Quote Queen

Deutsch: Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Friedrich Ludwig Jahn – 1778 – Coach

“The secret of living in peace with all people lies in the art of understanding each one by his own individuality.”

Robert Green Ingersoll – 1833 – Lawyer

“Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.”

Gifford Pinchot – 1865 – Politician

“The vast possibilities of our great future will become realities only if we make ourselves responsible for that future.”

Louise Bogan – 1897 – Poet

“Stupidity always accomplishes evil.  Or evil, stupidity.”

Erwin Chargaff – 1905 – Scientist

“Science is wonderfully equipped to answer the question ‘How?’ but it gets terribly confused when you ask the question ‘Why?'”

Alex Haley – 1921 – Novelist

“Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.”

Carl T. Rowan – 1925 – Journalist

“The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.”

Aaron Klug – 1926 – Physicist

“Human curiosity, the urge to know, is a powerful force and is perhaps the best secret weapon of all in the struggle to unravel the workings of the natural world.”

Alun Hoddinott – 1929 – Composer

“One often forms a mental image of an artist through his work and is often disappointed on meeting him.”

Andre Dubus – 1936 – Writer

“Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people.”

Frederick W. Smith – 1944 – Businessman

“Leaders get out in front and stay there by raising the standards by which they judge themselves – and by which they are willing to be judged.”

Steve Wozniak (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ian McDiarmid – 1944 – Actor

“That’s the mark of a great storyteller, never to give away secrets in advance.”

Marilyn vos Savant – 1946 – Columnist and Writer

“A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake at night.”

Steve Wozniak – 1950 – Businessman

“In the end, I hope there’s a little note somewhere that says I designed a good computer.”

Hulk Hogan – 1953 – Celebrity (Terry Gene Bollea)

“To all my little Hulkamaniacs, say your prayers, take your vitamins and you will never go wrong.”

Photograph of Norma Shearer sitting (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Herbert Hoover – 1874 – 31st President of the United States

“About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.”

Alfred Doblin – 1878 – Novelist

“But the main things about a man are his eyes and his feet.  He should be able to see the world and go after it.”

Norma Shearer – 1900 – Actress

“It is impossible to get anything made or accomplished without stepping on some toes; enemies are inevitable when one is a doer.”

Leo Fender – 1909 – Businessman

“If something is easy to repair, it is east to construct.”

Jean-Francois Lyotard – 1924 – Philosopher

“A self does not amount to much, but no self is an island; each exists in a fabric of relations that is now more complex and mobile than ever before.”

Jimmy Dean – 1928 – Actor and Businessman

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

Doyle Brunson – 1933 – Celebrity

“A man with money is no match against a man on a mission.”

Sid Waddell – 1940 – Entertainer

“Well as giraffes say, you don’t get no leaves unless you stick your neck out.”

Antonio Banderas – 1960 – Actor

“It was an honor and privilege to arrive to this country 16 years ago with almost no money in my pocket.  A lot has happened since then.”

Claudia Christian – 1965 – Actress

President Herbert Hoover. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The busier you are, the more interesting you are.  The more you’re off doing your thing and loving your job and your life, that’s fascinating.”

Roy Keane – 1971 – Athlete

“I am not naïve enough to settle for anything less than a reasonable valuation of my worth.”

Angie Harmon – 1972 – Model

“Here’s my kind of motto – if you’re not happy at home, you’re not happy anywhere else.”

P.L. Travers in the role of Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, c. 1920s / by unknown photographer (Photo credit: State Library of New South Wales collection)

P.L. Travers – 1899 – Writer (Pamela Lyndon Travers)

“A writer is, after all, only half his book.  The other half is the reader and from the reader the writer learns.”

Philip Larkin – 1922 – Poet

“You can’t put off being young until you retire.”

Marvin Minsky – 1927 – Scientist

“No computer has ever been designed that is ever aware of what it’s doing; but most of the time, we aren’t either.”

Bob Cousy – 1928 – Athlete

“Do your best when no one is looking.  If you do that, then you can be successful in anything that you put your mind to.”

Rod Laver – 1938 – Athlete

“The time your game is most vulnerable is when you’re ahead; never let up.”

Sam Elliott – 1944 – Actor

“I think anytime you can affect people in general, in a positive way, then you’re a lucky individual.”

Amanda McBroom – 1947 – Musician

“It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.”

Melanie Griffith – 1957 – Actress

“There are no small parts; there are only small actors.”

Michael Kors – 1959 – Designer

“Learn to invest in the best quality you can afford and wear pieces in different ways.”

English: Deion Sanders being interviewed at the 2011 NFL Draft. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Brad Gilbert – 1961 – Coach

“There’s always a learning curve, where you’ve got to learn what your subject is all about.”

Whitney Houston – 1963 – Musician

“I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadow; if I fail, or I succeed at least I did as I believe.”

Deion Sanders – 1967 – Athlete

“Athletes know kids look up to them, and it’s important for athletes to be responsible.”

Gillian Anderson – 1968 – Actress

“I believe people are in our lives for a reason.  We’re here to learn from each other.”

English: Filsinger, Sara Teasdale, Mrs., portrait photograph. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Francis Hutcheson – 1694 – Philosopher

“That action is best which produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number.”

Matthew Henson – 1866 – Explorer

“I think I’m the first man to sit on top of the world.”

Sara Teasdale – 1884 – Author

“Call him wise whose actions, words, and steps are all a clear because to a clear why.”

Ernest Lawrence – 1901- Scientist

“Let us cherish the hope that the day is not far distant when we will be in the midst of this next adventure.”

Benny Carter – 1907 – Musician

“At my age, I realize that my most precious possession is time, and I’ve got too much unfinished work to do to spend even a minute talking about myself.”

Esther Williams – 1921 – Actress

“The wisdom acquired with the passage of time is a useless gift unless you share it.”

Dustin Hoffman – 1937 – Actor

“A good review from the critics is just another stay of execution.”

Connie Stevens – 1938 – Actress

English: Portrait of Benny Carter, Apollo Theatre, New York, N.Y., ca. Oct. 1946 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Nothing you wear is more important than your smile.”

Erskine Bowles – 1945 – Businessman

“Leadership is the key to 99 percent of all successful efforts.”

Keith Carradine – 1949 – Actor

“I’ve grown this mustache which saves me from having to glue one on every day in the heat.”

English: Billie Burke, American actress, early in her career (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Powell Clayton – 1833 – Politician

“Freedom is an internal achievement rather than an external adjustment.”

Alice James – 1848 – Writer

“I make it a rule always to believe compliments implicitly for five minutes, and to simmer gently for twenty more.”

Emil Nolde – 1867 – Artist

“The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks.”

Mata Hari – 1876 – Dancer and Spy

“The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word.”

Billie Burke – 1885 – Actress

“Age is of no importance unless you are a cheese.”

Louis Leakey – 1903 – Scientist and Anthropologist

“I saw what looked like another fallen tree in front of me and put my foot on it to cross over.  At that moment it reared up in front of me – the biggest python I had ever seen.”

Ralph Bunche – 1904 – Diplomat

“If you want to get across an idea, wrap it up in a person.”

Ben Maddow – 1909 – Dramatist

(left to right): Mary Douglas Nicol Leakey (1913-1996) and her husband Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (1903-1972) (Photo credit: Smithsonian Institution)

“Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman.  Just when you think one’s all right, he turns legit.”

Jerry Pournelle – 1933 – Journalist

“The importance of information is directly proportional to its improbability.”

Garrison Keillor – 1942 – Writer

“A book is a gift you can open again and again.”

Alexei Sayle – 1952 – Comedian

“People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it’s safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.”

Alberto Salazar – 1958 – Athlete

“If you want to achieve a high goal, you’re going to have to take some chances.”

David Duchovny – 1960 – Actor

“Anxiety is part of creativity, the need to get something out, the need to be rid of something or to get in touch with something within.”

Jimmy Wales – 1966 – Businessman

“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.  That’s what we’re doing.”

Kristin Hersh – 1966 – Musician

“Before you can make good music, you just have to shut up.  Then the music can say what it has to say.”

Charlize Theron – 1975 – Actress

“I have OCD, which is not fun.  I have to be incredibly tidy and organized or it messes with my mind and switches off on me.”

Sidney Crosby – 1987 – Athlete

“I always wanted to be the best and to get the most out of myself.”

English: Alfred Lord Tennyson, autographed portrait by Elliott & Fry (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nicolas Malebranche – 1638 – Philosopher

“Just as our eyes need light in order to see, our minds need ideas in order to conceive.”

Luc de Clapiers – 1715 – Writer

“All grand thoughts come from the heart.”

Daniel O’Connell – 1776 – Politician

“There is nothing politically right that is morally wrong.”

Alfred Lord Tennyson – 1809 – Poet

“A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.”

Zerelda G. Wallace – 1817 – Activist

“The highest form of development is to govern one’s self.”

Paul Claudel – 1868 – Dramatist

“Intelligence is nothing without delight.”

Alexander Fleming – 1881 – Scientist

“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for.”

Scott Nearing – 1883 – Activist

“Do the best that you can in the place where you are, and be kind.”

Robert Mitchum (Photo credit: Alan Light)

Lucille Ball – 1911 – Actress

“I would rather regret the things that I have done than the things that I have not.”

Robert Mitchum – 1917 – Actor

“There just isn’t any pleasing some people.  The trick is to stop trying.”

Andy Warhol – 1928 – Artist

“An artist is somebody who produced things that people don’t need to have.”

Piers Anthony – 1934 – Writer

“All things make sense; you just have to fathom how they make sense.”

Charlie Haden – 1937 – Musician

“We’re here to bring beauty to the world and make a difference in the planet.  That’s what art forms are about.”

Jon Postel – 1943 – Scientist

“Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others.”

Soleil Moon Frye – 1976 – Actress

“It’s never too early to involve your kids in giving back.  And the more hands-on the experiences are, the better.”

Guy de Maupassant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Guy de Maupassant – 1850 – Writer

“It is the lives we encounter that make life worth living.”

Bruce Barton – 1886 – Author

“The five steps in teaching an employee new skills are preparation, explanation, showing, observation, and supervision.”

John Huston – 1906 – Director

“Hollywood has always been a cage … a cage to catch our dreams.”

Neil Armstrong – 1930 – Astronaut

“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats.  I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”

Wendell Berry – 1934 – Poet

“It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are.”

Herb Brooks – 1937 – Coach

Neil Armstrong (Photo credit: votadino)

“Great moments are born from great opportunities.”

Loni Anderson – 1946 – Actress

“If somebody invented cigarettes today, the government would not legalize them.”

R. Foster Winans – 1948 – Journalist

“The only reason to invest in the market is because you think you know something others don’t.”

Peter McWilliams – 1949 – Writer

“Learn to ask for what you want.  The worst people can do is not give you what you asked for which is precisely where you were before you asked.”

Maureen McCormick – 1956 – Author

“If you aren’t going to do something all the way, don’t do it.”

David Baldacci – 1960 – Novelist

“Why waste time trying to discover the truth, when you can so easily create it?”

Terri Clark – 1968 – Musician

“Artists who write songs … what they’re going through usually comes through in their music.”

[Portrait of Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden, between 1938 and 1948] (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)

“Treason doth never prosper:  What’s the reason?  Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley – 1792 – Poet

“Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.”

Walter Pater – 1839 – Critic

“Art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass.”

William Henry Hudson – 1841 – Author

“You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren.”

Harry Lauder – 1870 – Entertainer

“Aye, I’m tellin’ ye, happiness is one of the few things in this world that doubles every time you share it with someone else.”

Ezra Taft Benson – 1899 – Leader

“You cannot do wrong and feel right.  It is impossible.”

Louis Armstrong – 1901 – Jazz Trumpeter and Singer

“All music is folk music.  I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song.”

Helen Thomas – 1920 – Journalist

“We won’t really know what will happen until it happens.”

Klaus Schulze – 1947 – Composer

“Everything changes permanently.  How boring if it wouldn’t.”

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Billy Bob Thornton – 1955 – Actor

“I don’t have a fear of flying; I have a fear of crashing.”

Mary Decker – 1958 – Athlete

“I’ve always got such high expectations for myself.  I’m aware of them, but I can’t relax them.”

Barack Obama – 1961 – 44th President of the United States

“It’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.”

Daniel Dae Kim – 1968 – Actor

“There is as much wisdom in listening as there is in speaking – and that goes for all relationships, not just romantic ones.”

Jeff Gordon – 1971 – Race Car Driver

“I don’t feel I’m a step above anyone on this team.  I’m just another link in the chain.”

English: American writer Henry Cuyler Bunner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

James Wyatt – 1746 – Architect

“Employ oneself upon trifling professional matters which others could do.”

Hamilton Fish – 1808 – Politician

“If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace.”

H. C. Bunner – 1855 – Journalist (Henry Cuyler Bunner)

“Shakespeare was a dramatist of note who lived by writing things to quote.”

Stanley Baldwin – 1867 – Statesman

“I am one of those who would rather sink with faith then swim without it.”

Rupert Brooke – 1887 – Poet

“Cities, like cats, will reveal themselves at night.”

Ernie Pyle – 1900 – Journalist

“If you go long enough without a bath, even the fleas will leave you alone.”

Clifford D. Simak – 1904 – Writer

“Without consciousness and intelligence, the universe would lack meaning.”

Maggie Kuhn – 1905 – Activist

“When you least expect it, someone may actually listen to what you have to say.”

Maggie Kuhn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

James MacGregor Burns – 1918 – Author

“In real life, the most practical advice for leaders is not to treat pawns like pawns, nor princes like princes, but all persons like persons.”

Walter Wriston – 1919 – Businessman

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

P. D. James – 1920 – Novelist (Phyllis Dorothy James)

“What a child doesn’t receive he can seldom later give.”

Leon Uris – 1924 – Writer

“Often we have no time for our friends but all the time in the world for our enemies.”

Marv Levy – 1925 – Coach

“The age factor means nothing to me.  I’m old enough to know my limitations and I’m young enough to exceed them.”

Tony Bennett – 1926 – Musician

“To work is to feel alive.

Steven Berkoff – 1937 – Actor

“Writing is the antidote for loneliness.”

Roscoe Mitchell – 1940 – Composer

“If you listen to nature, all the sounds are done in a confident way.  I’m trying to do that.”

Martin Sheen – 1940 – Actor

“Anybody who plays golf will tell you that you play against yourself.”

Martha Stewart – 1941 – Entertainer

“My new motto is:  When you’re through changing, you’re through.”

Koichi Tanaka – 1959 – Scientist

“From my father, I learned the importance of working sincerely at things to which I had committed myself, and to persevere untiringly even in the face of little progress.”

John C. McGinley – 1959 – Actor

“I like to be in waiting rooms with people as they’re auditioning, because their terror calms me.”

James Hetfield – 1963 – Musician

“I choose to live, not just exist.”

Tom Brady – 1977 – Football Player

“Every quarterback can throw a ball; every running back can run; every receiver is fast; but that mental toughness that you talk about translates into competitiveness.”

Elisha Gray (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Tyndall – 1820 – Physicist

“Knowledge once gained casts a light beyond its own immediate boundaries.”

Elisha Gray – 1835 – Inventor

“As to Bell’s talking telegraph, it only creates interest in scientific circles … its commercial values will be limited.”

Francis Marion Crawford – 1854 – Writer

“No one person can possibly combine all the elements supposed to make up what everyone means by friendship.”

Irving Babbitt – 1865 – Critic

“Anyone who thus looks up has some chance of becoming worthy to be looked up to in turn.”

Westbrook Pegler – 1894 – Journalist

“Golf is the most useless outdoor game ever devised to waste the time and try the spirit of man.”

Myrna Loy – 1905 – Actress

“Life, is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.”

George Kimble – 1908 – Historian

“The darkest thing about Africa has always been our ignorance of it.”

Carroll O’Connor – 1922 – Actor

“Even a true artist does not always produce art.”

James Baldwin – 1924 – Novelist

“When one begins to live by habit and by quotation, one has begun to stop living.”

Peter O’Toole – 1932 – Actor

“It’s my job, it’s what I do, it’s what I’m on earth to do, and it’s who I am.”

Garth Hudson – 1937 – Musician

“Unfortunately or fortunately, in order to become acquainted with the idiom of country or rock music, it is necessary to occasionally play in a bar.  Bars are a rehearsal place.”

Francis Marion Crawford (1854 – 1909), an American writer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wes Craven – 1939 – Director

“I learned to take the first job that you have in the business that you want to get into.  It doesn’t matter what that job it, you get your foot in the door.”

Phil Condit – 1941 – Businessman

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”

Rose Tremain – 1943 – Novelist

“Life is not a dress rehearsal.”

Isabel Allende – 1942 – Writer

“All stories interest me, and some haunt me until I end up writing them.  Certain themes keep coming up:  justice, loyalty, violence, death, political and social issues, freedom.”

Dennis Prager – 1948 – Journalist

“Conservatives divide the world in terms of good and evil while liberals do it in terms of the rich and poor.”

James Fallows – 1949 – Journalist

“Always write angry letters to your enemies.  Never mail them.”

Lance Ito – 1950 – Judge

“If you take the cameras out of the courtroom, then you hide a certain measure of truth from the public.”

Caleb Carr – 1955 – Novelist

“Every human being must find his own way to cope with severe loss, and the only job of a true friend is to facilitate whatever method he chooses.”

Victoria Jackson – 1959 – Comedianne

“Maybe I’ll learn how, but the only thing I can do is turn down parts that would hurt my conscience.”

Tim Wakefield – 1966 – Athlete

“It’s nice to have a catcher who knows my mechanics, too.  That way if I get into trouble he can stop me before I get out of control.”

Kevin Smith – 1970 – Director

“All these people who say success changes people; well, no, it just magnifies what’s there.”

Sam Worthington – 1976 – Actor

“Well, I think the world changes around you and I think you don’t change.  That’s as simple as that.”

Edward Furlong – 1977 – Actor

“I don’t think anyone has a normal family.”