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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.

I'm a builder, first and foremost.

Quotes by Jamie Hyneman

I've always put my family first and that's just the way it is.

Quotes by Jamie Lee Curtis

When I first did a U.S. pilot season, there were very few British actors schlepping around town trying to get into television. That was 1999.

Quotes by Jamie Bamber

I started off in musical theater, yeah. It was one of my first jobs; it was in Spring Awakening in London, which was amazing.

Quotes by Jamie Blackley

The very first movie that I ever saw in a theater was 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.'

Quotes by James Wan

It was with 9/11 that I came to fully appreciate and embrace NPR's irreplaceability as a sanity preserver, its unique virtues as first responder on the burning scene.

Quotes by James Wolcott

All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first.

Quotes by James Thurber

At my first exhibits, people were saying that's just a light on the wall.

Quotes by James Turrell

The first perk of theater is the girls.

Quotes by James Spader

He's a novice, but he's had these - he's experienced in leadership in tight circumstances. He started - he dropped the first bomb, led the first air strike into North Vietnam.

Quotes by James Stockdale

In any war, the first casualty is common sense, and the second is free and open discussion.

Quotes by James Reston

If a person is insane or troubled, you first have to get the person to admit that they have a problem before you can solve anything.

Quotes by James Rosenquist

When I got my first loft, I still didn't know what I was going to paint... There were long stretches when I just sat there and thought without interruption.

Quotes by James Rosenquist

I had five years of failure, really, before I had the first initial sign of success.

Quotes by James Rothman

In my office in Florida I have, I think, 30 manuscript piles around the room. Some are screenplays or comic books or graphic novels. Some are almost done. Some I'm rewriting. If I'm working with a co-writer, they'll usually write...

Quotes by James Patterson

With my adult books, for the first six weeks or so, it's about 60 percent ebooks in terms of sales. The kids' books, it's like 5 percent. Which means that the parents, the ones that aren't going into stores now,...

Quotes by James Patterson

The first time I was ever on stage, I was naked at 17. It was very cold!

Quotes by James Purefoy

We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.

Quotes by James Madison

In the first place, Descartes stands for the most explicit and uncompromising dualism between mind and matter.

Quotes by James Mark Baldwin

For my first album I wanted to make a record that would be intimate, deeply personal, and honest.

Quotes by James McCartney

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.