Famous Quotes: Best-Known Sayings & Who Really Said Them
Famous quotes stick in our memory long after we forget the speech, play or book behind them. “To be, or not to be.” “I have a dream.” “I think, therefore I am.” So this guide gives you the best-known ones, with the person who said each and the place it first appeared.
However, there is a catch. Many quotes on posters, captions and “famous quotes” lists never came from the person whose name appears under them. So this guide does two jobs. First, it gives you a short, carefully chosen list. Second, it shows you how to check any quote before you use it.
Are you hunting for a quote for a caption, a speech, an essay or a card? Do you wonder whether the name under a quote is even correct? Or do you want the best-known quotes without scrolling through 150 near-duplicates? If so, this guide walks you through it step by step. First, you will see the most famous quotes. Next, you can pick quotes by situation. After that, you will learn which popular quotes people get wrong, and finally how to check and use a quote with confidence. If you prefer to browse by mood afterwards, Quote of Fame sorts quotes by theme, from love to success.
What Are the Most Famous Quotes of All Time?
Nobody keeps an official ranking, so no one can honestly name “the number one quote.” Instead, we can list the lines that people recognise most often, teach in schools and repeat in speeches. The ten below come from speeches, plays and philosophy. Moreover, each one has a documented source.
Famous Quotes From Speeches and Historic Moments
| Quote | Who said it | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| “I have a dream.” | Martin Luther King Jr. | March on Washington speech, 28 August 1963 |
| “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” | Franklin D. Roosevelt | First inaugural address, 4 March 1933 |
| “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” | John F. Kennedy | Inaugural address, 20 January 1961 |
| “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” | Neil Armstrong | First moon landing, 20 July 1969 (Armstrong meant to say “a man”) |
| “We shall never surrender.” | Winston Churchill | House of Commons speech, 4 June 1940 |
| “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” | Abraham Lincoln | Gettysburg Address, 19 November 1863 |
Famous Quotes From Plays and Philosophy
| Quote | Who said it | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” | William Shakespeare | Hamlet, around 1600 |
| “I think, therefore I am.” | René Descartes | Discourse on Method, 1637 (French); Principles of Philosophy, 1644 (Latin “cogito, ergo sum”) |
| “The unexamined life is not worth living.” | Socrates | Plato’s Apology, about 399 BC |
| “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) | Julius Caesar | Roman historians reported it in 47 BC |
Also notice what these quotes share. Each one belongs to a moment, such as a trial, a speech or a landing, and that moment helps explain why the line stuck.
Find the Right Famous Quote for Your Situation
The best quote is the one that fits your purpose. So pick the situation below that matches yours. Also, each quote appears only once on this page, with its source.
Life and Wisdom
For example, use these for reflective captions, journal openings and essays.
- “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)
- “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Helen Keller, The Open Door (1957)
- “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank, diary entry, 26 March 1944
- “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (wording varies by translation)
Success, Courage and Perseverance
Instead of generic pep talk, turn to these when you need a motivation post, a graduation speech or a boost during a tough week.
- “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizenship in a Republic,” Sorbonne, 23 April 1910
- “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living (1960)
- “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address, 12 June 2005 (he quoted the farewell message of the Whole Earth Catalog)
- “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Circles” (1841)
Love and Friendship
Next, these work well in cards, wedding toasts and messages to people you care about.
- “‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850)
- “The course of true love never did run smooth.” William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1
- “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Friendship” (1841)
Also, for more in this vein, visit the friendship and family quotes and love and relationship quotes categories.
Funny and Witty
Also, choose these when you want to lighten a speech or a group chat.
- “I can resist everything except temptation.” Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)
- “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin, letter, 13 November 1789
- “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1735)
- “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Mark Twain, 1897 (the popular version, “greatly exaggerated,” is a polished paraphrase)
Short Quotes for Captions and Bios
Still, short does not mean shallow, and several of these lines date back centuries. They are ideal when space is tight.
- “Carpe diem.” (“Seize the day.”) Horace, Odes 1.11 (about 23 BC)
- “Know thyself.” Inscription at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi
- “Knowledge is power.” Francis Bacon, Meditationes Sacrae (1597, originally in Latin)
- “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” Japanese proverb
- “Love conquers all.” Virgil, Eclogues (about 37 BC, Latin “omnia vincit Amor”)
Finally, for a larger mood-based collection, try the motivational and success quotes and life and wisdom quotes categories.
Famous Quotes by the Most-Quoted People
Some names appear on quote posters more often than others. So if you want a specific person, here are well-sourced lines from six of them. None of these repeats a quote above.
- William Shakespeare: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” (As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7)
- Winston Churchill: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” (House of Commons, 13 May 1940)
- Abraham Lincoln: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Springfield, Illinois, 16 June 1858)
- Martin Luther King Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (Letter from Birmingham Jail, 16 April 1963) and “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” (Strength to Love, 1963)
- Nelson Mandela: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” (2003 speech at the launch of the Mindset Network)
- Albert Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” (Saturday Evening Post interview, 26 October 1929)
Also, you may notice that some popular lines attached to Churchill and Einstein are missing. That is deliberate, because the next section shows why those lines do not hold up.
Famous Quotes People Get Wrong (Commonly Misattributed)
In fact, quote researchers have a name for the people who attract this problem. Garson O’Toole, who runs the Quote Investigator site, calls Lincoln, Twain, Dorothy Parker, Einstein, Churchill and Marilyn Monroe “quote superstars.” Because they are famous and quotable, other people’s words tend to stick to them over time Next, here are ten widely shared quotes whose usual credit does not hold up. Still, the sentiment in many of them is perfectly good, so you can keep using them. You simply should not name the wrong person.
Quotes Wrongly Credited to Einstein and Churchill
| Quote | Usually credited to | What the evidence shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” | Albert Einstein | Researchers call the credit spurious, and The Ultimate Quotable Einstein lists the line among misattributed quotes. However, similar sayings circulated decades earlier. | Misattributed |
| “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” | Albert Einstein | No substantive evidence shows he said it. Instead, versions appear in recovery literature in the early 1980s, and the Einstein link shows up by about 1990. | Misattributed |
| “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” | Winston Churchill | No substantive evidence supports it. Churchill’s own quotation reference lists it as a false attribution, and the closest early wording appears in a 1930s beer advertisement. | Misattributed |
Quotes Wrongly Credited to Gandhi, Disney and Twain
| Quote | Usually credited to | What the evidence shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” | Mahatma Gandhi | His writings and speeches do not contain it. The earliest close wording comes from a 1970s education text by Arleen Lorrance. Instead, the nearest real Gandhi line is “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.” | Misattributed |
| “If you can dream it, you can do it.” | Walt Disney | Walt did not say it. The line comes from Epcot’s Horizons attraction (1983). Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald says he wrote it for the ride , while another account credits GE copywriter Sheralyn Silverstein with a 1981 version. So the true author remains unresolved. | Not Disney; author disputed |
| “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” | Mark Twain | However, researchers found no evidence of this wording before 1990, and they conclude it has no connection to Twain. | Misattributed |
Quotes Wrongly Credited to Entertainers and Writers
| Quote | Usually credited to | What the evidence shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| “People will never forget how you made them feel.” | Maya Angelou | Angelou used an expanded version, but the earliest wording researchers found dates to 1971 and credits Carl W. Buehner. | Popularised, not originated |
| “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” | Mae West | The earliest located versions credit comedian Joe E. Lewis in the early 1950s. Also, I found no source that supports the West credit. | Probably Joe E. Lewis |
| “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” | John Lennon | The line first appeared in Reader’s Digest in January 1957, with Allen Saunders as the credited author. Then Lennon sang a version in 1980’s “Beautiful Boy.” | Popularised, not originated |
| “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” | Oscar Wilde | No evidence supports it. Instead, the earliest known appearance is a 1999 Usenet post, and the chairman of the Oscar Wilde Society says it is not Wilde. | Misattributed |
How to Credit a Disputed Quote Honestly
You do not have to drop a quote you love. Instead, write “often attributed to Gandhi” or “popularised by Maya Angelou.” That wording keeps the quote and keeps you accurate.
How to Check Whether a Famous Quote Is Real
You do not need to be a researcher. In fact, these four steps catch most problems within a few minutes.
- Look for a primary source. First, find where the quote first appeared: a speech transcript, a book, a letter or an interview. If all you can find is “he once said” with no title and date, stay cautious.
- Check a quote-research source. Next, search the exact wording on Quote Investigator, and read the “Disputed” or “Misattributed” sections on Wikiquote. For major figures, specialist archives also help. For example, the Churchill Project at Hillsdale College tracks Churchill’s quotations.
- Check the timeline. Then compare dates. If a quote about modern life suddenly appears in the 1990s under the name of someone who died decades earlier, treat that as a warning sign. The same goes for an “Anonymous” quote that suddenly gains a famous name.
- Say so when you cannot confirm it. Finally, write “attributed to” instead of “said by,” or choose a similar line that does have a source.
How to Use a Famous Quote Well
For example, imagine you are writing a farewell message for a colleague, and you find a lovely line under a famous name. Here is how to use it without regret.
- For captions and social posts: Keep the wording exact, put the quote in quotation marks, and credit the person. Also remember that short and sourced beats long and doubtful.
- For speeches and presentations: Instead of a bare line, introduce the quote with a sentence of context, such as “Roosevelt said this at the depth of the Depression.” A quote with its moment attached lands harder than a bare line.
- For essays and reports: Follow the citation style your school or publisher requires. In APA, a direct quote takes (Author, year, page). In MLA, it takes (Author page). In both cases, copy the source’s exact words.
- For cards and graphics: Keep the quote to one or two lines, make sure people can read it easily, and add the author’s name so readers know who is speaking.
Famous Quotes FAQ
What is the difference between a quote, a proverb and an aphorism?
First, a quote contains words that someone said or wrote, and it carries that person’s name. A proverb is a traditional saying with no single known author, such as “A stitch in time saves nine.” Finally, an aphorism is a short, memorable statement of a general truth, and it usually has a known author, as Bacon’s line about knowledge does.
Can I put a famous quote on merchandise or a business page?
It depends on who wrote it and when. Short lines by long-dead authors, such as Shakespeare or Emerson, generally sit in the public domain. However, recent authors, songwriters and speakers may still hold rights, and companies can trademark slogans. I am not a lawyer, so check the rights first if you plan to sell something.
Why do translated quotes have different wordings?
Because translators make different choices, wordings differ. For example, the line about a journey of a thousand miles reads differently across translations of the Tao Te Ching. Similarly, Descartes wrote in French first and Latin later, so his famous line has two versions. When wording matters, cite the translation you use.
Are quotes from films and fictional characters “famous quotes” too?
Yes, in everyday use, although you should name the character. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” belongs to the character Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). So credit it to the character and the film, and nobody will think a real philosopher said it.
The Short Version: Pick Well, Credit Honestly
If you came here to find a famous quote, you now have a verified shortlist sorted by situation. Therefore, you can pick the right line for a caption, a speech or a card. If you came here wondering whether the quote on the poster is real, you have seen that many popular lines have shaky or wrong credits, from Gandhi’s “be the change” to Einstein’s “insanity” definition. Better still, you now know how to check any quote in four steps.
The rule to take away is simple: a good quote with an honest credit beats a famous name with a wrong one. So when you feel unsure, write “attributed to.” For more ideas, browse Quote of Fame by theme.
If you want to go deeper, you can trace almost any famous saying yourself. For example, Quote Investigator publishes sourced histories of hundreds of popular quotes, and it supplied many of the corrections in this guide. So whenever a line looks too good to be true, search it there first.
