Would Be quotes
5.8K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside would be — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"Let's imagine again an observer looking at us without any preconceptions. I think he would be struck by the fact that although human beings have the capacity to develop scientific knowledge, it must be a very limited capacity because it is only done in very narrow and specific domains."
"Most of the time I just keep to myself. I think like what it would be like to be... someone else."
"Shadows which you see with difficulty, and whose boundaries you cannot define... these you should not represent as finished or sharply defined, for the result would be that your work would seem wooden."
"Good puzzle would be cross Dublin without passing a pub."
"I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which these things would be by me unavoidable."
"It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live."
"Translate a book a dozen times from one language to another, and what becomes of its style? Most books would be worn out and disappear in this ordeal. The pen which wrote it is soon destroyed, but the poem survives."
"Who would be free themselves must strike the blow. Better even to die free than to live slaves."
"If I were to live my life over again, I would be an American. I would steep myself in America, I would know no other land."
"Applications for loans would be judged on a nation's social justice record as well as its economic efficiency."
"I would say invisibility would be sort of a fun power to have just to see what it was like to move through the world and not be looked at."
"Without the blues, modern music would be nothing like it is now - not remotely."
"I am a ridiculous man. They call me a madman now. That would be a distinct rise in my social position were it not that they still regard me as being as ridiculous as ever."
"We may not pay Satan reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents."
"I thought, frankly, that it would be more pleasant to write a memoir than it was."
"I suppose if you could have only one thing, it would be that-energy. Without it, you haven't got a thing."
"dating you would be like a series of unnecessary root canals interspersed with occasional makeout sessions."
"It would be next to impossible to discover a handsome woman who was not also a vain woman."
"When the war broke out I decided I would be very patriotic. Standing my full height. I presented myself to the Wacs and the to the Waves. And I was rejected - I was an inch too tall."
"If I was gay, I would be the best gay of all history."
