Historical Figures Quotes

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Historical Figures Quotes

Click on any quote below to see it in context and find out where it falls on Shmoop's pretentious scale. We'll give you details on who said it, when they said it, and in some cases, why on earth they thought it was okay to say it.

Coco Chanel
"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous."
Source: Quoted in The Gospel According to Coco Chanel : Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman (2009) | Speaker: Coco Chanel
Mitt Romney
"And they brought us whole binders full of women."
Source: 2012 Presidential Debate | Speaker: Mitt Romney
Dalai Lama
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."
Source: The Dalai Lama's visit to Capitol Hill | Speaker: Dalai Lama
Carl Sagan
"Billions and billions."
Source: Carl Sagan | Speaker: Carl Sagan
Galileo Galilei
"But it does move."
Source: Unknown | Speaker: Galileo Galilei
Barbara Jordan
"Do not call for Black power or green power. Call for brain power."
Source: Campus Speeches, Quoted in the Chicago Tribune | Author: Barbara Jordan
George Washington Carver
"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."
Source: 1896 Letter to Booker T. Washington | Author: George Washington Carver
Nelson Mandela
"Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world."
Source: 2003 Speech | Speaker: Nelson Mandela
Dalai Lama
"Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions."
Source: Unknown | Speaker: Dalai Lama
Colin Powell
"Have a vision. Be demanding."
Source: It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership | Author: Colin Powell
Steve Jobs
"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."
Source: Stanford Commencement Speech (2005) | Speaker: Steve Jobs
Leonardo da Vinci
"Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful."
Source: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci | Author: Leonardo da Vinci
Michelle Obama
"I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters—two beautiful, intelligent, Black young women—playing with their dogs on the White House lawn."
Source: 2016 Democratic National Convention Speech | Speaker: Michelle Obama
Coco Chanel
"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."
Source: Quoted in Coco Chanel: Her Life, Her Secrets (1971) | Speaker: Coco Chanel
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
"It was a dark and stormy night."
Source: Paul Clifford | Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Ella Fitzgerald
"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."
Source: Unknown | Speaker: Ella Fitzgerald
Marie Antoinette
"Let them eat cake!"
Source: Marie Antoinette | Speaker: Marie Antoinette
J. Robert Oppenheimer
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Source: 1965 TV Broadcast | Speaker: J. Robert Oppenheimer
Prince Otto von Bismarck
"Politics is the art of the possible."
Source: St. Petersburgische Zeitung | Author: Prince Otto von Bismarck
Coretta Scott King
"Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation."
Source: My Life with Martin Luther King Jr. | Author: Coretta Scott King
Hannah Arendt
"The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution."
Source: The New Yorker | Author: Hannah Arendt
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
"The pen is mightier than the sword."
Source: Richelieu | Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Che Guevara
"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe! You have to make it fall."
Source: Libération | Speaker: Che Guevara
Carter G. Woodson
"We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice."
Source: "The Celebration of Negro History Week" in The Journal of Negro History | Author: Carter G. Woodson
Oprah Winfrey
"You are your possibilities. If you know that, you can do anything."
Source: "Building a Dream" in Oprah Magazine | Speaker: Oprah Winfrey