history that made this most fascinating subject so boring and misleading in grade school as a sequential take of monarchs and battles.”
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Baseball and the Two Faces of Janus", p. 259; originally published as "The Virtues of Nakedness" in The New York Review of Books (1990-10-11)
“The battles of this century … are less likely to be the product of extreme political ideology—like those of the 20th century—but they could easily be fought around the questions of cultural or religious difference.”
Tony Blair (born 1953) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As attributed without citation in Awake! magazine (anonymous), January 2015
“You win in battles with the timing in the Void born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies' timing, and this using a timing which the enemy does not expect. All the five books are chiefly concerned with timing. You must train sufficiently to appreciate all this.”
Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The principles of strategy are written down here in terms of single combat, but you must think broadly so that you attain an understanding for ten-thousand-a-side battles. Strategy is different from other things in that if you mistake the Way even a little you will become bewildered and fall into bad ways.”
Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Brothers, we must be united; we must smoke the same pipe; we must fight each other’s battles; and, more than all, we must love the Great Spirit: he is for us; he will destroy our enemies, and make all his red children happy.”
Tecumseh (1768–1813) said by 1813 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ideas and not battles mark the forward progress of mankind. Individuals, and not masses, form the culture of the race.”
L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor. Because there is very little honor left in American life, there is a certain built-in tendency to destroy masculinity in American men.”
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Petty Notes on Some Sex in America" first published in Playboy magazine (1961 - 1962)
“Progressives have won so many policy battles by relying on activist courts to do things they could not achieve at the ballot box, they’ve come to see an activist Supreme Court as a birthright. As a result, the Court has been politicized far more than it should be.”
Jonah Goldberg (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a man of the people, bred amongst them, and it has been the greatest joy of my life to have had some part in fighting the battles of the class from whom I am proud to have sprung.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Manchester (21 April 1908), quoted in Better Times: Speeches by the Right Hon. D. Lloyd George, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer (1910), p. 46