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First Quotes

On beginnings, and what a 'first' really changes.

The quotes gathered here treat 'first' loosely: a rookie athlete crediting the teammates who set the tone early, a filmmaker's take on what should scare an audience right away, and a physicist weighing what can and can't be known first. If early relationships resonate, see our First Love.

The sword - the first, for a time the only force: the force of iron.

Quotes by John Lothrop Motley

I'm not an overnight success. My early publishing history, through my first five books, was unfortunate in many respects, typified by a couple of short anecdotes.

Quotes by John Lescroart

When I first came in the league, I thought Jack Clark and Steve Garvey were big. Then all of sudden it seemed like everyone was that big.

Quotes by John Kruk

I grew up abroad, and when I first passed through London in the 1970s, it seemed a drab and provincial place.

Quotes by John Lanchester

Peace is the first thing the angels sang.

Quotes by John Keble

Kafka's inevitable tropism for the allegorical puts him in marked opposition to the realism that dominated the literary world of the first half of the 20th century.

Quotes by John Kessel

First of all, pharmaceutical costs are the single fastest-growing part of our health care budget.

Quotes by John Kitzhaber

When I was a kid, I built miniatures, and that was actually the first thing I did professionally in the film industry. It was a demonstrable skill that I had, so I worked as a model maker.

Quotes by John Knoll

ILM was the first company that I had worked at that had a computer-graphics division.

Quotes by John Knoll

The first treasure California began to surrender after the Gold Rush as the oldest: her land.

Quotes by John Jakes

My drawings at first were made altogether in watercolors, but they wanted softness and a great deal of finish.

Quotes by John James Audubon

I have been illustrating Tolkien's books ever since I first read them, long before illustration became my profession.

Quotes by John Howe

The HoLee model was the first term structure model. I remember reading their paper soon after it was published and as it was fairly different from many of the other papers that I had read, I had to read it...

Quotes by John Hull

In any match, making a lot of first serves is very important, especially for me.

Quotes by John Isner

When there's work to be done in Colorado, for Colorado, we should look to skilled Coloradans first.

Quotes by John Hickenlooper

When the early Europeans first met Africans, at the crossroads of history, it was a respectful meeting and the Africans were not slaves. Their nations were old before Europe was born.

Quotes by John Henrik Clarke

My first occupation was to map the country.

Quotes by John Hanning Speke

In its first 30 years of existence, up to the mid 1970s, the practical applications of game theory were very limited, probably as a result of excessive preoccupation by game theorists with cooperative solution concepts.

Quotes by John Harsanyi

The first 20 years had such a profound effect on me, I spent the next 20 dealing with them.

Quotes by John Grant

I wrote my first novel and my second novel in Chicago. It was the place where I became a writer. It's my favorite city.

John Green

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this page include a quote about starting an NFL career?
Yes. One quote looks back on the very beginning of an NFL career, crediting teammates named Tim Dwight and Eric Parker with showing what work ethic it takes to be an NFL receiver. It's a good example of first marking an early, formative stage of a career. For more on early milestones, see First Step quotes.
Is there a quote about horror movies or scaring an audience?
Yes - one quote states it plainly: "The first monster you have to scare the audience with is yourself." It's a compact idea about confronting your own fear before you can frighten anyone else. For more on how first moments set the tone, browse First Impression quotes.
Does this collection touch on science, like physics?
It does. One quote discusses the uncertainty relation, explaining that it does not refer to the past, and using the example of an electron's velocity being at first known and its position then exactly measured. It's a more technical, scientific sense of first.
What does the quote about the constitution say?
One quote makes a direct statement: "The constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens." It's a clear, principled statement about equal citizenship. It naturally pairs with First Class quotes on this page.
Do all the quotes here use "first" the same way?
Not at all - that's part of the appeal. Across this page, first describes a rookie's early days in the league, a monster's first scare, an electron's first known velocity, and even first-class citizenship. If you like exploring different kinds of firsts, First Love quotes make a nice companion stop.

One quote pushes past personal firsts into a civic claim about equal standing under the constitution, which broadens the theme beyond simple nostalgia. Related pages include First Impression and First Step.