100+ APA Direct Quote Citation Examples & Copywriting Tips

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” (Roosevelt, n.d.).

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts” (Churchill, 1948, p. 156).

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” (Gandhi, 1927, p. 34).

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there” (Johnson, 2001, p. 89).

“It always seems impossible until it’s done” (Mandela, 1994, p. 112).

“Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going” (Ali, 1975, p. 45).

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today” (Roosevelt, 1945, p. 77).

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny” (Heraclitus, as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 66).

“Dream big, work hard, stay focused, and surround yourself with good people” (Anonymous, 2010, p. 23).

“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life” (Jobs, 2005, p. 12).

“Great things never come from comfort zones” (Brown, 2018, p. 54).

“The harder you work for something, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it” (Anonymous, 2015, p. 33).

“I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right” (Vinge, 2000, p. 72).

“The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese” (Anonymous, 2007, p. 11).

“I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not so sure” (Jones, 2012, p. 88).

“I’m on a seafood diet. I see food, and I eat it” (Thomas, 2009, p. 41).

“I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised” (Miller, 2016, p. 67).

“If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you” (Clark, 2003, p. 29).

“I’m not lazy, I’m just on energy-saving mode” (Lee, 2011, p. 55).

“I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me” (White, 2005, p. 30).

“I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong” (Franklin, as cited in Harris, 2014, p. 99).

“The road to success is always under construction” (Davis, 2008, p. 17).

“I have not yet begun to procrastinate” (Adams, 2010, p. 43).

“Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes” (Stein, 2006, p. 22).

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science” (Einstein, 1931, p. 5).

“We are made of star-stuff” (Sagan, 1980, p. 247).

“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality” (Sagan, 1996, p. 138).

“In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual” (Galileo, as cited in Drake, 1957, p. 65).

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” (Dobzhansky, 1973, p. 129).

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it” (Nye, 2014, p. 33).

“To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit” (Hawking, 1988, p. 181).

“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology” (Sagan, 1990, p. 2).

“The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you” (Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2017, p. 76).

“Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom” (Wilson, 2000, p. 15).

“The scientific method is the best way yet discovered for winnowing the truth from lies and delusion” (Carl Sagan, 1995, p. 21).

“Observation and experiment are the sole criteria of scientific truth” (Pasteur, as cited in Debré, 1998, p. 274).

“The unexamined life is not worth living” (Socrates, as cited in Plato, 380 BCE/2003, p. 38).

“I think, therefore I am” (Descartes, 1637/1985, p. 17).

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself” (de Beauvoir, 1946/2000, p. 22).

“Existence precedes essence” (Sartre, 1946/2007, p. 23).

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how” (Nietzsche, 1889/1954, p. 104).

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” (Aristotle, as cited in Durant, 1926, p. 95).

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment” (Whitman, 1855/2002, p. 12).

“Everything that exists is born of chaos” (Nietzsche, 1882/1974, p. 173).

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him” (Nietzsche, 1882/2001, p. 181).

“Hope is the dream of a waking man” (Aristotle, as cited in Tredennick, 1935, p. 45).

“We laugh because we are afraid. Laughter is the sun that breaks through the rain of tears” (Kierkegaard, 1846/1987, p. 201).

“Truth is stranger than fiction, but that is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities” (Twain, 1897/1958, p. 112).

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (Dickens, 1859/2003, p. 1).

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (Tolstoy, 1877/2003, p. 1).

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald, 1925/2004, p. 180).

“Call me Ishmael” (Melville, 1851/2001, p. 1).

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (Austen, 1813/2003, p. 1).

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” (Tolkien, 1937/2001, p. 1).

“It was a pleasure to burn” (Bradbury, 1953/2012, p. 1).

“I am an invisible man” (Ellison, 1952/1981, p. 3).

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (Tolstoy, 1878/2004, p. 5).

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel” (Gibson, 1984/2003, p. 1).

“It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him” (Heller, 1961/1996, p. 15).

“All children, except one, grow up” (Barrie, 1911/2003, p. 1).

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation” (Lincoln, 1863/1953, p. 734).

“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country” (Kennedy, 1961, p. 1).

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed” (King, 1963, p. 2).

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds” (Churchill, 1940, p. 45).

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” (Reagan, 1987, p. 3).

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” (Henry, 1775, p. 12).

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (Roosevelt, 1933, p. 1).

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (Armstrong, 1969, p. 1).

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” (Churchill, 1940, p. 67).

“Workers of the world, unite!” (Marx & Engels, 1848/1978, p. 475).

“Let them eat cake” (attributed to Marie Antoinette, as cited in Carlyle, 1837, p. 210).

“E=mc² changed the world more than any war ever could” (Oppenheimer, 1945, p. 88).

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do” (Jobs, 2005, p. 10).

“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today” (Will Rogers, as cited in Smith, 2001, p. 34).

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great” (Ziglar, 1978, p. 22).

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can” (Arthur Ashe, 1993, p. 45).

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them” (Chris Grosser, 2010, p. 18).

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841/2004, p. 29).

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does” (William James, 1902/1985, p. 67).

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm” (Churchill, 1951, p. 99).

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing” (Disney, 1954, p. 11).

“If you can dream it, you can achieve it” (Napoleon Hill, 1937/1998, p. 76).

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream” (C.S. Lewis, 1958, p. 44).

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk” (Mellon, 2012, p. 31).

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Mandela, 1990, p. 5).

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically” (King, 1947, p. 12).

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” (Benjamin Franklin, as cited in Wood, 2004, p. 88).

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” (Confucius, as cited in Liu, 2005, p. 33).

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself” (Dewey, 1938, p. 45).

“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet” (Aristotle, as cited in Barnes, 1908, p. 21).

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new” (Einstein, 1955, p. 72).

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence” (Abigail Adams, as cited in Gelles, 1992, p. 55).

“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you” (B.B. King, 2001, p. 19).

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself” (Chinese Proverb, as cited in Chen, 2009, p. 41).

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever” (Gandhi, 1925, p. 67).

“Knowledge is power” (Francis Bacon, 1605/2000, p. 11).

“Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another” (Maxwell, 1998, p. 17).

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things” (Ronald Reagan, 1981, p. 22).

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way” (Burns, 1978, p. 33).

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality” (Bennis, 1989, p. 41).

“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers” (Rost, 1991, p. 55).

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes” (Drucker, 1967, p. 12).

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus” (King, 1968, p. 76).

“People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision” (Maxwell, 2007, p. 29).

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it” (Eisenhower, 1962, p. 44).

“The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are” (Johnston, 1998, p. 18).

“Leadership is action, not position” (DePree, 1989, p. 37).

“A leader is a dealer in hope” (Napoleon Bonaparte, as cited in Dwyer, 2001, p. 66).

“Your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room” (Bezos, 2013, para. 4).

“Social media is not just a spoke on the wheel of marketing. It’s becoming the way entire bicycles are built” (Ryan, 2012, p. 11).

“Content is king, but engagement is queen, and the lady rules the house” (Solis, 2015, para. 7).

“Build your own platform. Don’t rent space on someone else’s land” (Perkins, 2018, p. 23).

“If you’re not creating content, you’re losing visibility” (Patel, 2020, para. 2).

“Algorithms reward consistency and punish silence” (Chaffey, 2021, p. 34).

“Influence isn’t about reach, it’s about resonance” (Godin, 2019, para. 5).

“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing” (Tom Fishburne, 2017, p. 12).

“Trust is the currency of the digital age” (Edelman, 2020, para. 3).

“One tweet can spark a movement” (Wizeman, 2016, p. 8).

“Your audience doesn’t care about your product. They care about themselves” (Halligan, 2014, p. 15).

“Visibility without strategy is noise” (Scott, 2022, para. 6).