Quote Queen

Hank Jones, Newport Jazz Festival, 7/14/05 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sebastian Spering Kresge – 1867 – Merchant – Founder of KMart

“I never made a dime – talking.”

Munchi Premchand – 1880 – Writer

“Beauty doesn’t need ornaments – softness can’t bear the weight of ornaments.”

Jean Dubuffet – 1901 – Artist

“For me, insanity is super sanity.  The normal is psychotic.  Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity.”

Irv Kupcinet – 1912 – Journalist

“An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.”

Hank Jones – 1918 – Musician

“I am the sum total of everything I have experienced musically.”

Curt Gowdy – 1919 -Sports Broadcaster

“An announcer is only as good as yesterday’s performance.”

Primo Levi – 1919 – Scientist

“Anyone who had obeyed nature by transmitting a piece of gossip experiences the explosive relief that accompanies the satisfying a primary need.”

Primo Levi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Alan Autry – 1952 – Actor

“Leadership demands that we make tough choices.”

Thomas Leonard – 1955 – Businessman

“A lifestyle is what you pay for; a life is what pays you.”

Mark Cuban – 1958 – Businessman

“Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is.  Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world.  Love what you do or don’t do it.”

J. K. Rowling – 1965 – Author (Joanne Rowling)

“Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels.  But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.”

Elizabeth Wurtzel – 1967 – Writer

“Insanity is knowing that what you’re doing is completely idiotic, but still, somehow, you just can’t stop it.”

Eve Best – 1971 – Actress

“Time is about the need to control.  Let go of control and embrace what happens.”

Portrait of Henry Ford (ca. 1919) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Emily Bronte – 1818 – Author

“Honest people don’t hide their deeds.”

Henry Ford – 1863 – Inventor and Businessman

“Whether you think you can or that you can’t, you are usually right.”

Casey Stengel – 1890 – Athlete

“Never make predictions, especially about the future.”

Henry Moore – 1898 – Sculptor

“To know one thing, you must know the opposite.”

Thomas Sowell – 1930 – Economist

“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”

Paul Anka – 1941 – Musician

“I’ve always believed that if you don’t stay moving, they will throw dirt on you.”

Arnold Schwarzeneggar – 1947 – Actor and Governor of California

“We all have great inner power.  The power is self-faith.  There’s really an attitude to winning.  You have to see yourself winning before you win.”

Samuel J. Palmisano – 1951 – Businessman

“Smarter is always the answer.”

Delta Burke – 1956 – Actress

English: New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel in a 1953 issue of Baseball Digest. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“If you want to say it with flowers, a single rose says:  ‘I’m cheap.'”

Lisa Kudrow – 1963 – Actress

“I’ve learned you can make a mistake and the whole world doesn’t end.  I had to learn to allow myself to make a mistake without becoming defensive and unforgiving.”

Vivica Fox – 1964 – Actress

“A great figure or physique is nice, but it’s self-confidence that makes someone really sexy.”

Ann Brashares – 1967 – Writer

“As a writer, you live in such isolation.  It’s hard to imagine your book has a life beyond you.”

Hilary Swank – 1974 – Actress

“You only have one life and if you’re not doing what you love, what’s the point?”

Hope Solo – 1981 – Athlete

“Athletes are extremists.  When they’re training, it’s laser focus.”

English: Booth Tarkington (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Actress Theda Bara in a promotional photo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Daniel Drew – 1797 – Businessman

“He who sells what isn’t his’n, must buy it back or go to prison.”

Alexis de Tocqueville – 1805 – Historian

“Life is to be entered upon with courage.”

Max Nordau – 1849 – Critic

“It is well to be alone.  It fertilizes the creative impulse.”

Booth Tarkington – 1869 – Novelist

“The only good in pretending is the fun we get out of fooling ourselves that we fool somebody.”

Don Marquis – 1878 – Poet

“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.”

Theda Bara – 1885 – Actress

“The reason good women like me and flock to my pictures is that there is a little bit of vampire instinct in every woman.”

Sigmund Romberg – 1887 – Composer

“A love song is just a caress set to music.”

Clara Bow – 1905 – Actress

“Even now I can’t trust life.  It did too many awful things to me as a kid.”

Stanley Kunitz – 1905 – Poet

“Old myths, old gods, old heroes have never died.  They are only sleeping at the bottom of our mind, waiting for our call.  We have need for them.  They represent the wisdom of our race.”

Dag Hammarskjold – 1905 Diplomat

“The longest journey is the journey in words.  Of him who has chosen his destiny, who has started upon his quest for the source of his being.”

Diana Vreeland – 1906 – Editor

“You don’t have to be born beautiful to be wildly attractive.”

Jean Baudrillard – 1929 – Sociologist

“Perhaps the world’s second worst crime is boredom.  The first is being a bore.”

Peter Jennings – 1938 – Journalist

“Have a sense of humor about life – you will need it.  And be courteous.”

Gary Busey – 1944 – Actor

“If you take shortcuts, you get cut short.”

Sharon Creech – 1945 – Writer

“Read a lot, live your life, and listen and watch, so that your mind fills up with millions of images.”

Tim Gunn – 1953 – Designer

“Take the high road.  No matter how much strife, and consternation, frustration and anger you might be confronted with – don’t go to that level.”

Lisi Harrison – 1970 – Author

“I like writing about the issues we all bump up against as we get older, but I try to present them in a fun way.”

Josh Radnor – 1974 – Director

“Kindness is not about instant gratification.  More often, it’s akin to a low-risk investment that steadily appreciates steadily over time.”

Keeth Smart – 1978 – Athlete

“Some of my competitors overlook the importance of knowing as much as possible about their opponents, but I think that it is an invaluable asset that I have gained from working.”

Marlen Esparza – 1989 – Athlete

“As an athlete, confidence makes me more competitive and helps me perform better.”

English: Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Beatrix Potter – 1866 – Author

“Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.”

Alice Duer Miller – 1874 – Poet

“Contempt is the weapon of the weak and a defense against one’s own despised and unwanted feelings.”

John Ashbery – 1927 – Poet

“The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.”

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy – 1929 – Author and Wife of President John Kennedy

“It takes an awful lot of effort to make everything look effortless.”

Robert Hughes – 1938 – Critic

“A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop.”

Judy Martz – 1943 – Politician

“If you can’t do it and do it well, you can’t do it, period.”

Bill Bradley – 1943 – Athlete and Politician

“Becoming number one is easier than remaining number one.”

Jacqueline Bouvier by David Berne in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jim Davis – 1945 – Cartoonist

“Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”

Vida Blue – 1949 – Baseball Player

“Sometimes in this game it’s as good to be lucky as it is to be good.”

Terry Fox – 1958 – Athlete

“I bet some of you feel sorry for me.  Well don’t.  Having an artificial leg has its advantages.  I’ve broken my right knee many times and it doesn’t hurt a bit.”

Kevin Thomas – 1978 – Athlete

“As a leader, you’re supposed to be above reproach, and what that means is you can’t even give the appearance that you’re going to do something wrong.”

English: New York Giants manager Leo Durocher in a 1948 issue of Baseball Digest. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Douglas Horton – 1891 – Clergyman

“If you love something let it go free.  If it doesn’t come back, you never had it.  If it comes back, love it forever.”

Leo Durocher – 1905 – Athlete

“Show me a good loser and I’ll show you an idiot.”

Philip Guston – 1913 – Artist

“Painting is an illusion, a piece of magic, so what you see is not what you see.”

Elizabeth Hardwick – 1916 – Critic

“Adversity is a great teacher, but this teacher makes us pay dearly for its instruction; and often the profit we derive, is not worth the price we paid.”

Norman Lear – 1922 – Television Producer

“Life is made up of small pleasures.  Happiness is made up of those tiny successes.  The big ones come too infrequently.  And if you don’t collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don’t really mean anything.”

Vincent Canby – 1924 – Critic

“Hack fiction exploits curiosity without really satisfying it or making connections between it and anything else in the world.”

Norman Ralph Augustine – 1935 – Author

“Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.”

Gary Gygax – 1938 – Inventor

“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don’t need any rules.”

English: Gary Gygax at Gen Con Indy 2007. Gygax is standing in the Troll Lord Games booth (booth 515). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bobbie Gentry – 1944 – Musician

“Euphemism is a euphemism for lying.”

Peggy Fleming – 1948 – Athlete

“The first thing is to love your sport.  Never do it to please someone else.  It has to be yours.”

Juliana Hatfield – 1967 – Musician

“If you want to achieve things in life, you’ve just got to do them, and if you’re talented and smart, you’ll succeed.”

Cassandra Clare – 1973 – Author

“You’re a reader as well as a writer, so write what you’d want to read.”

Alex Rodriguez – 1975 – Athlete

“Enjoy your sweat because hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but without it you don’t have a chance.”

English: George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, photographed by the press in 1909 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

George Bernard Shaw – 1856 – Playwright

“Liberty means responsibility; that is why most men dread it.”

Carl Jung – 1875 – Psychiatrist

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.  Who looks outside, dreams.  Who looks inside, awakens.”

Aldous Huxley – 1894 – Novelist

“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.”

Robert Graves – 1895 – Novelist

“There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money, either.”

Gracie Allen – 1895 – Comedianne

“Brains, integrity, and force may be all very well, but what you need today is Charm.  Go ahead and work on your economic programs if you want to, I’ll develop my radio personality.”

Mick Jagger – 1943 – Musician

“The past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.”

Helen Mirren – 1945 – Actress

“We’re all idiots when we’re young.  We don’t think we are, but we are.  So we should be.”

Dorothy Hamill – 1956 – Athlete

“I was passionate.  I found something that I loved.  I could be all alone in a big old skating rink and nobody could get near me and I didn’t have to talk to anybody because of my shyness.  It was great.  I was in my fantasy world.”

Andy Goldsworthy – 1956 – Artist

“People also leave presence in a place even when they are no longer there.”

Gerald Arpey – 1958 – Businessman

Helen Mirren at the Orange British Academy Film Awards in London’s Royal Opera House (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“We need to take excellent care of our customers, and do so at a profit.”

Kevin Spacey – 1959 – Actor

“Success is like death.  The more successful you become, the higher the houses in the hills get and the higher the fences get.”

Sandra Bullock – 1964 – Actress

“I’m a true believer in karma.  You get what you give, whether it’s bad or good.”

Anna Harrison, wife of William Henry Harrison. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anna Harrison – 1775 – Wife of President William Henry Harrison

“I wish that my husband’s friends had left him where he is, happy and contented in retirement.”

Thomas Eakins – 1844 – Artist

“The big artist keeps an eye on nature and steals her tools.”

Eric Hoffer – 1902 – Social Worker and Philosopher

“You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.”

Elias Canetti – 1905 – Author

“His head is made of stars, but not yet arranged into constellations.”

Paul Watzlawick – 1921 – Psychologist

“The belief that one’s own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions.”

Estelle Getty – 1923 – Actress

“Age does not bring you wisdom, age brings you wrinkles.”

Don Ellis -1934 – Musician

Estelle Getty (Photo credit: Alan Light)

“To be a true artist you have to play the way you feel – not the way others think you should feel.”

Walter Payton – 1954 – Athlete

“Most important thought, if you love someone, tell him or her, for you never know what tomorrow may have in store.”

Louisa Brown – 1978 – Celebrity

“If you can’t return a favor, pass it on.”

John Newton – 1725 – Soldier

“We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it.  But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.”

John Philpot Curran – 1750 – Public Servant

“I have never yet heard of a murderer who was not afraid of a ghost.”

Simon Bolivar – 1783 – Revolutionary

“Judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”

Alexander Dumas – 1802 – Writer

“I prefer rogues to imbeciles, because they sometimes take a rest.”

Frank Wedekind – 1864 – Playwright

“Any fool can have bad luck; the art consists in knowing how to exploit it.”

Lord Dunsany – 1878 – Novelist

“Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when taken in too large quantities.”

Amelia Earhart (Photo credit: San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

Junichiro Tanizaki – 1886 – Author

“Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.”

Ammon Hennacy – 1893 – Activist

“Force is the weapon of the weak.”

Amelia Mary Earhart – 1897 – Aviator

“The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.”

Zelda Fitzgerald – 1900 – Writer

“Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.”

John D. MacDonald – 1906 – Novelist

“Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.”

Ruggiero Ricci – 1918 – Musician

“A specialist is someone who does everything else wrong.”

William Ruckelshaus – 1932 – Lawyer

“The best way to win an argument is to begin by being right.”

Willie Davis – 1934 – Athlete

English: EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Terri and Bindi Irwin gaze across the Rogers Dry Lake here after watching a C-17 Globemaster approach the flightline. Terri and Bindi visited Edwards on Sept. 6 to film a segment for their television show “Bindi the Jungle Girl.” The program airs on the Discovery Kids channel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The road to success runs uphill.”

Ruth Buzzi – 1936 – Actress

“Life has all sorts of hills and valleys, and sometimes you don’t end up doing what you had your heart set out on, but sometimes that’s even better.”

John Aniston – 1937 – Actor

“This is a business.  Be smart.  Choose wisely.”

Chris Sarandon – 1942 – Actor

“As an actor, we are, in a way, a mirror of other people.”

Kristin Chenoweth – 1968 – Actress

“I’m constantly learning, and that is the greatest gift in my life in my opinion – to always be learning and growing.”

Jennifer Lopez – 1970 – Musician

“You get what you give.  What you put into things is what you get out of them.”

Anna Paquin – 1982 – Actress

“Stubborn people get themselves in a lot of trouble, but they also get things done.”

Bindi Irwin – 1998 – Actress (Daughter of Steve Irwin)

“I don’t want Daddy’s passion to ever end.  I want to help endangered wildlife just like he did.”

English: Portrait drawing of American stage actress Charlotte Saunders Cushman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Charlotte Saunders Cushman – 1816 – Actress

“No artist work is so high, so noble, so grand, so enduring, so important for all time, as the making of character in a child.”

Julia Gardiner Tyler – 1820 – Wife of President John Tyler

“I have commenced my auspicious reign and am in quiet possession of the Presidential Mansion … this winter I intend to do something in the way of entertaining that shall be the admiration and talk of all Washington world.”

Simeon Strunsky – !879 – Essayist

“Famous remarks are very seldom quoted correctly.”

Raymond Chandler – 1888 – Writer

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing.  Motivation determines what you do.  Attitude determines how well you do it.”

Marston Bates – 1906 – Scientist

“Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.”

M. H. Abrams – 1912 – Critic (Meyer Howard Abrams)

“If you read quickly to get through a poem to see what is means, you have missed the body of the poem.”

Michael Wilding – 1912 – Actor

“You can pick out by the glazed look that comes into their eyes when the conversation wanders away from themselves.”

Pee Wee Reese – 1918 – Athlete (Harold Peter Henry Reese)

“If you rush in and out of the clubhouse, you rush in and out of baseball.”

Julia Tyler was the First Lady of the United States. She was the second wife of President John Tyler. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Steve Lacy – 1934 – Musician

“Risk is at the heart of jazz.  Every note we play is a risk.”

Don Drysdale – 1936 – Athlete

“When I throw a curve that hangs and it goes for a hit, I want to chew up my glove.”

Robert M. Parker, Jr. – 1947 – Critic

“My personal philosophy is, you can be sure of nothing.”

Edie McClurg – 1951 – Actress

“Self-doubt kills talent.”

Woody Harrelson – 1961 – Actor (Woodrow Tracy Harrelson)

“A grownup is a child with layers on.”

Alison Krauss – 1971 – Musician

“I don’t look for bliss, just contentment.”

Omar Epps – 1973 – Actor

“I believe success is preparation, because opportunity is going to knock on your door sooner or later but are you prepared to answer that?”

Maurice Greene – 1974 – Athlete

“It is only those who believe in their ability who shine when it matters.”

Lauren Groff – 1978 – Novelist

“At least in my case, a very simple, regular, happy life makes for better writing.”

Daniel Radcliffe – 1989 – Actor

“Don’t try too hard to be something you’re not.”

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gregor Mendel – 1822 – Scientist

“My scientific studies have afforded me great gratification; and I am convinced that it will not be long before the whole world acknowledges the results of my work.”

Emma Lazarus – 1849 – Poet

“Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.”

Edward Hopper – 1882 – Artist

“If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”

Rose F. Kennedy – 1890 – Writer and Activist

“Birds sing after a storm, why shouldn’t we?”

Karl A. Menninger – 1893 – Psychologist

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force.  The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward.  When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.”

Stephen Vincent Benet – 1898 – Poet

“Honesty is as rare as a man without self-pity.”

Alexander Calder – 1898 – Sculptor

“To an engineer, good enough means perfect.  With an artist, there’s no such thing as perfect.”

Edward Dahlberg – 1900 – Novelist

“A strong foe is better than a weak friend.”

Official photograph of Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Senator. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Daniel Mainwaring – 1902 – Novelist

“Seems like everything people oughta know they just don’t want to hear.  I guess that’s the big trouble with the world.”

Amy Vanderbilt – 1908 – Author

“The modern rule is that every woman should be her own chaperone.”

Oscar de la Renta – 1932 – Designer

“The qualities I most admire in women are confidence and kindness.”

Tom Robbins – 1936 – Author

“We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.”

Alex Trebek – 1940 – Entertainer

“It’s very important in life to know when to shut up.  You should not be afraid of silence.”

Kay Bailey Hutchison – 1943 – Senator

“I have long believed taxpayers make better use of their money then the government ever could.”

Albert Brooks – 1947 – Actor

“Be generous and you can be the best person who ever lived.”

Gilles Duceppe – 1947 – Politician

“I have never believed that things happen by themselves.”

Don Henley – 1947 – Musician

“A man with a briefcase can steal millions more than any man with a gun.”

Danny Glover – 1947 – Actor

“If we talk about literacy, we have to talk about how to enhance our children’s mastery over the tools needed to live intelligent, creative, and involved lives.”

S. E. Hinton – 1948 – Writer (Susan Elizabeth Hinton)

“Anything you read can influence your work, so I try to read good stuff.”

Willem Dafoe – 1955 – Actor

“The worst thing is to get involved with people who aren’t passionate about what they’re doing.”

Keith Sweat – 1961 – Musician

“If you fall, get back up.  That’s what life is about.”

Steve Albini – 1962 – Musician

“Know what you’re trying to do before you do it.  Turning knobs at random isn’t enlightening any more than throwing paint at a wall blindfolded will let you paint a nice picture.”

Rhys Ifans – 1967 – Actor

“Don’t be late.  Learn your lines.  Be good to people.  Treat people nice.”

Alan Cox – 1968 – Inventor

“Live fast, die old, and make very sure everyone knows you were there.”

Franka Potente – 1974 – Actress

“To give somebody your time is the biggest gift you can give.”

Selena Gomez – 1992 – Actress

“If you have three people in your life that you can trust, you can consider yourself the luckiest person in the whole world.”