The Quotables Blog

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.

— Edgar Allan Poe

Today at Quotables, we are celebrating the birthday of the Father of Modern Mystery, and American Romantic short-story writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe.

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.

— Edgar Allan Poe

Between his first publication, Tamerlane and Other Poems, to his break-through success with The Raven, famous stories like The Tell-Tale Heart, and his last complete poem, Annabel Lee, he led a tumultuous life but his writing remained his constant ambition.

I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.

— Edgar Allan Poe

If you’re in Baltimore, Maryland, take a wander past the Westminster Hall & Burial Ground tonight to see if you can catch a glimpse of the anonymous figure who toasts Poe’s memory on this night every year with a bottle of cognac and 3 red roses.

Alternatively, you can toast to Poe with us with this selection of our Top Edgar Allan Poe Quotes.

A dark unfathom’d tideOf interminable pride —A mystery, and a dream,Should my early life seem.

— Edgar Allan Poe, Imitation

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

— Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee

— Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.

— Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora

If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.

— Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia

We’re also celebrating Poe’s birthday on Twitter – follow us @QuotablesLoves for more from the great poet.

What’s your favourite quote from Edgar Allan Poe?

Image from Fuck Yeah Edgar Allan Poe.

Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States of America, inventor, journalist, printer, diplomat, and statesman, was born on this day in 1706.

He was a clever cookie, and one of our most quotable. To celebrate his 205th birthday, we’ve handpicked a selection of Virtuous Quotes to Live By – in keeping with Franklin’s 13 Virtues (though his original list had twelve):

My List of Virtues contain’d at first but twelve; but a Quaker Friend having kindly inform’d me that I was generally thought proud; … I determined endeavouring to cure myself if I could of this Vice or Folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my List…

— Benjamin Franklin

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

— Thomas Paine

2. Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

I believe that examining the hidden impacts of all the Stuff in our lives is a way to unplug, which is the first step toward changing things.

— Annie Leonard

3. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.

— Abraham Lincoln

4. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

It all comes to this: the simplest way to be happy is to do good.

— Helen Keller

5. Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.

— Jack Kerouac

6. Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

A small leak can sink a great ship.

— Benjamin Franklin

7. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

Hell, I am young. I am free. My teeth are clean. The sun shines. To hell with everything else.

— Stephen Fry

8. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth.

— Neil Armstrong

9. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

Let thy speech be better than thy silence, or be silent.

— Dionysius the Elder

10. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

I will speak ill of no man and speak all the good I know of everybody.

— Benjamin Franklin

11. Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.

— Martin Luther King Jr.

12. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.

To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

— St Augustine of Hippo

13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

— Benjamin Franklin

More Quotable wisdom from Benjamin Franklin…

I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.

— Benjamin Franklin

Remember that time is money.

— Benjamin Franklin

Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.

— Benjamin Franklin

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

— Benjamin Franklin

If you would not be forgotten,
As soon as you are dead and rotten,
Either write things worthy reading,
Or do things worth the writing.

— Benjamin Franklin

It’s also Martin Luther King, Jr Day in the U.S. - take a look at our collection of quotes for MLK Day over on Quotables.

Benjamin Franklin by Twisted Cynic

We’re already into week three of 2011, and it’s shaping up to be an excellent year!

At Quotables, we love to use quotations to keep ourselves motivated and cheer us up – especially important on Blue Monday, apparently the most depressing day of the year!

To kick off the week in a more positive frame of mind, here are 50 quotes – enough for each week left in 2011 – to keep you inspired, motivated, feeling productive, and geared up for success all year long!

Inspiration

1. The more reasons you have for achieving your goal, the more determined you will become.
— Brian Tracy

2. Pursue meaningful adventures.
— Chris Guillebeau

3. It’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get up again.
— Vince Lombardi

4. Fortune favours the brave.
— Terence

5. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
— Neal Donald Walsch

6. The best way out is always through.
— Unknown

7. Live well. It is the greatest revenge.
— The Talmud

8. If you never fall you won’t know how to pick yourself up.
— Unknown

9. You need to write down an unrealistic goal and start to live and breathe it every single day. This can be simple, or more complex. Make it crazy though! The sky is the limit, and trust me, people have been up there too.
— Everett Bogue

10. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Motivation

1. Just get started. There are some days when you don’t feel like heading out the door for a run, or figuring out your budget, or whatever it is you’re supposed to do that day for your goal. Well, instead of thinking about how hard it is, and how long it will take, tell yourself that you just have to start.
— Leo Babauta

2. One thing at a time.
Most important thing first.
Start now.
— Skellie

3. No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle.
— Winston Churchill

4. The best time to start was last year. Failing that, today will do.
— Chris Guillebeau

5. Start from wherever you are and with whatever you’ve got.
— Jim Rohn

6. Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
— Samuel Beckett

7. Leap and the net will appear.
— Julia Cameron

8. Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps. We must step up the stairs.
— Václav Havel

9. No is easier to do. Yes is easier to say.
— Jason Fried

10. Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.
— Napoleon Hill

Productivity

Image by candrews.

1. If there are nine rabbits on the ground, if you want to catch one, just focus on one.
— Jack Ma

2. Watch with awe and amazement at how quickly an engineer will become totally annoyed by inefficiency.
— Michael Lopp

3. We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.
— Herb Kelleher

4. When one has much to put into them, a day has a hundred pockets.
— Friedrich Nietzsche

5. Section the Post-It into four squares, put your most important task in the top left, and then use the other three for things you’d like to accomplish today.
— Adam Dachis

6. A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
— George Bernard Shaw

7. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
— Voltaire

8. An empty desk is an efficient desk.
— Mr Warrenn

9. Document everything. People are voracious for the products of productive people.
— Kevin Hale

10. Something attempted, something done,Has earned a night’s repose.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Work

1. Rise early. Work late. Strike oil.
— John Paul Getty

2. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.
— Caterina Fake

3. See the job. Do the job. Stay out of the misery.
— David Lynch

4. Enough work to do, and strength enough to do the work.
— Rudyard Kipling

5. Without great solitude no serious work is possible.
— Pablo Picasso

6. The great opportunity of work is that you sustain your interest in it.
— Milton Glaser

7. I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.
— Thomas Edison

8. All that matters is love and work.
— Sigmund Freud

9. Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
— Mark Twain

10. The rules are simple. Take your work, but never yourself, seriously. Pour in the love and whatever skill you have, and it will come out.
— Chuck Jones

Success

1. The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs… one step at a time.
— Joe Girard

2. Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.
— Napoleon Hill

3. Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
— Winston Churchill

4. Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it.
— Sam Ewing

5. The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.
— Sven Goran Eriksson

6. Successful people always see things working out.
— Unknown

7. The best place to succeed is where you are with what you have.
— Charles Schwab

8. It is on our failures that we base a new and different and better success.
— Havelock Ellis

9. All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
— Mark Twain

10. If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.
— David Viscott

Follow us on Twitter – @QuotablesLoves for hourly fun, insightful, and inspirational quotes, and don’t forget to ‘Like’ the Quotables Facebook page to keep up with the latest news from the Quotables team.

2011 calendar by spreadthelove on Etsy.

Calling all photographers! We’re launching a rather exciting new project on Quotables next week, and we thought we would whet your appetite with a little teaser here on the Quotables blog…

‘Quotes in the Wild’ is a photography project and competition that aims to gather together the ultimate collection of inspiring images featuring quotations. Next week we’ll be inviting quote-loving photographers to take part, and revealing our plans for getting the very best entries out into the world!

For an idea of the kind of images you could come up with, take a peek at our Pinterest inspiration board. And you can head over to our Flickr page to see the quotes spotted by the Quotables team so far!

Here’s a few of our favourites images from the Web…

This is on account of my loving you forever.
— Anonymous

Beth Loster, a San Francisco writer and waitress received a letter inscribed a quotation from her boyfriend in this gorgeous tattoo.

Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.

— Sylvia Plath

Poetry from Sylvia Plath inspires some quotable graffiti.

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.

— T. S. Eliot

An artistically themed creation brings T. S. Eliot’s words to life.

If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.

— Woody Allen

Simple indoor inspiration from Woody Allen.

Get your cameras at the ready for the official launch of Quotes in the Wild next week!

The Team at Quotables wishes you a very Happy New Year!

Without further ado (there’s drinkin’ to be done!), here are 10 of our favourite quotes about ushering in the new year.

1. Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.
— Bill Vaughn

2. The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year’s Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you’re married to.
— P. J. O’Rourke

3. Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average. Which means you’ve met your New Year’s resolution.
— Jay Leno

4. A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.
— Unknown

5. It wouldn’t be New Year’s if I didn’t have regrets.
— William Thomas

6. The only way to spend New Year’s Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears.
— W. H. Auden

7. Happiness is too many things these days for anyone to wish it on anyone lightly. So let’s just wish each other a bileless New Year and leave it at that.
— Judith Crist

8. An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
— Bill Vaughn

9. I’m not a drinker — my body will not tolerate spirits. I had two Martinis on New Year’s Eve and I tried to hijack an elevator and fly it to Cuba.
— Woody Allen

10. New Year’s Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.
— James Agate

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter at @QuotablesLoves for holiday quotes and inspiration on the hour, every hour.

We at Quotables are big film fans.

With all the Top 2010 Film lists appearing left, right, and centre, the decision-making process can become a little contentious. Rather than make judgments, we found the Top 2010 films using that age-old method. We asked the Internet Movie Database.

We give you our Top 20 Quotes from the Top 10 Rated Films of 2010!

10. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Directed by Edgar Wright
Written by Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay), Brian Lee O’Malley (graphic novels)

Wallace Wells: If you want something bad, you have to fight for it. Step up your game, Scott. Break out the L-word.
Scott Pilgrim: Lesbian?
Wallace Wells: The other L-word.
Scott Pilgrim: …Lesbians?

— Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) & Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin)

You punched me in the boob! Prepare to die. Obviously.

— Roxy Richter

9. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part I

Directed by David Yates
Written by Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel) 

These are dark times, there is no denying. Our world has perhaps faced no greater threat than it does today. But I say this to our citizenry: We, ever your servants, will continue to defend your liberty and repel the forces that seek to take it from you! Your Ministry remains, strong.

— Rufus Scrimgeour (Bill Nighy, Opening Lines)

Only I can live forever.

— Lord Voldemort (Ralph Finnes)

8. Shutter Island

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay), Dennis Lehane (novel)

Chuck Aule: All I know is it’s a mental hospital.
Teddy Daniels: …for the criminally insane.

— Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) & Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo)

Don’t you get it? You’re a rat in a maze.

— George Noyce (Jackie Earle Haley)

7. Kick-Ass

Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Written by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn

Dave Lizewski: How do I get a hold of you?
Hit Girl: You just contact the mayor’s office. He has a special signal he shines in the sky. It’s in the shape of a giant cock.

— Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) & Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson)

Damon Macready: So… Have you thought a little more about what you might want for your birthday?
Mindy Macready: Can I get a puppy?
Damon Macready: [surprised] You wanna get a dog?
Mindy Macready: Yeah, a cuddly fluffy one, and a Bratz movie-star make over Sasha!… [laughs] I’m just f*cking with you Daddy! Look, I’d love a Benchmade model 42 butterfly knife.
Damon Macready: Oh, child… You always knock me for a loop!

— Mindy Macready (Chloe Moretz) & Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage)

6. Tangled

Directed by Nathan Greno & Byron Howard
Written by Dan Fogelman (screenplay), Grimm Brothers (fairy tale) 

Rapunzel: Something brought you here, Flynn Rider. Call it what you will! Fate… Destiny…
Flynn Rider: A horse?

— Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi)

Flynn Rider: Alright, blondie.
Rapunzel: Rapunzel.
Flynn Rider: Gesundheit.

— Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), Rapunzel (Mandy Moore)

5. How to Train Your Dragon

Directed by Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
Written by William Davies (screenplay), Cressida Cowell (novel)

This is Berk. It’s twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It’s located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word? Sturdy, and it’s been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunset. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have… dragons.

— Hiccup (Jay Baruchel)

Stoick: When we crack this mountain, all hell is going to break loose.
Gobber: And my undies. Good thing I brought extras.

— Stoick (Gerard Butler) & Gobber (Craig Ferguson)

4. The Social Network

Directed by David Fincher
Written by Aaron Sorkin (screenplay), Ben Mezrich (novel)

If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook.

— Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg)

This is a once in a generation holy shit idea!

— Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake)

3. Toy Story 3

Directed by Lee Unkrich
Written by Michael Arndt (screenplay), John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton (story)

Now Woody, he’s been my pal for as long as I can remember. He’s brave, like a cowboy should be. And kind, and smart. But the thing that makes Woody special, is he’ll never give up on you… ever. He’ll be there for you, no matter what.

— Andy (John Morris)

Sunnyside is a place of ruin and despair, ruled by an evil bear who smells of strawberries!

— Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton)

2. Black Swan

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Written by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, & John McLaughlin

I just want to be perfect.

— Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman)

The only person standing in your way is you.

— Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel)

1. Inception

Directed & Written by Christopher Nolan

Cobb: You create the world of the dream. We bring the subject into that dream and fill it with their subconscious.
Ariadne: How could I ever acquire enough detail to make them think that it’s reality?
Cobb: Our dreams, they feel real while we’re in them right? Its only when we wake up then we realize that something was actually strange.

— Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) & Ariadne (Ellen Page)

You’re waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can’t be sure. But it doesn’t matter – because we’ll be together.

— Mal (Marion Cotillard)

Check out the “film” and “movies” tags on Quotables for thousands more quotable motion picture excellence.

In the News in 2010

[The Burj Khalifa is] the tallest building ever created by the hand of man. This great project deserves to carry the name of a great man. Today I inaugurate Burj Khalifa.
— Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

The tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is officially opened.

You have thousands of people sitting in the streets with nowhere to go. There are people running, crying, screaming…people are trying to dig victims out with flashlights. I think hundreds of casualties would be a serious understatement.
— Rachmani Domersant

On 12 January, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits Haiti, 16 miles from Port au Prince. The Haitian government reported that an estimated 230,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. Relief efforts continue.

The fact that a cloud from a minor volcanic eruption in Iceland—a small disturbance in the complex mechanism of life on the Earth—can bring to a standstill the aerial traffic over an entire continent is a reminder of how, with all its power to transform nature, humankind remains just another species on the planet Earth.
— Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian cultural critic

Volcanic ash from several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, disrupts air traffic across northern and western Europe, stranding tourists for over two weeks.

We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused to their lives. There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I’d like my life back.
— Tony Hayward

BP’s CEO apologises for the BP oil spill that caused the deaths of 11 employees and the spillage of an estimated 200 million gallons of oil beginning in April 2010.

I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting.
— Rahm Emanuel

Criticism of the event escalate throughout the spill.

I was with God and I was with the devil. They fought over me but God won. I think I had extraordinary luck.
— Mario Sepulveda

Mario Sepulveda, one of 33 Chilean miners rescued after being trapped 2,000 feet below ground for 69 days.

Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le! Los mineros de Chile
— Chilean miners

Chilean miners being rescued, chanting while emerging from their underground prison, October 13.

The coming months will see a new world, where global history is redefined.
— Wikileaks

A Tweet from Wikileaks outlines a manifest of sorts. On 28 November, WikiLeaks releases a collection of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables, including 100,000 marked “secret” or “confidential”.

The government has recognized that WikiLeaks is not an event — it is a capability — and anybody who can get material out of a classified system can now publish it worldwide in a way that can’t be redacted or removed. The idea of a widely shared but secure secret is over.
— Clay Shirky

The New York University Internet scholar comments on Wikileaks and its impact on freedom of information.

[on Julian Assange] He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands, Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue Al-Qa’ida and Taliban leaders?
— Sarah Palin

Palin comments on Julian Assange’s actions via Wikileaks on her Facebook page.

Exceptional People in 2010

This prize belongs to everyone, everyone who is Chinese and has been fearless in defending their dignity.
— Liu Xia

Liu Xia, wife of jailed Chinese Novel Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo, invites 143 Chinese activists and academics to Nobel Prize award ceremony in Oslo. She remains under house arrest.

For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them; for creating a new system of exchanging information; and for changing how we all live our lives, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is TIME’s 2010 Person of the Year.
— TIME Magazine

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and the world’s youngest billionaire, is TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year. And one of our Most Quotable.

Politics in 2010

I can’t spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead.
— Barack Obama

Addressing rumors that he was not born in the U.S. An August TIME poll showed that, despite evidence to the contrary, nearly one-quarter of Americans believe the President is a Muslim.

This is a big f*cking deal.
— Joe Biden

The Vice President accidentally expressing to President Obama excessive enthusiasm for passage of the health care bill, in front of a hot microphone at the White House’s signing ceremony.

I am not a witch. I’m nothing you’ve heard. I’m you.
— Christine O’Donnell

Memorable words from Christine O’Donnell in her ultimately unsuccessful campaign to become senator of Delaware.

You’re telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?
— Christine O’Donnell

Christine O’Donnell in a debate ahead of her election race in Connecticut, October 19.

Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies.
— Sarah Palin

A slip from Sarah Palin on Glenn Beck’s radio show encouraged the U.S. to support an unexpected country.

Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!
— Sarah Palin

A message on Twitter to “Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America”.  

I never considered myself a maverick.
— John McCain

The Senator publicly rejects the label on which he campaigned for the presidency in 2008.

They should never have put me with that woman. [...] She was just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to be Labour.
— Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown’s snide comments to an aide about Gillian Duffy were caught on video. The gaffe was widely publicised in the weeks prior to the 2010 UK Election.

I must be the only politician in the space of a week to go from Churchill to Nazi.
— Nick Clegg

Nick Clegg comments on attacks on him from the British right-wing press.

You will be beaten upside the head with a truncheon. And that’s it.
— Vladimir Putin

The Russian Prime Minister, threatens anti-government dissidents who continued to hold unauthorized rallies in Moscow despite the Kremlin’s routine denial of permission for them to assemble legally.  

World Events in 2010

May you carry his Olympic dream on your shoulders and compete with his spirit in your hearts.
— John Furlong

Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics. Here, CEO John Furlong pays tribute to luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died hours before the Opening Ceremony in a training accident. USA tops the leader-board for gold medals with 36.

South Africa hosts the FIFA World Cup 2010 – the first time the tournament has been held in Africa. Spain wins, beating the Netherlands 1-0. Andrews Iniesta’s goal in extra time sealed the win for Spain in Johannesburg.

Yes, Princess Diana was there.
— Suresh Kalmadi

The 2010 Commonwealth Games are held in New Delhi, India. Local organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi makes a tall claim after the opening ceremony.

Media Scandal in 2010

Wanna tell me I’m too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM SOUTHWESTAIR
— Kevin Smith

Filmmaker Kevin Smith is ejected from a Southwest Airlines plane after being deemed “a safety concern” because of his size. A barrage of angry Tweets from Smith publicise the event which becomes widely reported in the mainstream media.

I’m sorry Taylor.
— Kanye West

Rapper Kanye West publicly apologises to Taylor Swift for interrupting her VMA Award acceptance speech, an entire year after the event.

Popular Culture in 2010

2010, the year of…

3D film

3-D is a distracting, annoying, anti-realistic, juvenile abomination to use as an excuse for higher prices.
— Roger Ebert

Justin Bieber

At any moment, Justin Bieber uses 3% of our infrastructure. Racks of servers are dedicated to him. – A guy who works at Twitter.
— Dustin Curtis

Gay solidarity

Prejudice is a disease. So is fashion. But I will not wear prejudice.
— Lady Gaga

Geek Chic

If geek means you’re willing to study things, and if you think science and engineering matter, I plead guilty. If your culture doesn’t like geeks, you are in real trouble.
— Bill Gates

The Apple iPad

If you have an object in your pocket or hand for hours every day, then your relationship with it is profound, human and emotional. Apple’s success has been founded on consumer products that address this side of us: their products make users smile as they reach forward to manipulate, touch, fondle, slide, tweak, pinch, prod and stroke.
— Stephen Fry

Russell Brand & Katy Perry

Today’s Sesame Street will NOT be brought to you by the number 34 or the letter D.
— Russell Brand

The Rally to Restore Sanity / Keep Fear Alive

We will gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a million-moderate march where we take to the streets to send a message to our leaders and our national media that says, ‘We are here. We are only here until six though, because we have a sitter.’
— Jon Stewart

Don’t miss our Top 100 Christmas Quotes, 2010′s Most Quotable, and our upcoming Top Film Quotes of 2010! Visit us at Quotables for more of the best quotes of 2010. 

For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them; for creating a new system of exchanging information; and for changing how we all live our lives, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is TIME’s 2010 Person of the Year. — Time Magazine

Mark Zuckerberg has been crowned Time Magazine’s 2010 Person of the Year.

The Facebook founder – and, for some time, the world’s youngest billionaire – recently pledged to give most of his wealth to philanthropic causes (read more about The Giving Pledge on Wikipedia…). He’s very much the man of the hour after the success of David Fincher’s The Social Network this year, with Jesse Eisenberg playing a not-entirely-sympathetic version of the Facebook CEO. Penned by The West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin, the film is hotly tipped to scoop some of the major Oscars in 2011. 

The Facebook founder is also one of our most quotable authors for 2010! We’re kicking off our focus on the Most Quotable figures of 2010, with 10 of our favourite nuggets from the quotable internet titan – enjoy!

1. I think the next five years are going to be about building out this social platform. It’s about the idea that most applications are going to become social, and most industries are going to be rethought in a way where social design and doing things with your friends is at the core of how these things work. If the last five years was the ramping up, I think that the next five years are going to be characterized by widespread acknowledgment by other industries that this is the way that stuff should be and will be better.
— Mark Zuckerberg

2. Almost any mistake you can make in running a company, I’ve probably made.
— Mark Zuckerberg

3. Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.
— Mark Zuckerberg

4. The thing that I really care about is making the world more open and connected. What that stands for is something that I have believed in for a really long time. Open means having access to more information, right? More transparency, being able to share things and have a voice in the world. And connected is helping people stay in touch and maintain empathy for each other, and bandwidth.
— Mark Zuckerberg

5. I think it’s totally fair to say we are a very good business,” she says. “Not ‘we will be,’ but ‘we are.’
— Mark Zuckerberg

6. We have this concept of serendipity — humans do. A lucky coincidence. It’s like you go to a restaurant and you bump into a friend that you haven’t seen for a while. That’s awesome. That’s serendipitous. And a lot of the reason why that seems so magical is because it doesn’t happen often. But I think the reality is that those circumstances aren’t actually rare. It’s just that we probably miss like 99% of it. How much of the time do you think you’re actually at the same restaurant as that person but you’re at opposite sides so you don’t see them, or you missed each other by 10 minutes, or they’re in the next restaurant over? When you have this kind of context of what’s going on, it’s just going to make people’s lives richer, because instead of missing 99% of them, maybe now you’ll start seeing a lot more of them.
— Mark Zuckerberg

7. In college I was a psychology major at the same time as being a computer-science major. I say that fairly frequently, and people can’t understand it. It’s like, obviously I’m a CS person! But I was always interested in how those two things combined. For me, computers were always just a way to build good stuff, not like an end in itself.
— Mark Zuckerberg

8. We’re trying to map out what exists in the world. In the world, there’s trust. I think as humans we fundamentally parse the world through the people and relationships we have around us. So at its core, what we’re trying to do is map out all of those trust relationships, which you can call, colloquially, most of the time, friendships.
— Mark Zuckerberg

9. [On The Social Network] I found it funny what details they focused on getting right. I think I owned every single T-shirt that they had me wearing. But the biggest thing that thematically they missed is the concept that you would have to want to do something… in order to be motivated to do something like this. It just like completely misses the actual motivation for what we’re doing, which is, we think it’s an awesome thing to do.
— Mark Zuckerberg

10. I usually don’t like things that are too much about me.
— Mark Zuckerberg

For lots more quotes from Mr Zuckerberg, check out his author page on Quotables. We also have loads of great quotes about social media.

What is your favourite Mark Zuckerberg quote (real or fictional)? Submit them to Quotables or let us know in the comments!

Writer-director-actor-comedian, and everyone’s favourite neurotic New Yorker, Woody Allen – born Allan Stewart Konigsberg – celebrates his 75th birthday today. Happy Birthday from Quotables sir!

We’ve hand-picked 75 of his most loved quotes from Quotables for your enjoyment, organised into some of Woody’s favourite themes – expect plenty sex, death and self-deprecation! You can find lots more Woody Allen quotes over on Quotables, and can easily save them to your profile and share them on Facebook or Twitter – enjoy!

Words to Live By…

1. If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.
— Woody Allen

2. Eighty percent of success is turning up.
— Woody Allen

3. Talent is luck. The important thing in life is courage.
— Woody Allen

4. Maybe the poets are right. Maybe love is the only answer.

— Woody Allen

Classic Jokes & Observations

5. Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends very little on office supplies.
— Woody Allen

6. I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.
— Woody Allen

7. Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.
— Woody Allen

8. What a world. It could be so wonderful if it wasn’t for certain people.
— Woody Allen

9. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy myself, but I didn’t.
— Woody Allen.

10. It is impossible to travel faster than light, and certainly not desirable, as one’s hat keeps blowing off.
— Woody Allen

11. My brain: it’s my second favorite organ.

— Woody Allen

12. If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.

— Woody Allen

13. Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.

— Woody Allen

14. I think crime pays. The hours are good, you meet a lot of interesting people, you travel a lot.

— Woody Allen

15. I can’t listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.

— Woody Allen

16. Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought — particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things.

— Woody Allen

17. It is impossible to travel faster than light, and certainly not desirable, as one’s hat keeps blowing off.

— Woody Allen

18. To you I’m an atheist; to God, I’m the Loyal Opposition.

— Woody Allen

19. The best thing to do is to behave in a manner befitting one’s age. If you are sixteen or under, try not to go bald.

— Woody Allen

20. There is no question that there is an unseen world. The problem is, how far is it from midtown and how late is it open?

— Woody Allen

Stand-Up

72. A lot of things have happened in my private life recently that I thought we could review tonight.
— Woody Allen

73. I was in analysis. I was suicidal. As a matter of fact, I would have killed myself, but I was in analysis with a strict Freudian and if you kill yourself they make you pay for the sessions you miss.
— Woody Allen

74. I’m not a drinker — my body will not tolerate spirits. I had two Martinis on New Year’s Eve and I tried to hijack an elevator and fly it to Cuba.
— Woody Allen

75. When I was kidnapped, my parents snapped into action. They rented out my room.

— Woody Allen

Existentialism

21. As the poet said, “Only God can make a tree”—probably because it’s so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.
— Woody Allen

22. What if nothing exists and we’re all in somebody’s dream? Or what’s worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?
— Woody Allen

23. What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.
— Woody Allen

24. The important thing, I think, is not to be bitter… if it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he is evil. I think that the worst thing you could say is that he is, basically, an under-achiever.
— Woody Allen

25. Human beings are divided into mind and body. The mind embraces all the nobler aspirations, like poetry and philosophy, but the body has all the fun.
— Woody Allen

26. Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.
— Woody Allen

27. More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

— Woody Allen

28. Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. The horrible are the cancer patients and the terminal cases… the miserable is everyone else. So, be thankful that you’re miserable.

— Woody Allen

29. Can we actually “know” the universe? My God, it’s hard enough finding your way around in Chinatown.

— Woody Allen

30. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn’t and you lose.

— Woody Allen

Death

31. It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.
— Woody Allen

32. I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work… I want to achieve it through not dying.

— Woody Allen

33. Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it.
— Woody Allen

34. The chief problem about death, incidentally, is the fear that there may be no afterlife — a depressing thought, particularly for those who have bothered to shave. Also, there is the fear that there is an afterlife but no one will know where it’s being held.
— Woody Allen

35. I don’t believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.
— Woody Allen

36. Allen: What are you doing Saturday night?
Woman: Committing suicide.
Allen: What about Friday night?
— Woody Allen

37. Where I grew up… in Brooklyn, nobody committed suicide… you know, everyone was too unhappy.
— Woody Allen

38. Agathon: But all that talk about death being the same as sleep.
Socrates: Yes, the difference is that when you’re dead and somebody yells, “Everybody up, it’s morning,” it’s very hard to find your slippers.
— Woody Allen

39. Death is a state of non-being. That which is not, does not exist. Therefore death does not exist. Only truth exists. Truth and beauty. Each is interchangeable, but are aspects of themselves. Er, what specifically did they say they had in mind for me?
— Woody Allen

40. The key is, to not think of death as an end, but as more of a very effective way to cut down on your expenses.
— Woody Allen

41. After all, there are worse things in life than death. If you’ve ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman, you know what I’m talking about.
— Woody Allen

42. It is impossible to experience one’s own death objectively and still carry a tune.
— Woody Allen

43. Sex and death are two things that come but once in my lifetime, but at least after death you’re not nauseous.

— Woody Allen

Love & Folly

44. Basically my wife was immature. I’d be at home in the bath and she’d come in and sink my boats.
— Woody Allen

45. Marriage? That’s for life! It’s like cement!
— Woody Allen

46. The most beautiful words in the English language aren’t “I love you” but “it’s benign.”
— Woody Allen

47. I tended to place my wife under a pedestal.
— Woody Allen

48. To a man standing on the shore, time passes quicker than to a man on a boat — especially if the man on the boat is with his wife.
— Woody Allen

49. She’s 17. I’m 42 and she’s 17. I’m older than her father, can you believe that? I’m dating a girl, wherein, I can beat up her father.
— Woody Allen

50. I think that people should mate for life, like pigeons or Catholics.
— Woody Allen

51. Regarding love… what can you say? It’s not the quantity of your sexual relations that counts. It’s the quality. On the other hand if the quantity drops below once every eight months, I would definitely look into it.

— Woody Allen

52. This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, ‘Doc, my brother’s crazy, he thinks he’s a chicken.’ And the doctor says, ‘Well why don’t you turn him in?’ and the guy says, ‘I would, but I need the eggs.’ Well, I guess that’s pretty much now how I feel about relationships. They’re totally irrational and crazy and absurd, but I guess we keep going through it because most of us need the eggs.

— Woody Allen

Sex

53. Is sex dirty? Only if it’s done right.
— Woody Allen

54. On bisexuality: It immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.
— Woody Allen

55. You think the President of the United States wants to f*ck every woman he meets?… Well, bad example.
— Woody Allen

56. A fast word about oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me and she said ‘no’.
— Woody Allen

57. I feel sex is a beautiful thing between two people. Between five, it’s fantastic.
— Woody Allen

58. I worked with Freud in Vienna. We broke over the concept of penis envy. He thought it should be limited to women.
— Woody Allen

59. I had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface and commit interstellar perversion.
— Woody Allen

60. Sonja: Sex without love is an empty experience!
Boris: Yes, but as empty experiences go, it’s one of the best!
— Woody Allen

61. My love life is terrible. The last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty.

— Woody Allen

Self-love

62. I remember when I was a little boy, I once stole a pornographic book that was printed in Braille. I used to rub the dirty parts.
— Woody Allen

63. Hey, don’t knock masturbation. It’s sex with someone I love.
— Woody Allen

64. Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don’t have a good partner, you’d better have a good hand.
— Woody Allen

65. Countess: You are a great lover!
Boris: I practice a lot when I’m alone.
— Woody Allen

66. They called me mad… But it was I – yes I – who discovered the link between excessive masturbation and entry into politics!
— Woody Allen

Self-criticism

67. My one regret in life is that I am not somebody else.
— Woody Allen

68. [On being called a self-hating Jew] Hey, I may hate myself, but not because I’m Jewish.
— Woody Allen

69. Doris: You have no values. With you its all nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm, and orgasm.
Harry: Hey, in France I could run for office with that slogan, and win!
— Woody Allen

70. I can’t express anger. That’s my problem. I internalize everything. I just grow a tumor instead.
— Woody Allen

71. I’m not really the heroic type. I was beat up by Quakers.
— Woody Allen

You can find lots more Woody Allen quotes over on his Quotables page. And for hilarious and inspirational quotes on the hour, every hour, follow us on @QuotablesLoves.

Images sourced from vi.sualize.us.

Two Quotable Titans enter… Only one can be crowned Most Quotable.

Welcome to the Quotables Thunderdome!

Two of history’s most loquacious authors share a birthday – it’s Mark Twain‘s 175th, and Winston Churchill‘s 136th, and we thought we’d celebrate with a bit of a quote-off! These two are definitely among the most quoted authors of all time, with hundreds of eminently quotable words of wisdom between them. We wanted to see who quote lovers consider to be the Most Quotable – so hop on over to Quotables and get loving and submitting your favourite’s quotes. The most loved author by the end of the day will receive the immortal status of Most Quotable! Who wins? You decide…

We’ll be tweeting quotes from both quotable giants over at @QuotablesHQ and@QuotablesLoves all day, look out for our #TeamTwain and #TeamChurchill hashtags!

Churchill vs. Twain

In the Union Jack shorts, born in Bladon, Oxfordshire: The Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill!

In the red, white, & blue corner, hailing from Florida, Missouri…. Samuel Longhorn Clemens! Err, I mean, Mark Twain! 

Click on your favourite quotes to love them on Quotables!

On Grammar

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.

— Winston Churchill

As to the Adjective: when in doubt, strike it out.

— Mark Twain

On Drinking

I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

— Winston Churchill

If I cannot drink Bourbon and smoke cigars in Heaven than I shall not go.

— Mark Twain

On Courage

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.

— Winston Churchill

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.

— Mark Twain

On Truth

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

— Winston Churchill

Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.

— Mark Twain

On Education

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read a book of quotations.

— Winston Churchill

A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.

— Mark Twain

&

My education was interrupted only by my schooling.

— Winston Churchill

Never let your schooling interfere with your education.

— Mark Twain

On Babies

A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother.

— Mark Twain

There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.

— Winston Churchill

On Vice & Men

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.

— Winston Churchill

I haven’t a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming petty vices whatsoever.

— Mark Twain

On Critics

It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.

— Winston Churchill

A critic never made or killed a book or a play. The people themselves are the final judges. It is their opinion that counts. After all, the final test is truth. But the trouble is that most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession and therefore are most economical in its use.

— Mark Twain

On Success

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.

— Mark Twain

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

— Winston Churchill

&

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too can become great.

— Mark Twain

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

— Winston Churchill

On Enemies

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

— Winston Churchill

It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.

— Mark Twain

On Death

The report of my death was an exaggeration.

— Mark Twain

Although always prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it should be postponed.

— Winston Churchill