Quotes about something
A collection of quotes on the topic of something, doing, likeness, people.
Quotes about something
José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor
Source: Klairet Levy, R. Interview to José Baroja. http://letras.mysite.com/jbar050923.html
“When you have something to say, silence is a lie.”
Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology
Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)
Quote from an article on the Olympic Channel https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/stories/news/detail/yuzuru-hanyu-coy-cryptic-beijing-olympic-2022-chen-ankle/, published 3 April 2019. (Retrieved 11 September 2020) <br class="br">Other quotes, 2019
Adolf Hitler book Mein Kampf
Variant: And I can fight only for something that I love, love only what I respect, and respect only what I at least know.
Source: Mein Kampf
Harry Styles (1994) English singer, songwriter, and actor
In conversation with Timothée Chalamet for i-D Magazine (2 November 2018) https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/evwwma/harry-styles-interviews-timothee-chalamet-photos
“We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.”
Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary
As quoted in Wise Guys : Brilliant Thoughts and Big Talk from Real Men (2005) by Allan Zullo, p. 36
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
Reported in Yolanda Brooks, Do Animals Have Rights? (2008), p. 23
Robert Downey Jr. (1965) American actor
Quoted in David Carr, "Been Up, Been Down. Now? Super." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/movies/20carr.html?_r=4&pagewanted=2&8dpc&oref=slogin&, New York Times (2008-04-20)
Ted Bundy (1946–1989) American serial killer
1977 interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEWsxCrMM1U in Pitkin County Prison, Colorado
“The beginning of purpose is found in creating something that only you understand.”
Tyler Joseph (1988) American singer-songwriter and record producer
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
Victor Hugo book Things Seen
Often attributed to Churchill, this thought was originally expressed by the French author Victor Hugo in Villemain (1845), as follows: You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do not bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.
Villemain is a brief segment taken from Hugo’s Choses Vues (Things Seen), a running journal Hugo kept of events he witnessed. The original French versions of these journals were published after Hugo's death.
Misattributed
“It seems like every time you come up something happens to bring you back down.”
Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor
Scott Cawthon (1971) American independent video game designer
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer
On his relationship with Mary Austin, as quoted in "Rock On Freddie" (1985).
Context: Our love affair ended in tears but a deep bond grew out of it, and that's something nobody can take away from us. It's unreachable … All my lovers ask me why they can't replace her, but it's simply impossible.
I don't feel jealous of her lovers because. of course, she has a life to lead, and so do I. Basically, I try to make sure she's happy with whoever she's with and she tries to do the same for me.
We look after each other and that's a wonderful form of love. I might have all the problems in the world, but I have Mary and that gets me through.
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
Edward Everett Hale in a statement published in A Year of Beautiful Thoughts (1902) by Jeanie Ashley Bates Greenough, p. 172; <!-- and perhaps as early as an edition of Ten Times One is Ten (1870) by Hale--> This has been misattributed to Keller in published works since at least 1980. Keller and Hale were good friends, and letters to Hale can be found in her youthful autobiography The Story of My Life (1902). In 1910 Keller dedicated her poem "The Song of the Stone Wall" to Hale who had died in 1909.
Misattributed
Variant: I am only one, but I am one. I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do.
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
John Bunyan (1628–1688) English Christian writer and preacher
Bertrand Russell book A History of Western Philosophy
Source: 1940s, A History of Western Philosophy (1945)
Marie Curie (1867–1934) French-Polish physicist and chemist
'La vie n’est facile pour aucun de nous. Mais quoi, il faut avoir de la persévérance, et surtout de la confiance en soi. Il faut croire que l’on est doué pour quelque chose, et que, cette chose, il faut l'atteindre coûte que coûte.'
As quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, Part 2, p. 116
“If people hate you, then you're probably doing something right”
Amy Lee (1981) American singer-songwriter and pianist
Alyson Hannigan (1974) American actress
When asked why she doesn't swallow her saliva very often after being asked if she was sick and she said she wasn't.
Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer
On the lightening of his skin.
Televised Interview with Oprah Winfrey (1993)
Ariana Grande (1993) American singer-songwriter
Twitter statement on the Manchester terrorist attack https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/868164986887176192 (26 May 2017)
Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) White Rose member
As quoted in Christian Jazz Artists Newsletter (February/March 2005) http://www.songsofdavid.com/CJAFebMarch2005.htm; this source is disputed as it does not cite an original document for the quote. <br class="br">Disputed
“I never tried to prove anything to someone else. I wanted to prove something to myself.”
Kobe Bryant (1978–2020) American basketball player
Billie Eilish (2001) American singer-songwriter
Source: https://www.wmagazine.com/story/billie-eilish-new-ep/
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer
On his relationship with Mary Austin, as quoted in "Rock On Freddie" (1985).
“Worrying is like praying for something you don't want.”
Robert Downey Jr. (1965) American actor
Source: Biography
Annie Ernaux (1940) French writer
Source: Quoted in Melodrama after the tears, ed. Jörg Metelmann and Scott Loren (Amsterdam University Press, 2016), p. 178
“The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.”
Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) Marxist revolutionary from Russia
Source: Their Morals and Ours
“It's better to have something to remember than anything to regret.”
Frank Zappa book The Real Frank Zappa Book
Source: The Real Frank Zappa Book
“Come freely, go safely and leave something of the happiness you bring.”
Bram Stoker book Dracula
Variant: Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring.
Source: Dracula
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.”
Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman
Variant: I can appect failure, but I cannot accept not trying.
“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Variant: If a man hasn’t found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Source: The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
As quoted in Melody Maker (1991-09-14).
Interviews (1989-1994), Print
“Wise men speak when they have something to say, fools speak because they have to say something”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Katie McGrath (1983) Irish actress
She's magic https://web.archive.org/web/20090408064322/http://sundayheraldsalon.com/salon/2008/10/shes_magic.html (April 8, 2009)
Dilma Rousseff (1947) 36th President of Brazil
Speech in Porto Alegre http://www2.planalto.gov.br/acompanhe-o-planalto/discursos/discursos-da-presidenta/discurso-da-presidenta-da-republica-dilma-rousseff-na-cerimonia-de-anuncio-de-investimentos-do-pac-mobilidade-urbana-e-entrega-de-57-maquinas-motoniveladoras ( YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3IvZToSwgE), October 12. <br class="br">2013
Dwayne Johnson (1972) American actor and professional wrestler
The Rock's return to WWE Raw as host of WrestleMania XXVII (14 February, 2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8ejiG5-BtA&feature=related.
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
Address at the Belgrade train station (1 June 1892)
“Youth is something very new: Twenty years ago no one mentioned it.”
Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French fashion designer
As quoted in Coco Chanel : Her Life, Her Secrets (1971)
Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer
"The Dance" - from inlay sleeve of Dangerous (1991)
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (1945) Brazilian politician, 35th president of Brazil
Testimony to the Federal Police regarding the "Lava-jato Operation" investigation. ‘Não tem uma viva alma mais honesta do que eu’, afirma Lula http://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fausto-macedo/nao-tem-uma-viva-alma-mais-honesta-do-que-eu-afirma-lula/ at estadao.com.br 01.20.2016
Shigeru Miyamoto (1952) Japanese video game designer and producer
Source: Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/shigeru-miyamoto-interview Eurogamer.net, published on 31 March 2010
“Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back.”
Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) First wife of Charles, Prince of Wales
The Guardian, December 9, 1995, p. 2
Kobe Bryant (1978–2020) American basketball player
A speech after Bryant's last game, 13 April 2016, posted on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg0mxPXIpLY&t=5s.
“You'll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.”
Julia Child (1921–2004) American chef
Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)
Variant: My faith demands - this is not optional - my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
Der Spiegel (17 October 1988)
“It is better to know something about everything then everything about something”
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher
Masashi Kishimoto book Naruto
Source: Naruto, Vol. 21: Pursuit
“to live means to lack something at every moment”
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher
“I have never met a man so ignorant that I could not learn something from him.”
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) Italian mathematician, physicist, philosopher and astronomer
As quoted in The Story of Civilization : The Age of Reason Begins, 1558-1648 (1935) by Will Durant, p. 605
Attributed
“The divine is not something high above us. It is in heaven, it is in earth, it is inside us”
Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969) founder of aikido
“We're reaching for death
on the end of a candle
We're trying for something
that's already found us”
Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors
“Leave something for someone but dont leave someone for something.”
Enid Blyton book Five on a Hike Together
Source: Five on a Hike Together
“I like good strong words that mean something…”
Louisa May Alcott book Little Women
Source: Little Women
“Every day may not be good…
but there's something good in every day”
Alice Morse Earle (1851–1911) American historian




