Quote Queen

Alma Gluck (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)

Isaac D’Israeli – 1766 – Writer

“The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation.”

Alma Gluck – 1884 – Musician

“Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist works.”

Irving Berlin – 1888 – Musician

“After you get what you want you don’t want it.”

Martha Graham – 1894 – Dancer and Choreographer

“No artist is ahead of his time.  He is his time, it is just that others are behind the times.”

Salvador Dali – 1904 – Artist

“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.”

Jacqueline Cochran – 1906 – Aviator

“I might have been born in a hovel, but I am determined to travel with the wind and the stars.”

Camilo Jose Cela – 1916 – Writer

“Ideas?  My head is full of them, one after the other, but they serve no purpose there.  They must be put down on paper, one after the other.”

Richard P. Feynman – 1918 – Physicist

Jacqueline Cochran (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars – mere globs of gas atoms.  I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them.  But do I see less or more?”

John Michael Hayes – 1919 – Writer

“Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence.”

Antony Hewish – 1924 – Scientist

“I believe scientists have a duty to share the excitement and pleasure of their work with the general public, and I enjoy the challenge of presenting difficult ideas in an understandable way.”

Mort Sahl – 1927 – Journalist

“A conservative is someone who believes in reform.  But not now.”

Edsger Dijkstra – 1930 – Scientist

“Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.”

Doug McClure – 1935 – Actor

“What you think of a name depends so much on the people you know by that name.”

Nancy Greene – 1943 – Athlete

“I think what it takes to succeed remains the same.  You have to have a real love of your sport to carry you through all the bad times, you still want to go ski even when things aren’t working.  You must have a commitment to work hard and to never give up.”

Jeremy Paxman – 1950 – Journalist

“The early bird may get the worm, but it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese.”

Martha Quinn – 1959 – Celebrity

“Demand no more out of your partner than what you are willing to give yourself.”

Natasha Richardson – 1963 – Actress

“What’s in the movie compared to what we shot is the tip of the iceberg.”

Jeffery Donovan – 1968 – Actor

“What would surprise a lot of people about me … I’m a gardener!  I have a green thumb.  I really like to get into the shrubs, the bushes, and really cultivate.”

Laetitia Casta – 1978 – Model

“Real beauty is to be true to oneself.  That’s what makes me feel good.”

Holly Valance – 1983 – Musician

“Whether you’ve done anything wrong or not, people will write whatever they want , so it’s just a matter of not reading it, not buying into it, and hopefully the people that do read it realize that it’s just fictional stories for entertainment.”

Movie screenshot of Fred Astaire singing “Poor Mr. Chisholm” (lyrics by Johnny Mercer, music by Bernie Hanighen) from Second Chorus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

James Gordon Bennett – 1841 – Editor

“Many a good newspaper story has been ruined by over verification.”

Ariel Durant – 1898 – Author

“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.”

Fred Astaire – 1899 – Actor, Dancer, Singer (Frederic Austerlitz, Jr.)

“The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.”

Eric Berne – 1910 – Psychologist

“The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.”

T. Berry Brazelton – 1918 – Author

“Parents don’t make mistakes because they don’t care, but because they care so deeply.”

Daniel Bell – 1919- Sociologist

“Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination.”

Jeff Cooper – 1920 – Celebrity

English: Dennis Bergkamp warming up for a Holland vs Scotland at Euro 96, Villa Park, England. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“A smart man only believes half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half.”

Jean Houston – 1937 – Author

“At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.”

Judith Jamison – 1943 – Dancer

“Dance is bigger than the physical body.  When you extend your arm, it doesn’t stop at the end of your fingers, because you’re dancing bigger than that; you’re dancing spirit.”

Caroline B. Cooney – 1947 – Writer

“My favorite book is always the one I’m working on at the moment.”

Andrew Card – 1947 – Politician

“Don’t believe everything that you read in the newspapers.”

Ellen Ochoa – 1958 – Astronaut

“I’ll tell you, being involved in human space flight, it is an emotional endeavor.  I think it brings in the highest highs and the lowest lows.”

Dennis Bergkamp – 1969 – Athlete

“I don’t want to lose myself in football and that’s what a coach has to do to be successful.”

English: Sepia photograph of James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937), author of “Peter Pan” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

J. M. Barrie – 1860 – Author (Sir James Matthew Barrie)

“We are all failures at least, all the best of us are.”

Henry J. Kaiser – 1882 – Industrialist

“Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.”

Jose Ortega Y. Gasset – 1883 – Philosopher

“An idea is putting truth in check-mate.”

William Moulton Marston – 1893 – Psychologist

“Realize what you really want.  It stops you from chasing butterflies and puts you to work digging gold.”

Gregory Bateson – 1904 – Scientist

“Logic is a poor model of cause and effect.”

Mike Wallace – 1918 – Journalist

“I never was the story.  The story was the story.  Period.”

Richard Cowper – 1926 – Writer

“Our thoughts are unseen hands shaping the people we meet.  Whatever we truly think them to be, that’s what they’ll become for us.”

Manfred Eigen – 1927 – Scientist

“Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis.”

Barbara Ann Scott – 1928 – Athlete

“The most important thing about skating is that it teaches you to do the things you should do before you do the things you want to do.”

Candice Bergen at the 62nd Academy Awards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pancho Gonzales – 1928 – Athlete

“The great champions were always vicious competitors.  You never lose respect for a man who is a vicious competitor, and you never hate a man you respect.”

Alan Bennett – 1934 – Dramatist

“Definition of a classic:  a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.”

Glenda Jackson – 1936 – Actress

“I have never believed you make your case stronger by bad-mouthing your opposition.”

Charles Simic – 1938 – Poet

“Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships.”

Ralph Boston – 1939 – Athlete

“Being the first to cross the finish line makes you a winner in only one phase of life,  It’s what you do after you cross the line that really counts.”

James L. Brooks – 1940 – Producer

“I think you have a pact with an audience in every picture, and I think the pact is to try and be truthful and to be real.”

John Ashcroft – 1942 – Public Servant

“All of us want to have meaning in our lives and want to feel like we’re doing something that makes a difference.   I believe we’re doing that in the Justice Department.”

Candice Bergen – 1946 – Actress

“Dreams are, by definition, cursed with short life spans.”

Billy Joel – 1949 – Musician

“I have a theory that the only original things we ever do are mistakes.”

Tony Gwynn – 1960 – Athlete

“Remember these two things:  play hard and have fun.”

Steve Yzerman – 1965 – Athlete

“I’m exhausted trying to stay healthy.”

Harry S. Truman (1884 – 1972), 1945 – 1953 the thirty-third President of the United States Deutsch: Harry S. Truman (1884–1972), 1945 bis 1953 33. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Harry S. Truman – 1884 – 33rd President of the United States

“Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.”

Tom Cord – 1909 – Musician

“It seems that the greatest difficulty is to find the end.  Don’t try to find it, it’s there already.”

Robert Johnson – 1911 – Psychologist

“History has always been a series of pendulum swings, but the individual doesn’t have to get caught in that.”

George Woodcock – 1912 – Writer

“I began even as a boy to realize how wide the world can be for a man of free intelligence.”

Romain Gary – 1914 – Novelist

“The avantgarde are people who don’t exactly know where they want to go, but are the first to get there.”

Sloan Wilson – 1920 – Novelist

“It is impossible to treat a child too well.  Children are spoiled by being ignored too much by harshness, not by kindness.”

Anthony Storr – 1920 – Author

“I get intrigued by a puzzle, and writing a book is the best way to solve it.”

Elizabeth Jane Roberts-Huff – 1929 – Author

“You create your own reality.”

Gary Snyder – 1930 – Poet

“Find your place on the planet.  Dig in, and take responsibility from there.”

Sonny Liston – 1932 – Athlete

“Newspapermen ask dumb questions,  They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining.”

Jerry Moss – 1935 – Businessman

Elizabeth Jane Roberts-Huff (middle) & Lovera Huff (right) (Photo credit: secrateri6)

“We’re here to win the race.  If we get beat, we get beat.”

Robert Adams – 1937 – Photographer

“No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film.”

Ricky Nelson – 1940 – Musician

“You can’t please everyone so you gotta please yourself.”

Peter Benchley – 1940 – Author

“I believe implicitly that every young man in the world is fascinated with wither sharks or dinosaurs.”

Alex Van Halen – 1953 – Musician

“There’s nothing worse than having everybody thinking alike, talking alike and having the same direction in mind.  It gets stale that way.”

Roddy Doyle – 1958 – Novelist

“I see people in terms of dialogue and I believe that people are their talk.”

Ronnie Lott – 1959 – Athlete

“If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it.”

Melissa Gilbert – 1964 – Actress

“Don’t like small talk.  Love rainy days.”

Naomi Klein – 1970 – Journalist

“Politics hates a vacuum.  If it isn’t filled with hope, someone will fill it with fear.”

Enrique Iglesias – 1975 – Musician

“I was happier before, when I lead a normal life.”

Josie Maran – 1978 – Model

“I’m still figuring out why people would want to look at me.  Maybe it’s genetic beauty, but it’s weird to be valued for something I was born with.”

Johannes Brahms um 1866 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

David Hume – 1711 – Philosopher

“Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.”

Joseph Joubert – 1754 – Writer

“A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.”

Robert Browning – 1812 – Poet

“A gain is gain, however small.”

Johannes Brahms – 1833 – Composer

“If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon.”

Joseph Cannon – 1836 – Politician

“In the last analysis, sound judgment will prevail.”

Archibald MacLeish – 1892 – Poet

“A man who lives, not by what he loves but what he hates, is a sick man.”

Gary Cooper – 1901 – Actor

“In Westerns you were permitted to kiss your horse but never your girl.”

Edwin Land – 1909 – Inventor

“An essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail.”

Hollywood | Gary Cooper (Photo credit: e r j k p r u n c z y k)

Anne Baxter – 1923 – Actress

“I wasn’t afraid to fail.  Something good always comes out of failure.”

Marvin Mitchelson – 1928 – Lawyer

“A divorce lawyer is a chameleon with a law book.”

Totie Fields – 1930 – Comedian

“I’ve been on a diet for two weeks and all I’ve lost is two weeks.”

Johnny Unitas – 1933 – Athlete

“Conceit is bragging about yourself.  Confidence means you believe you can get the job done.”

Angela Carter – 1940 – Novelist

“Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.”

Amy Heckerling – 1954 – Director

“Babies don’t need fathers, but mothers do.  Someone who is taking care of a baby needs to be taken care of.”

English: Sigmund Freud (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Johann Joachin Becher – 1635 – Chemist, Physician and Adventurer

“The chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost insane impulse to seek their pleasures amid smoke and vapor, soot and flame, poisons and poverty; yet among all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that may I die if I were to changes places with the Persian king.”

Sigmund Freud – 1856 – Neurologist and Psychiatrist

“Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock.”

Harry Golden – 1902 – Writer and Newspaper Publisher

“The only thing that overcomes hard work is hard work.”

Orson Welles – 1915 – Director, Writer and Actor

“Create your own visual style … let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.”

Willie Mays – 1931 – Baseball Player

“In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport.  You must be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism.  Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won’t be able to do this.”

Bob Seger – 1945 – Musician

“I never say never, because I don’t want to be one of those guys.”

Tony Blair – 1953 – Youngest Prime Minister of the 20th Century

“I can only go one way.  I’ve not got a reverse gear.”

Tom Bergeron – 1955 – Game Show Host

“I work best when people are here to puncture me.”

Orson Welles, March 1, 1937 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

George Clooney – 1961 – Actor

“The only failure is not to try.”

Soren Kierkegaard studying (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Soren Kierkegaard – 1813 – Philosopher

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”

Karl Marx – 1818 – Philosopher

“Experience praises the most happy the one who made the most people happy.”

Nellie Bly – 1864 – Journalist (Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman)

“It is only after one is in trouble that one realizes how little sympathy and kindness there are in the world.”

Christopher Morley – 1890 – Actor

“There was so much handwriting on the wall that even the wall fell down.”

James Beard – 1903 – Chef and Writer

“Too few people understand a really good sandwich.”

Joseph Stefano – 1922 – Writer

“We all go a little mad sometimes.”

Barbara Taylor Bradford – 1933 – Novelist

“When you are a strong woman, you will attract trouble.  When a man feels threatened, there is always trouble.”

Bernard Pivot – 1935 – Journalist

“It is very difficult to generalize.  Everyone’s adventure is original.”

Tammy Wynette – 1942 – Musician

“Stand by your man.  Give him two arms to cling to and something warm to come to.”

Kurt Loder – 1945 – Journalist

English: Nellie Bly. Pseudonym of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (1867-1922); head and shoulders, facing left. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“If you ask questions that interest you, you’ll get answers that interest your audience.”

Richard E. Grant – 1957 – Actor

“Always have an answer – even if you change your mind five minutes later.”

Brian Williams – 1959 – Journalist

“Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak.”

Tina Yothers – 1973 – Actress

“You just have to have the guidance to lead you in the direction until you can to it yourself.”

Chris Brown – 1989 – Musician

“Follow your dreams.  Just make sure to have fun too.”

Picture of William Kingdon Clifford, the mathematician (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Horace Mann – 1796 – Educator

“A house without books is like a room without windows.  No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them.”

Thomas Huxley – 1825 – Scientist

“All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified.”

William Kingdon Clifford – 1845 – Mathematician

“It is wrong, always, everywhere, for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”

W. Clement Stone – 1902 – Businessman

“Aim for the moon.  If you miss, you may hit a star.”

Audrey Hepburn – 1929 – Actress

“I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it.”

El Cordobes – 1936 – Athlete

“Bravery is believing in yourself, and that thing nobody can teach you.”

Amos Oz – 1939 – Writer

“I find the family the most mysterious and fascinating institution in the world.”

Audrey Hepburn (Photo credit: Iban Nieto)

George Will – 1941 – Journalist

“A politician’s words reveal less about what he thinks about his subject than what he thinks about his audience.”

Pia Zadora – 1953 – Actress

“The future comes quickly.  Before you know it, you turn around and it’s tomorrow.”

Keith Haring – 1958 – Artist

“Drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times.  It brings together man and the world.  It lives through magic.”

Randy Travis – 1959 – Musician

“It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you.  It’s what you leave behind you when you go.”

Andrew Denton – 1960 – Comedian

“Pressure and stress is the common cold of the psyche.”

Lance Bass – 1979 – Musician

“You’ve got to have a sense of humor to keep your sanity.”

Golda Meir (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Niccolo Machiavelli – 1469 – Diplomat

“Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.”

Golda Meir – 1898 – First Female Prime Minister and Founder of the State of Israel (Golda Mabovitch)

“Trust yourself.  Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.  Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”

Mary Astor – 1906 – Actress (Lucile Vasoncellos Langhanke)

“Once you start asking questions, innocence is gone.”

Earl Wilson – 1907 – Journalist and Columnist

“Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you’re scared to death.”

Pete Seeger – 1919 – Singer

“Do you know the difference between education and experience?  Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don’t.”

Sugar Ray Robinson – 1921 – Professional Boxer (Walker Smith, Jr.)

“To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when no one else will.”

Steve Weinberg – 1933 – Physicist

“An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while sweeping on to the grand fallacy.”

English: American boxer Sugar Ray Robinson (1921-1989) being held aloft by other boxers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Frankie Valli – 1934 – Musician and Singer (Francis Stephen Castelluccio)

“You can take the guy out of the neighborhood but you can’t take the neighborhood out of the guy.”

Jaron Lanier – 1960 – Artist

“The interesting thing about advertising is that the things that annoy us sometimes, some things about it are really human.  It’s us looking at ourselves – and like all human endeavors, it’s imperfect.”

Joe Murray – 1961 – Animator

“Marriage should be a duet – when one sings, the other claps.”

John Jensen – 1965 – Athlete

“The trouble with life in the fast lane is that you get to the other end in an awful hurry.”

Christina Hendricks – 1975 – Actress

“I’ve always been someone who really watches other people, human behavior.  To watch it and be able to express it through your vision has always been really exciting to me.”

Hedda Hopper, American actress/newspaper columnist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

William Camden – 1551 – Scholar

“The sea hath fish for every man.”

Jerome K. Jerome – 1858 – Author

“Nothing is more beautiful than the love that has weathered the storms of life.”

Hedda Hopper – 1885 – Actress and Newspaper Columnist

“Two of the cruelest, most primitive punishments our town deals out to those who fall from favor are the empty mailbox and the silent telephone.”

Gottfried Benn – 1886 – Novelist

“Whoever wants to understand much must okay much.”

Werner Finck – 1902 – Comedian

“Everybody wants to eat at the government’s table, but nobody wants to do the dishes.”

Dr. Benjamin Spock – 1903 – Pediatrician and Author

“Trust yourself.  You know more than you think you do.”

Philip Massinger – 1908 – Poet

“He that would govern others, first should be Master of himself.”

Lesley Gore – 1946 – Singer (Lesley Sue Goldstein)

“Really you just gotta keep chugging along and keep a positive attitude and get through all the problems.  You gotta face them, otherwise you don’t get through.”

James Dyson – 1947 – Designer

“Enjoy failure and learn from it.  You can never learn from success.”

Christine Baranski – 1952 – Actress

“Acting is like a high wire act.  Your margin for error is very slim.”

Donatella Versace – 1955 – Designer

“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.”

The Rock – 1972 – Actor (Dwayne Douglas Johnson)

English: David Beckham plays a competitive match for Los Angeles Galaxy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“You’ve got to keep your finger on the pulse of what your audience is thinking, and know what they’ll accept from you.”

David Beckham – 1975 – Athlete

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing.”

Sarah Hughes – 1985 – Olympic Figure Skater

“I think what every skater dreams of is not only skating the best program they can possibly skate, but y’know, having the crowd roar at the end, and it was just so loud I couldn’t even hear my music.”