Quote Queen

The author Zane Gray was a member of Penn’s varsity baseball team in 1895 and 1896 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Zane Grey – 1872 – Novelist

“People live for the dream in their hearts.  And I have yet to know anyone who has not some secret dream, some hope, however dim, some storied wall to look at in the dusk, some painted window leading to the soul.”

Eddie Cantor – 1892 – Singer

“Slow down and enjoy life.  It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

Freya Stark – 1893 – Adventurer

“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.”

Tallulah Bankhead – 1908 – Actress

“If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.”

Thomas Merton – 1915 – Monk
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

Jackie Robinson – 1918 – Baseball Player

“The way I figured it, I was even with baseball and baseball with me.  The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.”

Carol Channing – 1921 – Singer

“Laughter is much more important than applause.  Applause is almost a duty.  Laughter is a reward.”

Promotional photo of Tallulah Bankhead. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mario Lanza – 1921 – Singer

“I sing from the heart … I sing the words of a song and really feel them, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.”

Norman Mailer – 1923 – Author

“Growth, in some curious way, I suspect, depends on being always in motion just a little but, one way or another.”

Ernie Banks – 1931 – Baseball Player

“You must try to generate happiness within yourself.  If you aren’t happy in one place, chances are you won’t be happy anyplace.”

Philip Glass – 1937 – Composer

“What I’ve noticed is that people who love what they do, regardless of what that might be, tend to live longer.”

Nolan Ryan – 1947 – Baseball Player

“Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt.  Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.”

Minnie Driver – 1970 – Actress

“Nothing is impossible, with the right attitude you can do anything you want.  It’s all about choosing to be positive instead of being negative about things.”

Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Franklin D. Roosevelt – 1882 – 32nd President of the United States

“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Barbara W. Tuchman – 1912 – Author

“Books are humanity in print.”

Lloyd Alexander – 1924 – Author

“We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”

Douglas Engelbart – 1925 – Inventor

“The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.”

Ruth Brown – 1928 – Musician

“A fox is a wolf who sends flowers.”

Gene Hackman – 1930 – Actor

“The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.”

Vanessa Redgrave – 1937 – Actress

“Integrity is so perishable in the summer months of success.”

Richard B. Cheney – 1941 – Vice President of the United States

“Direct threats require decisive action.”

Tim Sample – 1951 – Comedian

“In Maine, there is a deeply ingrained sense that you can always get a little more use out of something.”

Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Payne Stewart – 1957 – Golfer

“I don’t think it’s healthy to take yourself too seriously.”

Dexter Scott King – 1961 – Actor

“People will judge you according to your own convictions.”

Christian Bale – 1974 – Actor

“It’s not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me.”

Wilmer Valderrama – 1980 – Actor

“Because I had an accent, people had this impression that I was dumb.”

Thia Megia – 1995 – Musician

“Feeling emotionally connected to a song, and energy to sing out to the audience is what I believe makes a great performance.”

Emanuel Swedenborg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Emanuel Swedenborg – 1688 – Scientist

“Love consists in desiring to give what is our own to another and feeling his delight as our own.”

Lord Amherst -1717 – Soldier

“There are three easy ways of losing money – racing is the quickest, women the most pleasant, and farming the most certain.”

Thomas Paine – 1737 – Activist

“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”

William McKinley – 1843 – 25th President of the United States

“In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be nearest.”

Anton Chekhov – 1860 – Dramatist

“Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day to day living that wears you out.”

Frederick Delius – 1862 – Composer

“There is only one real happiness in life, and that is the happiness of creating.”

Romain Rolland – 1866 – Novelist

“A hero is a man who does what he can.”

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. – 1874 – Businessman

“Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.”

W. C. Fields – 1880 – Comedian

English: Anton Chekhov (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“You can’t trust water.  Even a straight stick turns crooked in it.”

Victor Mature – 1913 – Actor

“Hollywood is a place where the stars twinkle until they wrinkle.”

John Forsythe – 1918 – Actor

“Part of my strength as an actor comes from what I’ve learned all these years:  when you play a villain, you try to get the light touches; when you play a hero, you try to get in some of the warts.”

Edward Abbey – 1927 – Author

“Society is like a stew.  If you don’t stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.”

Abdus Salam – 1936 – Scientist

“Scientific thought and its creation is the common and shared heritage of mankind.”

Tom Selleck – 1945 – Actor

“If you buy an expensive thing and you never use it, I don’t think there’s a point to it.”

Oprah Winfrey – 1954 – Celebrity

“Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”

Matthew Ashford – 1960 – Actor

“Actors worry about bad breath, weight, receding hairlines and why their leading lady looks like their daughter.”

Paul Ryan – 1970 – Politician

“Borrowing and spending is not the way to prosperity.”

Heather Graham – 1970 – Actress

“I admire those people who hold on to their elegance in old age but I’d rather have fun.”

Sara Gilbert – 1975 – Actress

“The best thing about being an actress is getting good concert tickets.”

Jonny Lang – 1981 – Musician

“Yeah, touring can get rough some times and draining, but I always have to pinch myself and realize that I’m doing what I love.”

Natalie du Toit – 1984 – Athlete

“It doesn’t matter if you look different.  You’re still the same as everybody else because you have the same dream.”

Writer Colette (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Alexander Mackenzie – 1822 – Statesman

“Logic, sometimes has very little to do with political action.”

Charles Gordon – 1833 – Military Leader

“If you tell the truth, you have infinite power supporting you; but if not, you have infinite power against you.”

Jose Marti – 1853 – Activist

“Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity.”

Sidonie Gabrielle Colette – 1873 – Novelist

“Be happy.  It’s one way of being wise.”

Artur Rubinstein – 1887 – Pianist

“I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.”

Henry Cotton – 1907 – Golfer

“Imagine the ball has little legs, and chop them off.”

Jackson Pollock – 1912 – Artist

“Painting is self-discovery.  Every good artist paints what he is.”

Sarah McLachlan (Photo credit: SFU Public Affairs and Media Relations)

Alan Alda – 1936 – Actor

“Listening is a willingness to let the other person change you.”

Ken Hill – 1937 – Playwright

“Minds are like flowers.  If you let it sit there without soaking anything up, it will dry out.”

Robert Wyatt – 1945 – Musician

“Being big and famous doesn’t get you more freedom, it gets you less.”

Frank Darabont – 1959 – Director

“Visual storytelling of one kind or another has been around since cavemen were drawing on the walls.”

Sam Phillips – 1962 – Businessman

“If you’re not doing something different, you’re not doing anything.”

Sarah McLachlan – 1968 – Musician

“We’re constantly being told what other people think we are, and that’s why it is so important to know yourself.”

Mo Rocca – 1969 – Comedian

“Hypocrisy is great fodder for comedy.”

Elijah Wood – 1981 – Actor

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men.  True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s compositions characterized music of the classical era. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – 1756 – Musician

“To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.”

Lewis Carroll – 1832 – Author (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson )

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

Edward J. Smith – 1850 – Captain of the Titanic

“I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder.  I cannot …”

Samuel Gompers – 1850 – Labor Leader

“You can’t do it unless you organize.”

Hyman Rickover – 1900 – Military Leader

“Success teachers us nothing; only failure teaches.”

Donna Reed  – 1921 – Actress

“When you handle yourself, use your head; when you handle others, use your heart.”

John Witherspoon – 1942 – Comedian

“Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.”

Mikhail Baryshnikov – 1948 – Dancer

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else.  I only try to dance better than myself.”

Patton Oswalt – 1969 – Comedian

English: Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) albumen print, 2 June 1857, 5 1/2 in. x 4 5/8 in. (140 mm x 117 mm). Purchased with help from Kodak Ltd, 1973. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I want to experience as many different tastes, sights, emotions, conflicts, and cultures as possible, so that I can expand the canvas of my memory and enrich my comedy.”

English: Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant (Julia Dent Grant), head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Julia Grant – 1826 – Wife of President Ulysses Grant

“The sun shines always there for me.”

Mary Mapes Dodge – 1831 – Author

“What a dreadful thing it must be to have a dull father.”

Douglas MacArthur – 1880 – General in United States Army

“Age wrinkles the body.  Quitting wrinkles the soul.”

Maria von Trapp – 1905 – Singer

“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.”

Bear Bryant – 1913 – Football Player

“It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.”

Akio Morita – 1921 – Businessman

“Don’t be afraid to make a mistake.  But make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice.”

Paul Newman – 1925 – Actor

“Acting is a question of absorbing other people’s personalities and adding some of your own experience.”

Bob Uecker – 1935 – Athlete

Maria von Trapp (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Sporting companies pay me not to endorse their products.”

Jack Youngblood – 1950 – Athlete

“Good luck is a residue of preparation.”

Eddie Van Halen – 1955 – Musician

“It’s always a Catch-22 situation.  They hate you if you’re the same, and they hate you if you’re different.”

Ellen DeGeneres – 1958 – Comedian

“My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty.  She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where she is.”

Anita Baker – 1958 – Singer

“I’m picking and choosing in terms of the stress factor.  If it’s not fun, I’m not going to do it.”

Wayne Gretzky – 1961 – Hockey Player

“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”

Daryn Kagan – 1963 – Journalist

“Bad things do happen in the world, like war, natural disasters, disease.  But out of those situations always arise stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”