Quotes by Famous People
(Caution! These quotes are provided to aid youth workers in developing thought provoking teaching lessons. We don't necessarily agree with or endorse the point of the quote. Sometimes they are in direct contradiction to biblical teaching. In such a case, it can be used to illustrate a biblical concept by way of contrast. Please use discretion.)
Index
Abortion, Anger, Apologetics, Bible, Celebrities, Christian lifestyle, Communication, Crucifixion, Divorce, Family, Marriage, Doubt, Drugs, Forgiveness, God, Happiness, Hell, Hollywood, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy, Journalism, Kids, Leadershp, Lostness of Man, Lying, Materialism, Money, Morality, Movies, Music, New Age, Pantheism, Pleasure, Postmodernism, Prayer, Psychics, Racism, Radio Media, Reality TV, Relationships, Religion, Revenge, Second Coming of Christ, Self-esteem/Self-love/Self-worth, Sex, Spirituality, Success, Vanity
Abortion
According to Hello! Magazine, when Celine Dion's mother was pregnant with Celine, her fourteenth child, she was "so shattered" she considered abortion. The priest who counseled her told her "she had no right to go aganst nature" and persuaded her not to abort. She carried Celine to term and loved her like the other thirteen. Celine says, "I have to admit that, in a way, I owe my life to that priest." (The Mediator, Vol. 16, Issue 1)
"If pregnancy were a book, they would cut the last two chapters." Nora Ephron, Heartburn
Anger
"Ninety-two percent of high school students say they lied to their teachers last year, while 68 percent admit to hitting someone in anger." Josephson Institute of Ethics survey, (Village Voice, March 20, 2001, p. 34)
Apologetics
"If we take only the material skeptics grant we have ample evidence." Gary Habermas of Liberty University (at Truth For a New Generation Conference, March 18, 2003)
Bible
"Approach the Bible not only as a book which was once spoken, but a book which is now speaking. ... God's speaking is in the continuous present." A. W. Tozer, (1897-1963)
Celebrities
"I was already searching. September eleventh convinced me [to become a Christian]." Stephen Baldwin, of the famous acting family which includes Alec, William and Daniel, (The Mediator, Vol. 18, No. 2.)
"My friends at missionary school didn't think I could concentrate on the Bible. They felt I was too artistic, and they encouraged me to go for art rather than be a minister." John Woo, director of Windtalkers, (The Mediator, Vol. 18, No. 2.)
"I thought I was doing a service to mankind ... liberating women ... I wasn't. ... it wasn't about sex, it was about money and power. ... I was just being an ego-driven nut case." Madonna, in a recent article in W magazine, the forty-four-year-old mother of two, confesses that her past statements and behaviors were bogus. Once pushing the limits of morality and decency, blaspheming God and mocking the Catholic Church, she is now raising her kids Catholic and exploring Jewish kabbalah and other "spiritual studies" ...including the Bible.
"I'm teaching at my son's Sunday school. It's reading the Bible, getting out jelly beans, and setting the kids a good example." Pamela Anderson (The Week, 12/5/03, p. 10)
"People go their whole lives chasing after this thing, thinking it will give them happiness, when it isn't true." Matt Damon, refering to the Oscar he won (Parade Magazine, 11/30/03, p. 6)
Christian lifestyle
"Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that's a tough call. That's rebellion." Shock rocker Alice Cooper, (The London Sunday Times)
Communication
"I never learned anything while I was talking." Larry King, on "Larry King Live."
Crucifixion
"I never felt really comfortable in churches--it was eerie to me, looking at a guy nailed to a cross and bleeding. So I started to look into other religions, which drew me toward Wicca and practicing witchcraft." Sully Erna, Bandmember of Godsmack, (Spin, Dec. 2000, p. 138)
Divorce, Family, Marriage, Parents
"Today, for every 100 chilren born, 60 will enter a broken family." Robert L. Maginnis, Family Research Council (World Congress of Families II, November 1999)
"Traditional family values aren't important to us anymore. They are something we do research on, like a fossil." Professor Ebba Witt-Brattstroem, Stockholm University, on marriage (World, April 29, 2000)
"You are who you hang around with. Before, parents made you who you are. Now, teens are pretty much defined by their friends. I see my mom maybe an hour a day and not at all on weekends." 17-year-old Vanesa Vathanasombat, high-school student in Whittier, CA. (Newsweek, May 8, 2000).
Doubt
"People try to persuade us that objections against Christianity spring from doubt. But the objections against Christianity spring from insubordination, the dislike of obedience, rebellion against authority." (19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard)
Drugs
"I used to think they should legalize pot, but you know what? They should ban the lot." Singer, actor and former drug addict, Ozzy Osbourne, on his 17-year-old son's drug abuse. (MTV News, 7/18/03, MTV.com)
Forgiveness
"I believe in a forgiving God, a God who sees in my heart. I will take my chances with Him forgiving me because I think He is more accepting and forgiving than the rest of the public." Darva Conger, on posing nude for Playboy World, July 8-15, p. 9)
God
"The Ten Commandments portray a deity who is self-centered, selfish, jealous, obsessed with His own importance; this is not a nice kind of person." Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg, physicist and professor at the University of Texas at Austin (Freethought Today, April 2000)
Happiness
"Money provides the luxury of making choices, but it doesn't bring happiness, contentment or fulfillment." Andre Agassi, tennis player (USA Today, May 26, p. 2C)
"Finally, a (Bridal) Registry that has everything you need to live happily ever after." (advertisement for Bed, Bath and Beyond)
"Anybody who thinks money will make you happy, hasn't got money. David Geffen, on "20/20" (ABC)
Hell
"If I went to hell, I'd roast marshmallows. How can there be a hell? You can get used to almost anything." Author Julia Cameron in her book God is Dog Spelled Backwards, a "witty, irreverent look at the culture of spirituality today."
Hollywood
"INHALE. LIE. EXHALE. LIE." This was the title of a front page article by David Shaw in the Los Angeles Times about the chronic lying that goes in Hollywood. The article said, "…. In Hollywood, deception is a frustrating fact of everyday life, involving everything from negotiations and job changes to casting, financing and scores from test screenings." Shaw says even the most fundamental numbers in the film indurtry--box-office income figures--are grossly inaccurate. Anne Thompson, West Coast Editor of Premiere magazine says, "They're made up--fabricated--every week." This is done in hopes of swelling the opening box office "buzz." Journalists covering Screenland have an impossible task. One reporter says that many of the people with whom they have to deal "lie constantly and compulsively about almost everything, refuse to speak on the record about even the most routine matters, and delight in anonymously circulating unflattering, damaging and ofen untrue rumors about colleagues and competitors." This "delight taken in others' misfortune is deeply rooted in Hollywood," and "so is the culture of dishonesty." Of course the studio heads deny these charges and claim that their studio doesn't lie, but other studios do! Anita Bushc, editor of The Hollywood Reporter, says, "If I talk to one hundred people in a day, ninety-nine of them are lying and the other one is my mother." While there are some media folks who are not all "hot air," don't hold your breath looking for people who tell the truth in Hollywood. (The Mediator, Vol. 16, Issue 2)
"Lying is the default position in Hollywood. About half of the people in Hollywood are fabulous, outrageous, pathological liars; the other half just spin and omit and shade the truth." Mark Gill, President of Miramax Films (The Mediator, Vol. 16, Issue 2)
"Hollywood is high school with money." Martin Mull
Homosexuality
"I am not coming out because I want to flaunt my sexuality, [but] because the gospel demands it." Rev. Tracy Lind, on her lesbian lifestyle (Time, July 3, p. 50)
Hypocrisy
"What power I wouldn't trade for a little more time with my family." Hillary Rodham Clinton (The Washington Post, 5-6: (D)2, 1993)
"When my husband [Roe Messner] was in prison and I wasn't getting any Christmas presents, it was the gay community that gathered around me. They cared about me more than the Christians cared for me." Tammy Faye Bakker (Christianity Today, October 2, 2000)
"At the end of the day, the Lord knows I have no malice in my heart. But I've got tattoos, and I still fornicate." N.E.R.D bandmember Pharrell Williams (Rolling Stone)
Kids
"I was born and raised with crocodiles; they are a piece of cake. But kids are so ... unpredictable." crocodile hunter Steve Irwin in Entertainment Weekly
Journalism
"I fooled some of the most brilliant people in journalism." Jayson Blair, former New York Times reporter, who resigned from the newspaper after the discovery of numerous mistakes and fabrications in stories he had written. (Time, June 2, 2003, p. 17)
Leadership
"The day people stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them." Colin Powell, (My American Journey, Random House)
Lostness of Man
"I don't know much, but I understand how entirely doomed I am without God." Author Annie Lamott in Traveling Mercies
Lying
"Lying is the default position in Hollywood. About half of the people in Hollywood are fabulous, outrageous, pathological liars; the other half just spin and omit and shade the truth." Mark Gill, President of Miramax Films (The Mediator, Vol. 16, Issue 2)
Materialism
"There are no standards anymore. Materialism is stressed at the expense of spiritualism. ... everything is breaking down. It's an ugly age." Actress Gloria Swanson (Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, November 17, 1974)
"I want it all. ... Do I have to deny myself?" (Radio commercial for BellSouth, heard 8/22/03 on WSJS.)
Money
"In money we trust." Money magazine publicity slogan
"Money ranks as a higher priority to women than does family." Gallup Poll (April 14, 2000)
Morality
Movies
"It was very hard to get [A Walk to Remember] made at Warner Brothers because there's kind of a prejudice against religious--not just Christian, but any religious--characters being portrayed in movies. They're usually very stereotypical extremists or hypocrites, or fundamentalists or whatever. It was tough, but I showed them there's a huge audience out there." Producer Denise Di Novi on the movie A Walk to Remember (Crosswalk)
"I only want to make movies that matter, that are relevant, that make a difference. It's taken a long time to be comfortable with saying I have an agenda ... to tell the truth." David Cunningham, son of Youth With a Mission Founder, Loren Cunningham, and director of award-winning film To End All Wars, (The Mediator, Vol. 18, No. 2).
Music
"Rock 'n' roll provides what the church provided for in other generations." Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead band member (Britannica.com: Headsounds: Psychedelic Rock)
"Maybe if we play loud enough, we can shut out the world." Jimi Hendrix (Our American Century: Turbulent Years, p. 164)
New Age
"Christ-consciousness, God-consciousness, Krishna-consciousness, Buddha-consciousness--it's all the same thing." Deepak Chopra, Hindu philosopher for New Age Westerners (Newsweek, March 27, 2000)
"Oh, I think you'd be surprised how mainstream some of my stuff is." Actress Shirley MacLain, on her interest in astrology, meditation, numerology and feng shui (Interview with Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes II, May 16, 2000)
Pantheism
"I Am a God" (bumper sticker)
Pleasure
“The pleasures of the world are deceitful; they promise more than they give. They trouble us in seeking them, they do not satisfy us when possessing them, and they make us despair in losing them.” Madam de Lambert, French author
"Saying no to something is actually much more powerful than saying yes." Tom Hanks, on "Charlie Rose"
Postmodernism
"The endpoint of Western philosophy is the realization that our 2,000-year effort to understand the world by pure reason has been doomed to fail. This alone is our postmodern discovery." (Dazed and Confused, 10th Anniversary Edition)
Prayer
"God answers all the prayers. Sometimes he answers 'yes,' sometimes he answers 'no,' and sometimes the answer is 'you gotta be kidding.' " Jimmy Carter, on "Larry King Live" (CNN)
Psychics
"60% of us believe that some people possess psychic powers, and we blow an estimated $1.4 billion a year on psychic hotline calls." (Reader's Digest, Sept. 2002, p. 19)
Racism
"If you're born in America with black skin, you're born in prison." Malcolm X speaking in the 1960's, (Our American Century: Turbulent years, p. 48)
Radio Media
"We're not in the business of providing news and information. We're not in the business of providing well-researched music. We're simply in the business of selling our customers products." Lowry Mays, CEO of Clear Channel which owns 1,233 radio stations (Fortune)
Reality TV
"Unfortunately, no one had sex, unfortunately because, believe me, the producers wanted them to." A Fox TV crew member on the making of the series "Temptation Island." (The Mediator, Vol. 16, Issue 2)
"Caution to viewers of reality TV. What you see is still not reality. It is contrived, manipulated and twisted through a team of TV writers, camera filters, film editors, and advertiser-controlled agencies. It's 'spun' to get what the producers and directors want you to see." (The Mediator, Vol. 16, Issue 2)
Relationships
"When you have no one in your life who you can call and say, 'I'm scared,' then your life is uninteresting, unfulfilling, superficial. You need somebody you can trust enough to say, 'I need help.' " Film director, scrrenwriter, producer Steven Soderbergh, (Vogue)
"You can always tell a real friend: When you make a fool of yourself, he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job." Laurence Peter in The Chicago Times
"Friends are the family we choose." Jennifer Aniston, in Esquire
Religion
"What we call religion today should have less emphasis on the unknowable things--all the deistic nonsense. I don't know if there's a God, and nobody else does either." Playboy Publisher Hugh Hefner, (LATimes 2-27: (West) 23, 1972)
Revenge
"RevengeUnlimited.com will send a dozen dead roses to someone you hate." (Latimes.com, October 9,2000)
Second Coming of Christ
"In order to save the world from sin, we must clone Jesus to initiate the second coming of the Christ." The Second Coming Project (On former website www.clonejesus.com)
Self-esteem, Self-love, Self-worth
"If you truly love yourself, then obviously everything will be OK." Tiger Woods, golfer (Sports Illustrated, April 3, 2000, p. 88)
"You've got to be original, because if you're like someone else, what do they need you for?" Bernadette Peters, interview on "Inside the Actors Studio" (Bravo).
"Obviously I have this strange animal magnetism. It's very hard to take my eyes off myself." Mick Jagger
"My dad used to say, 'You wouldn't worry so much about what people thought of you if you knew how seldom they did.'" Dr. Phil McGraw on "Dr. Phil."
"The more I like me, the less I want to pretend to be other people." Jamie Lee Curtis in "More."
Sex
"More than 100,000 condoms have been ordered for competitors at this year's Sydney Olympics. (Reuters.com, June 8, 2000)
"It's kind of like 'Sex and the City' for preschoolers. Nobody actually wants to emulate that sort of behavior, but it's so much fun to watch." Barbara Thomas, L.A. Times staff writer, on why she lets her children watch "Powerpuff Girls" (latimes.com, July 12, 2000)
"The vast majority of young adults, 67 percent, think premarital sex is morally acceptable." (Gallup Poll Report, May 10-14, 2001)
"I'm not the type of guy who enjoys one-night stands. ... I need to feel something for the woman and entertain the vain hope that it may lead to a relationship." Actor Ben Affleck (The Mediator, Vol. 16, Issue 2)
Spirituality
"I know there is a God, and I know there is a reason why we're here. But we live on a planet where the international pastime is tribal warfare. It just seems so ... immature and malicious. What I hope for is that everybody in the world would connect a little bit more to their spiritual side. That's 80 percent of what I'm all about. The other 20 percent is diarrhea talk." Blink 182's band member Tom Delonge (Alternative Press)
"I sing rock-and-roll but I always believe in God. I believe without God we're nothing. I believe you can tell the difference when you meet a man who knows God." Little Richard (The Washington Post)
"I've made up my own little belief system. I've got the Buddha going. There's Jesus and St. Francis over their. Nobody's left out." Actress Lauren Tom, (Style, May 2001, p. 381)
Success
"I climbed the ladder of success to the top only to realize it was leaning on the wrong building." Jeb McGruder, after being convicted in the Watergate Scandal.
"Anybody who's really successful has doubts." Jerry Bruckheimer, (Men's Journal)
"I have failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Michael Jordan
"Act like you expect to get into the end zone." Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, (The New York Times)
"If you're going to think anyway, you might as well think big." Donald Trump, (Time)
Tolerance
"My greatest wish is that my child grow up to be tolerant of everything in this world." Actress Camryn Manheim (In Style, May 2001, p. 414)
Vanity
"I'm just trying to survive in a cruel, superficial world." Cindy Jackson, on why she has undergone 18 cosmetic surgeries (Cosmopolitan, British Edition, June, p. 54)
Copyright 2005. Gary C. Burger and New Media Ministries. This article may be reproduced and distributed freely as long as it is done so in its entirety. If quoted it must be properly cited as a reference.
