30 Unfortunate Quotes
- Published October 15, 2007 - 56 Comments
With the press at every political and public event, unfortunate comments now become a part of the public record. This is a list of some of the more unfortunate quotes from people in the public eye.
Quotes 1-10
1. “And I’m supposed to believe that Reagan was a great leader? This is who he chose as the Secretary of Education…” -Former Education Secretary William Bennett
2. “Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.” -Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, D.C.
3. “The internet is a great way to get on the net.” – Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate
4. “Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims.” -Henry Jordan, South Carolina board of education (when another board member said the displaying of the Ten Commandments in public schools might offend students of other religions)
5. “We don’t necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people.” -Colonel Gerald Wellman
6. “China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.” – Charles De Gaulle, former French President
7. “The world is more like it is now then it ever has before.” – Dwight Eisenhower
8. “A billion here, a billion there, sooner or later it adds up to real money.” – Everett Dirksen, Congressman
9. “Traditionally, most of Australia’s imports come from overseas.” – Former Australian cabinet minister Keppel Enderbery
10. “We’re going to move left and right at the same time.” – Jerry Brown, Governor of California
Quotes 11-20
11. “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.”-Joe Theismann, former NFL football quarterback and sports analyst
12. “I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock.” – Barry Venison
13. “Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing – but none of them serious.” – Alan Minter, Boxer
14. “Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl.” – Bill Peterson, football coach
15. “Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer.” – David Acfield
16. It’s a humbling thing being humble.” – Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett
17. “I have a God-given talent. I got it from my dad.” – Julian Wakefield, Missouri basketball player
18. “He’s a guy who gets up at six o’clock in the morning regardless of what time it is.” – Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of heavyweight Andrew Golota.
19. “Well, I used to look like this when I was young and now I still do.” – Yogi Berra
20. “Sometimes they write what I say and not what I mean.” – Pedro Guerrero, major leaguer
Quotes 21-30
21. “The Bible commands that we hate.” -H. A. (Buster) Dobbs
22. “We just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.” -Ann Coulter
23. “Smoking kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life.” -Brooke Shields
24. “I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada”. -Britney Spears
25. “Most cars on our roads have only one occupant, usually the driver.” – Carol Malia, BBC Anchorwoman
26. “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.” -Decca Records Rejecting the Beatles
27. “I don’t diet. I just don’t eat as much as I’d like to.” – Linda Evangelista, Supermodel
28. “A bachelor’s life is no life for a single man.” – Samuel Goldwyn
29. “Are you going to ask that question with shades on?” – George Bush to blind reporter Peter Wallsten
30. “The gavel of the speaker of the House is in the hands of special interests, and now it will be in the hands of America’s children.” – Nancy Pelosi, on the prospect of Democrats winning back Congress
Contributor: Nathan Adams
Technorati Tags: Humor, quotations















October 15th, 2007 at 4:51 am
love this list. great job Nathan!
October 15th, 2007 at 5:11 am
I’ve always liked this one:
“We’re going to turn this team around 360 degrees.”
Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks
October 15th, 2007 at 6:32 am
#29..i cringed. the guy manages to make me feel bad for him.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:10 am
“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”
Taken out of context, this is pretty silly.
Note, however, that he never claims to have invented it.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:45 am
If I didn’t know better I’d say some of these guys were comedians.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:24 am
We need a whole list of Yogiisms.
“And they pay you in cash, which is just as good as money.”
October 15th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Lol, you should totally check out http://www.overheardeverywhere.com !
October 15th, 2007 at 10:00 am
With #26, im pretty sure the guy who rejected the beatles went on to sign the rolling stones
October 15th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Wow, only one quote from W?
You should do a whole list on him.
It would be a long list.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:17 am
9000 – check out the List of Lists – you will find this one: Top 10 Unfortunate Comments of George Bush and Top 10 Unfortunate Comments of the Clintons
October 15th, 2007 at 10:40 am
You could do a whole list of Ann Coulter! Pretty much everything out of her mouth is unfortunate.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Hahaha, hilarious. Great job.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
And I thought I said some stupid things! Ha! I feel better now! Great list again jfray! =)
October 15th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
“Can’t sing, can’t act, can dance a little.” Comment about Fred Astaire after his first Hollywood screen test.
(Personally, I prefer Gene Kelly.)
October 15th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Thanks for all your compliments. It means alot. I submitted it
October 15th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Gravy: I didn’t know your listverse nickname when I posted – if you prefer I can change the contributor text to Gravy instead.
October 16th, 2007 at 6:06 am
great list
October 16th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
i cant believe the football analyst john madden didnt find his way on this list…every week he says something that should be on here
October 17th, 2007 at 6:12 am
OMG this is absolutely fabulous…
October 17th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Norman Einstein was Albert Einstein’s dumber, less charismatic brother who harboured a deep-seated case of sibling rivalry.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:04 am
kind of like Chad Vader lol
October 17th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
lol nice
October 26th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
“Gay marriage should be between a man and a woman” Arnold schwarzenegger
October 29th, 2007 at 6:16 am
The quote by Coulter was a total liberal press manufactored event…she was quoting the book of Romans but did so haphazardly…..St. Paul, a Jew, said himself for a Jew to become complete, he/she would have to come to Christ…..this is absolutely ridiculous to make a controversy out of but does show you still the tragic power the liberals hold in the media by and large!
Otherwise, great website and fun lists!
January 10th, 2008 at 10:48 am
No. 8 is wrong. Senator Dirkson said “A MILLION here, a MILLION there, pretty soon your talking about real money.” was a quote from the 60’s (when a 12 ounce bottle of Coke was 5 cents, not $1.29, plus tax).
NOT a billion.
cheers
January 18th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Didn’t Ann Coulter also say that our country would be better without Jews in it?
January 21st, 2008 at 2:19 pm
This is a decent list, except that I could find 30 quotes by George W. alone that are dumber than this. And number 21 is factually correct, most christians have just never actually read the bible.
January 26th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Monkey nuts: You have a good point, but I thing GWB falls under his own category. otherwise this list would only consist of his quotes! Its nice to see other dumb quotes as well!
January 26th, 2008 at 11:32 am
do you mean something like Top 10 unfortunate quotes of George Bush?
February 21st, 2008 at 3:17 am
actually, Britney was not in the US when she said that…she was in Germany…
Anyway, great list again weeeeeee!
May 9th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Yogi Berra was joking. If you read more of his quotes, you’ll see that. That’s just his humor.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
“A billion here, a billion there, sooner or later it adds up to real money.” – Everett Dirksen, Congressman
Everett Dirksen was a senator, a wise and very funny guy. This quotation was not a mistake. He knew exactly what he was saying, unlike most of the othrs on this list.
August 15th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
23. “Smoking kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life.” -Brooke Shields
…and she went to Princeton…
August 15th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
As stupid as it may sound, I like the Eisenhower quote. It’s kind of philosophical in a way.
August 29th, 2008 at 5:20 am
i heard this one
‘i couldnt hold my breath to save my life’ lol
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:32 am
Recent one from the wife of a Northern Ireland politician (not sure who she is, Iris something I think). Unfortunately I don’t know exactly what she said but basically she said that homosexuality was worse than paedophilia. And then she had the nerve to say it was taken out of context!!!
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 am
That reminds of Michelle Obama and her “first time in my adult life I was proud to be an American” gaffe. Everyone who gets caught saying something they later regret loves to say they were taken out of context.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:54 am
“14. Fe – October 15th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
“Can’t sing, can’t act, can dance a little.” Comment about Fred Astaire after his first Hollywood screen test. (Personally, I prefer Gene Kelly.)”
A year later, Ajaxkid is here to agree!! Gene Kelly was THE man! Very very athletic dancing and very handsome!
BTW… no comments from Prince Philip?
No way!
You could write a whole book on his moronic comments!
November 13th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Wow at number 29. haha that was a good list!
November 25th, 2008 at 7:01 am
#26 – Decca Records got majorly owned
January 7th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I believe it was Mariah Carey who said: “When I see those kids in africa I feel terrible… I mean, I’d love to be that skinny, but not with all the flies and stuff.”
SOmething like that anyways! Haha!
The Super Bowl one makes me cringe.
January 24th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
“I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada”. -Britney Spears
hahaha!!!
February 18th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
during a tv show, a 70s winner of Miss International Pageant was asked on how she was able to maintain her good figure after having 4 children.
she replied, “It’s bcoz of the food intake that I take.”
hihihi…
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Great list, always in enjoy celebrities making a goose of themselves,but I’ve never heard of “Former Australian cabinet minister Keppel Enderbery” and I can’t find any info on him, so I think that was just made up for the internet, but please tell me number 4 isn’t true. There cannot be people like that who work in education!!!
March 31st, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Manny Pacquiao: “you know…..” and smiles not knowing what to say next…tsk tsk tsk ….very unfortunate…
April 14th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I LIKE THIS LIST SO MUCH! I’M SURPRISED YOU DON’T HAVE MORE ON BUSH…OH MY LOL
April 16th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Why was 21. “The Bible commands that we hate.” included? it isn’t unfortunate or dumb. He said exactly what he meant to say. The bible does in fact command that we hate.
“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)
April 27th, 2009 at 12:35 am
hmmm why is the bible wanting us to hate thy dads and mums and bros and sis
April 27th, 2009 at 9:27 am
#21 is right on the money. Not sure whay it’s included in this list.
May 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
EvilGod-
No offence but that quote from the bible you’ve presented is taken way out of context. In that quote God was saying that in comparison to how much people should love him, the feelings they have towards those dear to them should feel like hate.
Note that that is in comparison, and it doesn’t actually instruct you to hate anyone.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
#10 should be former governor…sorry, I do a lot of editing and noticed that.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:30 am
“I thought I was wrong but, as it turns out, I was just mistaken”… I have no idea who said that first but, I still use it! LOL !
September 7th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
“that depends on what the definition of is is” Clinton
September 17th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
There’s a famous one in Quebec politics. There was this liberal (liberal being a member of the Liberal party) who said : “The former government got us on the edge of the precipice. If you vote Liberal, we’re gonna go a step forward.”
If it wasn’t for the humor, I wouldn’t follow politics.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
#29 was the best. hahahaha kinda expected something like that from our president. hahahaha
November 18th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Number one on this list seems to be an error. It’s apparently a reader response to a quote of Bennett’s, rather than Bennett’s actual statement. Both can be found at the following website: http://www.blogofstupidity.com/archive/2005/09/30/worst-quote-ever-from-former-education-secretary-william-bennett/148.html
Perhaps when he was compiling this list Nathan Adams unintentionally copied and pasted the comment rather than the quote?