English quotes with translation (page 20)

“Humor (is) the process that allows one to brush reality aside when it gets too distressing.”

André Breton book Anthology of Black Humor

Source: Anthology of Black Humor

“Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

Speech given at Harrow School, Harrow, England, October 29, 1941. Quoted in Churchill by Himself (2008), ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs, 2008, p. 23
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Source: Never Give In!: The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches
Context: Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

“Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

Source: Works of Samuel Johnson

“Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Already Taken.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Anonymous advertising copywriter for Menards chain of hardware stores (2000), according to Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/20/be-yourself
Misattributed

“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“Technology [is] the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it.”

Max Frisch book Homo Faber

Source: Homo Faber (1957)

“Can miles truly separate you from friends… If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

“Religion is like a pair of shoes….. Find one that fits for you, but don't make me wear your shoes.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

“But surely for everything you love you have to pay some price.”

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer

Source: An Autobiography

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker

As translated by Katharine Lyttelton, in Joubert : A Selection from His Thoughts (1899)
Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 121; this likely derives from the observation of Joseph Joubert: The goal is not always meant to be reached, but to serve as a mark for our aim.

“Nobody likes a clown at midnight”

Stephen King (1947) American author

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

“The impossible cannot have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.”

Agatha Christie book Murder on the Orient Express

Hercule Poirot
Source: Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Variant: Mama, the more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.
Source: Sense and Sensibility

“Life's too short to pretend and play games like that. I want to spend my time hanging out with people who make me feel good about myself. People who make me happy.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Alice in Zombieland

“Think globally, act locally.”

Paul McCartney (1942) English singer-songwriter and composer

“Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“He who kneels before God, can stand before any man.”

Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Letter to Isham Reavis (5 November 1855)
1850s
Context: If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already. It is but a small matter whether you read with anyone or not. I did not read with anyone. Get the books, and read and study them till you understand them in their principal features; and that is the main thing. It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading. I read at New Salem, which never had three hundred people living in it. The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places.... Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.”

Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet

“Number rules the universe.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Variant: There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.

“Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts.”

Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (1986)
Context: Yelling at living things does tend to kill the spirit in them. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts.

“A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“There are no limitations to the mind except those that we acknowledge.”

Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich

Source: Think and Grow Rich

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”

Henry David Thoreau book Walden ou la vie dans les bois

Source: Walden

“Speed and efficiency do not always increase the quality of life.”

Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

“There's no one thing that's true. It's all true.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ch 43
Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

“Through the unknown, we'll find the new.”

Charles Baudelaire book Les Fleurs du mal

Source: Les Fleurs du Mal

“The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

“Anyway, if you stop tellin' people it's all sorted out afer they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Variant: If you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.
Source: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”

William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

A Memorable Fancy
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)

“Memory was supposed to fill the time, but it made time a hole to be filled.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

“Pleasure of love lasts but a moment, Pain of love lasts a lifetime.”

Bette Davis (1908–1989) film and television actress from the United States

“Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker

“All right, then, I'll go to hell.”

Mark Twain book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Source: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Variant: Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.
Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Quoted in Herbert V. Prochnow (1955), Speaker's Book of Epigrams and Witticisms
Misattributed

“There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need.”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Adventures of Sally

The Adventures of Sally (1922)
Source: Mostly Sally

“The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.”

Terry Pratchett book Monstrous Regiment

Source: Monstrous Regiment

“Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.”

William Shakespeare Measure for Measure

Source: Measure for Measure

“There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours.”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

“The love of books is among the choicest gifts of the gods.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

“The heart will break, but broken live on.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Variant: And thus the heart will break, yet brokenly live on.

“Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.”

Washington Irving (1783–1859) writer, historian and diplomat from the United States

Attributed to Irving as early as 1883. [Hit and miss : a story of real life, Angie Stewart, Manly, Chicago, J.L. Regan, 1883, i, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435018229575?urlappend=%3Bseq=7] However, it does not seem to appear in Irving's known works. Other citations from the same year leave the quotation unattributed. [Henry S. (ed.), Clubb, The Peacemaker and Court of Arbitration, Volume 1, Universal Peace Union, 1883, 125, Philadelphia, https://books.google.com/books?id=Uu84AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA125] [The Australian Women's Magazine and Domestic Journal, Vol. 2 No. 2 (May 1883), 1883, Melbourne, 435, https://books.google.com/books?id=mq0sAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA435]. A similar passage is found in a pseudonymous novel published two years earlier in 1881: "Julia knew that sacrifices to patience are not in vain. Although they often do not produce the happiness for which they are made, they will, always, flow back and soften and purify the heart of the one who makes them". [Illma, Or, Which was Wife?, Miss, M.L.A., Cornwell & Johnson, 1881, 239, New York, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435017658592?urlappend=%3Bseq=245]
Disputed

“The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

“The language of Friendship is not words, but meanings.”

Henry David Thoreau A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Source: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

“The man who cannot visualize a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot.”

André Breton (1896–1966) French writer

“Why I'm Not Where You Are”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

“Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.”

Terry Pratchett book Hogfather

Source: Hogfather

“Black holes are where God divided by zero.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

“It wasn’t in books. It wasn’t in a church. What I needed to know was out there in the world.”

Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

“When you can't go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

“True friends stab you in the front”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Also found in variants such as "A true friend stabs you in the front".
The earliest known example of this quote comes from Walter Winchell's syndicated newspaper column in mid-January 1955: 'On Broadway, cynically reports Jimmy Nelson, "a true friend is one who stabs you in the front"'
The earliest version of this quote found in Google Books is from 1958, where the quote "A true friend is one who stabs you in the front" is attributed to actor Steve Dunne https://books.google.com/books?id=MF5-AAAAMAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig2JCRnKrMAhUC42MKHaNzCGsQ6AEIHDAA.
In 1981, a similar quote: "He is a fine friend. He stabs you in the front" was attributed to Hollywood writer and producer Leonard Levinson https://books.google.com/books?id=Xbe8zbfuVLgC&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMjOrQnKrMAhVL2GMKHcQQDSgQ6AEIHTAA.
In 1984, an article in Ms. Magazine https://books.google.com/books?id=sfIbAQAAMAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMjOrQnKrMAhVL2GMKHcQQDSgQ6AEIJzAC stated that "the Hollywood definition of a friend" was "someone who stabs you in the front".
The earliest attribution to Oscar Wilde was from 1989 https://books.google.com/books?id=CnQJAAAAIAAJ&q=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22+wilde&dq=friend+%22stabs+you+in+the+front%22+wilde&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2oqLfnKrMAhVG52MKHXdPANkQ6AEIJTAC: "A good friend is one who stabs you in the front". No source was given.
Disputed
Variant: A good friend will always stab you in the front.
Source: e.g. "Broadway and Elsewhere" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/3706522/, Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN), 1955-01-16, p. 4

“I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if only one hides it.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Love is blind. Friendship closes its eyes.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”

Ernest Hemingway book The Old Man and the Sea

Source: The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

“Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

This appears to be a variation of a quote often attributed to Caskie Stinnett in 1960, "A diplomat...is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip" https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kcycAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA90&dq=%22A+diplomat+is+a+person+who+can+tell+you+to+go+to+hell+in+such+a+way+that+you+actually+look+forward+to+the+trip.%22 but which appears to have been in common use in the 1950s and is first recorded in the Seattle Daily Times in 1953 as "Diplomat—one who can tell you to go to hades and make you look forward to the trip". http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/a_diplomat_is_a_person_who_can_tell_you_to_go_to_hell_so_that_you_look_forw/
Misattributed
Variant: Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions

“To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

Variant: To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.
Source: Discours de réception, Séance De L'académie Française (introductory speech at a session of the French Academy), 24th December 1896, on Ferdinand de Lesseps' work on the Suez Canal.
Context: To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

“Business opportunities are like buses; there’s always another one coming.”

Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist

“Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.”

Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician

“Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

They Call Me Coach (1972)
Variant: Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

“Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

“Who, being loved, is poor?”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

“I don't have to have faith, I have experience.”

Joseph Campbell The Power of Myth

Source: The Power of Myth

“Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

Terry Pratchett book A Hat Full of Sky

Source: A Hat Full of Sky

“Once you label me you negate me.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

As attributed in Journal of Marriage and Family Counseling, Vol. 2 (1976) by American Association of Marriage and Family Counselors, p. 33; no earlier incidents have been located.
Variants:
When you label me, you negate me.
As attributed in Inner Joy (1985) by Kory Bloomfield, p 169
Disputed
Variant: What labels me, negates me.

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“When you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.”

May Sarton (1912–1995) American poet, novelist, and memoirist

“The beginning is always today.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer

“So much technology, so little talent.”

Vernor Vinge book Rainbows End

Source: Rainbows End (2006)

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Paris Review interview (1958)
Context: Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. An artist is a creature driven by demons. He don’t know why they choose him and he’s usually too busy to wonder why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done.

“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few.”

Shunryu Suzuki (1904–1971) Japanese Buddhist missionary

Prologue
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)
Variant: In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“I do note with interest that old women in my books become young women on the covers… this is discrimination against the chronologically gifted.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

“… the three things I cannot change are the past, the truth, and you.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

Ray Bradbury book Ray Bradbury

As quoted in "Bradbury Still Believes in Heat of ‘Fahrenheit 451’" http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930312&slug=1689996, interview by Misha Berson, in ', credited to "Ray Bradbury, quoted by Misha Berson in Seattle Times", in "Quotable Quotes", The Reader's Digest, Vol. 144, No. 861, January 1994, p. 25 http://books.google.com/books?output=html&id=ZqqUAAAAIAAJ&q=%22people+to+stop+reading%22#search_anchor), or an indirect reference to the re-quoting in Reader's Digest (such as: The Times Book of Quotations (Philip Howard, ed.), 2000, Times Books and HarperCollins, p. 93
Variant: We're not teaching kids to read and write and think. … There's no reason to burn books if you don't read them.
As quoted in "At 80, Ray Bradbury Still Fighting the Future He Foresaw" http://www.raybradbury.com/articles_peoria.html, interview by Roger Moore, in The Peoria Journal Star (August 2000)
Context: The problem in our country isn't with books being banned, but with people no longer reading. Look at the magazines, the newspapers around us – it's all junk, all trash, tidbits of news. The average TV ad has 120 images a minute. Everything just falls off your mind. … You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Annie Dillard (1945) American writer

Source: " The Writing Life http://www.tikkun.org/mediagallery/download.php?mid=20090505114218282" (link is to PDF download), Tikkun magazine, Volume 3, Number 6, 1988

“When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Variant: When you see a man of worth, think of how you may emulate him. When you see one who is unworthy, examine yourself.

“Intelligence is the ultimate aphrodisiac”

Timothy Leary (1920–1996) American psychologist

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“Alone. Yes, that's the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn't hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym.”

Stephen King book 'Salem's Lot

Variant: Alone. Yes, that’s the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn’t hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym…
Source: 'Salem's Lot