“It's only terrible to have nothing to wait for.”
Erich Maria Remarque book Three Comrades
Source: Three Comrades
A collection of quotes on the topic of waiting, wait, doing, likeness.
“It's only terrible to have nothing to wait for.”
Erich Maria Remarque book Three Comrades
Source: Three Comrades
“Do not wait; the time will never be "just right."”
Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich
Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Source: Think and Grow Rich (1938), p. 127
“A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.”
Ezra Pound (1885–1972) American Imagist poet and critic
“What are you waiting for in order to give up?”
Emil M. Cioran book The Trouble With Being Born
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin
Mary Alice Warner, Dayna Beilenson (1987) Women of faith and spirit: their words & thoughts, p. 42
1980s
“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.”
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer and dramatist
“We are the change we have been waiting for.”
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
“I'm tired of waiting to die. Let's go out.”
Charles Bukowski book Hot Water Music
Source: Hot Water Music
Louis XIV of France (1638–1715) King of France and Navarra, from 1643 to 1715
J'ai failli attendre.
Regarded as apocryphal by E. Fournier, L'Esprit dans l'Histoire (4th ed. 1884). ch.xlviii
Disputed
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting!”
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Variant: Today is your day, your mountain is waiting. So get on your way.
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) German theoretical physicist
“Der erste Trunk aus dem Becher der Naturwissenschaft macht atheistisch, aber auf dem Grund des Bechers wartet Gott.” in 15 Jahrhunderte Würzburg: e. Stadt u. ihre Geschichte [15 centuries Würzburg. A city and its history] (1979), p. 205, by Heinz Otremba. Otremba does not declare his source, and the quote per se cannot be found in Heisenberg's published works.
The journalist Eike Christian Hirsch PhD, a personal acquaintance of Heisenberg, whom he interviewed for his 1981 book Expedition in die Glaubenswelt, claimed in de.wikiquote.org on 22 June 2015, that the content and style of the quote was completely foreign to Heisenberg's convictions and the way he used to express himself, and that Heisenberg's children, Dr. Maria Hirsch and Prof. Dr. Martin Heisenberg, did not recognize their father in this quote.
Statements similar to the quote were made by Francis Bacon, in "Of Atheism" (1601): "A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion", and Alexander Pope, in "An Essay on Criticism" (1709): "A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."
There is a passage in a lengthy essay written by Heisenberg in 1942, "Ordnung der Wirklichkeit” ("Reality and Its Order"), published in Collected Works. Section C: Philosophical and Popular Writings. Volume I. Physics and Cognition. 1927-1955 (1984), that parallels the ideas expressed in the quote (albeit in a much expanded form):
"The first thing we could say was simply: 'I believe in God, the Father, the almighty creator of heaven and earth.' The next step — at least for our contemporary consciousness — was doubt. There is no god; there is only an impersonal law that directs the fate of the world according to cause and effect... And yet [today], we may with full confidence place ourselves into the hands of the higher power who, during our lifetime and in the course of the centuries, determines our faith and therewith our world and our fate." (English translation by M.B.Rumscheidt and N. Lukens, available at http://www.heisenbergfamily.org/t-OdW-english.htm)
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, a protégé of Heisenberg, did publish a version of the quote itself in Die Geschichte der Natur (The History of Nature) (1948), appearing to consider it an adage:
"Aus dem Denken gibt es keinen ehrlichen Rückweg in einen naiven Glauben. Nach einem alten Satz trennt uns der erste Schluck aus dem Becher der Erkenntnis von Gott, aber auf dem Grunde des Bechers wartet Gott auf den, der ihn sucht. Wenn es so ist, dann gibt es einen Weg des Denkens, der vorwärts zu religiösen Wahrheiten führt, und nur diesen Weg zu suchen ist lohnend. Wenn es nicht so ist, wird unsere Welt auf die Religion ihre Hoffnungen vergeblich setzen." ("From thinking there is no honest way back into a naive belief. According to an old phrase, the first sip from the cup of knowledge separates us from God, but at the bottom of the cup God is waiting for the one who seeks him. If so, then there is a way of thinking that leads to religious truths, and to seek only that way is rewarding. If it is not so, our world will put its hopes to religion in vain.")
Misattributed
“I never realized that a child is capable of remembering so well and of waiting so patiently”
Janusz Korczak (1878–1942) Polish physician and writer
Source: Loving Every Child: Wisdom for Parents
“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Joachim Peiper (1915–1976) SS officer
Letter to Willis Everett, July 14, 1946. Parker, Hitler's Warrior, chapter 14, citing Everett Papers in note 32.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi
Source: Letters and Papers from Prison
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer
Variant: You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Senator Barack Obama’s speech to supporters after the Feb. 5 2018 nominating contests, as provided by Federal News Service and released in the New York Times (5 February 2008) https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/us/politics/05text-obama.html <br class="br">2008
“If you love me, don't you wait for me 'cause I'm never coming back”
E.M.S (1995) Nigerian rapper, singer and record producer
Hidden (2017)
Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich
Variant: Do not wait: the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.
Source: Think and Grow Rich (1938), p. 127
Context: Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
“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
Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor
Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)
Source: Resurrection, 1971-1996
Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty
Translation by Lionel Giles
Source: The Art of War, Chapter IV · Disposition of the Army
“We cannot wait around for any one else to come and do it.”
Malala Yousafzai (1997) Pakistani children's education activist
Quoted on the website of the IMT http://www.marxist.com/historic-32nd-congress-of-pakistani-imt-1.htm: Statement to the 32nd congress of Pakistani Marxists <br class="br">Statement to 32nd Congress of Pakistani Marxists, March 2013 <br class="br">Context: First of all I’d like to thank The Struggle and the IMT for giving me a chance to speak last year at their Summer Marxist School in Swat and also for introducing me to Marxism and Socialism. I just want to say that in terms of education, as well as other problems in Pakistan, it is high time that we did something to tackle them ourselves. It’s important to take the initiative. We cannot wait around for any one else to come and do it. Why are we waiting for someone else to come and fix things? Why aren’t we doing it ourselves? I would like to send my heartfelt greetings to the congress. I am convinced Socialism is the only answer and I urge all comrades to take this struggle to a victorious conclusion. Only this will free us from the chains of bigotry and exploitation.
“You smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long.”
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali polymath
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
Source: Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex
“We are the people that we have been waiting for and no one else is coming.”
T.D. Jakes (1957) American bishop
Elvis Presley (1935–1977) American singer and actor
September 30, 1974. South Bend, IN. Notre Dame Ath Center. <br class="br">Source: http://www.elvisconcerts.com/real/oct74-01.htm <br class="br">Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEZpSFnDxRg
“We're waiting for the dinosaurs to die out. They will die. And then we'll move into their homes.”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
1992-02-14 at Kokusai Koryu Centre, Osaka, Japan
Stage banter
Jean-Claude Juncker (1954) Luxembourgian politician
referring to his colleagues in the European Council <br class="br">Jean-Claude Juncker, quoted by Dirk Von Kock 'Die Brüsseler Republik' http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-15317086.html in Der Spiegel (2000), then by Florian Eder 'Junckers Tricks in den langen Brüsseler Nächten' http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article112948572/Junckers-Tricks-in-den-langen-Bruesseler-Naechten.html in Die Welt (2012). <br class="br">1999
T. B. Joshua (1963) Nigerian Christian leader
” <br class="br">On the importance of charity - "SCATTERED! Eleven Children, One Wife, No Home" http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/1273/scattered-eleven-children-one-wife-no-home.html Nigerian Voice (October 9 2009)
Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly
Poem written after winning the gold medal in the 1960 Olympic Summer Games in Rome, Italy, p. 35
The Soul of a Butterfly (2004)
Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) German field marshal of World War II
Source: The Rommel Papers (1953), Ch. XXIII : The Sky Has Grown Dark, p. 523.
Daniel Radcliffe (1989) English actor
Talking about the fans, on the red carpet of the premiere of Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince "Interviewing Daniel Radcliffe" http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=nl-NL&vid=d4e31f2f-c0e1-486a-b69d-c25fa9bcc7f7
“He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.”
Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty
Source: The Art of War, Chapter III · Strategic Attack
“We are waiting for Christ, and not a better time.”
Nikolaj Velimirović (1880–1956) Serbian bishop and saint
Ми чекамо Христа, а не боље време. <br class="br">Prayerful songs http://www.svetosavlje.org/biblioteka/vlNikolaj/PesmeMolitvene/Nikolaj100219.htm
Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty
Disputed
Romain Rolland (1866–1944) French author
Gottfried to Jean-Christophe. Part 3: Ada
Jean-Christophe (1904 - 1912), Youth (1904)
“For those who have an intense urge for Spirit and wisdom, it sits
near them, waiting.”
Patañjali (-200–-150 BC) ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises
Source: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
“If you are not long, I will wait for you all my life.”
Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest
Gwendolen, Act III.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Variant: If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
Benjamin Hoff book The Tao of Pooh
Source: The Tao of Pooh
“I'm a confession that is waiting to be heard”
Marilyn Manson (1969) American rock musician and actor
H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) American author
Fiction, The Call of Cthulhu (1926)
Source: The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft
“Something was creeping and creeping and waiting to be seen and felt and heard.”
H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) American author
“There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done.”
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author
“When you really want love you will find it waiting for you.”
Oscar Wilde book De Profundis
Source: De Profundis
“I was made and meant to look for you and wait for you and become yours forever.”
Robert Browning (1812–1889) English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era
Cher (1946) American singer and actress
"Cher Genius", an interview in You magazine, the Mail on Sunday (UK) newspaper (28 November 2010), interviewed by Elaine Lipworth in Las Vegas.
“In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulu waits dreaming”
H.P. Lovecraft book The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
Source: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer
Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) Polish composer
Stuttgart. After 8th September 1831.
Source: "Selected Correspondence Of Fryderyk Chopin"; http://archive.org/stream/selectedcorrespo002644mbp/selectedcorrespo002644mbp_djvu.txt
“If you are patient… and wait long enough… Nothing will happen”
Jim Davis (1945) American cartoonist and creator of Garfield
Christina Dodd (1957) American writer
Source: A Well Pleasured Lady
“Those who are ahead of their time often have to wait for it in uncomfortable quarters.”
Stanisław Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish writer
As quoted in Power for the World (2010) by Wolfgang Palz, Foreword, p. xxi
Purandara Dasa (1484–1564) Music composer
In this quote Dasa is warning against the inevitable when one is busy with worldly chores as given here[Narayan, M.K.V., Lyrical Musings on Indic Culture: A Sociology Study of Songs of Sant Purandara Dasa, http://books.google.com/books?id=-r7AxJp6NOYC&pg=PA79, 1 January 2010, Readworthy, 978-93-80009-31-5, 81]
Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor
"Hold Ya Head" https://play.google.com/music/preview/Te5ppuyfquh4t6lnlla3zs6w33e?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics <br class="br">1990s, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)
Justin Bieber (1994) Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor
Rolling Stone "Justin Bieber Talks Sex, Politics, Music and Puberty In New 'Rolling Stone' Cover Story" http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/justin-bieber-talks-sex-politics-music-and-puberty-in-new-rolling-stone-cover-story-20110216, February 2011
Chris Colfer (1990) actor, singer, book author
-Chris Colfer on how he came up with the idea of TLOS
Interview Quotes, Random Quotes
“I've been waiting for that! (After an audience member requests "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd.)”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
1993-11-18 at Sony Music Studios, New York City, New York (MTV Unplugged).
Stage banter
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875) French landscape painter and printmaker in etching
Corot's description of the beginning of a day in Switzerland, Château de Gruyères, 1857; as quoted in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock, Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963
1850s
Dante Alighieri book Paradiso
Canto XXII, lines 16–18 (tr. Longfellow).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Paradiso
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 173.
Dwayne Johnson (1972) American actor and professional wrestler
Interview with WWE.com (October 2005).
Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin
As quoted http://www.awakin.org/read/view.php?tid=189 in Mother Teresa's Reaching Out In Love - Stories told by Mother Teresa http://books.google.de/books?hl=de&id=tdyw409qGgQC&q=ocean#search_anchor, Compiled and Edited by Edward Le Joly and Jaya Chaliha, Barnes & Noble, 2002, p. 122 <br class="br">2000s <br class="br">Context: I do not agree with a big way of doing things. What matters is the individual. If we wait till we get numbers, then we will be lost in the numbers and we will never be able to show that love and respect for the person.
Albert Pike book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XIX : Grand Pontiff, p. 321
Benoît Mandelbrot (1924–2010) Polish-born, French and American mathematician
A Theory of Roughness (2004)
Context: My book, The Fractal Geometry of Nature, reproduced Hokusai's print of the Great Wave, the famous picture with Mt. Fuji in the background, and also mentioned other unrecognized examples of fractality in art and engineering. Initially, I viewed them as amusing but not essential. But I changed my mind as innumerable readers made me aware of something strange. They made me look around and recognize fractals in the works of artists since time immemorial. I now collect such works. An extraordinary amount of arrogance is present in any claim of having been the first in "inventing" something. It's an arrogance that some enjoy, and others do not. Now I reach beyond arrogance when I proclaim that fractals had been pictured forever but their true role remained unrecognized and waited for me to be uncovered.
Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin
On her dark night of spiritual desolation amidst devotion, in a letter addressed to Jesus, as quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) edited by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, p. 192; regarding this quote, Fr. Kolodiejchuk writes: "...when addressing Jesus — that is, in prayer — she could express herself with ease. Fufilling her confessor's request, she sent to him a letter addressed to Jesus, enclosing it with her letter dated September 3, 1959." https://books.google.com/books?id=P4cqT0nK_joC&pg=PA192&dq=%22when+addressing+Jesus+-+that+is,+in+prayer+-+she+could+express+herself+%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk0IOm5vTOAhVF1x4KHYdRDE4Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22when%20addressing%20Jesus%20-%20that%20is%2C%20in%20prayer%20-%20she%20could%20express%20herself%20%22&f=false <br class="br">1950s <br class="br">Context: My own Jesus,<br>They say people in hell suffer eternal pain because of the loss of God – they would go through all that suffering if they had just a little hope of possessing God. In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing (Jesus, please forgive my blasphemies, I have been told to write everything). That darkness that surrounds me on all sides. I can’t lift my soul to God – no light or inspiration enters my soul. I speak of love for souls, of tender love for God, words pass through my words sic, lips], and I long with a deep longing to believe in them! What do I labour for? If there be no God—there can be no soul.—If there is no soul then Jesus—You also are not true... Jesus don't let my soul be deceived—nor let me deceive anyone. In the call You said that I would have to suffer much.—Ten years—my Jesus, You have done to me according to Your will—and Jesus hear my prayer—if this pleases You—if my pain and suffering—my darkness and separation gives You a drop of consolation—my own Jesus, do with me as You wish—as long as You wish, without a single glance at my feelings and pain... I beg of You only one thing—please do not take the trouble to return soon.—I am ready to wait for You for all eternity.
“People are just waiting around to get certified.”
Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer
Oui interview (1979)
Context: Certification from one source or another seems to be the most important thing to people all over the world. A piece of paper from a school that says you’re smart, a pat on the head from your parents that says you’re good or some reinforcement from your peers that makes you think what you’re doing is worthwhile. People are just waiting around to get certified.
Paul Twitchell (1909–1971) American writer
“I've been waiting for the guide to come and take me by the hand.”
Ian Curtis (1956–1980) musician and songwriter
Song Disorder
Ben Shapiro (1984) American journalist and attorney
2010-02-03
Obama's Philosophically Fascist State of the Union Address
Townhall.com
https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2010/02/03/obamas-philosophically-fascist-state-of-the-union-address-n1331445
William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) United States Secretary of State
"America's Mission", speech delivered by the leader of the Democratic Party at the Washington Day banquet given by the Virginia Democratic Association at Washington, D.C., (22 February 1899), as published in The Book of Public Speaking (Vol. 2) http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Book_of_Public_Speaking_v2_1000538531/149