Firsthand Quotes

#1. The Global Fund is a central player in the progress being achieved on HIV, TB and malaria. It channels resources to help countries fight these diseases. I believe in its impact because I have seen it firsthand.

Bill Gates

#2. Growing up around Amish farmland, I enjoyed the opportunity to witness firsthand their love of family, of the domestic arts - sewing, quilting, cooking, baking - as well as seeing them live out their tradition of faith in such a unique way.

Beverly Lewis

#3. The commonplace about Italian cooking is that it's very simple; in practice, the simplicity needs to be learned, and the best way to learn it is to go to Italy and see it firsthand.

Bill Buford

#4. As a veteran, I know firsthand the satisfaction there is in defending the democracy you so strongly believe in, but I can also attest to the trauma encountered from combat on the battlefield.

Charles B. Rangel

#5. I know firsthand how agonizing waiting can be.

Joe Manchin

#6. You could read a hundred books about the attitudes and beliefs of the past, but the impact of witnessing this casual, ignorant cruelty firsthand was like having a bucket of ice upended over your head.

Alexandra Bracken

#7. You know, my degrees are in computer engineering. I spent a lot of time in the tech industry. And I like to say that I don't invest in tech because I spent time in it. And I saw firsthand that the durability of technology moats is many times an oxymoron.

Mohnish Pabrai

#8. I remember my dad supporting everyone on the local and national level. I was pretty much born into it. I saw the importance of politics firsthand. It gave you a chance to be at the table.

Nicole Avant

#9. You would think those who have endured unkindness would be kinder as a result, intent on sparing others the awful suffering they abhorred firsthand.

Richelle E. Goodrich

#10. I worked as a prosecutor watching Catholic priests charged with sex abuse and saw firsthand how the 'circle the wagons' mentality revictimized the innocent, coddled the guilty, and made matters worse for everyone.

Christine Pelosi

#11. It had been fun to ride the fairy tale of Baz Acker actually giving a shit about him, but he knew firsthand fairy tales were a lot more Grimm brothers and much less Walt Disney.

Heidi Cullinan

#12. The information that the Secret Service shared with the White House included hotel records and firsthand accounts - the same types of evidence the agency and military relied on to determine who in their ranks was involved.

Carol D. Leonnig

#13. An artists job is to see. And to go out in the world and see it firsthand, just as it is; to report with line and words what is seen. To be in the world, not just study about the world, that is the artists task

Robert Fulghum

#14. I had the good fortune of living in Rome for seven years, from 1994 to 2001. So, I kind of saw firsthand the impact that Pope John Paul II had on people.

Chris Matthews

#15. When I became a mother, there was no doubt in my mind that it would be the most vital and important job I would ever have because I knew firsthand what it was like not to have a mother.

Janette Rallison

#16. As a proud spokesperson for L'Oreal Paris, I have communicated the 'Because You're Worth It' message many times, and know firsthand how empowering it is to say and how empowering it feels.

Andie MacDowell

#17. There's no substitute for seeing firsthand a well being drilled.

Jim Ratcliffe

#18. The good news is, Americans know firsthand the benefits of a free market - more choices, lower prices, higher quality - and there is no reason why we cannot help them see these same benefits in health care.

John Shadegg

#19. I do think there's a spiritual element in the world, yes. Have I experienced a ghost firsthand, per se? No. I guess I've experienced feelings or some kind of a presence. But I certainly haven't seen any kind of transparent entity running around.

Carrie Preston

#20. He saw firsthand the way that the Disney people took advantage of the open floor plan, sharing information and brainstorming. Steve was a big believer in the power of accidental mingling; he knew that creativity was not a solitary endeavor.

Ed Catmull

#21. One of the great joys of traveling through Italy is discovering firsthand that it is, indeed, a dream destination.

Debra Levinson

#22. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I got to see firsthand the sacrifices that Israelis make in the name of security because of the dangerous state of affairs there. I will always be a strong supporter of Israel.

Gabrielle Giffords

#23. The suits made hits and created stars because they knew something. The suits had been around the block and back, having experienced, firsthand, everyone from Jimmy Dorsey to Jimi Hendrix to Jeff Buckley to J. Lo. I trusted them because they earned that trust, at least on a purely musical level.

Anonymous

#24. As the brother of a retired law enforcement officer, I know firsthand that our men and women in uniform perform their duties in the face of tremendous threats and significant personal risk. They put their lives on the line every day, and they often have to make split-second decisions.

Eric Holder

#25. When you experience it firsthand, it isn't so easy to hate the person who mistreats you when most of the time they're your godsend.

Colleen Hoover

#26. Six months ago, I traveled to India to see firsthand what the prime minister of that country calls a national shame. It is the systematic, widespread, shocking elimination of India's baby girls. Some 50,000 female fetuses are aborted every month in India.

Elizabeth Vargas

#27. Breast cancer, whether I like it or not, is part of my family's story. That's why I am so passionate about raising awareness, because I have seen firsthand how it can impact others.

DeAngelo Williams

#28. 'Olive Kitteridge' is a masterpiece: The writing is so perfect you don't even notice it; the story is so vivid it's less like reading a story than experiencing it firsthand.

Melissa Bank

#29. They'll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great. They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.

Eugene H. Peterson

#30. One might feel that, at my age, I should look on life with more gravity. After all, I've been privileged to listen, firsthand, tosome of the most profound thinkers of my daywho were all beset by gloom over the condition the world had gotten into. Then why can't I view it with anything but amusement?

Anita Loos

#31. As a father and grandfather, I have witnessed firsthand the joy of new life entering the world. I know the pain and apprehension that goes along with premature births and birth defects.

Solomon Ortiz

#32. I've gotten a firsthand view at the destruction that black men and black women not being able to stay and build healthy relationships has had on the black family and black children.

Hill Harper

#33. I was 16 when I entered the foster system, and know firsthand the statistics for 'aging out.'

Angela Featherstone

#34. A mystic is a spiritual realist, a person for whom the Invisible is a matter of more or less firsthand experience.

Frances Parkinson Keyes

#35. He had firsthand knowledge of getting punched in the face, and it was an experience he didn't want to repeat.

Josh Lanyon

#36. Unfortunately, man, a lot of places in America have to deal with unnecessary violence. Somebody like me who knows it firsthand and could relate ... I had a best friend killed, plenty other friends killed. I been through it. I seen it.

Nas

#37. As a preacher who has spent significant time in churches and houses of worship all across the country, I can tell you firsthand that religious liberty and freedom are principles that can never be infringed upon.

Al Sharpton

#38. My family moved to the Philippines when I was 14. While living there, I learned that my mom grew up very poor. Seeing that kind of abject poverty firsthand during my travels deeply shaped my life. Seeing those living conditions motivated me to want to tell inspiring stories of struggle and triumph.

Manny Pacquiao

#39. Education for women is something that has plagued the world for a very long time. When I saw this problem firsthand, I knew I had to write about it.

Sahndra Fon Dufe

#40. I've seen firsthand the terrible consequences of drug abuse. My heart is with all who suffer from addiction and the terrible consequences for their families.

Columba Bush

#41. Dying is one of the few experiences we'll eventually all enjoy firsthand, and like most shit that's commonplace, it's boring to dwell on.

Brian K. Vaughan

#42. As a child I experienced firsthand the severe effects of poverty and illiteracy, especially upon women and children. My parents taught me the importance of education and that it was a key to improving an individual's life.

Naveen Jain

#43. He is quick witted, yes! Astute big time & level headed in opinion. It is my firsthand judgment of a man.

Parul Wadhwa

#44. One has to taste an experience for oneself and find out if the thing is genuine or helpful. Then, before discarding something, one has to go further, so that one gets firsthand experience.

Chogyam Trungpa

#45. I cannot tell you ... how to be rich. But I can tell you how to feel rich, which is far better, let me tell you firsthand, than being rich. Be grateful ... It is the only totally reliable get rich quick scheme.

Ben Stein

#46. I have experienced firsthand the tremendous impact breast cancer has on the women who fight it and the loved ones who support them. This is a disease that catches you unaware and, without the right resources, leaves you feeling frightened and alone.

Ricardo Antonio Chavira

#47. The singer-songwriter has always played music that was stylistically rooted in the '30s and the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. But the fact of the matter is that none of us remember the Depression firsthand.

Steve Earle

#48. Talking to strangers sounded like talking to no one, which Henry had some firsthand experience in- in real life. It was lonely. Almost as lonely as Lake View Cemetery, where he'd buried Ethel.

Jamie Ford

#49. You'd be surprised how self-conscious a lot of women are. That's something I've witnessed firsthand.

Zendaya

#50. As someone who was gay bashed as a kid, I learned firsthand how a lot of people only feel good about themselves when they sense that someone or something is on a lower rung than they are. This inferiority complex drives racism and sexism as well as outdated attitudes about animals.

Dan Mathews

#51. ... We [can't] escape the influence of sin in the world, but [do] we have to pay money to see and hear it firsthand?

Chris Heimerdinger

#52. My interests lie in nurturing children. That's part of the reason why the bullying thing has become an aspect of my life. I was bullied a lot growing up. I know firsthand the amount of life that is sucked out of you every time that happens, and how it affected me as a young adult.

Tyler Blackburn

#53. It helps immerse yourself in what you potentially want to do. Being involved, learning firsthand and observing the craft and absorbing all you can, makes it easier to define what you want. It will also ultimately make you a better Chef. Culinary school, or even a single class, is a great bet too.

Giada De Laurentiis

#54. I'm not saying people shouldn't apply themselves and work hard. You do have to try to make your own luck. But I know people firsthand who worked incredibly hard, who were really smart, who never got into trouble, and still didn't get a break.

David Lindsay-Abaire

#55. I have seen firsthand that agricultural science has enormous potential to increase the yields of small farmers and lift them out of hunger and poverty.

Bill Gates

#56. Watching my stepfather and mother working in the industry - acting and composing - and seeing firsthand how difficult it is to achieve a successful career in the theater, I thought it might be safer to go to art school with the aim of becoming a painter.

Juliet Rylance

#57. Well, frankly, if you must know, yes. I do know better. I have the benefit of education and broader experience. And I know firsthand the dangers of industrial society and how it is making the whole world sick. So, yes, I think I do know what is best for them. Certainly

Michael Crichton

#58. Michael and I had great role models. Though his father has passed away, his parents had an amazingly strong marriage, as do mine. Both weathered really tough times. For us it has been normal to stay together through difficulties. We grew up witnessing that firsthand.

Tracy Pollan

#59. In my home State of Minnesota, I have seen firsthand the importance of Byrne grants to local police in reducing crime and drugs and improving public safety.

Jim Ramstad

#60. I had learned firsthand that tragedy and disappointment can strike any of us at any time.

Danielle Steel

#61. As a former waitress myself, I know firsthand how a simple smile from someone can improve your day and how a single harsh word can destroy it. Being courteous and thoughtful costs you nothing and can sometimes pay you dividends in unexpected ways.

Susanna Kearsley

#62. I experienced the California Northridge Earthquake of 1994 and the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, and I have thus seen firsthand how terrible and awesomely devastating a force of nature can be.

Paul Watson

#63. As an adoptive parent myself of foster children, I have seen firsthand the glaring problems of the system currently facing this Nation.

Dennis Cardoza

#64. You looking for a firsthand demonstration of my heterosexual prowess, cowgirl? Because I'm more than up for a challenge.

Lorelei James

#65. Witnessing the bond between a parent and their little ones firsthand really brought home to me how much I was missing.

Jillian Michaels

#66. Imagine you're a writer, and you have decided to offer your readers a firsthand account of the politically correct primate, the idol of the left, known for its "gay" relations, female supremacy, and pacific lifestyle. Your focus is the bonobo: a close relation of the chimpanzee. You

Frans De Waal

#67. Despite everything he'd learned and witnessed firsthand, it called to him as much as hunger or thirst. A movement up on the left wall of the South Door caught his attention. Startled, he reacted quickly, looking just in time to see a flash of silver. A patch of ivy shook

James Dashner

#68. I've always been progressive on social issues: pro-choice, pro-gun control, and pro-gay rights - even when I was a Republican. The big difference is that I once believed the private sector would address America's social problems. But then I saw firsthand that this wasn't going to happen.

Arianna Huffington

#69. Verse by verse, the Bible becomes more than theory. It becomes my firsthand experience.

Mark Batterson

#70. I know firsthand what a vote to authorize war means to the lives of American families.

Mike Thompson

#71. President Bush's emergency declaration for the State of Texas is great news for the people and communities that have experienced the devastating wildfires firsthand. Already, communities have rallied to help neighbors in need.

Randy Neugebauer

#72. He went over to the leathers and picked them up. Nice Catholic boy like him didn't know much about BDSM, but it looked like he was going to learn firsthand.
Taking out his cellphone, he hit V, but didn't expect an answer. He guessed GPS was going to have to come in handy once again.

J.R. Ward

#73. I've seen firsthand coming here with empty pockets but full of dreams, full of desire, full of will to succeed, but with the opportunities that I had, I could make it. This is why we have to get back and bring California back to where it once was.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

#74. The point is that whatever one is trying to learn, it is necessary to have firsthand experience, rather than learning from books or from teachers or by merely conforming to an already established pattern.

Chogyam Trungpa

#75. Whether I was dancing around the house with headphones on or on stage with the Spice Girls ... I learned firsthand that dancing was the key to shedding off the pounds and keeping them off.

Melanie Brown

#76. I had spent my whole life hungry for forgiveness. It had not come, so I didn't know firsthand what he was feeling. But I had imagined it, over and over. I'd wanted it so bad. I'd wanted Kai - or anyone, anyone who knew the worst in me - to say that I was still dear, and good, and worthy.

Joshilyn Jackson

#77. A true messenger lives a burdened life. If he is the Lord's vessel, he carries in his heart a burden for souls none can share but those who know it firsthand.

Billy Graham

#78. As a Korean War veteran, I know firsthand and understand the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform.

Charles B. Rangel

#79. A few moments later Marcus was a member of a fairly exclusive club. He had no idea how many people had been firsthand witnesses to not one but two lion attacks, but he thought that the number would be very, very small. Gangsta, baby, he thought, and wet himself.

Scott Hawkins

#80. Our dreams are firsthand creations, rather than residues of waking life. We have the capacity for infinite creativity; at least while dreaming, we partake of the power of the Spirit, the infinite Godhead that creates the cosmos.

Jackie Gleason

#81. I know that knowledge and intelligence are not the same thing - but they do live in the same neighborhood. I know once again, firsthand, the joy of learning.

A. J. Jacobs

#82. Hardly a soul spoke a word of English. All this they had been forewarned about, but the difference between what one had been told and what one came to understand firsthand was enormous.

David McCullough

#83. I know firsthand that educators are the most overworked and underpaid people around. It influenced me in that it was always about family first, and education was right next to that. There was never any question about whether I was going to college.

Wendy Williams

#84. We'd seen firsthand how the man handled a crisis. If Marcia decided suddenly to brandish a stapler in a half-threatening manner, he'd fumble with his Motorola and forget his name.

Joshua Ferris

#85. Today, as an independent, an entrepreneur, and a former mayor, I believe we need a president who is a problem solver, not a bomb thrower. Someone who can bring members of Congress together to get things done. And I know Hillary Clinton can do that because I saw it firsthand.

Michael Bloomberg

#86. I've seen firsthand how the bad leads to a generous abundance of good.

Mahtob Mahmoody

#87. You stubborn bastard. Take it from someone who knows firsthand, there's a lot to be said for forgiveness. Grudges seldom hurt anyone except the one bearing them."
"And there's a lot to be said for knocking enemies upside their heads and cracking skulls open."
Ash & Urian

Sherrilyn Kenyon

#88. I had known poverty firsthand, but there I learned how to fight its evil - along with the evil of racism - with a camera.

Gordon Parks

#89. Illegal immigration presents a huge problem. That is why I decided to spend a week along the southern border to see firsthand how bad the problem is and, more importantly, what Congress can do to fix it.

Ric Keller

#90. As one of the first employees at a small cellular phone start-up called Nextel, I gained firsthand experience in how a business grows from an idea to a company that, at its peak, employed many thousands.

Jack Markell

#91. I don't mind being introduced to people's skeletons firsthand, in person. I more than don't mind it. I prefer to reach right into the closet and shake their bony hands and say hello for myself.

Emery Lord

#92. As somebody who visits countless schools, I see firsthand the dire situation our educational system faces.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka

#93. If someone is making a judgment when they don't have firsthand experience, it's intolerant. How can you make a judgment on something you don't know about?

Beck

#94. The firsthand and the inter-generational experience, is the key, without it there is no memory once that first generation is gone.

Suzanna Eibuszyc

#95. He wanted to be a Runner. He would be a Runner. Deep inside he knew he had to go out there, into the Maze. Despite everything he'd learned and witnessed firsthand, it called to him as much as hunger or thirst.

James Dashner

#96. Sex, Emma thought. It curdled the mind and turned one into a drooling idiot. She had firsthand knowledge.

Kate Rothwell

#97. Google is one of the most incredible breakthroughs that we have today. Yes, it can scare a lot of patients, thinking we're all dying because we look up something on Google. But there's also a lot of anecdotal information from parents, firsthand accounts of what they did for their own child.

Jenny McCarthy

#98. I write narrative nonfiction, creating lively scenes through action and the use of quotes from firsthand accounts, all based on rigorous research. If I say a character leaned against a fence on a windy day, than I have at least two sources to back up these details.

Jim Murphy

#99. He had seen firsthand how technology, patience, and long-term thinking could pay off.

Brad Stone

#100. As a beneficiary of the carried interest loophole, I've seen firsthand the lack of any difference between the work involved in generating a carried interest and the work done by millions of other professionals who are taxed at the full 35 percent rate.

Steven Rattner