Top 100 At First Quotes
#1. I mean when you come into the set at 7:30 in the morning and you come out of make-up and the first thing you know, the ladies start coming into our dressing rooms at 7:45.
Burt Ward
#2. Genius at first is little more than a great capacity for receiving discipline.
George Eliot
#3. I was kicked off a record label and didn't get picked up again. It was devastating at first because I thought, 'Oh my God. My career is over. What's gonna happen? What am I going to do?' Once I got that I could have a career, a very good career, without having a hit record, then I changed.
Thelma Houston
#4. I work a lot, and it's kind of like, you meet people, and you just click. It's not like I'm looking at something and thinking: 'South Park' - how do I get on that?' I just became friends with those guys first. They're nice guys.
Bill Hader
#5. I am less disposed to think of a West Point education as requisite for this business than I was at first. Good sense and energy are the qualities required.
Rutherford B. Hayes
#6. At first Ifemelu thought Kimberly's apologizing sweet, even if unnecessary, but she had begun to feel a flash of impatience, because Kimberly's repeated apologies were tinged with self-indulgence, as though she believed that she could, with apologies, smooth all the scalloped surfaces of the world.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
#7. When we truly are putting others first, we cannot but feel at peace with ourselves.
Eknath Easwaran
#8. Do not attempt to lose weight without training your muscles at the same time. Prepare, plan, and persist...and get it right the first time. This
Ellington Darden
#9. I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him. [- Nick Carroway]
F Scott Fitzgerald
#10. THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF GASTRONOMY
There's a rule for proper doses
in the dinner-eaters lore:
one should stop the filling process
while one still has room for more.
And if someone at the table
had reminded me before -
Hallelujah! I'd be able
to absorb a little more.
Piet Hein
#11. I booked my first series when I was 13. Acting kind of took control because I was just going from part to part at that point.
Vanessa Morgan
#12. The mission statement was ordered, and it sent the 800th MP Brigade, effective the first of July, up to Baghdad. I joined my brigade to take command at the end of June.
Janis Karpinski
#13. I want to go slow, baby, I really do," he whispered at the side of her neck. "But I'm not going to be able to this first time."
"Thank heavens.
Robin Bielman
#14. When you broaden the little box that you've been living in for so long, it can be very uncomfortable at first.
Banks
#15. When I first came to NBC, I thought it was going to be swimming with the sharks, all men for themselves, be careful and all that. I have to tell you I learned that you can be kind and a hard worker and move up. You don't have to play dirty or do things that you think happens at big corporations.
Hoda Kotb
#16. The relationship between book and reader is intimate, at best a kind of love affair, and first loves are famously tenacious. [ ... ] First love is a momentous step in our emotional education, and in many ways, it shapes us forever.
Laura Miller
#17. If you ever want to know why I'm not on a record label, look at 'The X Factor!' Honestly, of all the people that strive to break barriers in music and do good things and write great lyrics, not one of them would ever pass the first round on any of these competitions.
John Lydon
#18. She had kept well behind the safety barrier her entire life, but now she was standing there at the edge of the precipice for the very first time, fumbling blindly with the realization that there were other ways to live, at how intense and rich life could be.
Katarina Bivald
#19. I first met Myra Henshawe when I was fifteen, but I had known her about ever since I could remember anything at all.
Willa Cather
#20. Being on the cover of a magazine with my son is the best thing ever. It took me 18 years to get my first cover, he gets one at 8 months.
Cindy Margolis
#21. Failure is so much more interesting because you learn from it. That's what we should be teaching children at school, that being successful the first time, there's nothing in it. There's no interest, you learn nothing actually.
James Dyson
#22. I read 'Treasure Island' for the first time at university. And I started to notice then how unresolved some things were. Later, I realised that Stevenson was interested in sequels, and I wondered whether he would have gone back to it had he lived longer.
Andrew Motion
#23. My first signing was at my hometown independent bookstore and everyone in the world came. It was so nice. My family was there, my parents, everybody I worked with, all my friends. So I had this great first reading with a like hundred people there.
Sarah Dessen
#24. First, though, she had to go back out there and smile at everyone. Fake her way through the rest of the night and another three days. Pretend to still be normal.
When she was pretty sure she never had been.
Robin Talley
#25. I used to go with him and I'd sometimes play, take over from him. That was my first taste of the music business, I suppose, but I was also in the youth orchestra at Johnston Grammar.
Trevor Horn
#26. They say you start weaving clearer, sharper memories after you've been to a place at least twice. Because then the reflection is more of validation. Let the rush come to you and let your senses be flushed the first time. There will be time for reflection after you've had your fill.
Psyche Roxas-Mendoza
#27. Why is it not just as likely that there were as many small general nearly at first as now, and as great a disproportion in the number of their species?
Asa Gray
#28. Hadie: At first you didn't tell me because you didn't know me well enough. And then you couldn't tell me because you knew me too well.
Komal Kant
#29. Hope is a path on the mountainside. At first there is no path. But then there are people passing that way. And there is a path. - LU XUN
Jacqueline Novogratz
#30. I've always believed in the concept of retirement. I retired for the first time at age 18 ... from school. To me, retirement means doing what you want to do without worrying about getting paid for it.
Tommy Chong
#31. I changed my name at 14 because no one outside of my family could pronounce my first name correctly.
J. August Richards
#32. I could feel the tears streaming down my face - in some kind of frenzied competition with the rain. At first, I tried to brush the tears away, but I finally let them take their course, unabated.
Matt Abrams
#33. My first real writing job was at 'Rolling Stone,' so I wrote about rock-and-roll and politics and the like. At the time, I really didn't know what I wanted to write, and I did a bunch of investigative journalism.
Tim Cahill
#34. When I moved to New York at 22, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I took an improv class, and the first scene I did, I felt like 'I want to do this for the rest of my life.' It was the first time I ever felt like that about anything. I tried to make a living off improv.
Kurt Braunohler
#35. In the first act get your principal character up a tree; in the second act, throw stones at him; in the third, get him down gracefully.
Anonymous
#36. So Aunt Jillian quit her job and hitched her wagon to Brant. Lived off food stamps and her savings account in a spare bedroom at Brant's house for two years. Then she brokered their first deal and all of the Sharps moved their bank account decimals seven places to the right.
Alessandra Torre
#37. At first I was iridescent, then I became transparent, finally I was absent
Paul Kantner
#38. The first thing I ever did was play talent shows at the Uptown Theater and the Adelphi Ballroom.
Daryl Hall
#39. The first rule in politics is that there are no rules, at least not in the sense of inevitable defeats or inevitable victories. If you have the right policy and the right strategy, you always have a chance of winning. Without them, you can lose no matter how certain the victory seems.
Tony Blair
#40. When I first got married to my husband, he had boxes full of photos of my two stepsons, ages 5 and 8 at the time, and I put them together in some little albums and wrote notes about how happy I was that they were a part of my life.
Nancy O'Dell
#41. The first picture of his I ever saw was during a lecture at the Rhyl camera club. I was 16 and the speaker was Emrys Jones. He projected the picture upside down. Deliberately, to disregard the subject matter to reveal the composition. It's a lesson I've never forgotten.
Philip Jones Griffiths
#42. I remember facing him on opening day in 1987. It was Oakland at the Minnesota Twins, the first time I got him out on a breaking ball down-and-in and next at bat he hit the same pitch for a home run. I was telling my kids that story yesterday.
Curt Young
#43. At the same time, the Reagan Administration assured that the main elements of policymaking were in the hands of competent loyalists, thus assuring a successful launch and a highly successful first year.
Richard V. Allen
#44. You can feel as brave as Columbus starting for the unknown the first time you enter a Chinese lane full of boys laughing at you, or when you risk climbing down in a Tibetan pub for a meal of rotten meat.
Ella Maillart
#46. When I first started lifting I wanted to be a Super Hero.. But that was my motivation. I was huge into comics at a very young age and nothing made me feel better than helping people. So I wanted to build muscle to be like Superman, Captain America, Wolverine, etc.
Scott Herman
#47. One of Zaphod's heads looked away. The other turned round to see what the first was looking at, but it wasn't looking at anything very much.
Douglas Adams
#48. And the drops of rain. They are delicate, at first, their splashes graceful against pavement. Soon, though, the soft patter grows into a furious storm.
Ky Grabowski
#49. The nomadic lifestyle does work for a lot of working parents, but I've traveled and I've seen it, and I want to be able to go home at night and see my daughter. I want to be there for her first day of school and her school recital. Honestly, television is what offers me that.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
#50. In 1800, in the first interparty contest, the Federalists warned that presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson, because of his sympathy expressed at the outset of the French Revolution, was 'the son of a half-breed Indian squaw' who would put opponents under the guillotine.
Robert Dallek
#51. At first there is nothing, then there is a profound nothingness, after that a blue profundity.
Yves Klein
#52. At times, the repetition of the errors is what helps us to discover where do we mistake us the first time. And once we discover him, we can solve the problem and to leave it behind.
Sherrilyn Kenyon
#53. Every morning like a scholar at his first class I prepare a blank mind for the day to write upon.
Bruce Lee
#54. It is an unfortunate fact that those people who are most eloquent in their demand for the conservation of animals are often those most eager to violate animal life at the first opportunity.
Andrew Linzey
#55. The first time I ever screamed at someone was in a scene, and I'd never screamed at someone in my life.
Neve Campbell
#56. My father was in a dance band, and I wanted to do what he did, play the saxophone, but I couldn't blow a note, so he suggested the guitar. Chromatic harmonica was actually my first instrument, and I got very good at it - not quite Stevie Wonder, but very good.
Pete Townshend
#57. The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this; What is the use of climbing Mount Everest? and my answer must at once be, it is no use. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever.
George Leigh Mallory
#58. That's great," Katie said. "Actually, it's revolutionary. If you can work and be in love at the same time, you're the first woman I ever knew that could. Maybe you're the missing link, Amanda."
Maybe you ought to get a job for the 'Ladies Home Journal.' They like simplistic shit like that.
Ellen Gilchrist
#59. At first, I only laughed at myself. Then I noticed that life itself is amusing. I've been in a generally good mood ever since.
Marilyn Vos Savant
#60. A child ... who has learned from fairy stories to believe that what at first seemed a repulsive, threatening figure can magically change into a most helpful friend is ready to believe that a strange child whom he meets and fears may also be changed from a menace into a desirable companion.
Bruno Bettelheim
#61. I've always tried out my material on my dogs first. Years ago, when my red setter chewed up the manuscript of 'Of Mice and Men,' I said at the time that the dog must have been an excellent literary critic.
John Steinbeck
#62. Right at the core, the mainstream has it backwards. Warren Buffett often quips that the first rule of investing is to not lose money, and the second rule is to not forget the first rule. Yet few investors approach the world with such a strict standard of risk avoidance.
Seth Klarman
#63. I just feel like the world is our oyster. I grew up knowing that my mother is a journalist and was one of the first bureau chiefs I think ever at the New York Times. Hearing these stories of how hard it was for her, and yet knowing how easy it is for me right now is just remarkable.
Liz W. Garcia
#64. I first became interested in women and religion when I was one of the few women doing graduate work in Religious Studies at Yale University in the late 1960's.
Carol P. Christ
#65. When 'Nevermind' came out, my roommate had the CD. At first, I actually thought, 'This is too polished and commercial.' It was a little off-putting. But then I was like, 'This is the best music ever.' It felt so close to what I wanted to do.
Rivers Cuomo
#66. At Gatling-gun tempo word-perfect the first time out. the journalistic equivalent of a high-wire front somersault without a net.
Shana Alexander
#67. The first period of getting famous was incredibly strange to me and really fun at the beginning because you didn't realise the consequences of anything. You could say or do whatever you wanted and it just didn't matter.
Robert Pattinson
#68. Writing the opening lines of a story is a bit like starting to ski at the steepest part of a hill. You must have all your skills under control from the first instant.
Marion Dane Bauer
#69. During the first five years that I was writing the series, I made plans and wrote small pieces of all the books. I concentrate on one book at a time, though occasionally I will get an idea for a future book and scribble it down for future reference.
J.K. Rowling
#70. One of the first courses I ever taught at Dartmouth was on the Bible as literature.
Jay Parini
#71. The benefit of this kind of outlining is that you discover a story's flaws before you invest a lot of time writing the first draft, and it's almost impossible to get stuck at a difficult chapter, because you've already done the work to push through those kinds of blocks.
George Stephen
#72. If I was discovered by anyone, it would be Stephen O'Neil, who saw me in a play at Williamstown and introduced me to my team who I'm still with today. He was the first person to introduce me to the film and TV world. Other than that, I just assumed I would be a theater actor my whole life.
Logan Marshall-Green
#73. In 1995 the whole political situation was very complicated. I was the first deputy prime minister, and at the same time I had very low influence in the government.
Anatoly Chubais
#74. It was in looking up at him her aspect had caught its lustre - the light repeated in her eyes beamed first out of his.
Charlotte Bronte
#75. They stamp the slush off their boots with autopilot eyes and answering-machine voices while they wait for their drug of choice - caffeine or nicotine or sugar - to kick in and render their bodies at least tolerably functional until the first break. Out
Fredrik Backman
#76. Nothing ever happens on this globe for good without some people having their fill of laughter at first.
David Levithan
#77. Howard Hughes was obsessed with me. But at first it seemed as if he were offering me a superb career opportunity.
Jane Greer
#78. The technique is: Let the others go first. At the airport, at the grocery store, at the Pleasure Chest (hey-o!). The calmer I become, the more I enjoy my day. The more I enjoy my day, the more people enjoy me and the more they want to see me in my enjoyment.
Nick Offerman
#79. We hid the Maps, Thomas." At first it didn't compute. "Huh?
James Dashner
#80. I never had a cat again. I still like cats, though I decided at
the time that that poor little cat who climbed the tree and never
returned would be my first and last cat. I couldn't forget that
little cat and start loving another.
Haruki Murakami
#81. When you're a first-round pick and you get to the big leagues at 22, there's almost a sense that you've got to mature.
Evan Longoria
#82. The first time I heard Johnny play at the Fillmore East, I wasn't really impressed. He had come on the scene with everybody telling me how great he was, and I didn't hear it.
Rick Derringer
#83. The first great thing is to find yourself and for that you need solitude and contemplation - at least sometimes. I can tell you deliverance will not come from the rushing noisy centers of civilization. It will come from the lonely places.
Fridtjof Nansen
#85. My mother practiced hours every day, hours as painful to hear as to play. At first everybody thought she would give in. Day followed day, and the terrible stumbling sounds went on for hours on end.
She did not know what else to do.
Helen DeWitt
#86. In 35 years of being in the media, I've had all this mud flung at me many, many times. It's not the first time. It's nothing unusual. I've been through it all before and the best way to deal with it is not to read them.
Delia Smith
#87. I always had two or three jobs at the same time. I started doing yard work when I was 7 or 8. When I was 13, I got my first state job doing road construction. Between working, sports and school, I hardly ever had free time.
Breaux Greer
#88. Despite the fact that he thought her quite interesting at their first meeting, John Robinson could not be said to be infatuated with Mirusia Jansen at first sight.
Monika Barbara Potocki
#89. Shirley Jackson said that a confused reader is an antagonistic reader, and I live by that. It's okay to start anywhere, and to let yourself write a big sloppy overly-detailed first draft. You just jump in, knowing that the water will be cold at first, but no one is making you swim.
Anne Lamott
#90. Polishing: a useful lesson for the hopeful writer. You say your tormented prose doesn't read as well as mine? Neither does mine, at first!
Piers Anthony
#91. My first book is really comparable to what I do now, where it's pretty surreal and strange at moments, but that being my first book - I wrote that when I was 22; it came out when I was 24 - and it was just really overwritten. I just didn't trust myself as a writer to say something once.
Joe Meno
#92. Duke's warm pink lips brushed his gently at first and then more firmly. He held the kiss for a long, breathless moment before pulling back a fraction of an inch. "Who's a fag now?" His deep voice was low and intimate. "Do you give, roomie?
Evangeline Anderson
#93. The first mile was always the hardest. By the second, the world grew fuzzy at the edges and only the muffled sound of feet on the trail and the blood pumping in my ears filtered through the haze.
Christina Lauren
#94. Julie nearly fainted when I showed up at home that night with the new Lexus. The first thing she wanted to do was drive it. I let her drive all over San Francisco with the windows rolled up, because we didn't want to lose one precious whiff of that new-car smell.
Lee Goldberg
#95. The last time I saw Marilyn was in late 1959, when I appeared in Let's Make Love at Fox. The wide-eyed Marilyn I had first known was gone. This Marilyn was more beautiful than ever.
Milton Berle
#96. I've always preferred Marvel over DC. I just relate to their characters better. I mean look at Wolverine, at first he was just a bit player in an ensemble cast. Now he's the only reason people read X-Men. Just like me and Scrubs.
Zach Braff
#97. Thou source of all my bliss and all my woe, That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so.
Oliver Goldsmith
#98. When I was at Stratford, the very first thing that I was commissioned to work on was trying to make a musical out of the documentary material about the General Strike, which was the next big historical event in England, after the First World War.
Trevor Nunn
#99. When I first met him, he was everything I wanted to be, but over time, he showed me how I wanted to be myself, and that was how I fell in love with him.
Shannon A. Thompson
#100. On the whole, the life of a chess professional is not as easy as it appears at first sight. One needs to devote some ten hours a day to chess and to everything connected with it - physical and psycholgical preparation.
Vladimir Kramnik
