Quotes about people page 3
Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer
Handwritten note published in People (12 October 1987)
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (1945) Brazilian politician, 35th president of Brazil
At a 2009 G-20 London Summit in March 2009. <br class="br"> Financial crisis 'caused by white men with blue eyes http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/financial-crisis-caused-by-white-men-with-blue-eyes-1655354.html, by Andrew Grice, The Independent, 27 March 2009
“Try to achieve the impossible and direct your people to ways of achieving it.”
Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (1949) Emirati politician
Leadership & Success quotes, http://www.sheikhmohammed.co.ae/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=d2778960a5a11310VgnVCM1000004d64a8c0RCRD&appInstanceName=default, sheikhmohammed.ae.
“I like people to go away from a Queen show feeling fully entertained, having had a good time.”
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer
"The Man Who Would Be Queen" in Melody Maker (2 May 1981).
Context: I like people to go away from a Queen show feeling fully entertained, having had a good time. I think Queen songs are pure escapism, like going to see a good film - after that, they can go away and say that was great, and go back to their problems. I don't want to change the world with our music. There are no hidden messages in our songs, except for some of Brian's.
Marie Antoinette book Let them eat cake
After learning of the bread shortages that were occurring in Paris at the time of Louis XVI's coronation in Rheims, as quoted in Marie Antoinette: The Journey (2001) by Antonia Fraser, p. 135 . Tradition persists that Marie Antoinette joked "Let them eat cake!" (Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.) This phrase, however, occurs in a passage of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, written in 1766, when Marie Antoinette was 11 years old and four years before her marriage to Louis XVI. Cf. The Straight Dope http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_334.html, "On Language" http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000625mag-onlanguage.html by William Safire at The New York Times, and in the discussions at Google groups http://groups.google.com/group/alt.talk.royalty/msg/6a7b76d15c411368?dmode=source. <br class="br">Context: It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. The king seems to understand this truth; as for myself, I know that in my whole life (even if I live for a hundred years) I shall never forget the day of the coronation.
“When the people you love are gone, you’re alone.”
Keanu Reeves (1964) Canadian actor, director, producer and musician
“LOVE is to stop making demands on people and give them room to grow.”
Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer
Robert Greene (1959) American author
Chap. 8 : Change Your Circumstances by Changing Your Attitude
The Laws of Human Nature (2018)
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer
On Queen, in "Standing Up For Queen" (28 July 1973) http://www.queenarchives.com/index.php?title=Group_-_07-28-1973_-_Melody_Maker.
Jack Kerouac book On the Road
Part One, Ch. 1
On the Road (1957)
Context: They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"
Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights
Source: Wuthering Heights
Context: I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death; and flung it back to me. People feel with their hearts, Ellen, and since he has destroyed mine, I have not power to feel for him.
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh
Source: Winnie-the-Pooh
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
This is often attributed to George Orwell book 1984. We cannot find it inside. Perharps this is post-mortem paraphrase of his quote "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past".
Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher
“What happens when people open their hearts?"
"They get better.”
Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood
Source: Norwegian Wood
Masashi Kishimoto book Naruto
Source: Naruto, Vol. 21: Pursuit
“You can fool some people some times but you cant fool all the people all the time”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
“people run from rain but
sit
in bathtubs full of
water.”
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
This is a very close paraphrase of a quotation attributed to Carl Buehner in a book published many years earlier - “They may forget what you said — but they will never forget how you made them feel.” quoted in Richard Evans' Quote Book, 1971, Publisher's Press, ASIN: B000TV5WBW, although it is widely (mis)attributed to Angelou in her book Worth Repeating: More Than 5,000 Classic and Contemporary Quotes (2003) by Bob Kelly, p. 263,
Misattributed
Variant: People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.
“It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living.”
Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer
Source: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter
Banksyhttp://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2018739.stm
Variant: Some people want to make the world a better place. I just wanna make the world a better-looking place. If you don't like it, you can paint over it!
Source: Wall and Piece (2005)
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Variant: The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter
“I keep hearing this [expletive] thing that guns don't kill people, but people kill people.”
Ozzy Osbourne (1948) English heavy metal vocalist and songwriter
SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 1998: QUESTIONS FOR; Ozzy Osbourne New York Times.
“The death of one is a tragedy, but death of a million is just a statistic.”
Marilyn Manson (1969) American rock musician and actor
Being from Manson's Fight Song of Holy Wood, this is actually a quote from German writer Erich Maria Remarque, also often misattributed to Josef Stalin.
Misattributed
Martha Graham (1894–1991) American dancer and choreographer
I Am A Dancer (1952)
Source: Blood Memory
Marilyn Manson (1969) American rock musician and actor
Variant: I think art is the only thing that's spirtual in the world. And I refuse to be forced to believe in other people's interpretations of God. I don't think anybody should be. No one person can own the copyright to what God means.
“I drink to make other people more interesting.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist
“The man who kills the animals today is the man who kills the people who get in his way tomorrow”
Dian Fossey (1932–1985) American zoologist, gorilla researcher
Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns
Laila, p. 395
Variant: Every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on.
Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)
“I'm always amazed that people take what I say seriously. I don't even take what I am seriously.”
David Bowie (1947–2016) British musician, actor, record producer and arranger
“Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
Response, after being asked why he went ahead and performed in the concert "Smile Jamaica", two days after he, his wife and manager were wounded inside his home after an assault by unknown gunmen, thought to be politically motivated (5 December 1976), as quoted in Bob Marley The Father of Music (2010) by Jean-Pierre Hombasch, p. 5
Variant: The people that are trying to make the world worse never take a day off, why should I?
“People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish. But that's only if it's done properly.”
Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter
Source: Wall and Piece (2005)
Ernest Thompson Seton (1860–1946) British/ American author, artist, and a founder of the scouting movement
“Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs.”
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist
Source: Quotes 1990s, 1995-1999, The Common Good (1998)
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Variant: Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
5 April 1944
The Diary of a Young Girl (1942 - 1944)
Variant: I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met.
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
George Orwell book Animal Farm
Sometimes paraphrased as "Liberty is telling people what they do not want to hear."
Variant: Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
Source: Original preface to Animal Farm; as published in George Orwell: Some Materials for a Bibliography (1953) by Ian R. Willison
“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet
Found attributed to Michelangelo in non-specialist publications as early as 1929 https://books.google.com/books?id=-0YhAQAAMAAJ&dq=If+people+knew+how+hard+I+had+to+work+to+gain+my+mastery%2C+it+would+not+seem+so+wonderful+at+all.&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=michelangelo, but no source is known. Not found in any known biography of Michelangelo. <br class="br">Disputed
“A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things.”
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
“A conflict begins and ends in the hearts and minds of people, not in the hilltops.”
Amos Oz (1939–2018) Israeli writer, novelist, journalist and intellectual
Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor
Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)
Source: Resurrection, 1971-1996
“If you are pissing people off, you know you are doing something right”
John Lydon book Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs
Source: Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs
Hannah Arendt book The Origins of Totalitarianism
Part 3, Ch. 13, § 3. <br class="br">Source: On the subject the ideal subjects for a totalitarian authority. Source: The Origins of Totalitarianism, published in 1951. As quoted by Scroll Staff (December 04, 2017): Ideas in literature: Ten things Hannah Arendt said that are eerily relevant in today’s political times https://web.archive.org/web/20191001213756/https://scroll.in/article/856549/ten-things-hannah-arendt-said-that-are-eerily-relevant-in-todays-political-times. In: Scroll.in. Archived from the original https://scroll.in/article/856549/ten-things-hannah-arendt-said-that-are-eerily-relevant-in-todays-political-times on October 1, 2019.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
Quoted in: Ingo F. Walther (1996), Picasso, p. 67.
Attributed from posthumous publications
“I don't care If I go to hell as long as the people I serve will live in paradise.”
Rodrigo Duterte (1945) Filipino politician and the 16th President of the Philippines
"Duterte: Look ma, cheap shoes no socks" http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/710288/duterte-simple-lifestyle-has-served-me-well-in-govt' (August 5 2015)
“If evils increase, the devotion of the People of God should also increase.”
Pope Paul VI (1897–1978) 262nd Pope of the Catholic Church
CHRISTI MATRI
Osamu Tezuka (1928–1989) Japanese cartoonist and animator
Quoted in Helen McCarthy, Osamu Tezuka: God of manga , translated by Fabio Deotto, Edizioni BD, 2010, back cover.
Shahrukh Khan (1965) Indian actor, producer and television personality
From interview with Anshul Chaturvedi
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Austrian Romantic composer
Letter to Leopold Mozart (Mannheim, 2 February 1778), from The letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1769-1791, translated, from the collection of Ludwig Nohl, by Lady [Grace] Wallace (Oxford University Press, 1865, digitized 2006) vol. I, # 91 (p. 164) http://books.google.com/books?vid=0SGwLiCNxu7qZ5ch&id=KEgBAAAAQAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=%22The+letters+of+Wolfgang+Amadeus+Mozart,+1769-1791%22&hl=en#PRA1-PA164,M1
Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist
Quoted in The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, by Jeanne Theoharis (2013)
Robin Williams (1951–2014) American actor and stand-up comedian
Robin Williams: Live on Broadway (2002)
The Mother (1878–1973) spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo
In "Auroville — The City Of Dawn in South India" (27 February 2009)
Sayings
Idi Amin (1925–2003) third president of Uganda
Appears in Barbet Schroeder (1974), General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait.
Lala Sukuna (1888–1958) Chief of Lau and civil servant in Fiji
1936 speeches to the Great Council of Chiefs
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party
As quoted in Albert Speer's diary entry for 26 December 1950 recalling a conversation with Hitler in January 1943, published in Spandau: The Secret Diary (2000), p. 167
1940s
Idi Amin (1925–2003) third president of Uganda
Quoted in The Evil 100 (2004) by Martin Gilman Wolcott, p. 78.
Attributed