Explore words from four of history's most quoted voices. Select a name below to read their story, then browse every quote they left behind.
Select an author above to read their biography and quotes.
Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity and making major contributions to modern physics. Beyond science, he became famous worldwide for his thoughts on curiosity, learning, creativity and life.
Martin Luther King Jr was a Baptist minister and civil rights leader who became the most visible spokesperson of the American civil rights movement. He is remembered for his belief in nonviolent resistance and for speeches that continue to inspire people around the world to pursue justice and equality.
Napoleon Hill was an American author widely known for his work on personal success and achievement, most notably his book Think and Grow Rich. His writing focused on the power of desire, persistence and definite purpose, and it continues to influence readers who study motivation and self improvement.
Winston Churchill was a British statesman who served as Prime Minister and led the country through the Second World War. He is remembered for his powerful speeches and for a spirit of determination that continues to be quoted by people facing their own difficult moments.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.
Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding.
The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
It is not that I am so smart, it is just that I stay with problems longer.
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
The only source of knowledge is experience.
I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
Information is not knowledge.
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
A ship is always safe at shore, but that is not what it is built for.
If you cannot explain it simply, you do not understand it well enough.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
Reality is merely an illusion, although a very persistent one.
The person who reads too much and uses his brain too little will fall into lazy habits of thinking.
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.
Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.
The time is always right to do what is right.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Faith is taking the first step even when you do not see the whole staircase.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
A man who will not die for something is not fit to live.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others.
Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon.
We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.
Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.
The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human.
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns.
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.
If you cannot fly then run, if you cannot run then walk, if you cannot walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.
Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles.
We must learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish together as fools.
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Only in the darkness can you see the stars.
A right delayed is a right denied.
I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.
The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.
Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power, we have guided missiles and misguided men.
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
Do not wait, the time will never be just right.
Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.
A goal is a dream with a deadline.
The starting point of all achievement is desire.
Set your mind on a definite goal and observe how quickly the world stands aside to let you pass.
Action is the real measure of intelligence.
Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.
You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment.
Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.
Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.
The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge.
Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.
Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.
If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.
First comes thought, then organization of that thought into ideas and plans, then transformation of those plans into reality.
No man ever achieved worthwhile success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.
Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.
Deserve success and then insist upon it.
The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does.
There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose.
Truthful self analysis will clearly reveal what obstacles must be removed from your own personality.
Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat.
Man can create nothing which he does not first conceive in the form of an impulse of thought.
It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.
Before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps, some failure.
Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.
Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.
When your desires are strong enough, you will appear to yourself to possess superhuman powers to achieve.
A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.
Analyze the record of any person who has achieved outstanding success and you will find that they have gained useful knowledge related to their major purpose.
Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.
Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.
The way to develop self confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you.
It takes character to hold on after most people would let go.
Confidence is a state of mind, and it is subject to control and direction.
Genius is developed by industry and continued effort, backed by an intense desire to attain a definite goal.
You can put off, but time will not.
All achievement, no matter what may be its nature or purpose, must begin with an intense, burning desire for something definite.
Riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.
If you are going through hell, keep going.
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend.
To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often.
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.
The price of greatness is responsibility.
Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.
Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender.
You have enemies. Good. That means you have stood up for something, sometime in your life.
Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.
It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read a book of quotations.
I never worry about action, but only about inaction.
Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge.
The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.
Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word, freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Come on then, let us go forward together.
There is nothing wrong in change, if it is in the right direction.
Time and money spent in helping men do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.
We cannot conquer death, but we can rob it of its terrors by facing it courageously and with the assurance of a peaceful conscience.
Empires of the future are empires of the mind.
Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.
Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever lengthening, ever ascending path.
I can answer in one word, it is victory, victory at all costs.
In war, resolution. In defeat, defiance. In victory, magnanimity. In peace, goodwill.
To jaw jaw is better than to war war.
Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.
Change is the price of survival.
There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away.
For myself I am an optimist, it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.