Quotes of famous people
Popular topics
Authors
Tupac Shakur154
rapper and actor 1971–1996
Barack Obama1158
44th President of the United States of America 1961William Shakespeare699
English playwright and poet 1564–1616
George Orwell473
English author and journalist 1903–1950Oscar Wilde812
Irish writer and poet 1854–1900Recommended quotes
William Quan Judge (1851–1896) American occult writer
The Ocean of Theosophy by William Q. Judge (1893), Chapter 8, Of Reincarnation
Edmund Dene Morel (1873–1924) British politician (1873-1924)
King Leopold's ghost. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/kingleopoldsghost History of the CRA, 1904, FF.
“All wars are civil ones; for it is still man spilling his own blood, tearing out his own bowels.”
François Fénelon (1651–1715) Catholic bishop
Toutes les guerres sont civiles; car c'est toujours l'homme contre l'homme qui répand son propre sang, qui déchire ses propres entrailles.
Dialogues des morts, ch. 17, cited from De l'éducation des filles, Dialogues des morts et opuscules divers (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1857) p. 149; translation from Mr. Elphingston (trans.) Dialogues of the Dead, Together with Some Fable Composed for the Education of a Prince (Glasgow: Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1754) vol. 1, p. 87. (1700).
“I expect a judgment. Shortly.”
Charles Dickens book Bleak House
Source: Bleak House (1852-1853), Ch. 3
“He wos wery good to me, he wos!”
Charles Dickens book Bleak House
Source: Bleak House (1852-1853), Ch. 11
“Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.”
Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
A literatura é a maneira mais agradável de ignorar a vida.
Variant: To write is to forget. Literature is the pleasantest way of ignoring life.
Source: The Book of Disquietude, trans. Richard Zenith, text 116
Heinz von Foerster (1911–2002) Austrian American scientist and cybernetician
Von Foerster (1995) " Interview Heinz von Foerster http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/interviewvonf.html" S. Franchi, G. Güzeldere, and E. Minch (eds) in: Constructions of the Mind Volume 4, issue 2. 26 June 1995 <br class="br">1990s
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
“I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.”
Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice
Source: Pride and Prejudice
“When I fall in love, it will be forever.”
Jane Austen (1775–1817) English novelist
Source: Sense and Sensibility: The Screenplay
“I am getting nowhere with you and I can't let you go and I cant get through.”
Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist
“I don't want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
No known source in Oscar Wilde's works. Earliest known example of a similar quote comes from a 2001 usenet post https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=alt.atheism/ZadPWBw-wew/G_3tx370wpoJ (not attributed to Wilde) <br class="br">Attributed to Wilde on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/15736-i-don-t-want-to-go-to-heaven-none-of-my?page=83 some time on or before January 2008. <br class="br">Bears some resemblance to Machiavelli's deathbed dream https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli#Disputed. <br class="br">Disputed
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan
Lord Darlington, Act III
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
“We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Source: The Duchess of Padua
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism
The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
