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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“A person working 45 hours per week averages 44% more income than someone working 40 hours per week. That’s 44% more income for 13% more time.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We want to see measures to implement taxation justice for ordinary working people. We want an end to the policy of many years now, of huge tax concessions for big corporations and a plethora of stealth taxes on ordinary families and ordinary working people.”
Joe Higgins (born 1949) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In November 2003. breakingnews.ie
“Your intelligence is so deeply entangled with the social identification that you have taken on, your brains are not working in line with the life within you; it is working against your own life. That is the source of misery.”
“Bulgarians then went on strikes, made barricades and burned tyres while others were working. Now its is we who are working, while other countries burn their own cities and cause problems for themselves”
Boyko Borissov (born 1959) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Implying the 2011 London Riots
“All men are our brothers. As far as the discovery of the truth is concerned, they are all working for the same purpose; they may be separated by the accidents of space and time, and by the exigencies of race, religion, nationality, and other groupings; from the point of view of eternity they are working together.”
George Sarton (1884–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If Christ's followers aren't growing, it is because they are not making a habit of evaluating their lives. They don't step back and ask, "What's working and what's not working?”
Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hunter couldn't stop working. McCumber remembered Hunter working nine days without sleep.”
William McKeen (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Me, I just don't care about proprietary software. It's not "evil" or "immoral," it just doesn't matter. I think that Open Source can do better, and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is by working on Open Source, but it's not a crusade – it's just a superior way of working together and generating code.”
Linus Torvalds (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the Apollo people were working hard, working long hours, and were dedicated to making certain everything they did, they were doing to the very best of their ability.”
Neil Armstrong (1930–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Political liberty’s a swindle because a man doesn’t spend his time being political. He spends it sleeping, eating, amusing himself a little and working — mostly working. When they’d got all the political liberty they wanted — or found they didn’t want — they began to understand this.”
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everybody wonders why I continue working at this stage. I keep working because there's always new stories. … And as long as people want me to tell them, I'll be there doing them.”
Clint Eastwood (born 1930) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Eastwood Factor (Extended Edition). [DVD]. Warner Home Video. June 1, 2010. Event occurs at 1:26:15.
“There have always been poor and working classes; and the working class have mostly been poor. But there have not always been workers and poor people living under conditions as they are today.”
Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Donald Trump (born 1946) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Written in a social media post that was later deleted, quoted in "Trump says America has ‘too many’ national holidays and they’re hurting the economy. Is he right?" CNN (June 20, 2025)
“I will say in a few words why the anarchist doctrine is wrong. The anarchists say that the working class does not need a government: what is needs is to organize production. Government, they say, is a bourgeois invention, a bourgeois machine of compulsion, and the working class does not need to take governmental power. This is wrong from beginning to end.”
Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Leisure stands in a perpendicular position with respect to the working process — in just the same way as the "simple gaze" of intellectus does not consist in the "duration" (so to speak) of ratios working-out process, but instead cuts through it at the perpendicular (the ancients compared the ratio with time, the intellectus with the "always now" of eternity).”
Josef Pieper (1904–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No less incommensurable with the working-world than the philosophical question is the sound of true poetry. […] The lover, too, stands outside the tight chain of efficiency of this working world, and [so does] whoever else approaches the margin of existence through some deep existential disturbance (which always brings a "shattering" of one's environment), or through, say, the proximity of death.”
Josef Pieper (1904–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The bourgeoisie does not want to recognize the strength of the working class. Marxism has forced it into a straitjacket that will ruin it. While the working class gradually disintegrates in the Marxist front, bleeding itself dry, the bourgeoisie and Marxism have agreed on the general lines of capitalism.”
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If somebody is working very hard, or deserves a lot of money, pay him upfront, say he is going to be working for so much time, he deserves it – and then put the rest of the money where it should go. But unfortunately, that sort of transparency is rarely there.”
Shahrukh Khan (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we’re not working in order to get rich, then why are we working at all? What are we supposed to do all day? Just sit home and watch TV? Not at all, but thinking so is a temporary phase many people go through — when the values of the old world no longer have a hold on us, but the values of the new don’t yet grab your soul. They will.”
Marianne Williamson (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[About Algol W] It was not only a worthy successor of ALGOL 60, it was even a worthy predecessor of PASCAL […] I was astonished when the working group, consisting of all the best known international experts of programming languages, resolved to lay aside the commissioned draft on which we had all been working and swallow a line with such an unattractive bait.”
C. A. R. Hoare (1934–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We humans are foolish in many ways: we want to conquer all as if we had all time, as if our lives did not have any end. Thus, our real time passes too quickly, and often when one believes that they are working only for themselves, they are in fact working for unworthy or ungrateful successors.”
Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786) said by 1786 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most poor people earn more than minimum wage when they are working; their problem is not low wages. The problem comes when they are not working.”
Joseph Stiglitz (born 1943) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Economics (1993).
“A small but brilliant advance made today by someone’s awareness may for the moment reach a very small audience, but insofar as it’s valid and beautiful, it will make its way and become part of the whole world of consciousness. So in that sense it’s all working toward this huge audience, and all working toward a better man.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The kibbutz way of life is not for everyone. It is meant for people who are not in the business of working harder than they should be working, in order to make more money than they need, in order to buy things they don't really want, in order to impress people they don't really like.”
Amos Oz (1939–2018) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Great Disruption", In Our Time, BBC Radio 4 (17 June 1999).
“I'm working on a dream, Though trouble can feel like it's here to stay. I'm working on a dream; Our love will chase the trouble away.”
Bruce Springsteen (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My House has always cared for the working classes. The welfare of the working men lies near to my heart. Every subject who prefers a wish or petition has, as a matter of course, the ear of his Emperor.”
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And all the world is football shaped It's just for me to kick in space And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste And I've got one, two, three, four, five senses working overtime trying to take this all in I've got one, two, three, four, five senses working overtime trying to taste the difference 'tween a lemon and a lime pain and pleasure And the church bells softly chime.”
Andy Partridge (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Shall we be destined to the days of eternity, on holy-days, as well as working-days, to be showing the relics of learning, as monks do the relics of their saints — without working one — one single miracle with them?”
Laurence Sterne (1713–1768) first seen 1761 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Book V (1761-1762), Ch. 1.
“Accept that you've got a common goal that we're all working towards and that we're working towards the same goal. In other words, align and self-organize.”
Ward Cunningham (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let's drink to the hard working peopleLet's drink to the salt of the earth...Raise your glass to the hard working people...Who need leaders but get gamblers instead”
Mick Jagger (born 1943) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Salt of the Earth" (co-written with Keith Richards) on the Rolling Stones' 1968 album Beggars Banquet (1968).
“The difference of development, North and South, is explained as a sort of working out of cosmic social and economic law. ... In this sweeping mechanistic interpretation, there is no room for the real plot of the story, for the clear mistake and guilt of building a new slavery of the working class in the midst of a fateful experiment in democracy.”
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Getting paranoid is an occupational hazard of illicit street painting, which is good. Your mind is working at its best when you're being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation at high speed with total clarity. I'm not interested in looking at things made by people who aren't paranoid, they're not working to their full capacity.”
“At the 20th Congress of British Communist Party, Harry Pollitt, made [a] long report... Usual slogans spread about the building - 'Marxism is the science of working-class power'. Those present mostly lower middle class, few working class. On platform sat the Executive Committee, really deplorable faces. Unpleasant thought that in many parts of Europe, such people already in absolute power.”
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Like It Was: The Diaries of Malcolm Muggeridge (1981), p. 247
“Everything was plugged in and should’ve been working, but it gave me a communication error. I got like a cave man and got so mad at it. I was completely fed up. I’m not an engineer, I’m not a computer whiz. I don’t know anything about electronics. All I know is that I want this thing to make noise, I want to write music, and it’s not working.”
Patrick Stump (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I love working in the space program on one-of-a-kind engineering applications, like flying spacecraft, which is really a team effort. There are so many aspects of keeping a piece of engineering working and operating when it's thousands of kilometers away from you. The ingenuity required is amazing.”
Claudia Alexander (1959–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Working at Perfekt, Got me down on my knees. Success to failure, Just a matter of degrees. Working at Perfekt, Got me down on my knees...”
“I do not believe it would be a bad thing for the British working-class if Germany defeated us. It would be a disaster for the profit-makers and capitalists, but not necessarily for the working-class.”
Stafford Cripps (1889–1952) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Stockport (14 November 1936), The Manchester Guardian (15 November 1936), quoted in Hugh Dalton, The Fateful Years. Memoirs 1931-1945 (1957), p. 151
“Capitalism cannot survive without a working class, while the working class can flourish a lot more freely without capitalism.”
Terry Eagleton (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am working in Paris. I cannot for a single day get the thought out of my head that there probably exists something essential, some immutable reality, and now that I have lost everything else (thank God, it gets lost all on its own) I am trying to preserve this and, what is more, not to be content. In a word: I am working.”
Marc Chagall (1887–1985) first seen 1906 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chagall's letter to A. N. Benois, 1911, as cited in Marc Chagall - the Russian years 1906 – 1922, editor Christoph Vitali, exhibition catalogue, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 1991, p. 146
“At first I intended to carry on working in Saint-Prex [in Switzerland, circa 1914 – 1915] in the same way I had been working in Munich [the location of his Blaue Reiter / Blue Rider period]. But something inside me prevented me from painting colourful, sensuous pictures. Suffering had changed my soul, telling me to find other forms and colours to express what was on my mind.”
Alexej von Jawlensky (1864–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I] could not design forms and colors that would achieve some preconceived result.. .I wasn't going to hire them. I was more interested in working WITH them than in their working for me.”
Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can't just stand and say to yourself, 'OK, right now I'm the best. That's it. No more working.' If you're a good player you have to be working harder and harder. This is not just my goal, it's my team goal. We can improve more and we can probably be even better than last year. My dream is to be the best.”
Alexander Ovechkin (born 1985) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Helene Elliott (October 16, 2008) "Ovechkin Is Good for NHL, Bad for Opposing Goalies", Los Angeles Times.
“The working-class woman shows me much more than the ladies who are totally limited by conventional behavior. The working-class woman shows me her hands, her feet, and her hair. She lets me see the shape and form of her body through her clothes. She presents herself and the expression of her feelings openly, without disguises.”
Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Käthe Kollwitz: Woman and Artist (1976) by Martha Kearns The Feminist Press, , p. 82.
“My appearance in such a proud posture is owing to the support I have received from my friends of the working classes. In the words of a paraphrase of Horace, the Scottish working man is "a stubborn chiel, As hot as ginger and as true as steel.”
Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836–1908) first seen 1868 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech from the window of his hotel, where he had been carried shoulder-high after his election for Stirling Burghs (c. 7 December 1868), quoted in J. A. Spender, The Life of The Right Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman,…
“Factory workers are not working for capitalism, they are working for a living wage.”
Bernard Crick (1929–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are not working out issues anymore. We are working on a parallel universe, with competing proposals, up or down votes.”
Olympia Snowe (born 1947) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Andrea Mitchell's exclusive interview with Sen. Olympia Snowe" by Weesie Vieira (29 February 2012).
“We proved that with civility, common sense, building bridges, working with coalitions and working with people one at a time, we could do something. … I can speak for the middle. … The real issue is the system itself.”
Angus King (born 1944) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Former Gov. King announces he'll run for U.S. Senate" in The Portland Press Herald (6 March 2012)
“Today a host of foreigners unprecedented in number and unparalleled in character is living and working in Germary like a gigantic pump, the new German Reich is sucking in all it resources of Europe and masses of Europe's working population.”
Eugene M. Kulischer (1881–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Donald Trump has portrayed himself now consistently as fighting for the working people and he has a record of sticking it to working people for 35 years.”
Marco Rubio (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our homeland's enemies, the enemies of the working class movement all over the world are trying to penetrate into the PDPA leadership and above all woo the working class party leader but the people of Afghanistan and the PDPA both take great pride in the fact that the PDPA and its General-Secretary enjoys a great personality which render him impossible to woo.”
Hafizullah Amin (1929–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Beverley Male (1982) Revolutionary Afghanistan: A Reappraisal, page 167