[Bilco]

“History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time.” Anon

[DopedGuru]

(Original post by LinzyLoo)
It's pretty clear that this quotation is talking about mankind - i.e. humankind in general, not actual males.
Also it's "there".

awww thanks for the spellcheck done yourself proud

[fizz113]

"First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Pastor Martin Niemoller. Such a touching poem

Also, Bertrand Russell "War doesn't determine who is right, only who is left"

[Picnic1]

Firstly, I am going to assume that a majority of great quotes have gone unquoted in public because they were made by some of (although perhaps only a small percentage of) the 5.9.. billion people who, for all their skills (including perhaps oratory) don't happen to be famous.
Some write in to (or, less frequently, write for) newspapers making wittyish comments that are no worse than many famous quotes.

Many of the best famous quotes will be from fiction or TV shows rather than 'academics' or politicians.

So I'm going to go for one from Peter Cook, a sometimes overrated comedian in terms of his 60s 'heyday' (the Pythons were much more consistently funnier) but not in his later appearance on the Clive Anderson talk show in the early 90s which was actually his true heyday:

'It is my job to, er, test biscuits for comestibility and I do this by biting in to them, tasting them for flavour and texture and if the biscuit is satisfactory, I allow another 4 million to go by'.

But there is also a real one from the same show in an exchange between Clive and the Bee Gees:

Barry Gibb: 'Before we were The Bee Gees we were Les Tossueurs'.
Clive Anderson: 'You'll always be Les Tosseurs to me'.

[Darkphilosopher]

"The one man in the world who never believes he's mad is the madman."

L. Ron Hubbard (Creator of Scientology)

While I don't believe in any of his principals, L. Ron certainly had an interesting psyche.

[noggins]

"They don't call me the Decorator for nothin. "

~ Peter North

[tomatoslayer]

"war.. what is it good for, absolutely nothing"... yeah, i love rush hour

[Vixen47]

"Terror happens everywhere. No one realises until something detonates."

Perfection in its essence

[paulmch]

"No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin."

From good ol' Aneurin Bevan.

[llamalad200]

"i think, therefore i am" - Descartes

[Planar]

"Yo dawg, i herd u like functions."

- Xzibit.

But really though, I couldn't possibly choose, but perhaps this:

"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons"

- TS Eliot

[flubadiblam]

I just farted and it smells like a dead cow has been in my stomach for several days. going to leave my room for a few minutes now.

(sorry was thinking of a quote and then that happ...

[Jennie027]

Ooh I love quotes!
- This above all: to thine ownself be true. Hamlet.
- You Had Me At Hello. ADTR.
- Life's A Beach. Me.
- Oh Well, You Only Live Once. Me.
- Live And Learn. Me.
- Chin Up, You're Not Dead Yet. Me.
- In The End, We Will Remember Not The Words Of Our Enemies, But The Silence Of Our Friends. MLK.

**The ones labeled 'me' are the ones I say aha, obviously I'm not the first person to say these things.. just like them

[big-boss-91]

(Original post by mevidek)
What is your favourite historical quote of all time?

you didn't say what your favourite quote it!

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it"

W C Fields

"you're supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"

Charlie Crocker

[humy369]

I'm such a sad person i actually have a notebook where i write quotes i find interesting

If you can imagine it you can create it. If you can dream it you can become it. - William Arthur Ward

All truth passes through 3 stages. First it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, third it is accepted as being self-evident. - Arthur Schopenhauer

[Sato]

"The problem with History lessons is you never learn anything new" (not sure where I got it from though)

[ConorMC]

(Original post by Sato)
"The problem with History lessons is you never learn anything new" (not sure where I got it from though)

History boys?

[pinkpenguin]

I have 2!

(Original post by Douglas Adams)
"Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."

And

(Original post by Robert F. Kennedy)
"Violence breeds violence. Repression bleeds retaliation. And only in cleansing of this whole society can remove this sickness from our souls."

For the whole amazing speech:

Spoiler:

Show

[PeterG92]

"History is written by the Victor"
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"

[tc92]

"I defy you to agitate a man on a full stomach" - William Cobbett, on 'bread and butter politics'