Quote Queen

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.”

Wife of President Grover Cleveland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Matthew Prior – 1664 – Poet

“They talk most who have the least to say.”

Frances Cleveland – 1864 – Wife of President Grover Cleveland

“Take good care of all the furniture …  We are coming back.”

Ernest Hemingway – 1899 – Author

“In order to write about life, first you must live it.”

Marshall McLuhan – 1911 – Sociologist

“Diaper backward spells repaid.  Think about it.”

Isaac Stern – 1920 – Musician

“Everywhere in the world, music enhances a hall, with one exception:  Carnegie Hall enhances the music.”

Rudolph A. Marcus – 1923 – Scientist

“Life would be indeed easier if the experimentalist would only pause for a little while.”

Don Knotts – 1924 – Actor

“My idol was Jack Benny, and he was the master of subtlety and timing.”

Norman Jewison – 1926 – Director

Ernest Hemingway 1923 Passport Photograph, 1923 (Photo credit: The U.S. National Archives)

“Betrayal … is my favorite subject.”

John Gardner – 1933 – Novelist

“One should fight like the devil the temptation to think well of editors.   They are all, without exception – at least some of the time, incompetent or crazy.”

Jonathan Miller – 1934 – Entertainer

“Errors of taste are very often the outward sign of a deep fault of sensibility.”

Les Aspin – 1938 – Politician

“Before we give you billions more, we want to know what you’ve done with the trillion you’ve got.”

Janet Reno – 1938 – Politician

“The good lawyer is the great salesman.”

Jim Clyburn – 1940 – Politician

“A lot of very competent people sometimes make errors.”

Paul Wellstone – 1944 – Politician

“Never separate the life you live from the words you speak.”

Kenneth Starr – 1946 – Lawyer

“Don’t blame the messenger because the message is unpleasant.”

Garry Trudeau – 1948 – Cartoonist

“Coming up with ideas is really hard – they don’t spontaneously pop into my head while I’m cutting vegetables.”

Cat Stevens – 1948 – Musician

“Communal well-being is central to human life.”

Robin Williams – 1951 – Actor

“Why do they call it ‘rush hour’ when nothing moves?”

Doug Collins – 1951 – Athlete

“I’ve always said you have to go through a lot of heartache in life to feel joy.”

Jon Lovitz – 1957 – Actor

“My dad would always say, ‘What can you do to make the world a better place?’  Well, I can make people laugh.”

Mick Mulvaney – 1967 – Politician

“My dad told me something long before I was in politics, and when your dad gives you advice every single day, eventually one or two of the things stick in your mind.  And he said, don’t believe what people say, believe what they do.”

Brandi Chastain – 1968 – Athlete

“And to learn, you have to be willing to push yourself.”

Ali Landry – 1973 – Model

“Chocolate is not cheating!  After a salty meal, you need a little bit of sweet.  This is living, not cheating.”

Sprague Grayden – 1980 – Actress

“If you just stay away from junk, and stick with what your mom taught you, you’re eating pretty healthy.”

Juno Temple – 1989 – Actress

“I think it’s so exciting to try anything you possibly can.”

The inventor and pioneer of aviation Alberto Santos-Dumont (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Petrarch – 1304 – Poet

“A short cut to riches is to subtract from our desires.”

Thomas Lovell Beddoes – 1803 – Poet

“If there were dreams to sell, what would you buy?”

Howard Thurston – 1869 – Celebrity

“The average man is not hard to mystify.”

Alberto Santos Dumont – 1873 – Aviator

“The human voice cannot mount up into these boundless solitudes.”

Edmund Hillary – 1919 – Explorer

“People do not decide to become extraordinary.  They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.”

Thomas Berger – 1924 – Novelist

“Why do writers write?  Because it isn’t there.”

Nam June Paik – 1932 – Artist

“The future is now.”

Alistair MacLeod – 1936 – Author

Natalie Wood (Photo credit: Film Star Vintage)

“I like to think that I am telling a story rather than writing it.”

Barbara Mikulski – 1936 – Politician

“Each of us can make a difference.  Together we make change.”

Natalie Wood – 1938 – Actress

“The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he is a baby.”

Carlos Santana – 1947 – Musician

“The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart.  The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace.”

Tim Ferriss – 1977 – Author

“Exercise is overrated.”

Elliott Yamin – 1978 – Musician

“Music’s something you feel.  You have to feel it first before you hear it.”

Gisele Bundchen – 1980 – Model

“The more you trust your intuition, the more empowered you become, the stronger you become, and the happier you become.”

Julianne Hough – 1988 – Musician

“I think it’s important to be happy before you can make anybody else happy.”

English: “Self Portrait,” by the French artist Edgar Degas, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gottfried Keller – 1819 – Writer

“A human life is a schooling for eternity.”

Victor Cherbuliez – 1829 – Novelist

“What helps luck is a habit of watching for opportunity, of having a patient but restless mind, of sacrificing one’s ease or vanity, or uniting a love of detail to foresight, and of passing through hard times bravely and cheerfully.”

Edgar Degas – 1834 – Artist

“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”

Anatole Broyard – 1920 – Critic

“The more I like a book, the more slowly I read.  This spontaneous talking back to a book is one of the things that makes reading so valuable.”

Rosalyn S. Yalow – 1921 – Scientist

“The excitement of learning separates youth from old age.  As long as you’re learning you’re not old.”

George McGovern – 1922 – Politician

“Empathy is born out of the old biblical injunction “Love the neighbor as thyself.'”

Jan Myrdal – 1927 – Author

“There is a third dimension to traveling, the longing for what is beyond.”

Thomas J. Sargent – 1943 – Economist

English: Original description: Dr. Rosalyn Yalow at her Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital, October 13, 1977, after learning she was one of three American doctors awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine that year. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“What I really don’t like is oversimplification.”

Ilie Nastas – 1946 – Athlete

“I haven’t reported my missing credit card to the police because whoever stole it is spending less than my wife.”

Brian May – 1947 – Musician

“Astronomy’s much more fun when you’re not an astronomer.”

Howard Schultz – 1953 – Businessman

“Expect more than others think possible.”

Kathleen Turner – 1954 – Actress

“The big gap between the ability of actors is confidence.”

Campbell Scott – 1961 – Actor

“Working hard is great, being lazy sometimes is great, but failed potential is the worst.”

Evelyn Glennie – 1965 – Musician

“I hope the seeds I have sown will be taken up by those who will follow me because the journey I have begun cannot be undertaken in isolation.”

William Makepeace Thackeray (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

George Savile – 1726 – Politician

“A man who is a master of patience is master of everything else.”

William Makepeace Thackeray – 1811 – Novelist

“Life is a mirror:  if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting.”

Charles Erwin Wilson – 1890 – Businessman

“A good boss makes his men realize they have more ability than they think they have so that they consistently do better work than they thought they could.”

Jessamyn West – 1902 – Author

“A broken bone can heal, but the wound a word opens can fester forever.”

Harriet Nelson – 1909 – Actress (Peggy Lou Snyder)

“Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself.”

Hume Cronyn – 1911 – Actor

“I find it very difficult just to sit.  I would love to learn how to do that with contentment.”

Red Skelton – 1913 – Comedian (Richard Bernard Skelton)

“Live by this credo:  have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness.  Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.”

Gallery ~ Harriet Hilliard Nelson (Photo credit: e r j k p r u n c z y k)

Phil Graham – 1915 – Businessman

“News is the first rough draft of history.”

Nelson Mandela – 1918 – South African President

“With freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.”

John Glenn – 1921 – Astronaut

“There is still no cure for the common birthday.”

Elizabeth Jennings – 1926 – Poet

“For me, poetry is always a search for order.”

Margaret Laurence – 1926 – Novelist

“When I say ‘work’ I only mean writing.  Everything else is just odd jobs.”

Kurt Masur – 1927 – Musician

“You have to change your mind with every orchestra because every orchestra has a different character.”

Yevgeny Yevtushenko – 1933 – Poet

“Envy is an insult to oneself.”

Joe Torre – 1940 – Athlete

“You’re always in the storm’s eye, so to speak, when you’re with the Yankees.”

Martha Reeves – 1941 – Musician

“A song has to become as much a part of you as a tailored suit.”

Steve Forbes – 1947 – Businessman

“A promise made should be a promise kept.”

Richard Branson – 1950 – Businessman

“A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.”

Ricky Skaggs – 1954 – Musician

“Great music is great music, period.”

Vin Diesel – 1968 – Actor

“It’s insecurity that is always chasing you and standing in the way of your dreams.”

Chace Crawford – 1985 – Actor

“Doubt your doubts before you doubt your beliefs.”

Anne Hutchinson – 1591 – Clergy

“I have been guilty of wrong thinking.”

Isaac Watts – 1674 – Politician

“Acquaint yourself with your own ignorance.”

John Jacob Astor – 1763 – Merchant

“A man who has a million dollars is as well off as if he were rich.”

Warren Weaver – 1894 – Scientist

“Science is not gadgetry.”

James Cagney (Photo credit: twm1340)

Berenice Abbott – 1898 – Photographer

“Photography can only represent the present.  Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.”

James Cagney – 1899 – Actor

“You dirty, double-crossing rat.”

Art Linkletter – 1912 – Journalist

“The four stages of man are infancy, childhood, adolescence and obsolescence.”

Phyllis Diller – 1917 – Comedian (Phyllis Ada Driver)

“Cleaning your house while your children are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”

Juan Antonio Samaranch – 1920 – Celebrity

“Olympism is the marriage of sport and culture.”

Robert Cormier – 1925 – Author

“I take real people and put them in extraordinary situations.”

Geezer Butler – 1949 – Musician

English: Phyllis Diller portrait (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“If you polish things too much, it loses the feeling.”

David Hasselhoff – 1952 – Actor

“If you don’t respect me you’re not gonna get that respect back.”

J. Michael Straczynski – 1954 – Producer

“Never follow somebody else’s path; it doesn’t work the same way twice for anyone…the path follows you and rolls up behind you as you walk, forcing the next person to find their own way.”

Luke Bryan – 1976 – Musician

“You never take your fans for granted.  You always appreciate them every show, night in, night out.”

Mattie Stepanek – 1990 -Poet

“Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.”

English: Public Domain Image of Mary Baker Eddy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Joshua Reynolds – 1723 – Artist

“The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.”

Mary Baker Eddy – 1821 – Theologian

“Happiness is spiritual, born of truth and love.  It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but required all mankind to share it.”

Theodore N. Vail – 1845 – Industrialist

“Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.”

Roald Amundsen – 1972 – Explorer

“Adventure is just bad planning.”

Ivy Lee – 1877 – Writer

“Write down the most important things you have to do tomorrow.”

Shoeless Joe Jackson – 1889 – Athlete

“I ain’t afraid to tell the world that it didn’t take school stuff to help a fella play ball.”

Orville Redenbacher – 1907 – Businessman

“I had popcorn all over the place, so I decided I might as well be in the Processing Business.”

Barbara Stanwyck – 1907 – Actress

Ginger Rogers – 1920s (Photo credit: danceonair1986)

“Egotism – usually just a case of mistaken nonentity.”

Ginger Rogers – 1911 – Actress (Virginia Katherine McMath)

“The only way to enjoy anything in this life is to earn it first.”

Mari Evans – 1923 – Poet

“To identify the enemy is to free the mind.”

Bess Myerson – 1924 – Model

“To fall in love is awfully simple, but to fall out of love is simply awful.”

Robert Sheckley – 1928 – Author

“A novel is often a longer process of handling self-doubt.”

Anita Brookner – 1938 – Historian

“Accountability in friendship is the equivalent of love without strategy.”

Desmond Dekker – 1941 – Musician

“Things will get better if you just hold out long enough.”

Jimmy Johnson – 1943 – Coach

“The only thing worse than a coach or CEO who doesn’t care about his people is one who pretends to care.  People can spot a phony every time.”

Tony Kushner – 1956 – Playwright

“As a playwright, you are a torturer of actors and of the audience as well.  You inflict things on people.”

Jerry Doyle – 1956 – Actor

“If you’re not having fun – I don’t care what you’re doing – don’t do it.  Move on.  Find something else, life’s too short.”

Michael Flatley – 1958 – Dancer

“Whenever I hear, ‘It can’t be done,’ I know I’m close to success.”

Mark Burnett – 1960 – Businessman

“The best person to get something done is a busy person.”

Phoebe Cates – 1963 – Actress

“Too many people are buying gifts for themselves when they pick out a gift for a friend.”

Miguel Indurain – 1964 – Athlete

“To be free and to live a free life – that is the most beautiful thing there is.”

Will Ferrell – 1967 – Comedian

“I have only been funny about seventy-four percent of the time.  Yes I think that is right.  Seventy-four percent of the time.”

Barry Sanders – 1968 – Athlete

“I really love peace and quiet.”

Corey Feldman – 1971 – Actor

“As an actor, you’re pretty much a hired gun.  You are reading other people’s words off a page and doing what they want you to do.”

Brian Celio – 1981 – Novelist

“True friends:  only a few have ’em, but only a few will admit that they don’t.”