“Its hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.”
Dolly Parton (1946) American singer-songwriter and actress
Quotes about diamond
A collection of quotes on the topic of diamond, likeness, doing, gold.
Quotes about diamond
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist
Response to Harold Bell, question about his view on friendship in an Interview (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InSFYdFaS3E.
Billie Eilish (2001) American singer-songwriter
"Ocean Eyes" — though her breakthrough hit after she posted her performance of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d--DyK0wtYo to SoundCloud for her dance teacher on 18 November 2015, the lyrics were written entirely by her brother Finneas O'Connell, who also collaborates with her on most of her other musical work. · Official Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viimfQi_pUw <br class="br">Misattributed
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
Variant: My crown is in my heart, not on my head; not decked with diamonds and Indian stones, nor to be seen: my crown is called content, a crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.
Source: King Henry VI, Part 3
“I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.”
Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917–2016) Hungarian-American socialite and actress
The Observer, "Sayings of the Week", August 28, 1957
Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969) founder of aikido
The Art of Peace (1992)
Context: Techniques employ four qualities that reflect the nature of our world. Depending on the circumstance, you should be: hard as a diamond, flexible as a willow, smooth-flowing like water, or as empty as space.
“Gold is cold, diamonds are dead, a limousine is a car, don't pretend, feel what's real… ”
Charlize Theron (1975) film actress and producer, former fashion model
1991
“Let us not be too particular. It is better to have old second-hand diamonds than none at all.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“True friends are like diamonds – bright, beautiful, valuable, and always in style.”
Nicole Richie (1981) American television personality, musician, actress, and author
“Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond.”
Mark Nepo (1951) American writer
Source: The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have
“The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy.”
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States
Source: Death Of A Salesman
Ranjit Singh (1780–1839) founder of Sikh Empire (early 19th century)
Khushwant Singh, quoted in Elst, Koenraad (2002). Who is a Hindu?: Hindu revivalist views of Animism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and other offshoots of Hinduism. ISBN 978-8185990743
Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter
All Falls Down
Lyrics, The College Dropout (2004)
“I would have bartered a diamond mine for a glass of pure spring water!”
Jules Verne (1828–1905) French novelist, poet and playwright
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Griffith and Farran, 1871), Ch. XVII: Vertical descent
This sentence, like many others in the Griffin and Farran translation of the book, has no source in the original French text.
Misattributed
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher
Quel pur travail de fins éclairs consume
Maint diamant d'imperceptible écume,
Et quelle paix semble se concevoir!
Quand sur l'abîme un soleil se repose,
Ouvrages purs d'une éternelle cause,
Le temps scintille et le songe est savoir.
As translated by by C. Day Lewis
Charmes ou poèmes (1922)
“Oh, Diamond! Diamond! thou little knowest what mischief thou hast done!”
Isaac Newton (1643–1727) British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern classical physics
This is from an anecdote found in St. Nicholas magazine, Vol. 5, No. 4, (February 1878) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15331/15331-h/15331-h.htm :<br>Sir Isaac Newton had on his table a pile of papers upon which were written calculations that had taken him twenty years to make. One evening, he left the room for a few minutes, and when he came back he found that his little dog "Diamond" had overturned a candle and set fire to the precious papers, of which nothing was left but a heap of ashes.
Sia (musician) (1975) Australian singer
Diamonds, Unapologetic (2012). Cowritten with Benjamin Levin, Mikkel Eriksen and Tor Hermansen.
Songs
Gabriel Iglesias (1976) American actor
I'm not gonna lie to you guys, George knows that I do it; I don't think he likes it!
Hot & Fluffy (2007)
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"
Falsely attributed to Darwin, but actually from The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan (1905) by Thomas Dixon, page 134 http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/c/11773-the-clansman-by-thomas-dixon?start=133. <br class="br">Misattributed
Kabir (1440–1518) Indian mystic poet
Sakhi, 171; translation by Yashwant K. Malaiya based on that of Puran Sahib.
Bijak
“Admire the diamond that can bear the hits of a hammer.”
Kabir (1440–1518) Indian mystic poet
Sakhi, 168; translation by Yashwant K. Malaiya based on that of Puran Sahib.
Bijak
Context: Admire the diamond that can bear the hits of a hammer. Many deceptive preachers, when critically examined, turn out to be false.
Horace Mann (1796–1859) American politician
A Few Thoughts for a Young Man (1850)
Context: The laws of nature are sublime, but there is a moral sublimity before which the highest intelligences must kneel and adore. The laws by which the winds blow, and the tides of the ocean, like a vast clepsydra, measure, with inimitable exactness, the hours of ever-flowing time; the laws by which the planets roll, and the sun vivifies and paints; the laws which preside over the subtle combinations of chemistry, and the amazing velocities of electricity; the laws of germination and production in the vegetable and animal worlds, — all these, radiant with eternal beauty as they are, and exalted above all the objects of sense, still wane and pale before the Moral Glories that apparel the universe in their celestial light. The heart can put on charms which no beauty of known things, nor imagination of the unknown, can aspire to emulate. Virtue shines in native colors, purer and brighter than pearl, or diamond, or prism, can reflect. Arabian gardens in their bloom can exhale no such sweetness as charity diffuses. Beneficence is godlike, and he who does most good to his fellow-man is the Master of Masters, and has learned the Art of Arts. Enrich and embellish the universe as you will, it is only a fit temple for the heart that loves truth with a supreme love. Inanimate vastness excites wonder; knowledge kindles admiration, but love enraptures the soul. Scientific truth is marvellous, but moral truth is divine; and whoever breathes its air and walks by its light, has found the lost paradise. For him, a new heaven and a new earth have already been created. His home is the sanctuary of God, the Holy of Holies. <!-- p. 35
Galileo Galilei book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
Sagredo<br>Variant translation: I cannot without great wonder, nay more, disbelief, hear it being attributed to natural bodies as a great honor and perfection that they are impassable, immutable, inalterable, etc.: as conversely, I hear it esteemed a great imperfection to be alterable, generable, and mutable. It is my opinion that the earth is very noble and admirable by reason of the many and different alterations, mutations, and generations which incessantly occur in it. And if, without being subject to any alteration, it had been one great heap of sand, or a mass of jade, or if, since the time of the deluge, the waters freezing which covered it, it had continued an immense globe of crystal, wherein nothing had ever grown, altered, or changed, I should have esteemed it a wretched lump of no benefit to the Universe, a mass of idleness, and in a word superfluous, exactly as if it had never been in Nature. The difference for me would be the same as between a living and a dead creature. I say the same concerning the Moon, Jupiter, and all the other globes of the Universe.<br>The more I delve into the consideration of the vanity of popular discourses, the more empty and simple I find them. What greater folly can be imagined than to call gems, silver, and gold noble, and earth and dirt base? For do not these persons consider that if there were as great a scarcity of earth as there is of jewels and precious metals, there would be no king who would not gladly give a heap of diamonds and rubies and many ingots of gold to purchase only so much earth as would suffice to plant a jessamine in a little pot or to set a tangerine in it, that he might see it sprout, grow up, and bring forth such goodly leaves, fragrant flowers, and delicate fruit? It is scarcity and plenty that makes things esteemed and despised by the vulgar, who will say that there is a most beautiful diamond, for it resembles a clear water, and yet would not part from it for ten tons of water. 'These men who so extol incorruptibility, inalterability, and so on, speak thus, I believe, out of the great desire they have to live long and for fear of death, not considering that, if men had been immortal, they would not have come into the world. These people deserve to meet with a Medusa's head that would transform them into statues of diamond and jade, that so they might become more perfect than they are.<br>Part of this passage, in Italian, I detrattori della corruptibilitá meriterebber d'esser cangiati in statue., has also ben translated into English as "Detractors of corruptibility deserve being turned into statues."<br> Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo. (PDF) http://www.liberliber.it/biblioteca/g/galilei/le_opere_di_galileo_galilei_edizione_nazionale_sotto_gli_etc/pdf/le_ope_p.pdf, Le Opere di Galileo Galilei vol. VII, pg. 58.<br>Compare Maimonides "If man were never subject to change there could be no generation; there would be one single being..." Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190) <br class="br">Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632) <br class="br">Context: I cannot without great astonishment — I might say without great insult to my intelligence — hear it attributed as a prime perfection and nobility of the natural and integral bodies of the universe that they are invariant, immutable, inalterable, etc., while on the other hand it is called a great imperfection to be alterable, generable, mutable, etc. For my part I consider the earth very noble and admirable precisely because of the diverse alterations, changes, generations, etc. that occur in it incessantly. If, not being subject to any changes, it were a vast desert of sand or a mountain of jasper, or if at the time of the flood the waters which covered it had frozen, and it had remained an enormous globe of ice where nothing was ever born or ever altered or changed, I should deem it a useless lump in the universe, devoid of activity and, in a word, superfluous and essentially non-existent. This is exactly the difference between a living animal and a dead one; and I say the same of the moon, of Jupiter, and of all other world globes.<br>The deeper I go in considering the vanities of popular reasoning, the lighter and more foolish I find them. What greater stupidity can be imagined than that of calling jewels, silver, and gold "precious," and earth and soil "base"? People who do this ought to remember that if there were as great a scarcity of soil as of jewels or precious metals, there would not be a prince who would not spend a bushel of diamonds and rubies and a cartload of gold just to have enough earth to plant a jasmine in a little pot, or to sow an orange seed and watch it sprout, grow, and produce its handsome leaves, its fragrant flowers, and fine fruit. It is scarcity and plenty that make the vulgar take things to be precious or worthless; they call a diamond very beautiful because it is like pure water, and then would not exchange one for ten barrels of water. Those who so greatly exalt incorruptibility, inalterability, etc. are reduced to talking this way, I believe, by their great desire to go on living, and by the terror they have of death. They do not reflect that if men were immortal, they themselves would never have come into the world. Such men really deserve to encounter a Medusa's head which would transmute them into statues of jasper or of diamond, and thus make them more perfect than they are.
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898) French Symbolist poet
Hérodiade.
Hérodiade (1898)
Context: I am alone in my monotonous country,
While all those around me live in the idolatry
Of a mirror reflecting in its depths serene
Herodiade, whose gaze is diamond keen...
O final enchantment! yes, I sense it, I am alone.
“You say You want Diamonds on a Ring of Gold,Your Story to remain untold.Your Lovee not to go Cold”
Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2
"All I Want Is You"
Lyrics, Rattle And Hum(1988)
Context: You say You want Diamonds on a Ring of Gold, Your Story to remain untold. Your Lovee not to go Cold
Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2
"All I Want Is You"
Lyrics, Rattle And Hum(1988)
Context: You say you want diamonds on a ring of Gold, You say you want your story to remain untold. But all the promise we made from the Cradle to the Grave, When All I want is You
Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter
All Falls Down
Lyrics, The College Dropout (2004)
“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Attributed in Mohammed Sirajul Islam (1967), Everyman's General Knowledge
In fact this is a Chinese saying by a Confucian scholar from the Ming Dynasty, 焦竑 (Jiao Hong) (1540—1620)《玉堂丛语》卷五: 宁为有瑕玉,不作无瑕石。
Misattributed, Chinese
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Strikes
“Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free.”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Song lyrics, Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Mr. Tambourine Man
“Diamonds are a girl's best friend.”
Jule Styne (1905–1994) British-born American songwriter
Source: The Songs of Jule Styne
“Money cannot buy health, but I'd settle for a diamond-studded
wheelchair.”
Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist
Laurie Lee (1914–1997) British writer
Source: Cider With Rosie
B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar
Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p. 27
“I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.”
Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches
“A real diamond is never perfect.”
Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See
Source: All the Light We Cannot See
“What wretched poverty of language! To compare stars to diamonds!”
Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)
Source: Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour
“Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust,
Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust.”
John Webster (1578–1634) English dramatist
Act V, scene v.
Duchess of Malfi (1623)
Rodman Philbrick book The Last Book in the Universe
Source: The Last Book in the Universe
“They moved together, blue diamonds on a green field.”
Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Tess Gallagher (1943) American writer
Source: Moon Crossing Bridge
Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer
"America's Medieval Women," Harper's Magazine (August 1938)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter
"The Diamond As Big As The Ritz"
Quoted, Tales of the Jazz Age (1922)
Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Daniel Handler book Adverbs
Source: Adverbs (2006), Truly
Context: If you follow the diamond in my mother's ring from Africa to Germany to California to Arizona to Wisconsin, in the heel of a grandmother, in the beak of a magpie, in the gravel of the path, in someone else's novel, in the center of the earth where the volcanoes are from, you would forget the miracle, the reason diamonds end up in people's fingers in the first place. it is not the diamonds or the birds, the people or the potatoes, it is not any of the nouns. The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done. It is the way love gets done despite every catastrophe.
"Still I Rise"
And Still I Rise (1978)
“No matter what you wear… to me, you will always have diamonds on the soles of your shoes.”
Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist
Source: Lover Avenged
“If God wanted us to bend over he would put diamonds on the floor.”
Joan Rivers (1933–2014) American comedian, actress, and television host
„I'm Jewish. I don't work out.."
As quoted in Dick Enberg's Humorous Quotes for All Occasions (2000), p. 101
Variant: I'm Jewish. I don't work out. If God had wanted us to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.
“Tears could not be equal, if I wept diamonds from the skies.
Jenks (Black Magic Sanction)”
Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym
Source: Black Magic Sanction
“Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through… the transitive nightfall of diamonds”
Robert Hunter (1941–2019) American musician
"Dark Star"
Song lyrics, (1969)
Edgar Rice Burroughs book Tarzan of the Apes
Source: Tarzan of the Apes (1912), Ch. 13 : His Own Kind
Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) American artist
1980's, I don't necessarily desire a perfect photography,' 1981
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) British statesman and man of letters
1 July 1748
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)
Paul Keating (1944) Australian politician, 24th Prime Minister of Australia
ABC Radio interview, March 5, 2007.
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) English poet
Letter to Richard Watson Dixon (17 October 1881)
Letters, etc
"The Star," from Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804).
Firishta (1560–1620) Indian historian
Sultãn Ahmad Shãh I Walî Bahmanî (AD 1422-1435) Kullum (Maharashtra)
Tãrîkh-i-Firishta
Amitabh Bachchan (1942) Indian actor
Source: Soul Curry for You and Me: An Empowering Philosophy that Can Enrich Your Life, P. 21-22.
Jon Courtenay Grimwood (1953) British writer
Source: Stamping Butterflies (2004), Chapter 25 (p. 157)
Michelle Kwan (1980) American figure skater
http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Kwan_Michelle.html
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (1982) a member of the British royal family
On the engagement ring he gave to Kate Middleton, which had been his mother's engagement ring.
First post-engagement interview (2010)
“you're not the only one that's tried to make a coal into a diamond.”
Kris Roe (1978) American composer and singer
Clara
Song lyrics, Anywhere but Here (1997)
John Hollander (1929–2013) American poet
Extract from 'Powers of Thirteen'(1983)
Poetry Quotes
Holden Karnofsky (1981) American nonprofit executive
In "Data Is Forever: The Engagement Gift I Gave" https://medium.com/@holden0/data-is-forever-the-engagement-gift-i-gave-123e75e1ca71, July 2016
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Song lyrics, The Times They Are A-Changin (1964), Boots of Spanish Leather