Quote Queen

Jacques Cartier – 1491 – Explorer

“I am inclined to believe that this is the land God gave to Cain.”

Hermon Boerhaave – 1668 – Scientist

“The great seal of truth is simplicity.”

Horace Smith – 1779 – Poet

“Inconsistency is the only thing in which men are consistent.”

Alexander Smith – 1830 – Poet

“Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.”

Henri Matisse – 1869 – Artist

“Creativity takes courage.”

Elizabeth Arden – 1878 – Businesswoman

“Every woman has the right to be beautiful.”

George C. Marshall – 1880 – Soldier

“When a thing is done, it’s done.  Don’t look back.  Look forward to your next objective.”

Anthony Hopkins – 1937 – Actor

“I’m one of the slowest drivers on the road.  I mosey along.  If you’re doing anything too fast, including living life too fast, that creates sudden death.  If I have to be somewhere on time, I make sure I leave early enough.”

John Denver – 1943 – Musician

“I don’t want to just entertain people.  I want to touch them.”

Connie Willis – 1945 – Writer

“I hate sequels.  They’re never as good as the first book.”

Diane von Furstenberg – 1946 – Designer

“Insecurity is a waste of time.”

Val Kilmer – 1959 – Actor

“Without deadlines and restrictions I just tend to become preoccupied with other things.”

Lance Reddick – 1962 – Actor

“Don’t be a victim; if you want to make movies, make movies.”

Nicholas Sparks – 1965 – Author

“I don’t know that love changes.  People change.  Circumstances change.”

Junot Diaz – 1968 – Writer

“Colleagues are a wonderful thing – but mentors, that’s where the real work gets done.”

Joey McIntyre – 1972 – Musician

“I don’t mind being the brunt of a joke, so long as it’s a good one.”

Patrick Chan – 1990 – Athlete

“Experience is a funny thing.  You don’t always have it when you need it.”

Gabby Douglas – 1995 – Athlete

“Gold medals are made out of your sweat, blood, and tears, and effort in the gym every day, and sacrificing a lot.”

William Alexander Henry – 1816 – Lawyer

“Look at an infantryman’s eyes and you can tell how much war he has seen.”

Rudyard Kipling – 1865 – Writer

“I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble.”

Stephen Leacock – 1869 – Economist

“Advertising:  the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.”

Paul Bowles – 1910 – Composer

“If people and their manner of living were alike everywhere, there would not be much point in moving from one place to another.”

W. Eugene Smith – 1918 – Photographer

“Passion is in all great searches and is necessary to all creative endeavors.”

Bo Diddley – 1928 – Musician (Ellas Otha Bates)

“Don’t let your mouth write a check that your tail can’t cash.”

Jack Lord – 1928 – Actor

“What you have, what you are – your looks, your personality, your way of thinking – is unique.  No one in the world is like you.  So capitalize on it.”

Sandy Koufax – 1925 – Athlete

“People who write about spring training not being necessary have never tried to throw a baseball.”

Michael Nesmith – 1942 – Musician

“There is a certain logic to events that pushes you along a certain path.  You go along the path that feels the most true, and most according to the principles that are guiding you, and that’s the way decisions are made.”

Davy Jones – 1945 – Musician

“Once you get into something so big, people think of you in one way.”

Patti Smith – 1946 – Musician

“The idea of redemption is always good news, even if it means sacrifice or some difficult times.”

Diego Della Valle – 1953 – Businessman

“When you work too much, you are boring – that is possible – But to have a happy life, if you can do several things in the correct way, that is perfect.”

Meredith Vieira – 1953 – Journalist

“All experience is good experience.”

Matt Lauer – 1957 – Celebrity

“It usually takes two people a little while to learn where the funny buttons are and testy buttons are.”

Tracey Ullman – 1959 – Comedian

“It’s sometimes shocking to find out what people really believe in.”

Sean Hannity – 1961 – Writer and Commentator

“I believe in faith, family and country.  I really keep it that simple.”

Tiger Woods – 1975 – Professional Golfer (Eldrick Tont Woods)

“Achievements on the golf course are not what matters, decency and honesty are what matters.”

Tyrese Gibson – 1978 – Actor

“You are the master of your own environment.  You’ve got your own head, your own mind.  So once you figure out what you want for yourself, you have to create the proper environment to make sure you can live out all the things you want.”

LeBron James – 1984 – Athlete

“I like criticism.  It makes you strong.”

Charles Goodyear – 1800 – Inventor

“A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps.”

Andrew Johnson – 1808 – 17th President of the United States

“Honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide.”

Albert Pike – 1809 – Lawyer

“A man should live with his superiors as he does with his fire:  not too near, lest he burn; not too far, lest he freeze.”

William Gladstone – 1809 – British Leader

“Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won’t have to hunt for happiness.”

Edward H. Chapin – 1814 – Clergyman

“Impatience never commanded success.”

Carmen Sylva – 1843 – Romanian Royalty

“Friendship based solely upon gratitude is like a photograph; with time it fades.”

James Patrick Murphy – 1919 – Journalist

“Show me a man who is a good loser and I’ll show you a man who is playing golf with his boss.”

William Gaddis – 1922 – Novelist

“Power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power.”

Mary Tyler Moore – 1936 – Actress

“Sometimes you have to get to know someone really well to realize you’re really strangers.”

Jon Voight – 1938 – Actor

“Democracy is an extraordinary adventure.  It’s difficult, full of daring and risk and danger.  But it’s the greatest gift we have.”

Marianne Faithfull – 1946 – Singer and Actress

“The way I choose to show my feelings is through my songs.”

Ted Danson – 1947 – Actor

“How much do you engage yourself in what’s truly real and important in life?  That’s the individual question.”

Gelsey Kirkland – 1952 – Ballet Dancer

“I danced with passion to spite the music.”

Paula Poundstone – 1959 – Comedian

“Adults are always asking kids what they want to be when they grow up because they are looking for ideas.”

Patricia Clarkson – 1959 – Actress

“I have to watch the news or my day is not complete.”

Jude Law – 1972 – Actor

“My only obligation is to keep myself and other people guessing.”

Katherine Moenning – 1977 – Actress

“Stage is about imperfections and working with them, whether it be from you or the audience.”

LaToya London – 1978 – Singer and Actress

“I think American Idol is a great career launcher.  A blessing for all of us.”

Woodrow Wilson – 1856 – 28th President of the United States

“A conservative is someone who makes no change and consults his grandmother when in doubt.”

Billy Mitchell – 1879 – Soldier

“With us air people, the nature of our nation is indissolubly bound up in the development of air power.”

Arthur Eddington – 1882 – Scientist

“Who will observe the observers?”

Mortimer Adler – 1902 – Philosopher

“Love without conversation is impossible.”

John von Neumann – 1902 – Mathematician

“There’s no sense in being precise when you don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

Sam Levenson – 1911- Author

“It’s so simple to be wise.  Just think of something stupid to say and say the opposite.”

Hildegard Knef – 1925 – Actress

“Success and failure are greatly overrated.  But failure gives you a whole lot more to talk about.”

Martin Milner – 1931 – Actor

“I was never a celebrity – just a working actor.”

Guy Debord – 1931 – Writer

“Quotations are useful in periods of ignorance or obscurantist beliefs.”

Manuel Puig – 1932 – Author

“I allow my intuition to lead my path.”

Maggie Smith – 1934 – Actress

“Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.”

Kary Mullis – 1944 – Scientist

“Science grows like a weed every year.”

Max Hastings – 1945 – Journalist

“I would be miserable if I went to bed without having written 1,000 words about something.”

Edgar Winter – 1946 – Musician

“Music is very powerful, it has the power to bring people together.”

Ray Knight – 1952 – Athlete

“Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary.”

Trip Hawkins – 1953 – Businessman

“If you always wanted to wait for something better, you’d never buy anything, right?”

Denzel Washington – 1954 – Actor

“You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too.  That’s a part of it.”

Chris Ware – 1967 – Artist

“Cartoons are not real drawings, because they are drawings intended to be read.”

Linus Torvalds – 1969 – Businessman

“Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.”

Sienna Miller – 1981 – Actress

“As I get older I’m more and more comfortable being alone.”

David Archuleta – 1990 – Musician

“Relationships are about helping motivate each other to be all that you can be.”

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Johannes Kepler – 1571 – Scientist

“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”

Arthur Murphy – 1727 – Writer

“Cheerfulness, sir, is the principle ingredient in the composition of health.”

Louis Pasteur – 1822 – Scientist

“Fortune favors the prepared mind.”

John Sergeant Wise – 1846 – Author

“America is good enough for us.”

Mina Loy – 1882 – Artist

“Life is only limited by our prejudices.  Destroy them, and you cease to be at the mercy of yourself.”

Carl Zuckmayer – 1896 – Playwright

“One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline – and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck.”

Marlene Dietrich – 1901 – Actress

“Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him, they do not like him.”

Oscar Levant – 1906 – Composer

“Happiness isn’t something you experience; it’s something you remember.”

Wilfrid Sheed – 1930 – Novelist

“One reason the human race has such a low opinion of itself is that it gets so much of its wisdom from writers.”

Meg Greenfield – 1930 – Editor

“Ninety percent of politics is deciding whom to blame.”

Adian Chambers – 1934 – Author

“I huff and puff and struggle with every sentence, paragraph and page – sometimes every word as well.”

Cokie Roberts – 1943 – Journalist

“As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school.”

Janet Street-Porter – 1946 – Journalist

“Stress is a designer ailment that many of the so-called afflicted suffer from with pride.”

David Knopfler – 1952 – Musician

“Trust the tale, not the teller.”

Kevin Patterson – 1964 – Writer

“Solitude sharpens awareness of small pleasures otherwise lost.”

Salman Khan – 1965 – Actor

“In life go straight and turn right.”

Eva La Rue – 1966 – Actress

“If somebody has never been married, they don’t know compromise.”

Sarah Vowell – 1969 – Author

“What are you hiding?  No one ever asks that.”

Lily Cole – 1987 – Actress

“Don’t overpluck your eyebrows.  A make-up artist told me this once, and I’ve always remembered it.”

Hayley Williams – 1988 – Musician

“Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you stand.”

Thomas Gray – 1716 – Poet

“Where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise.”

Charles Babbage – 1792 – Mathematician

“In mathematics we have long since drawn the rein, and given over a hopeless race.”

Dion Boucicault – 1822 – Dramatist

“Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.”

Julien Benda – 1867 – Philosopher

“Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war but on the love of peace.”

Norman Angell – 1872 – Writer

“The greatest service we can do to the common man is to abolish him and make all men uncommon.”

Henry Miller – 1891 – Author

“The one thing we can never get enough of is love.  And the one thing we never give enough is love.”

Jean Toomer – 1894 – Author

“People mistake their limitations for high standards.”

Elizabeth David – 1913 – Writer

“Everyday holds the possibility of a miracle.”

Richard Widmark – 1914- Actor

“You have to compromise all the way.  The only thing that counts is the result.”

Steve Allen – 1921 – Entertainer

“One of the nice things about problems is that a good many of them do not exist except in our imaginations.”

Richard Artschwager – 1923 – Artist

“There isn’t any art until some creature sees and consumes it.  And has a reaction.”

Alan King – 1927 – Comedian

“Marriage is nature’s way of keeping is from fighting with strangers.”

Phil Spector – 1940 – Businessman

“Love is an obsessive delusion that is cured by marriage.”

John Walsh – 1945 – Activist

“One missing child is one too many.”

Joyce Jillson – 1946 – Celebrity

“There are times not to flirt.  When you’re sick.  When you’re with children.  When you’re on the witness stand.”

Carlton Fisk – 1947 – Athlete

“It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome.  That’s what defines your career.”

Candy Crowley – 1948 – Journalist

“Don’t plan too hard because something much better might be out there.”

John Scofield – 1951 – Musician

“I have to work at tunes to get them to come out.  Sometimes I’ll sit there for four or five hours and get absolutely nothing.”

Ozzie Smith – 1954 – Athlete

“We hope there is a sense of purpose in everything.”

David Sedaris – 1956 – Writer

“I haven’t got the slightest idea of how to change people, but I still keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.”

Jim Toomey – 1960 – Cartoonist

“Sometimes making a story is as easy as putting two characters in a room and seeing what happens.  So, imagine a great white shark and a giant squid in the same bathroom.”

Chris Daughtry – 1979 – Musician

“You have to think there’s a reason for everything.  When a door closes another door opens.”

Orlando Gibbons – 1583 – Composer

“It is proportion that beautifies everything, the whole universe consists of it, and music is measured by it.”

Angelus Silesius – 1624 – Poet

“The Rose is without an explanation; She blooms, because She blooms.”

Sir Isaac Newton – 1642 – Scientist, Philosopher, and Theologian

“We build too many walls and not enough bridges.”

William Collins – 1721 – Poet

“Always mistrust a subordinate who never finds fault with his superiors.”

Clara Barton – 1821 – Nurse and Public Servant 

“I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man’s work for less than a man’s pay.”

Helena Rubenstein – 1870 – Businesswoman

“There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.”

Conrad Hilton – 1887 – Businessman

“Success seems to be connected with action.  Successful people keep moving.  They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”

Lila Acheson Wallace – 1889 – Publisher

“A painting is like a man.  If you can live without it, then there isn’t much point in having it.”

Humphrey Bogart – 1899 – Actor

“Things are never so bad they can’t be made worse.”

Cab Calloway – 1907 – Musician (Cabell Calloway)

“My audience was my life.  What I did and how I did it, was all for my audience.”

Rod Sterling – 1924 – Writer

“There are weapons that are simply thoughts.  For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy.”

Anne Roiphe – 1935 – Journalist

“A woman whose smile is open and whose expression is glad has a kind of beauty no matter what she wears.”

Jimmy Buffett – 1946 – Musician

“It takes no more time to see the good side of life than it takes to see the bad.”

Sissy Spacek – 1949 – Actress

“Fame sweeps you away.  I had to go home every six months to remember who I am.”

Annie Lennox – 1954 – Musician

“Ask yourself:  Have you been kind today?  Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world.”

Rickey Henderson – 1958 – Athlete

“Once you can accept failure, you can have fun and success.”

Michael P. Anderson – 1959 – Astronaut

“When you launch in a rocket, you’re not really flying that rocket.  You’re just sort of hanging on.”

Saint Ignatius – 1491 – Saint

“Teach us to give and not to count the cost.”

William Warburton – 1698 – Critic

“Enthusiasm is that temper of the mind in which the imagination has got the better of judgment.”

Benjamin Rush – 1745 – Scientist

“Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.”

George Crabbe – 1754 – Poet

“Better to love amiss than nothing to have loved.”

Kit Carson – 1809 – Explorer (Christopher Houston Carson)

“In camp was found a book, the first of the kind I had ever seen, in which I was made a great hero, slaying Indians by the hundreds.”

Eliza Cook – 1818 – Poet

“How cruelly sweet are the echoes that start, When memory plays an old tune on the heart.”

Matthew Arnold – 1822 – Poet

“Resolve to be thyself:  and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery.”

Juan Ramon Jimenez – 1881 – Poet

“If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.”

Harry Warren – 1893 – Composer

“You don’t have to know anything about music to understand what I write.  Mine are simple melodies.”

Georges Guynemer – 1894 – Aviator

“If one has not given everything, one has given nothing.”

Howard Hughes – 1905 – Businessman

“Money can’t buy happiness.”

Ava Gardner – 1922 – Actress

“I think the main reason my marriages failed is that I always loved too well but never wisely.”

Mary Higgins Clark – 1927 – Author

“If you want to be happy for life, love what you do.”

Nicholas Meyer – 1945 – Writer

“Art doesn’t just happen by accident.  It is about pulling out new tricks and trying new things.”

Kate Spade – 1962 – Designer

“I love lamps.  I can’t stand overhead lighting, I have to have everything on a dimmer.”

Mark Millar – 1969 – Writer

“Artists, no matter how good their intentions, are always slower than they think.”

Stephanie Meyer – 1973 – Author

“It’s easier to come up with new stories than it is to finish the ones you already have.  I think every author would feel that way.”

Ryan Seacrest – 1974 – Entertainer

“Failure?  Scared to death of it.”

Samuel Smiles – 1812 – Author

“He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.”

William Henry Moody – 1853 – Politician

“The very air in which you live is an inspiration.”

Norman Maclean – 1902 – Author

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”

Yousuf Karsh – 1908 – Photographer

“Look and think before opening the shutter.  The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.”

Robert Bly – 1926 – Poet

“It is surely a great calamity for a human being to have no obsessions.”

Harry Shearer – 1943 – Actor

“I am one of those people who thrive on deadlines, nothing bring on inspiration more readily than desperation.”

Graham Hawkes – 1947 – Designer

“I don’t have to be smarter than anybody else.  I’ve just plain worked harder and longer than anybody else.”

Bill Rodgers – 1947 – Athlete

“I always say if the marathon is a part-time interest, you will only get part-time results.”

Susan Lucci – 1947 – Actress

“You know what my greatest personal stumbling block is?  My shyness.”

Adrian Belew – 1949 – Musician

“My favorite puzzle is trying to work out the parts myself, after all it is a solo effort.”

Carol Ann Duffy – 1955 – Poet

“Every day is a gift with a child, no matter what problems you have.”

Donna Taft – 1963 – Novelist

“The storytelling gift is innate:  one has it or one doesn’t – But style is at least partly a learned thing:  one refines it by looking and listening and reading and practice – by work.”

Eddie Vedder – 1964 – Musician

“The best revenge is to live on and prove yourself.”

Corey Haim – 1971 – Actor

“You are what you wear.  I wear something different every day.”

Jean Racine – 1639 – Dramatist

“There are no secrets that time does not reveal.”

Abigail Adams – 1744 – First Lady, Wife of President John Adams

“Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands.  Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.”

Charles Stuart Calverley – 1831 – Poet

“I know you’ve been married to the same woman for 69 years.  That is marvelous.  It must be very expensive.”

Hale White – 1831 – Writer

“A true knowledge of ourselves is knowledge of our power.”

Frank B. Kellogg – 1856 – Politician

“It is not to be expected that human nature will change in a day.”

Giacomo Puccini – 1858 – Composer

“Inspiration is an awakening, a quickening of all man’s faculties, and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements.”

Connie Mack – 1862 – Businessman

“I guess more players lick themselves than are ever licked by an opposing team.  The first thing any man has to know is how to handle himself.”

Bainbridge Colby – 1869 – Public Servant

“Americanism demands loyalty to the teacher and respect for his lesson.”

Edwin Arlington Robinson – 1869 – Poet

“Love must have wings to fly away from love, and to fly back again.”

Andre Gide – 1869 – Novelist

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Edgard Varese – 1883 – Composer

“Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs.”

Andre Kostelanetz – 1901 – Composer

“One of the greatest sounds of them all – and to me it is a sound – is utter, complete silence.”

Haldan Keffer Hartline – 1903 – Scientist

“One works in one’s laboratory – one’s chaotic laboratory – with students and colleagues, doing what one most wants to do – then all this happens!  It is overwhelming.”

Kenneth Rexroth – 1905 – Poet

“Man thrives where angels would die of ecstasy and where pigs would die of disgust.”

Lady Bird Johnson – 1912 – First Lady, Wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson (Claudia Alta Taylor)

“A first lady is an unpaid public servant elected by one person – her husband.”

Barbara Billingsley – 1915 – Actress

“Don’t think your dreams don’t come true, because they do.  You’d better be careful what you wish for.  And I truly and honestly – one day I am doing the ‘Beaver’ show and I said, ‘This is the show I have always wanted to do.'”

Dan Devine – 1924 – Coach

“A team is a team is a team.  Shakespeare said that many times.”

Hector Elizondo – 1936 – Actor

“Which reminds me of a fortune cookie:  you often find your destiny on the path you take to avoid it.”

Chris Bunch – 1943 – Writer

“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

Steve Carlton – 1944 – Professional Baseball Pitcher

“The final release point for the fastball is the tips of your fingers.”

Diane Sawyer – 1945 – Journalist

“Great questions make great reporting.”

Steve Garvey – 1948 – Professional Baseball Player

“The difference between the old ballplayer and the new ballplayer is the jersey.  The old ballplayer cared about the name of the front.  The new ballplayer cares about the name on the back.”

Ralph Fiennes – 1962 – Actor

“One of the things that binds us as a family is a shared sense of humor.”