Been Quotes

For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else.

People always blame the girl; she should have said no. A monosyllable, but conventional wisdom has always been that boys can't manage it.

For someone who's had the level of success I've had, there's been very little critical review of my work, which is pretty fascinating.

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.

For as long as I can remember, I have been passionately intrigued by 'Africa,' by the word itself, by its flora and fauna, its topographical diversity and grandeur; but above all else, by the sheer variety of the colors of its people, from tan and sepia to jet and ebony.

All my life affection has been showered upon me, and every forward step I have made has been taken in spite of it.

I would have been very happy just working from job to job, paying my rent one movie at a time. I never wanted to be this famous. I never imagined this life for myself.

I have never been aware before how many faces there are. There are quantities of human beings, but there are many more faces, for each person has several.

Once you've been really bad in a movie, there's a certain kind of fearlessness you develop.

Black and Jewish leaders have been a coalition of conscience.

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.

During my first photo shoot, I was unhappy because they put so much makeup on me and straightened my hair. I've been stubborn ever since.

All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.

On the day I started college in 1979, no woman had ever been on the United States Supreme Court or served as the Speaker of the House. None had been an astronaut or the solo anchor of a network evening news broadcast. Not one had been president of an Ivy League college or run a serious campaign for president.

Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.

The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.

I try not to hit a swing volley and run back. So my swing volley is kind of that transition to the net. It's been one of my favorite shots ever since I was young.

Nothing has been purchased more dearly than the little bit of reason and sense of freedom which now constitutes our pride.

I've always been opposed myself to prisoners having the vote.

I guess you could say it's always been my destiny to be a performer.

I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.

I came to poetry through the urgent need to denounce injustice, exploitation, humiliation. I know that's not enough to change the world. But to remain silent would have been a kind of intolerable complicity.

To re-embrace what I once loved about music has been a warming process for me, because it's a good, earned feeling now.

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.

I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you're desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward - well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism.

We have come to a turning point in the road. If we turn to the right mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word.

All the ancient classic fairy tales have always been scary and dark.

I guess there is nothing that will get your mind off everything like golf. I have never been depressed enough to take up the game, but they say you get so sore at yourself you forget to hate your enemies.

Led Zeppelin has been there through three generations of teenage angst. And there's a generation of kids now who won't know it, post-Linkin Park.