Quote Queen

Deutsch: Chuck Norris (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel – 1772 – Poet

“The historian is a prophet looking backward.”

Maxwell Maltz – 1899 – Scientist

“Accept yourself as you are.  Otherwise you will never see opportunity.  You will not feel free to move toward it; you will feel you are not deserving.”

Chuck Norris – 1940 – Actor

“I think setting a goal, getting a visual image of what it is you want.  You’ve got to see what it is you want to achieve before you can pursue it.”

Jim Valvano – 1946 – Coach

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”

Barbara Corcoran – 1949 – Businesswoman

“Don’t you dare underestimate the power of your own instinct.”

Johanna Lindsey – 1952 – Writer

“If you can’t laugh at your own characters, or shed a tear for them, or even get angry at one of them, no one else will either.”

Sharon Stone – 1958 – Actress

“It’s my experience that you really can’t lose when you try the truth.”

Lance Burton – 1960 – Entertainer

“I have no idea of what’s next.  I simply don’t have a clue.”

English: Carrie Underwood on the red carpet of the 2009 American Music Awards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shannon Miller – 1977 – Olympic Gymnast

“I think it’s really important to look at the big picture instead of just one competition.”

Carrie Underwood – 1983 – Singer

“Every day is a new day, and you’ll never be able to find happiness if you don’t move on.”

Ernest Bevin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Eddie Foy – 1856 – Actor

“No one invited you to this business.  You invited yourself.”

Gustav Stickley – 1858 – Architect

“The quiet rhythmic monotone of the wall of logs fills one with the rustic peace of a secluded nook in the woods.”

Ernest Bevin – 1881- Public Servant

“Unintelligent people always look for a scapegoat.”

Howard Aiken – 1900 – Scientist

“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas.  If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.”

Luis Barragan – 1902 – Architect

“I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery, and mystery.”

Samuel Barber – 1910 – Composer

“I was meant to be a composer and will be I’m sure.  Don’t ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football – please.”

Mickey Spillane – 1918 – Author

“If I need something, I’ll invent it.”

English: Carlos Ghosn at Nissan’s Honmoku Wharf, a logistics hub about 10 km southeast of Nissan’s global headquarters in Yokohama, July 16 2011. Picture by Bertel Schmitt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Herbert Gold – 1924 – Author

“Literature boils with the madcap careers of writers brought to the edge by the demands of living on their nerves, wringing out their memories and their nightmares to extract meaning, truth, beauty.”

Yuri Gagarin – 1934 – Astronaut

“I could have gone on flying through space forever.”

Mickey Gilley – 1936 – Musician

“I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do know how to count.”

Benjamin Zander – 1939 – Musician

“You can’t lie with your body, and you can’t lie with your eyes.”

Raul Julia – 1940 – Actor

“A cigar is as good as memories that you have when you smoked it.”

John Cale – 1942 – Musician

“Time plays a role in almost every decision.  And some decisions define your attitude about time.”

Bobby Fischer -1943 – Chess Champion

“All that matters on the chessboard is good moves.”

Jef Raskin – 1943 – Scientist

“Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way.  This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining.”

Robin Trower – 1945 – Musician

“It all comes down to the density of the wood.  Every guitar’s different.”

Michael Kinsley – 1951 – Journalist

“A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.”

Carlos Ghosn – 1954 – Businessman

“Commitment.  This is my favorite word because in some way, people who are committed are always much more interesting and much more reliable, and much more, I would say, deep than people who are not.”

Martin Fry – 1958 – Musician

“I wanted a name that would put us first in the phone directory, or second if you count ABBA.”

Mark Carwardine – 1959 – Scientist

“Nothing speaks louder than an evocative photograph that stirs the imagination, tugs at the heart strings and engages the mind.”

Brian Bosworth – 1965 – Athlete

“Football is so barbaric.  Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking by playing it.  I feel almost like I escaped from boot camp.”

Emmanuel Lewis – 1971 – Actor

“I do what I believe.”

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788) Deutsch: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, halbe Figur, halb links (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – 1714 – Musician

“What comprises a good performance?  The ability through singing or playing to make the ear conscious of the true content and affect of a composition.”

Thomas Fuller – 1823 – Writer

“A fox should not be on the jury at a goose’s trial.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. – 1841 – Judge

“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”

Kenneth Grahame – 1859 – Novelist

“Monkeys who very sensibly refrain from speech, lest they should be set to earn their livings.”

Anna Held – 1872 – Entertainer

“A woman should be like a single flower, not a whole bouquet.”

Gene Fowler – 1890 – Journalist

“What is success?  It is a toy balloon among children armed with pins.”

Claire Trevor – 1910 – Actress

“What a holler would ensue if people had to pay the minister as much to marry them as they have to pay a lawyer to get them a divorce.”

Neil Postman – 1931 – Author

1902 portrait photograph of Oliver Wendell Holmes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)1902 portrait photograph of Oliver Wendell Holmes

“At its best, schooling can be about how to make a life, which is quite different from how to make a living.”

Jim Bouton – 1939 – Athlete

“Baseball players are smarter than football players.  How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?”

Lynn Redgrave – 1943 – Actress

“God always has another custard pie up his sleeve.”

Lester Holt – 1959 – Journalist

“You have to go where the story is to report on it.  As a journalist, you’re essentially running to things that other people are running away from.”

Aidan Quinn – 1959 – Actor

“You have to make them laugh and then make them listen.”

Kathy Ireland – 1963 – Model

“Beauty comes from the inside.”

James Van Der Beek – 1977 – Actor

“You are incredibly fortunate whatever success falls on you, which is what happened to me.”

Photographie du compositeur français Maurice Ravel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Herschel – 1792 – Scientist

“Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.”

Luther Burbank – 1849 – Environmentalist

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul.”

Maurice Ravel – 1875 – Composer

“Music, I feel, must be emotional first and intellectual second.”

Milton Avery – 1885 – Artist

“Why talk when you can paint?”

Anna Magnani – 1908 – Actress

“Please don’t retouch my wrinkles.  It took me so long to earn them.”

Willard Scott – 1934 – Entertainer

“Nature’s a tranquilizer as you get older.”

Michael Eisner – 1942 – Businessman

“I find that, once you get into a position where you can afford a pair of shoes and a decent level of living, success in itself is empty.”

Ranulph Fiennes – 1944 – Explorer

“I go on expeditions for the same reason an estate agent sells houses, to pay the bills.”

Townes Van Zandt – 1944 – Musician

“I don’t think you can ever do your best.  Doing your best is a process of trying to do your best.”

Daniel Goleman – 1946 – Author

English: Wanda Sykes at 2010 GLAAD Media Awards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The emotional brain responds to an event more quickly than the thinking brain.”

Rex Hunt – 1949 – Entertainer

“I think it’s wrong that so many people pass on from this existence, and take all their knowledge with them.”

Donald Sadoway – 1950 – Educator

“Want to know the best thing about being a professor?  Colored chalk.”

Jules Shear – 1952 – Musician

“The same people who never did their homework in high school are still doing that to this very day out in the real world.”

Rick Bass – 1958 – Writer

“To not pursue the thing one wants, would be a waste of one’s life.”

Wanda Sykes – 1964 – Comedian

“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.”

Francesco Guicciardini (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Michelangelo – 1475 – Artist

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting out aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

Francesco Guicciardini – 1483 – Historian

“Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them.”

Cyrano de Bergerac – 1619 – Playwright

“I may climb perhaps to nn great heights, but I will climb alone.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning – 1806 – Poet

“Light tomorrow  with today.”

Herbert Kaufman – 1878 – Writer

“Failure is only postponed success as long as courage ‘coaches’ ambition.  The habit of persistence is the habit of victory.”

Lou Costello – 1906 – Actor (Louis Francis Cristillo)

“A husband is what’s left of a sweetheart after the nerve has been killed.”

Stanislaw Lec – 1909 – Poet

“You can close your  eyes to reality but not to memories.”

Ed McMahon – 1923 – Entertainer

“Honesty is the most  single most important factor having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product.”

Sarah Caldwell – 1924 – Celebrity

“Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can – there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.”

Alan Greenspan – 1926 – Economist

“I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I’ve said.”

Gordon Cooper – 1927 – Astronaut

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, photographed September, 1859, by Macaire Havre, engraving by T. O. Barlow. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I believe that these extraterrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets.  Most astronauts were reluctant to discuss UFOs.”

Gabriel Garcia Marquez – 1927 – Novelist

“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.”

Willie Mays – 1931 – Athlete

“Baseball is a game, yes.  It is also a business.  But what it is most truly is disguised combat.  For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.”

Valentina Tereshkova – 1937 – Astronaut

“Anyone who has spent any time in space will love it for the rest of their lives.  I achieved my childhood dream of the sky.”

Adam Osborne – 1939 – Author

“People think computers will keep them from making mistakes. They’re wrong.  With computers you make mistakes faster.”

Willie Stargell – 1940 – Athlete

“Life is one big transition.”

Rob Reiner – 1947 – Director

“Everybody talks about wanting to change things, and help and fix, but ultimately all you can do is fix yourself.  And that’s a lot.  Because if you can fix yourself, it has a ripple effect.”

John Stossel – 1947 – Journalist

“Happiness comes when we test our skills towards some meaningful purpose.”

Dick Fosbury – 1947 – Athlete

“When you reach that elite level, 90 percent is mental and 10 percent is physical.  You are competing against yourself.  Not against other athletes.”

Stedman Graham – 1951 – Educator

“Everybody has 24 hours and the question is, what do you do with your 24 hours?  That’s what makes everybody equal.”

Tom Arnold – 1959 – Actor

“Environmentalists have a very conflicted relationship with their cars.”

D. L. Hughley – 1963 – Actor

“Everybody wants to be great at something.”

Shaquille O’Neal – 1972 – Athlete

“Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit.  You are what you repeatedly do.”

Daniel H. Wilson – 1978 – Author

“Change creates fear, and technology creates change.  Sadly, most people don’t behave very well when they are afraid.”

#52 -Audrey Hepburn with Rex Harrison Holding Academy Award (Photo credit: fred baby)

Lucy Larcom – 1824 – Poet

“If the world’s a veil of tears, Smile till rainbows span it.”

Rex Harrison – 1908 – Actor

“Exhilaration is that feeling you get just after a great idea hits you, and just before you realize what’s wrong with it.”

Daniel Kahneman – 1934 – Psychologist

“When you analyze happiness, it turns out that the way you spend your time is extremely important.”

Larry Bossidy – 1935 – Businessman

“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people.  At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies.”

Dean Stockwell – 1936 – Actor

“It’s not the easiest life in the world, but then no life is easy.”

Leslie Marmon Silko – 1948 – Writer

“Writing can’t change the world overnight, but writing may have an enormous effect over time, over the long haul.”

Bernard Arnault – 1949 – Businessman

English: Penn Jillette at Rio Las Vegas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“In the luxury business, you have to build on heritage.”

Penn Jillette – 1955 – Entertainer

“The medium is not the message – the message is the message.”

Teena Marie – 1956 – Musician

“OK, so truth hurts – but what else does truth do?”

Joel Osteen – 1963 – Clergyman

“Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.”

Mark Z. Danielewski – 1966 – Author

“Anger is one way to respond to fear.  I say one way because responses are categorically multiple.”

John Frusciante – 1970 – Musician

“Everything’s very perfectly balanced; for all the horrible things in the world there’s lots of good things.”

Matt Lucas – 1974 – Actor

“Keep yourself busy if you want to avoid depression.  For me, inactivity is the enemy.”

Patricia Heaton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Knute Rockne on a ship’s deck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Knute Rockne – 1888 – Football Coach
“One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it.”

Joseph Force Carter – 1909 – Judge

“The truth of the matter was that I made myself disappear.  I never liked being a Judge, so I just decided to start over.  Sorry to inconvenience anyone.”

Robert Orben – 1927 – Entertainer

“Time flies.  It’s up to you to be the navigator.”

Ryszard Kapuscinski – 1932 – Journalist

“The extent of one man’s guilt may be defined by how much of it is experienced by the party he injured.”

Miriam Makeba – 1932 – Musician

“Age is getting to know all the ways the world turns, so that if you cannot turn the world the way you want, you can at least get out of the way so you won’t get run over.”

Bobby Womack – 1944 – Musician

“Leave them wanting more and you know they’ll call you back.”

Curtis Hanson – 1945 – Director

“You can dress it up, but it comes down to the fact that a movie is only as good as its script.”

Chris Squire – 1948 – Musician

“You’re only as big as your last hit.”

Julia Cameron – 1948 – Author

“The creative process is not a process of surrender, not control.”

Rick Perry – 1950 – Governor of Texas

“When a criminal breaks into your home I’ll let the liberals call the lawyer.  I’m going to call Smith and Wesson.”

Patricia Heaton – 1958 – Actress

“Home life is a foreign environment for most guys.  So it’s natural to show them being idiots at home.”

Steven Weber – 1961 – Actor

“If you have to lie, cheat, steal, obstruct, and bully to get your point across, it must not be a point capable of surviving on its own merit.”

Jason Newsted – 1963 – Musician

“The past is where its supposed to be.”

Kevin Johnson – 1966 – Athlete

“You realize you can’t change the world but it shouldn’t stop you from trying.”

Tim Vine – 1967 – Comedian

“Velcro:  What a rip off.”

Drew Houston – 1983 – Businessman

“Instead of trying to make your life perfect, give yourself the freedom to make it an adventure, and go ever upward.”

Josh Bowman – 1988 – Actor

“March on.  Don’t look in the rearview, just the windshield.”

English: Helen Keller and Alexander Graham Bell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Alexander Graham Bell – 1847 – Inventor

“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”

Beatrice Wood – 1893 – Artist

“My life is full of mistakes.  They’re like pebbles that make a good road.”

Jean Harlow – 1911 – Actress

“When you lie  down with the dogs, you get up with fleas.”

Arnold Newman – 1918 – Photographer

“Photography, as we all know, is not real at all.  It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.”

Julius Boros – 1920 – Athlete

“Retire to what?  I already play golf and fish for a living.”

Jackie Joyner Kersee – 1962 – Athlete

“The medals don’t mean anything and the glory doesn’t last.  It’s all about your happiness.”

Herschel Walker – 1962 – Athlete

“When I feel good about myself, things start happening for myself.  When you look up, you go up.”

Tyler Florence – 1971 – Chef

“Fifty thousand dollars’ worth of cabinets isn’t going to make you a better cook; cooking is going to make you a better cook.”

Kim Smith – 1983 – Actress

English: Jackie Joyner Kersee on the South Lawn of the White House, Sept. 16, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I love meeting new people; I think everyone has a story to tell.  We should all listen sometimes.”

Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) half-length portrait, seated at desk covered with his books / World Telegram & Sun photo by Al Ravenna. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev in the White House Library (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DeWitt Clinton – 1769 – Politician

“Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and power is a pageant; but knowledge is ecstatic in enjoyment, perennial in frame, unlimited in space and infinite in duration.”

Sam Houston – 1793 – Statesman and Governor of Texas

“He has all the characteristics of a dog – except loyalty.”

John Jay Chapman – 1862 – Poet

“All progress is experimental.”

Dr. Seuss – 1904 – Author (Theodor Seuss Geisel)

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better.  It’s not.”

Martin Ritt – 1914- Actor

“I don’t have a lot of respect for talent.  Talent is genetic.  It’s what you do with it that counts.”

Desi Arnaz – 1917 – Actor

“Good things do not come easy.  The road is lined with pitfalls.”

Jennifer Jones – 1919 – Actress

“If you could choose one characteristic, that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor.”

Tom Wolfe – 1931 – Journalist

“The surest cure for vanity is loneliness.”

Mikhail Gorbachev – 1931 – Russian Statesman

“What we need is Star Peace not Star Wars.”

Lou Reed – 1942 – Musician

“I think that everything happens for a reason, everything happens when it’s going to happen.”

Jon Bon Jovi – 1962 – Musician

“Map out your future, but do it in pencil.”

Chris Martin – 1977 – Musician

“More idiots should just shut their mouths.”

English: The only known photograph of Frédéric Chopin, often incorrectly described as a daguerreotype Español: La única fotografía conocida de Frédéric Chopin Français : L’unique photographie connue de Frédéric Chopin, souvent incorrectement décrite comme un daguerréotype (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Portrait of Harry Belafonte, actor at hollywood, in Almanac, 1954 Feb. 18. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Frederic Chopin – 1810 – Composer

“Simplicity is the final achievement, After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”

David Niven – 1909 – Actor

“I see my purpose in life as making the world a happier place to be in.”

Ralph Ellison – 1914 – Writer

“Education is all a matter of building bridges.”

Harry Caray – 1919 – Sportscaster

“I’ve only been doing this fifty-four seasons,  With a little experience, I might get better.”

Harry Belafonte – 1927 – Actor and Singer

“You can cage the singer, but not the song.”

Roger Daltrey – 1944 – Singer and Actor

“I haven’t got much hearing left and what I have I want to keep.”

Ron Howard – 1954 – Actor and Director

“One of the great things about being a director as a life choice is that it can never be mastered.  Every story is its own kind of expedition, with its own set of challenges.”

Javier Bardem – 1969 – Actor

“An award doesn’t necessarily make you a better actor.”