Quote Queen

Lithograph showing a portrait of the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss at the age of 50 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Carl Friedrich Gauss – 1777 – Mathematician

“I have had my results for a long time:  but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them.”

Queen Juliana – 1909 – Royalty

“It must be a wonderful sport to contradict each other.”

Al Lewis – 1910 – Actor

“As long as you give it your best shot, even if in the opinion of others ‘you failed,’ you didn’t fail!”

Claude Shannon – 1916 – Mathematician

“Information is the resolution of uncertainty.”

Percy Heath – 1923 – Musician

“Jazz is letting everybody do his or her thing with the music.”

Cloris Leachman – 1926 – Actress

“I make fun wherever I go … If I go to a restaurant by myself, rest assured, people will be talking about it.  I always have a great deal of fun being with people.  It’s part of the journey.”

Willie Nelson – 1933 – Singer

“We create our own unhappiness.  The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we are the ones who cause it.”

Larry Niven – 1938 – Writer

“Everything starts as somebody’s daydream.”

Jill Clayburgh – 1944 – Actress

“I want to be an actress, not a personality.”

Annie Dillard – 1945 – Author

Publicity photo of Cloris Leachman from the television program Phyllis. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Spend the afternoon.  You can’t take it with you.”

Isaiah Thomas – 1961 – Athlete

“If all I’m remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I’ve done a bad job with the rest of my life.”

Kirsten Dunst – 1982 – Actress

“The real secret to gorgeousness is to believe in yourself, have self-confidence, and try to be secure in your decisions and thoughts.”

Lloyd Banks – 1982 – Musician

“If you stay in one place, you can only rap about one thing because that’s all you know.”

English: Duke Ellington, a famous jazz musician, poses with his piano at the KFG Radio Studio. KFG is Fitzsimons Army Medical Center’s radio station. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

William Randolph Hurst – 1863 – Publisher

“In suggesting gifts:  Money is appropriate and one size fits all.”

Thomas Beecham – 1879 – Composer

“Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty.  Magical music never leaves the memory.”

Duke Ellington – 1899 – Pianist and Band Leader

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”

Richard Carlson – 1912 – Author

“When you let someone else win an argument, often you both end up winners.”

George Allen, Sr. – 1918 – Coach

“Every day you waste is one you can never make up.”

Maurice Strong – 1929 – Businessman

“So, what we do as individuals matters.  It adds up.”

Rod McKuen – 1933 – Poet

“The gifts that one receives for giving are so immeasurable that it is almost an injustice to accept them.”

Otis Rush – 1934 – Musician

“A guy will promise you the world and give you nothin’, and that’s the blues.”

Andre Agassi (Photo credit: sarahinvegas)

Richard Kline – 1944 – Actor

“Confidence is preparation, everything  else is beyond your control.”

Dale Earnhardt – 1951 – Race Car Driver

“Second place is just the first place loser.”

David Icke – 1952 – Athlete

“The best way of removing negativity is to laugh and be joyous.”

Jerry Seinfeld – 1954 – Comedian

“I was the best man at the wedding.  If I’m the best man, why is she marrying him?”

Kate Mulgrew – 1955 – Actress

“Great writing is great writing.  It’s as simple as all that.”

Daniel Day-Lewis – 1957 – Actor

“Everybody has to know for themselves what they’re capable of.”

Michelle Pfeiffer – 1958 – Actress

“Somewhere along the line I made the switch and was able to look at the bright side rather than the dark side all the time.  Now I look at everything I have and think how lucky I am.”

Uma Thurman – 1970 – Actress

“I was not particularly bright, I wasn’t very attractive, I was a little too tall, odd, funny looking.  I was just really weird as a kid.”

Andre Agassi – 1970 – Athlete

“If you don’t practice you don’t deserve to win.”

Leo Tolstoy 1848 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

James Monroe – 1758 – 5th President of the United States

“A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue.”

Leo Tolstoy – 1828 – Author

“If you want to be happy, be.”

Karl Kraus – 1874 – Writer

“It is better not to express what one means than to express what one does not mean.”

Lionel Barrymore – 1878 – Actor

“Half the people in Hollywood are dying to be discovered and the other half are afraid they will be.”

Harper Lee – 1926 – Author

“Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.”

Diane Johnson – 1934 – Novelist

“A chaplain’s biggest gift is to be present and just listen.”

Jay Leno – 1950 – Television Talk Show Host

“How come aspirins  are packed in childproof containers, but bullets just come in a box?”

Kim Gordon – 1953 – Musician

“Anyone becomes mannered if you think too much about what other people think.”

Paul Guilfoyle – 1955 – Actor

“The real rub is finding that authentic self and it’s not something that’s going to come to you overnight.”

Hal Sutton – 1958 – Athlete

“We are reminded how short life really is, and how we are just passing through.  So, all the people you haven’t told you love lately, tell them, and live your days like you mean it.”

Thomas Perry – 1963 – Musician

English: American actor Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Being comfortable isn’t the way to learn to expand your abilities.”

Elisabeth Rohm – 1973 – Actress

“Better to just be real.  Show up and do your job and be a nice person.”

Penelope Cruz – 1974 – Actress

“My ambition is to be happy.”

Jessica Alba – 1981 – Actress

“My theory is that if you look confident you can pull off anything – even if you have no clue what you’re doing.”

English: Portrait photograph of President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mary Wollstonecraft – 1759 – Writer

“No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.”

Herbert Spencer – 1820 – Philosopher

“Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold.”

Ulysses S. Grant – 1822 – 18th President of the United States

“It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training.”

Edward Whymper – 1840 – Explorer

“Do nothing in haste, look well to each step, and from the beginning think what my be the end.”

Rogers Hornsby – 1896 – Athlete

“I don’t want to play golf.  When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it.”

C. Day Lewis – 1904 – Poet

“We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.”

Jack Klugman – 1922 – Actor

“Poverty can teach lessons privilege cannot.”

Coretta Scott King – 1927 – Civil Rights Leader

“Hate is too great a burden to bear.  It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anouk Aimee – 1932 – Actress

“It’s so much better to desire than to have.”

August Wilson – 1945 – Playwright

“All you need in the world is love and laughter.  That’s all anybody needs.  To have love in one hand and laughter in the other.”

Eric Schmidt – 1955 – Businessman

“We weren’t here to hope and hang on.  We wanted to win.”

John James Audubon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marcus Aurelius – 121 – Roman Soldier

“To live happily is an inward power of the soul.”

William Shakespeare – 1564 – Dramatist

“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Thomas Reid – 1710 – Philosopher

“The rules of navigation never navigated a ship.  The rules of architecture never built a house.”

John James Audubon – 1785 – Scientist

“A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.”

Eugene Delacroix – 1798 – Artist

“Do all the work you can; that is the whole philosophy of the good way of life.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein – 1889 – Philosopher

“A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion.”

Anita Loos – 1893 – Writer

“Fate keeps on happening.”

Cass Canfield – 1897 – Publisher

“A publisher should always be on the receiving end.  He should take an interest in almost any subject and remain anonymous, letting the author take center stage.”

Jet Li – Annual Meeting of the New Champions Tianjin 2008 (Photo credit: World Economic Forum)

Vincente Aleixandre – 1898 – Poet

“Poetry is a succession of questions which the poet constantly poses.”

Charles Richter – 1900 – Scientist

“I was lucky because logarithm plots are a device of the devil.”

James Rouse – 1914 – Businessman

“Profit is not the legitimate purpose of business.  The legitimate purpose of business is to provide a product or service that people need and do it so well that it’s profitable.”

Bernard Malamud – 1914 – Novelist

“A writer is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.”

Morris West – 1916 – Writer

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.”

Dorothy Salisbury Davis – 1916 – Writer

“Don’t sell your soul to buy peanuts for the monkeys.”

Enos Slaughter – 1916 – Athlete

“I learned early on to never walk while I was on the ball field.  I ran everywhere I went.”

Fanny Blankers Koen – 1918 – Athlete

“All I’ve done is run fast.  I don’t see why people should make much fuss about that.”

Carol Burnett – 1933 – Actress

“Only I can change my life.  No one can do it for me.”

Arno Penzias – 1933 – Scientist

“Change is rarely comfortable.”

Koo Stark – 1956 – Actress

“Being happy in your skin that’s what it’s all about.”

Joan Chen – 1961 – Actress

“If you know how to do a job very well, you keep doing it.”

Jet Li – 1963 – Actor

“A weapon isn’t good or bad, depends on the person who uses it.”

Kevin James – 1965 – Actor

“There’s no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on your lap.”

Debra Wilson – 1970 – Comedian

“I face every project the same way – do it right and give 110%.  100% isn’t good enough.”

Marc Andreesen – 1971 – Businessman

“In the startup world, you’re either a genius or an idiot.  You’re never just an ordinary guy trying to get through the day.”

English: Guglielmo Marconi about 1902. Deutsch: Guglielmo Marconi um 1902. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oliver Cromwell – 1599 – British Statesman and Soldier

“He who stops being better stops being good.”

John Keble – 1792 – Theologian

“Give us grace to listen well.”

Felix Klein – 1849 – Mathematician

“Everyone knows what a curve is, until he had studied enough mathematics to become confused through the countless number of possible exceptions.”

Guglielmo Marconi – 1874 – Scientist

“Every day sees humanity more victorious in the struggle with space and time.”

Edward R. Murrow – 1908 – Journalist

“People say conversation is a lost art; how often I have wished it were.”

Ella Fitzgerald – 1917 – Singer

“The only thing better than singing is more singing.”

Al Pacino – 1940 – Actor

“Fame is a perversion of the natural human instinct for attention.”

Jon Kyl – 1942 – Politician

“Real leadership means tackling tough problems ourselves and not leaving them to our children.”

Johan Cruijff – 1947 – Athlete

“I don’t want to be a thief of my own wallet.”

Dinesh D’Souza (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

James Fenton – 1949 – Poet

“The lullaby is the spell whereby the mother attempts to transform herself back from an ogre to a saint.”

Randy Cross – 1954 – Athlete

“The NFL, like life, is full of idiots.”

Dinesh D’Souza – 1961 – Author

“A bigot is simply a sociologist without credentials.”

Jane Clayson – 1967 – Journalist

“The most important job you’ll ever have is in the walls of your own home.”

Tim Duncan – 1976 – Athlete

“When you have to stop and think about things is when they go wrong.”

Renee Zellweger – 1969 – Actress

“I believe in love, but I don’t sit around waiting for it.  I buy houses.”

William Joyce (Photo credit: ALA – The American Library Association)

A. C. Benson – 1862 – Author

“I read the newspaper avidly.  It is my one form of continuous fiction.”

Elizabeth Goudge – 1900 – Writer

“Most of the basic truths of life sound absurd at first hearing.”

Willem de Kooning – 1904 – Artist

“The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.”

Robert Penn Warren – 1905 – Novelist

“The urge to write poetry is like having an itch.  When the itch becomes annoying enough, you scratch it.”

William Joyce – 1906 – Author

“If you really want to tell stories, do it and don’t be dissuaded.”

George Oppen – 1908 – Poet

“Truth, also is the pursuit of it.”

Clement Freud – 1924 – Writer

“If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and loving, you don’t actually live longer; it just seems longer.”

English: Screenshot of Barbra Streisand from the trailer for the film Hello, Dolly! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bridget Riley – 1931 – Artist

“Focusing isn’t just an optical activity, it is also a mental one.”

Shirley Mac Laine – 1934 – Actress

“The best way to get husbands to do something is to suggest that perhaps they are too old to do it.”

Sue Grafton – 1940 – Novelist

“Ideas are easy.  It’s the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.”

Barbra Streisand – 1942 – Singer

“Why does a woman work ten years to change a man’s habits and then complain that he’s not the man she married?”

Tony Visconti – 1944 – Musician

“It is easily overlooked that what is now called vintage was once brand new.”

Phil Robertson – 1946 – Celebrity

“In a subdivision you call 911.  At home, I AM 911.”

Lee Westwood – 1973 – Athlete

“You don’t win tournaments by playing well and thinking poorly.”

Sachin Tendulkar – 1973 – Athlete

“I have never tried to compare myself to anyone else.”

Kelly Clarkson – 1982 – Singer

“Everyone says I’m like the girl next door … Y’all must have really weird neighbors.”

English: Photograph of Chauncey Depew. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

James Buchanan – 1791 – 15th President of the United States

“The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men.”

Stephen Douglas – 1813 – Politician

“There are only two sides to this question.  Every man must be for the United States or against it.  There can be no neutrals in this war; only patriots and traitors.”

James Anthony Froude – 1818 – Historian

“Instruction does not prevent wasted time or mistakes; and mistakes themselves are often the best teachers of all.”

Chauncey Depew – 1834 – Politician

“The first steps towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.”

Edwin Markham – 1852 – Poet

“A good action is never lost; it is a treasure laid up and guarded for the doer’s need.”

Max Planck – 1858 – Scientist

“An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents:  What does happen is that the opponents gradually die out.”

Warren Spahn – 1921 – Athlete

“Hitting is timing.  Pitching is upsetting timing.”

J. P. Donleavy – 1926 – Dramatist

English: GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Writing is turning one’s worst moments into money.”

Shirley Temple – 1928 – Actress And Ambassador

“When I was 14, I was the oldest I ever was and I’ve been getting younger ever since.”

George Steiner – 1929 – Critic

“The ordinary man casts a shadow in a way we do not quite understand.  The man of genius casts light.”

Halston – 1932 – Designer (Roy Halston Frowick)

“Buzz and the right publicist are not only important but crucial in show business.”

Roy Orbison – 1936 – Musician

“I may be a living legend, but that sure don’t help when I’ve got to change a tire.”

Lee Majors – 1939 – Actor

“It’s being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of your opportunities.”

Willie Herenton – 1940 – Politician

“If the news isn’t there, don’t create it.”

Barry Hannah – 1942 – Novelist

“A man’s got do to what a man’s got to do.  A woman must do what he can’t.”

Ken Auletta – 1942 – Journalist

“Always point your finger at the chest of the person with whom you are being photographed.  You will appear dynamic.  And no photo editor can crop you from the picture.”

Bernadette Devlin – 1947 – Politician

“Yesterday I dared to struggle.  Today I dare to win.”

George Lopez – 1961 – Comedian

“When things are bad, it’s the best time to reinvent yourself.”

Daniela Hantuchova – 1983 – Athlete

“I started when I was six years old.  My first coach was my granny, she was the best player in Slovakia.”

Alexandra Kosteniuk – 1984 – Chess Player

“It’s now possible to play and take lessons from any place in the world.  The concept of physical distance doesn’t exist in the online world, and that is so cool.”

Henry Fielding (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Queen Isabella I – 1451 – Royalty

“The distance is great from the firm belief to the realization from concrete experience.”

Henry Fielding – 1707 – Novelist

“A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not.”

Immanuel Kant – 1724 – Philosopher

“If a man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.”

James Sullivan – 1744 – Politician

“Kids will reach whatever expectations you set for them.”

Anne Louise Germaine de Stael – 1766 – Author

“Wit consists in knowing the resemblance of things that differ, and the difference of things that are alike.”

Georg Hermes – 1775 – Theologian

“Death is like an arrow that is already in flight, and your life lasts only until it reaches you.”

Philip James Bailey – 1816 – Poet

“Imagination is the air of the mind.”

Vladimir Lenin – 1870 – Leader

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”

J. Robert Oppenheimer – 1904 – Physicist

“Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.”

English: J. Robert Oppenheimer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Eddie Albert – 1908 – Actor

“What’s the most important thing in the world?  It’s love, and I look at that as an energy, not a sentiment.”

Jan de Hartog – 1914 – Writer

“Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you cannot save the whole of mankind you have failed.”

Yehudi Menuhin – 1916 – Musician

“I can only think of music as something inherent in every human being – a birthright.  Music coordinates mind, body, and spirit.”

Donald Cram – 1919 – Scientist

“To retain my fascination with chemistry, I have had to change my research fields about every 10 years.”

Charles Mingus – 1922 – Musician

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”

Aaron Spelling – 1923 – Producer

“You know what shows today are missing?  Stars.”

Bettie Page – 1923 – Model

“I never kept up with the fashions.  I believe in wearing what I thought looked good on me.”

Charlotte Rae – 1926 – Actress

“I always learned to be philanthropic – to give back.”

Guillermo Cabrera Infante – 1929 – Novelist

“A very wise author once said that a writer writes for himself, and then publishes for money.  I write for myself and publish just for the reader.”

Issey Miyake – 1935 – Designer

“The purpose – where I start – is the idea of use.  It is not recycling, it’s reuse.”

Glen Campbell – 1936 – Musician

“I like to start the day early, it keeps me out of trouble.”

Jack Nicholson – 1937 – Actor

“I’ll tell you one thing:  Don’t ever give anybody your best advice, because they’re not going to follow it.”

Steve Fossett – 1944 – Aviator

“The good thing about flying solo is it’s never boring.”

Larry Elder – 1952 – Journalist

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

Willie Robertson – 1972 – Celebrity and Businessman

“I’ll show them it’s all Jase’s fault … I just got to figure out how …”

Queen of United Kingdom (as well as Canada, Australia, and other Commonwealth realms) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Catherine the Great – 1729 – Russian Royalty

“I praise loudly.  I blame softly.”

Charlotte Bronte – 1816 – Author

“Look twice before you leap.”

John Muir – 1838 – Environmentalist

“Keep close to Nature’s heart … and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.  Wash your spirit clean!”

Georgia Harkness – 1891 – Theologian

“The tendency to turn human judgment into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world.”

Rollo May – 1909 – Psychologist

“Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.”

Norman Parkinson – 1913 – Photographer

“The camera can be the most deadly weapon since the assassin’s bullet.  Or it can be the lotion of the heart.”

Anthony Quinn – 1915 – Actor

“I didn’t intend to become an actor.”

Garrett Hardin – 1915 – Environmentalist

“No one should be able to enter a wilderness by mechanical means.”

John Mortimer – 1923 – Novelist

“There is always time for failure.”

Queen Elizabeth II – 1926 – British Royalty

“Grief is the price we pay for love.”

Robert Brustein – 1927 – Educator

English: Andie MacDowell at the Cannes film festival (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The primary function of a theater is not to please itself, or even to please its audience.  It is to serve talent.”

Tom Flynn – 1931 – Celebrity

“Be sure you positively identify your target before you pull the trigger.”

Elaine May – 1932 – Director

“The only thing experience teaches you is what you can’t do.  When you start, you think you can do anything.  And then you start to get a little tired.”

Thomas H. Kean – 1935 – Politician

“Higher income taxes are a razor guillotine poised to descend on the bare neck of prosperity.”

James Dobson – 1936 – Psychologist

“Children are not casual guests in our home.  They have been loaned to us temporarily for the purpose of loving them and instilling a foundation of values on which their future lives will be built.”

Patti LuPone – 1949 – Musician

“Smile at a stranger.  See what happens.”

Tony Danza – 1951 – Actor

“Don’t try too hard to be young.  Be who you are.”

Andie MacDowell – 1958 – Actress

“I think women have an innate ability to be intuitive with the people that they truly love, but they have to trust that inner voice, and I think it is there.  I think we are more intuitive than men.”

Robert Smith – 1959 – Musician

“Refusing to grow up is like refusing to accept your limitations.  That’s why I don’t think we’ll ever grow up.”

Jerry Only – 1959 – Musician

“If you really want something you just hang with it.  We think our future’s ahead and not behind.”

Ed Belfour – 1965 – Professional Hockey Player

“I love proving people wrong.”

Michael Franti – 1967 – Musician

“Music has the power to bring people together like no other art form.”

Nicole Sullivan – 1970 – Actress

“Once you’re able to look like an idiot and be OK with it, it opens up your potential.”

Anwar Robinson – 1979 – Musician

“I’m trying to remain unfamous.”

James McAvoy – 1979 – Actor

“That’s the main thing that attracts me – characters who have big journeys.  I like playing those people.”