2049 Quotes by Australian authors

Australian Flag

Australian voices speak in a dry, flinty music: wry understatement cut with sudden tenderness. These quotes carry the heat-haze of distance, the grit of red earth, and the salt from a restless coast. They honor Country and kin, memory and survival, while skewering pomposity with a larrikin grin. Expect stories that bend toward resilience, fairness, and frank talk, whether whispered under gum trees or tossed across a crowded tram. The tone is spare, playful, and fierce, with humor used as both shield and compass.

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"We loved Andy, so we wanted to keep him. He was in both bands, but Nerve Agents broke up"

Brody Armstrong, Musician

"I really wanted to work hard on my lyrics"

Brody Armstrong, Musician

"Even before the discovery of copper South Australia had turned the corner"

Catherine Helen Spence, Author

Catherine Helen Spence

"Pressure and stress is the common cold of the psyche"

Andrew Denton, Comedian

"We drink VB, Victoria Bitter, which is way better"

Brody Armstrong, Musician

"All I've ever wanted to do was play music and go on the road and make records"

Brody Armstrong, Musician

"South Australia was the first community to give the secret ballot for political elections"

Catherine Helen Spence, Author

Catherine Helen Spence

"My pamphlet did not set the Torrens on fire"

Catherine Helen Spence, Author

Catherine Helen Spence

"I look back to a happy childhood"

Catherine Helen Spence, Author

Catherine Helen Spence

"I have deep respect for people's individual faith, but when faith gets connected to the machinery of state, or the machinery of hate, I find it very confronting"

Andrew Denton, Comedian

"A poll earlier this year showed that 42 per cent of Americans believe we're in the End Times"

Andrew Denton, Comedian

"You can (be a middle-aged comic) if you work very hard at it, because comedy is really hard"

Andrew Denton, Comedian

"If Antarctica were music it would be Mozart. Art, and it would be Michelangelo. Literature, and it would be Shakespeare. And yet it is something even greater; the only place on earth that is still as it should be. May we never tame it"

Andrew Denton, Comedian

"I didn't like the nervous tension of being a public person"

Andrew Denton, Comedian

"Absolute faith can blind you to the consequences of the actions you allow. It can tell you it's okay to drop bombs on another country, or that it's okay to hate a group of people such as homosexuals"

Andrew Denton, Comedian

"Governments are supposed to make people's lives better"

Adam Bandt, Politician

Adam Bandt

"We will keep Peter Dutton out"

Adam Bandt, Politician

Adam Bandt

"Far more public money is spent subsidising destruction than protection"

Adam Bandt, Politician

Adam Bandt

"Build homes people can afford, cap rent increases"

Adam Bandt, Politician

Adam Bandt

"Stop new coal and gas projects"

Adam Bandt, Politician

Adam Bandt

"Get dental and mental health into Medicare"

Adam Bandt, Politician

Adam Bandt

"The red line is we won't support Peter Dutton"

Adam Bandt, Politician

Adam Bandt

"A power-sharing deal with Labor would usher in a golden era of progressive reform"

Adam Bandt, Politician

Adam Bandt

"It is essential to do everything possible to attract young people to opera so they can see that it is not some antiquated art form but a repository of the most glorious music and drama that man has created"

Bruce Beresford, Director

"I think Australian food is probably some of the best in the world"

Karrie Webb, Athlete

Karrie Webb

"I crashed my boyfriend's birthday when I was 12 years old. He didn't invite me and so I showed up"

Isla Fisher, Actress

"There was a lot of stress and assumptions made without me even saying anything, which was very upsetting"

Craig Stevens, Athlete

"When buying shares, ask yourself, would you buy the whole company?"

Rene Rivkin, Businessman

Rene Rivkin

"The Australian people want to help build this country into a great nation. This budget... has not realized the capacity of the Australian people. It has underestimated them. It has let us down"

Lionel K. Murphy, Judge

"Italy is definitely where I feel most at home, or alternatively, living in total wilderness, in the bush in Australia"

Noah Taylor, Actor

"I write a lot, and very often I write a couple of lines that are particularly revealing in some kind of way. And then as a few more lines get added and a piece gets added, eventually the song pretty much takes over and you can't really find a way to change those things"

Nick Cave, Musician

"An artist's duty is rather to stay open-minded and in a state where he can receive information and inspiration. You always have to be ready for that little artistic epiphany"

Nick Cave, Musician

"I just had to plod along without having any teaching, which was a pity"

Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Artist

"As a kid, you run around the house pretending to be a superhero, and now to be doing it as a job, I feel very lucky"

Chris Hemsworth, Actor

Chris Hemsworth

"It's a very special venue and a very special occasion"

Matthew Hayden, Athlete

"We have dozens and dozens and dozens of judicial nominees up there waiting, and we have a court system that's crying out for more judges"

Joe Lockhart, Journalist

"My hatred is a thousand times more powerful than all your good intentions"

Jim Goad, Author

"Hatred is the air I breathe. It permeates every cell in my body"

Jim Goad, Author

"It's kind of chased away a few demons for me and, um, it's educated me a little bit more"

Hugo Weaving, Actor

Hugo Weaving

"Initially I probably didn't even call it acting, but dressing up or something. As a kid I think you fully imagine the world you want to inhabit, so you put some clothes on and just kind of freely imagine this world, and it's a total imaginary world"

Hugo Weaving, Actor

Hugo Weaving

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