Quote Queen

Joe Namath was the quarterback for the 1968 AFC champion New York Jets, the first AFL team to win the Super Bowl. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud – 1753 – Statesman

“When justice has spoken, humanity must have its turn.”

Horatio Seymour – 1810 – Politician

“The merit of our Constitution was, not that it promoted democracy, but checks it.”

Walt Whitman – 1819 – Poet

“Be curious, not judgmental.”

Walter Sickert – 1860 – Artist

“You must come again when you have less time.”

Phyllis Bottome – 1884 – Novelist

“There are two ways of meeting difficulties:  you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meeting them.”

Fred Allen – 1894 – Comedian (John Florence Sullivan)

“A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.”

Norman Vincent Peale – 1898 – Author

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”

Henry M. Jackson – 1912 – Politician

“The best politics is no politics.”

Judith Wright – 1915 – Poet

“Feelings or emotions are the universal language and are to be honored.  They are the authentic expression of who you are at your deepest place.”

Edward Bennett Williams – 1920 – Lawyer

“I will defend anyone as long as the client gives me total control of the case and pays up front.”

Clint Eastwood – 1930 – Actor

“I don’t believe in pessimism.  If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge ahead.  If you think it’s going to rain, it will.”

Johnny Paycheck – 1938 – Musician

Brooke Shields (Microscopic photo of original celluloid) (Photo credit: an0nym0n0us)

“Always go hard and fast enough so that when you hit the ditch you can pull out the other side.”

Terry Waite – 1939 – Author

“Sometimes the wheels of justice grind slowly.”

John S. Herrington – 1939 – Politician

“There are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond our reach.”

Joe Namath – 1943 – Athlete

“To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where he’s going.”

Sharon Gless – 1943 – Actress

“I’ve come to learn that there is a real difference between men and women.  It’s genetic.”

Bernard Goldberg – 1945 – Writer

“The evening news is a concept whose time has come and gone.”

Tom Berenger – 1949 – Actor

“Around mid-life everyone goes manic a little bit.”

Corey Hart – 1962 – Musician

“Wearing sunglasses at night hurts your eyes after a while.”

Brooke Shields – 1965 – Actress

“Don’t waste a minute not being happy.  If one window closes, run to the next window – or break down a door.”

Phil Keoghan – 1967 – Celebrity

“With any good story, you need the adversary, the heroes and villains.  You need a good mixture to make it work.”

Colin Farrell – 1976 – Actor

“Being Irish is very much a part of who I am.  I take it everywhere with me.”

Photo of actor Mel Blanc (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Alfred Austin – 1835 – Poet

“Public opinion is no more than this:  what people think that other people think.”

Randolph Bourne – 1886 – Writer

“Friendships are fragile things, and require as much handling as any other fragile and precious thing.”

Irving Thalberg – 1899 – Producer

“Credit you give yourself is not worth having.”

Cornelia Otis Skinner – 1901 – Actress

“One learns in life to keep silent and draw one’s own confusions.”

Mel Blanc – 1908 – Actor

“That’s all folks!”

Benny Goodman – 1909 – Musician

“Sometimes when you start losing detail, whether it’s in music or in life, something as small as failing to be polite, you start to lose substance.”

Hal Clement – 1922 – Writer

“Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there, you’ve only found a superstition.  If you test it, you’ve started a science.”

Clint Walker – 1927 – Actor

“That TV box has a tremendous capacity to reach people.”

Agnes Varda – 1928 – Director

“Hands are the tool of the painter, the artist.”

Gale Sayers – 1943 – Athlete

Wynonna is welcomed with warm applause as she arrives on stage for A Christmas Classic tour. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I don’t care to be remembered as the man who scored six touchdowns in a game.  I want to be remembered as a winner in life.”

Kim Weston – 1953 – Photographer

“I think all photographers fit their vision to their personality.”

Jake Roberts – 1955 – Celebrity

“Every moment is an experience.”

Ted McGinley – 1958 – Actor

“You have to like the characters you play.”

Wynonna Judd – 1964 – Musician

“I learned again that the mind – body – spirit connection has to be in balance.”

Stephen Malkmus – 1966 – Musician

“A good voice isn’t so important.  It’s more important to sound really unique.”

Steven Gerrard – 1980 – Athlete

“I’m a fan myself and I’m frustrated just as much as them when we get beat.”

Bob Hope (Photo credit: twm1340)

Patrick Henry – 1736 – Patriot, Lawyer, and Speaker

“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.”

G. K. Chesterton – 1874 – Writer (Gilbert Keith Chesterton)

“There is a great deal of difference between the eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants to read a book.”

Oswald Spengler – 1880 – Philosopher

“Socialism is nothing but capitalism of the lower class.”

Beatrice Lillie – 1894 – Actress

“I was born because my mother needed a fourth for meals.”

Bob Hope – 1903 – Comedian (Leslie Townes Hope)

“A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.”

T. H. White – 1906 – Writer

“The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to watch someone else doing it wrong, without commenting.”

John F. Kennedy – 1917 – 35th President of the United States

“Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.”

Paul R. Ehrlich – 1932 – Scientist

“To err is human, but to really foul thing up you need a computer.”

English: Paul R. Ehrlich (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Charles W. Pickering – 1937 – Judge
“A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant, and respectful.”

Al Unser – 1939 – Race Car Driver

“Dad taught me everything I know.  Unfortunately, he didn’t teach me everything he knows.”

Maurice Bishop – 1944 – Politician

“Forward ever, backward never.”

Jerry Moran – 1954 – Politician

“I am convinced that success is not measured by what you get out of life, but by what you give back.”

Ted Levine – 1958 – Actor

“Good comedy is ageless.”

Annette Bening – 1958 – Actress

“Acting is not about being famous, it’s about exploring the human soul.”

Melissa Etheridge – 1961 – Singer and Songwriter

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to be a certain way.  Be unique.  Be what you feel.”

Eric Davis – 1962 – Athlete

“I don’t listen to what people say about me and I don’t read what they write about me.  People can compare me to anyone they want to, but I’m not going to worry about it.”

Lisa Whelchel – 1963 – Actress

“There’s something about childhood friends that you just can’t replace.”

Noel Gallagher – 1967 – Musician

“We’re not arrogant, we just believe we’re the best band in the world.”

Aaron McGruder – 1974 – Artist

“Once you give up rights, they’re not going to give them back.”

Melaine Brown – 1975 – Musician

“I live on my gut instinct.”

English: Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

William Pitt – 1759 – British Leader

“Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged heart.”

Thomas Moore – 1779 – Poet

“Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills, or abilities – that’s training or instruction – but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed.”

Louis Agassiz – 1807 – Scientist

“I cannot afford to waste my time making money.”

Ian Fleming – 1908 – Writer and Journalist

“A horse is dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle.”

Walker Percy – 1916 – Writer

“You can get all A’s and still flunk life.”

C. Wright Mills – 1916 – Sociologist

“Prestige is the shadow of money and power.”

Barry Commoner – 1917 – Scientist

“If you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you are looking the wrong way.”

Lou Duva – 1922 – Coach

“It’s hard to start from the bottom.”

Jerry West – 1938 – Artist

“Confidence is a lot of this game or any game.  If you don’t think you can, you won’t.”

Gladys Knight – 1944 – Musician

“I don’t regret any decisions I’ve made in  my life.”

Rudy Giuliani – 1944 – Politician

“Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.”

Lynn Johnston – 1947 – Cartoonist

Picture of Rudy Giuliani (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Complaining is good for you as long as you’re not complaining to the person you’re complaining about.”

Mark Sanford – 1960 – Politician

“In not my, but our collective hands, is held the promise of change.”

Roland Gift – 1962 – Actor

“It’s better to burn brightly for half as long than to be a dim lingering light.”

Luke Ford – 1966 – Writer

“Everything we do affects other people.”

Marco Rubio – 1971 – Politician

“Even today with the problems that we face, who would you rather be?  Which country would you trade places with?”

Ekaterina Gordeeva – 1971 – Athlete

“Family is always the most important part.”

Julia Ward Howe, half-length portrait, facing front (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cornelius Vanderbilt – 1794 – Businessman

“I don’t care half so much about making money as I do about making my point, and coming out ahead.”

Julia Ward Howe – 1819 – Activist

“I shall stick to my resolution of writing always what I think no matter whom it offends.”

John Kendrick Bangs – 1862 – Author

“I can’t tell a lie – not even one I hear.”

Arnold Bennett – 1867 – Novelist

“A first-rate organizer is never in a hurry.  He is never late.  He always keeps up his sleeve a margin for the unexpected.”

Georges Rouault – 1871 – Artist

“For me, painting is a way to forget life.  It is a cry in the night, a strangled laugh.”

Frank Woolley – 1887 – Athlete

“I was not depressed when they got me out.  I have always taken my dismissals as part of the game.”

Louis-Ferdinand Celine – 1894 – Writer

“Experience is a dim lamp, which only lights the one who bears it.”

Peter Marshall – 1902 – Clergyman

“It is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail.”

Frank S. Nugent – 1908 – Journalist

“Never apologize, mister.  It’s a sign of weakness.”

Hubert H. Humphrey – 1911 – Vice President of the United States

“Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law.”

Vincent Price – 1911 – Actor

“A man who limits his interests, limits his life.”

Sam Snead – 1912 – Athlete

Henry Kissinger. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Correct one fault at a time.  Concentrate on the one fault you want to overcome.”

John Cheever – 1912 – Writer

“The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one’s life and discover one’s usefulness.”

Herman Wouk – 1915 – Novelist

“Write a page a day.  It will add up.”

Henry A. Kissinger – 1923 – Statesman

“A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.”

Tony Hillerman – 1925 – Author

“You write for two people, yourself and your audience, who are usually better educated and at least as smart.”

John Barth – 1930 – Novelist

“More history is made by secret hand shakes than by battles, bills, and proclamations.”

Harlan Ellison – 1934 – Writer

“The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.”

Lee Meriwether – 1935 – Actress

“Basically, nice guys can finish last.”

Zahi Hawass – 1947 – Scientist

“Anyone can like their job … To love your job is not enough, you must give your passion to your job.”

Alma Guillermoprieto – 1949 – Journalist

“There is no point to samba if it doesn’t make you smile.”

Todd Bridges – 1965 – Actor

“No matter how well you do, no matter how successful you are, they’re always going to criticize you.”

Sean Kinney – 1966 – Musician

“There’s nothing worse than talking about yourself to find out that you’re not that interesting.”

Joseph Fiennes – 1970 – Actor

“I don’t know what my limitations are until I reach them.  I look for the challenges.”

Mary Wortley Montague (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mary Wortley Montagu – 1689 – Writer

“Civility costs nothing, and buys everything.”

Edmond De Goncourt – 1822 – Writer

“A poet is a man who puts up a ladder to a star and climbs it while playing a violin.”

Maxwell Bodenheim – 1891 – Poet

“Poetry is the impish attempt to paint the color of the wind.”

Dorothea Lange – 1895 – Photographer

“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.”

John Wayne – 1907 – Actor (Marion Robert Morrison)

“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life.  Comes into us at midnight very clean.  It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands.  It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.”

Robert Morley – 1908 – Actor

“If people take the trouble to cook, you should take the trouble to eat.”

J. Irwin Miller – 1909 – Businessman

“I would be a poorer person if the only things I knew were what I had found out for myself.”

Miles Davis – 1926 – Musician

“A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do.  I’m still doing it.”

Brent Musburger – 1939 – Celebrity

“Nothing dissects a man in public quite like golf.”

Glenn Turner – 1947 – Athlete

“Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.”

Stevie Nicks – 1948 – Musician

Helena Bonham Carter at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival promoting Curse of the Wererabbit. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I am pretty fearless, and you know why?  Because I don’t handle fear very well;  I’m not a good terrified person.”

Sally Ride – 1951 – Astronaut

“All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.”

Lenny Kravitz – 1964 – Musician

“For the last few years, it’s been so chic for everybody to be miserable.  Like if you’re in with the cool crowd, you can’t be happy.”

Helena Bonham Carter – 1966 – Actress

“All the ancient classic fairy tales have always been scary and dark.”

Lauryn Hill – 1975 – Musician

“Be honest, brutally honest. That is what’s going to maintain relationships.”

Ralph Walso Emerson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Mason Good – 1764 – Scientist

“Happiness consists in activity.  It is a running stream, not a stagnant pool.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson – 1803 – Poet

“Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.”

Igor Sikorsky – 1889 – Aviator

“The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead even more than teamwork.”

Gene Tunney – 1897 – Athlete

“Exercise should be regarded as a tribute to the heart.”

Bennett Cerf – 1898 – Journalist

“A pat on the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, is miles ahead in results.”

Theodore Roethke – 1908 – Poet

“What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.”

Jack Steinberger – 1921 – Physicist

“I feel I learned as much from fellow students as from the professors.”

Hal David – 1921 – Musician

“It’s not just a revue where one song is done, then another.  There are concepts and ideas at work.”

Robert Ludlum – 1927 – Novelist

“I have always preferred conflict of individuals over the battle of extreme ideologies.”

Beverly Sills – 1929 – Singer and Musician

“Everything you need you already have.  You are complete right now, you are a whole, total person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else.  Your completeness must be understood by you and experienced in your thoughts as your own personal reality.”

John Gregory Dunne – 1932 – Writer

“Writing is manual labor of the mind:  a job, like laying pipe.”

Mark Shields – 1937 – Journalist

“There is always strength in numbers.  The more individuals or organizations that you can rally to your cause, the better.”

Margaret Forster – 1938 – Author

“People talk about escapism as though it’s something nasty but escapism is wonderful.”

Frank Oz – 1944 – Actor

“The biggest problems with movies are expectations.”

Stan Sakai – 1953 – Cartoonist

“All my knowledge comes from research.”

Connie Sellecca – 1955 – Actress

“If you believe in what you’re doing, you’ll be successful.”

Paul Weller – 1958 – Musician

Mike Myers (Photo credit: Alan Light)

“Everyone gets frustrated and aggressive, and I’d sooner take my aggression out on a guitar and treat it with the same seriousness.”

Anthea Turner – 1960 – Entertainer

“Run a home like you would a small business and treat it with the same seriousness.”

Eric Brown – 1960 – Writer

“The inspiration to write?  Perhaps it’s not so much inspiration as a NEED to write.  I get itchy and guilty and dissatisfied when I haven’t written for a while.  Ideas come to me and need to be written down.”

Mike Myers – 1963 – Actor

“People ask me to record their answering machines all the time.  I love it.  It’s a miracle to me that people want to hear back those characters.”

Poppy Z. Brite – 1967 – Author

“And I can’t think of a reason I’d ever use a pseudonym, as I wouldn’t want to publish something that I didn’t like enough to put my name on it.”

Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

William Whewell – 1794 – Philosopher

“Every failure is a step to success.”

Queen Victoria – 1819 – British Royalty

“Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves.”

Arthur Wing Pinero – 1855 – Actor

“I believe the future is only the past again, entered through another gate.”

Benjamin Cardozo – 1870 – Judge

“Prophecy, however honest, is generally a poor substitute for experience.”

Elsa Maxwell – 1883 – Writer

“A bore is a vacuum cleaner of society, sucking up everything and giving nothing.  Bores are always eager to be seen talking to you.”

Helen B. Taussig – 1898 – Scientist

“Learn to listen with your fingers.”

Coleman Young – 1918 – Politician

“You can’t look forward and backward at the same time.”

Roger Caras – 1928 – Activist

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”

Arnold Wesker – 1932 – Dramatist

“Whatever happened to the good old days:  you know, dirty attics, tuberculosis and general all-round suffering.”

David Viscott – 1938 – Psychologist

“If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.”

Joseph Brodsky – 1940 – Poet

“Bad literature is a form of treason.”

Bob Dylan – 1941 – Musician

“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.”

Gary Burghoff – 1943 – Actor

Patti LaBelle in Zang Toi at The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection Fashion Show, 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I don’t vote for the guy I trust.  I vote for the guy who trusts me the most.”

James Levine – 1943 – Musician

“Everybody blames the culture without taking responsibility.”

Patti LaBelle – 1944 – Musician

“A diva is someone who is a perfectionist, who does her best in her craft.”

Alfred Molina – 1953 – Actor

“To be challenged means to strive – I’m almost certain that’s true.”

Rosanne Cash – 1955 – Musician

“Every person’s every action has an effect.”

Kristin Scott Thomas – 1960 – Actress

“I never go straight to the point if I can go the most difficult way.  Why be simple when you can be complicated?”

John C. Reilly – 1965 – Actor

“I try to take things that challenge me either physically or mentally, or I have to learn a new skill.”

Eric Cantona – 1966 – Athlete

“I am searching for abstract ways of expressing reality, abstract forms that will enlighten my own mystery.”

Botanist, physician and zoologist Carl Linnaeus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Carolus Linnaeus – 1707 – Scientist

“A practical botanist will distinguish at the first glance the plant of the different quarters of the globe and yet will be at a loss to tell you by what marks he detects them.”

Thomas Hood – 1799 – Poet

“A moment’s thinking is an hour in words.”

Margaret Fuller – 1810 – Critic

“A house is no home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as for the body.”

John Buchanan Robinson – 1846 – Politician

“According to your sympathy, you will take pleasure in your own happiness or in the happiness of other people; but it is always your own happiness you seek.”

Otto Lilienthal – 1848 – Aviator

“To invent an airplane is nothing.  To build one is something.  But to fly is everything.”

Alfred P. Sloan – 1875 – Businessman

“If you do it right 51 percent of the time you will end up a hero.”

James Gleason – 1882 – Actor

“It’s better to star in Oshkosh than to starve on Broadway.”

Herbert Marshall – 1890 – Actor

“There is nothing an economist should fear so mush as applause.”

John Bardeen – 1908 – Scientist

“Science is a field which grows continuously with ever expanding frontiers.”

Artie Shaw – 1910 – Musician

“Shoot for the moon – if you miss you’ll end up in the stars.”

James Blish – 1921 – Author

“Credit … is the only enduring testimonial to man’s confidence in man.”

Joshua Lederberg – 1925 – Scientist

“Everybody has to learn for the first time.”

Joan Collins – 1933 – Actress

“Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you somebody who has never achieved much.”

Robert Moog – 1934 – Inventor

“I happen to think that computers are the most important thing to happen to musicians since the invention of cat-gut which was a long time ago.”

Johnny Ball – 1938 – Entertainer

“There isn’t a single windmill owner in Holland who doesn’t have a second job, for when there is no wind.”

Robert A. M. Stern – 1939 – Architect

“The dialogue between client and architect is about as intimate as any conversation you can have, because when you’re talking about building a home, you’re talking about dreams.”

Martin Puryear – 1941 – Sculptor

“Although idea and form are ultimately paramount in my work, so too are chance, accident, and rawness.”

John Newcombe – 1944 – Athlete

“So there was a fire inside me.  And that fire inside you, it can be turned into a negative form or a positive form.  And I gradually realized that I had this fire and that it had to be used in a positive way.”

Gary McCord – 1948 – Athlete

“I made nothing happen very slowly.

Mitch Albom (Photo credit: Fairfax Library Foundation)

Drew Carey – 1958 – Actor

“I’m competitive at everything.”

Mitch Albom – 1958 – Author and Journalist

“Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it.  You’re just passing it on to somebody else.”

Karen Duffy – 1962 – Actress

“Concealing an illness is like keeping a beach ball under water.”

Ken Jennings – 1974 – Celebrity

“Being a nerd really pays off sometimes.”

Jayson Blair – 1976 – Journalist

“I fooled some of the most brilliant people in journalism.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Richard Wagner – 1813 – Composer

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”

Mary Cassatt – 1844 – Artist

“I think that if you shake the tree, you ought to be around when the fruit falls to pick it up.”

Arthur Conan Doyle – 1859 – Writer

“Any truth is better than indefinite doubt.”

Alla Nazimova – 1879 – Actress

“Sincerity and the correct use of the voice are the greatest things in the art of acting.”

Laurence Olivier – 1907 – Actor

“Have a very good reason for everything you do.”

Johnny Olson – 1910 – Entertainer

“A voice can also repel, infuriate, or actually make a listener ill.”

Thomas Gold – 1920 – Scientist

“In choosing a hypothesis there is no virtue in being timid.  I clearly would have been burned at the stake in another age.”

Alla Nazimova (Photo credit: Truus, Bob & Jan too!)

T. Boone Pickens – 1928 – Businessman

“Work eight hours and sleep eight hours and make sure that they are not the same hours.”

M. Scott Peck – 1936 – Psychologist

“Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.”

Richard Benjamin – 1938 – Actor

“I always say that you should remake flops, not hits.”

Paul Winfield – 1941 – Actor

“A lot of people go to find themselves.”

Richard Baker – 1948 – Politician

“To get rich never risk your health.  For it is the truth that health is the wealth of wealth.”

Bernie Taupin – 1950 – Writer

“We may have limped onto Broadway as the underdogs, but underdogs bite back occasionally.”

Lisa Murkowski – 1957 – Politician

“Freedom comes from strength and self-reliance.”

Steven Morrissey – 1959 – Musician

“Age shouldn’t affect you.  It’s just like the size of your shoes – they don’t determine how you live your life!  You’re either marvelous or you’re boring, regardless of your age.”

Naomi Campbell – 1970 – Model

“Anger is a manifestation of a deeper issue … and that, for me, is based on insecurity, self-esteem and loneliness.”

A. J. Langer – 1974 – Actress

“You have to trust your body to take care of you.”