- T -
- If American and Canadian fishermen sat down and cracked open a case of beer, we'd have this done in an hour.
Kit Taggart, Canadian fisherman, after a dispute over rights to salmon fishing, 1997.
- I don't just sweat. I rain.
Charlie Talbert, the title character from the movie Angus, 1995
- I want to live indefinitely.
Tomoji Tanabe, Most Senior Japanese Citize, at age 112, 17September2007
- Its like when you pull the string on an old lawnmower - you don't know if its going to start or not. But once you get it going, it runs just as well as any other mower.
Sheila Taormina, U.S. Olympic Triathlete, describing her performance, in the Sun Sentinel, 26Aug2008
- I would advise you to keep your overhead down; avoid a major drug habit; play every day; and take it in front of other people. They need to hear it, and you need them to hear it.
James Taylor, singer and songwriter, Berklee College of Music Graduation, 1995
- He didn't have enough days, but he lived them like he should have.
Neil Teplica, about his co-author Dave Freeman, authors of the original “100 Things to do Before You Die’, who died in his home after a fall, 26Aug2008, from an AP wire story.
- I think I'm more difficult than critical.
Mother Teresa, Nobel Laureate, recovering in a Calcutta, India hospital, 1996.
- I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.
Debi Thomas US and World figure skating champion, Olympic bronze medalist, and third year medical student, 1996
- They are steeped in sin and, if eaten long enough for in quantity, will almost certainly kill you.
Emma Thompson , British Actress, giving her thoughts on potato chips ("crisps"), 2008
- If film is a director's medium, and television drama is a writer's medium, reality TV is without question a casting director's medium.
Robert J. Thompson, Professor of Television and Pop Culture at Syracuse University, NYT, March 28th 2004
- It's as startling as Chelsea Clinton with a Mohawk.
Time Magazine review of music by singer Alanis Morisette, 1996
- "These are days you'll remember." If you recall nothing else from your graduation ceremony, remember you heard the New Jersey Governor quote from 10,000 Maniacs.
Christine Todd (Whitman), NJ governor, Wheaton College Graduation, 1995
- I don't care how much of a lama he is, he still needs his mother.
Maria Torres, Spanish woman whose 10-year-old son is believed by Tibetan monks to be a reincarnated lama, 1995
- Do you mind if I sit back a little? Because your breath is very bad.
Donald Trump, hotel and casino owner, to Larry King, talk
show host, 1989
- The 1990s shure aren't like the 1980s
Donald Trump, hotel and casino owner, 1990
- The United States has got some of the dumbest people in the world. I want you to know that we know that.
Ted Turner, media mogul, author, actor, and baseball team owner, addressing international journalists, 1996.
- In the movie I'm single. It can be pretty rough, women thinking I'm single. I get kissed all the time.
Fred Tuttle, Vermont dairy farmer, after starring in a pseudo-documentary in which he ran for US Congress just to collect the salary, 1996.
- This is not a dictatorship but something more complex: the tyranny of popularity.
Alberto Barrera Tyszka, Biographer, on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, 15November2007
- U -
- Don't worry, you're safe with me.
Maritza Uribe, unlicensed teenage cabdriver in Lima, Peru, 1996.
- Rust, Gash, Toxin, Gangrene, Roach, Frostbite, Asphyxia, Bruise, Plague, Mildew.
Urban Decay, makeup brand color names, 1996.
- V -
- W -
- I must tell you that the supply of words on the world market is
plentiful, but the demand is falling.
Lech Walesa , forklift repairman and president of Poland,
speech to US Congress,1989
- Anybody can lease a Hummer now for $500 a month. Soccer moms are driving them. This is not a soccer mom's vehicle. It's a super head-turner. Other motorists hang out of their cars to take pictures of it.
Ken Wallace, dealer for International Truck and Engine Corp. , on its CXT which is 21 feet long and weighs 14,500 pounds, on MSNBC Online, September 17th, 2004
- It's still not a mature art.
Wang Wang, Scientist at Beijing’s Study Institute of Artificial Influence on the Weather, on influencing the weather, July 2002
- The objectives are to ensure national security, national sovereignty, well-being and prosperity, which will lead to gross national happiness also. His Majesty believes this is the best form of government, and the people of Bhutan are ready to launch this.
Khandu Wangchuck, Minister of Bhutan, on a 'practice election' called for by King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, NYT Online, April 24th, 2007
- Since smoking might injure your health, let's be careful not to smoke too much.
Warning label, of sorts, on Japanese cigarette package, 2001
- My wife won’t eat anything we grow on the farm. She says if it doesn’t come on a Styrofoam tray we don’t eat it.
Charles Warren, Zebu Farmer (miniature Brahman Cattle), AP, January 3rd, 2006
- It seems like once people grow up, they have no idea what's cool.
Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, 1994
- I think it's an awful drink, to be honest with you.
Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones drummer, on the use of the 'Stones 1971 song Brown Sugar, sung by a fly in a Pepsi commercial, 1998
- I've been wondering: What does it mean? Is it derogatory?
Joanne Waugh, on the term 'Soccer Mom', used in the US election, 1996.
- I've lost a lot of roles because of my height. I'm 6ft 3in in heels. Producers are short and I was never their sexual fantasy.
Sigourney Weaver, American Film Actress and alien exterminator, on finding acting roles, 2009
- People think because I'm blind I don't have as much to be afraid of. That's insane. Look, death is death, if I can see it or not.
Erik Weihenmayer, Blind Mountain Climber, on climbing Mt. Everest, 2001
- It doesn't stand up to huge intellectual scrutiny.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Theatrical Producer, on the huge success of his Phantom of the Opera, 1995
- It was kind of a neat idea. We don't know what we are going to hear, except I don't think we are going to hear Elvis.
Edward Weiler, head of NASA's space science division, on the microphone included in the Mars Polar Lander spacecraft, 1999
- There's no Walter Cronkite to give you the final word each evening.
William Weld, MA governor, Babson College Graduation, 1995
- I don't know anything about cars. A business is a business, and I think I can learn.
Edward Whitacre Jr., on being appointed chairman of a bankrupt General Motoros car company, 2009
- Football incorporates the two worst elements of American society:
violence punctuated by committee meetings.
George F. Will, journalist, political commentator, 1994
- We treat them as shoppers who take a while to make up their minds.
Tom Williams, Wall-Mart spokesman, on RV camping in parking Lots, 2001
- I found out life's hard but it ain't impossible.
August Wilson, from the play Two Trains Running, [1992]
- I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the world's shortest speech. He said "I will be so brief I have already finished," and he sat down.
Edward O. Wilson, biologist, at Penn State University Graduation, 1995
- I wanted to do something different, and I figured this would be the highest honor, as far as the Army goes.
Danyell Elaine Wilson, US Army Sergeant, first woman to guard the Tomb of the Unknowns, 1996.
- Have you got anywhere with McDonald's? Have you tried getting it banned, that's the key.
Prince Charles, British Royal, advising the United Arab Emirates on combatting ibesity, 6March2007
- Assumptions are the termites of relationships. I wrote that.
Henry Winkler, actor, Emerson College Graduation, 1995
- I just tried to run and not think about anything.
Winner of the 7th annual Estonian Wife Carrying Championship. Grand prize included the wife's weight in beer. ON NPR Morning Edition, July 5th, 2004.
- I'd like to grow old with my face still moving.
Kate Winslet, British Actress, on avoiding plastic surgery, 11December2006
- My customers usually have to get a ladder to get it [their newspaper] off the roof or out of the trees. I only hit one out
of 100 front porches.
Hal Wright, Age 91, Sierra Booster Newspaper Editor and Flying Paper Boy, 1996
- It's really age discrimination. They shudder when you mention that.
Hal Wright, Age 91, Sierra Booster Newspaper Editor and Flying Paper Boy, after the FAA tried to
take away his pilot's license, 1996
- Anywhere is walking distance, if you've got the time.
Steven Wright, comedian, 1994
- X -
- If only I could feed him a potion and make him young again.
Monica Xangathi, of Johannesburg, South Africa, on the need fro someone like Nelson Mandela to lead the country through difficult times, October, 2008.
- The aim is to help the students find good jobs. Many Chinese business deals are clinched on golf courses.
Chen Xiao, Professor of sports at Xiamen University, at which Golf is now a required class, AP, October 17th, 2006
- Y -
- We're just a bunch of rats. That's how they've been treating us.
Earle Young, New Orleans Resident, waiting for evacuation at the Superdome following hurricane Katrina, September 2005
- Z -
- There will be a sharpening of long knives, with groupings around personalities, not platforms.
Zakaria Al-Qaq of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, on what politics will be like after Yasir Arafat, NYT Online Edition, November 6th, 2004
- In science we are really good at disproving things and are very poor at proving things. Theories like the Theory of Relativity go on and on because no one can think of anything better.
Richard Zayre, Professor at Stanford University, August 6, 1996
- We don't talk about politics anymore. Why should we? Who is our leader now? Money is our leader.
Mr. Zhang Beijing Merchant, May 30th, 1997
- I know I'm ugly, but I need love like everyone else.
Yu Zhenhuan, world's hariest man, in China, 2008
- In the first few days, she squealed for cigarettes every now and then, but as her life became more colourful, she gradually forgot about them altogether.
Zookeeper in Shaanxi, China , on successsful efforts to wean Ai Ai, a 27-year-old chimpanzee from smoking, BBC Online, October 3rd, 2005
- It was like holding the Holy Grail.
Vincent Zurzolo, Auctioneer, on Action Comics #1, featuring Superman for the first time, 2010
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