Top 133 Sydney Quotes

Sydney in general is eclectic. You can be on that brilliant blue ocean walk in the morning and then within 20 minutes you can be in a completely vast suburban sprawl or an Italian or Asian suburb, and it’s that mix of people, it’s that melting pot of people that give it its vital personality.

For years I didn’t really fancy America. I hated it when I first went to LA, it’s like a dirty Sydney. But having a job helped.

In Sydney, we always have a deficiency of housing. So that’s one good thing, which will cause real estate to keep going up. Not fast, but it’ll go up.

A board constituted as the board of Sydney Hospital is constituted is not a suitable body to have control of an institute of medical research.

When you look at the fittest, leanest populations like Japan and Scandinavia, they don’t even go to the gym. The average person in Sydney takes 11,000 steps a day, and the average person in Houston does 4000. Guess who is going to be leaner, regardless of their diet?

I grew up in the suburbs of Sydney, an arid kind of place, but every day I took the ferry across the harbour to get to school. I’d watch the ships coming in and going out.

I know how to get around London better than Sydney.

I’d want to play the Sydney Opera House.

My first Olympics memory was watching Haile Gebrselassie in Sydney 2000. His sprint finish to defend his title really moved me.

If I’m going to live in Sydney, I want to live on Bondi Beach.

When I did Google Wave, everyone had to be in Sydney, and a lot people actually traveled there to be part of it. There was a lot of isolation. There were a lot of things we kept secret from the company while working on Wave – just like you would at a startup.

Farming implements are as cheap in Sydney as in England.

In terms of theater, there’s not a more supportive theater community than in New York. It’s really kind of a real thrill to go there. I mean, don’t forget, I’m a boy from the suburbs of Sydney, so getting to New York is a huge, huge thrill.

The first thing I read was of my character on the phone talking to Sydney’s fiance. Though short, it was so beautifully written, and it made me laugh. I thought if I wanted to play a character, this would be it.

One afternoon when I was 9, my dad told me I’d be skipping school the next day. Then we drove 12 hours from Melbourne to Sydney for the Centenary Test, a once-in-a-lifetime commemorative cricket match. It was great fun – especially for a kid who was a massive sports fan.

Professionally, when I did the Olympic games and sang for my country in Australia. It was a big moment, Sydney in 2000. It was just a brilliant moment in my life.

Rock pools, so-named because they have been hammered out of rocks at the ocean’s edge, are one of Sydney’s defining characteristics, along with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, though not as well known.

Nothing I have done professionally will top the feeling I got when singing with John Farnham at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

I got expelled from every school I went to in Sydney.

My dad taught at the University of Melbourne. I visited Sydney another time. Then we went up to Cairns, then down the Great Ocean Road. I have friends from Perth, where I’ve never been, so I’d love to do that.

Sydney is the most amazing city. The food and the beautiful beaches are fantastic, and all that surf and sunshine make you feel unbelievably relaxed.

I love cities. New York, Montreal, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, L.A… but, I do choose to live in Vancouver. It’s home.

Melbourne is my type of city, much more so than Sydney.

I’m living in Sydney now – but you know when you’ve grown up in a certain place and you end up living in another, you never really quite feel like it’s home. You feel like a bit of an impostor. I feel like I’m in a place that’s moving faster than I can swim.

I was young; I was newly married. My Cambridge degree was still warm in my pocket – a roll of parchment guaranteeing me, I thought, a sort of free ambassadorial passage to any campus of my choosing, and I had chosen Sydney – the world was all before me.

Almost everything I operated was in Melbourne and Perth, but in the end, I just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving. Sydney is my home.

Sydney and I made so many pictures together we were becoming Abbott and Costello, so we broke up. You know Greenstreet was a comedian before he played ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and in that picture his dialogue consisted of seven pages in a row which he memorized weeks ahead.

I just feel a bit out of my depth in Sydney.

The increasing importance of Sydney must in some measure be attributed to the flourishing condition of the colony itself, to the industry of its farmers, to the successful enterprise of its merchants, and to particular local causes.

I taught myself to play guitar and sing. I ended up writing a lot of music and had a band and was playing in bars and pubs all around Sydney, going on tour. I played with some pretty big bands in Australia.

I performed in Sydney some years ago for the Sydney Festival and I am just so pleased to be returning to the wonderful Sydney Opera House and also performing in Melbourne for the first time.

Film directors don’t come to the theatre in Sydney. In London and New York, they do.

I have spent a lot of time in L.A. It’s sort of like my third home – Sydney, rural Tasmania and then L.A.

And so in my warnings, I was pointing to a number of incidents around the communion that could undermine our growing sense of communion – of becoming a global communion. So that’s why I pointed to New Westminster in Canada, to incidents in the United States, and Sydney itself.

When I came out of drama school, I was in a shared house in Sydney.

Sydney has such a cosmopolitan feel to it. The food is great and Australians are so friendly.

I wasn’t always a novelist. I began my writing career as a journalist, working on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney, Australia, doing the crime beat and court reporting. Having grown up in a small country town, I felt as though I had nothing to write about.

South Sydney is a very complicated and wonderful place. You have some of the most expensive bits of real estate in the country and a large percentage of government housing.

I’m an Australian – I grew up in Melbourne and Sydney – but as a kid you don’t learn much about the Kimberley.

My commitment is that Crown Sydney won’t be just another hotel: it will be a landmark building for Sydney with a design and quality that the city deserves.

I went to five Olympic Games and my favorite is Sydney.

Mum and Dad have come to Sydney to see me off on the two trips to Wimbledon. Each time I thought I mustn’t cry ‘cos that’ll start Mum off. Each time I really bawled, and then she started up.

When I have a bad day, I dream about opening up a gelato stand on the streets of Sydney, Australia. Doesn’t everyone have a random escape fantasy?

First of all, I would like to clear the air on one thing. Alison has slept with more men than Amanda; Sydney has slept with more men than Amanda; I think Matt has slept with more men than Amanda.

Once I was in a shopping centre with some Western Sydney Wanderers boys and this kid came up to me and said, ‘Hi I’m a Kuhlman, we have the same dad and my mum’s got photos of you as a baby.’ I was shocked, lost for words, really uncomfortable. I knew he’d had kids but no idea how many or age.

As soon as I signed for the French rugby union, it was just a huge relief, you know, because I was out of Sydney and out of sight doing what was best for myself.

It had never occurred to me that my colour – or lack of it – was an issue for some people, but then I moved to Sydney, and apparently it was. People look at me and don’t see what they think is a typical Aboriginal. Thankfully, my mother raised me well in knowing where I come from and who I am, and I’m proud of that.

I do remember those days really well, when I was working at my uncle’s office in Sydney. I never even thought about the future to be honest, it was all about getting work done and then my head was focused on the Mariners.

Los Angeles and Sydney are very similar, but I definitely enjoy more fresh seafood when I’m back in Australia, as there is so much great, fresh produce here. I also like going swimming at the beach while I’m home, too.

So I went and did an audition and became the biggest radio actor in Sydney, and that’s how it all started.

I think people care. If not, why do so many people spend money going on vacations to see architecture? They go to the Parthenon, to Chartres, to the Sydney Opera House. They go to Bilbao… Something compels them, and yet we live surrounded by everything but great architecture.

I wanted to have a peaceful married life with my wife, so we both moved to Sydney in Australia.

I had been nominated for an Academy Award for my performance as Sandy Lester, Dustin Hoffman’s neurotic, struggling actress girlfriend, in ‘Tootsie.’ Under Sydney Pollack’s direction, ‘Tootsie’ had been a runaway hit starring Dustin as an unemployed actor who pretends to be a woman in order to land a role in a soap opera.

I barely ever watch TV, but when I do, I usually only watch MTV shows, like ‘The Real World Sydney.’

Actually, Sydney is my second favourite city on earth, I love Sydney, but this is the greatest.

I’m a gypsy at heart. I have a little triangle where I tend to go, which is between Sydney, Los Angeles, and London, and I’m happy with that at the moment.

What is really important for us in Sydney is to make sure every community is treated the same.

Land values are going up a lot in Sydney, but it’s feasible to build because prices are going up, too.

When I say I gave it my all in Sydney, I really did.

In Sydney, it’s not sustainable to have 41 council entities.

If 30 Australians drowned in Sydney Harbour, it would be a national tragedy. But when 30 or more refugees drown off the Australian coast, it is a political question.

The moment my doctor told me, I went silent. My mum and dad were with me, then we all went to pieces. I was saying, No, I’ve got my flight to Sydney in two hours. I’m getting on a plane.

At one point, I was thinking about going to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, but then I realized it’s actually not what I wanted to do.

Part of my childhood was spent in Sydney and part in rural New South Wales, at Armidale.

One of the great things about Sydney is that it has a great acceptance of everyone and everything. It’s an incredibly tolerant city, a city with a huge multicultural basis.

I turned up my nose at yoga for years. I was a rugby player growing up. But now I know. When I’m on those long international flights, like 22 hours from L.A. to Sydney, I’ll get up sometimes and do yoga in the aisle just to stretch out a little bit.

I don’t rehearse with my actors… the first rehearsal is the first time we turn the camera on… Sydney Pollack never rehearsed his actors, and I found out that’s allowed… so you film reactions; you don’t create them.

Los Angeles, the sun shines a lot, and it’s blue, and there’s palm trees; it’s a bit like Sydney, I guess, but the underbelly is a vicious, mean, cruel, awful place.

As far as I’m concerned, Cate Blanchett is a goddess, but she’s really down to earth. She’s got all those Oscars, she’s made all those amazing films and she could spend her whole life doing that, but what does she also do? She gives birth to three boys and creates her own theatre in Sydney.

I discovered yoga in Sydney during my ‘chubby’ phase at this school on the beach that taught ashtanga-hatha flow. I gradually moved towards ashtanga, going beyond the primary level, which is a feat in itself, and even did an internship as I thought I wanted to become a yoga teacher.

I remember I once had a meeting with Sydney Pollack and the playwright Tom Stoppard, and they thought I was English. I said, ‘I’m just from the Valley!’ Just from the San Fernando Valley!

No one I knew in Sydney was thinking about how they might come to America and become a movie star. That would be considered delusions of grandeur. My parents were supportive, though. They just told me to keep at it as long as I was having fun.

I was unsure if people would like the music of Kabali’ and had even booked tickets to Sydney on the day of its release. I didn’t want people to come and throw stones at my house!

I grew up in Pittwater, north of Sydney; Elvina Bay, Scotland Island area. I had to go to school by boat. To get to the mainland, we had to go by boat, so it was just a way of life.

I spent my first five years in Canberra then moved to Sydney, where I moved around the Hills District until the age of 18.

I grew up in Sydney, Australia, and I started doing acting classes when I was in eighth grade.

I was shocked when I moved to Sydney how very few indigenous people I came across. And so when I go to places like Maroubra or Redfern or Waterloo or Erskineville, I feel more at home because of the people I’m around – anywhere I can see a face that reflects someone that looks like my family, I feel much more at home.

I kind of assumed all of Australia was like the Gold Coast – so I was telling people Australians just work out and go to the beach. Like, Australia has it figured out! But then I went to Sydney, and it was nothing like the Gold Coast – but I still loved it.

Sydney has taken my money, Melbourne has my respect, but Adelaide has taken my heart; I shall return.

I basically sat around unemployed in Sydney for three years straight, and the two things that saved me were the rugby league and my dog.

I grew up in Sydney in a very political household, where we were all for the underdog.

When I was 23, I went backpacking around Australia for three months. I saved up a few grand, quit my job and flew to Sydney, then went to Melbourne and up the East Coast, which was an incredible experience. I remember running out of money and getting my mum to send me a few hundred quid, which helped me get by.

The government should spend more time on promoting tourism in Sydney.

Men and women of western Sydney, it’s appropriate, you apparently believe, that Australia’s oldest surviving Prime Minister should make the concluding remarks in Australia’s oldest surviving Government House. I hope the building’s foundations are a bit more substantial than mine.

After that first month in Sydney, I went home for two weeks. I didn’t want to ever go back because it was so hard.

Sydney is rather like an arrogant lover. When it rains it can deny you its love and you can find it hard to relate to. It’s not a place that’s built to be rainy or cold. But when the sun comes out, it bats its eyelids, it’s glamorous, beautiful, attractive, smart, and it’s very hard to get away from its magnetic pull.

I did organize something in high school like a school walkout. These kids were locked up in their school, they weren’t allowed out, but 3,000 school kids from Sydney walked out and protested. And I organized it from my mom’s office at work. And I was 12.

I knew I was going to be a journalist when I was eight years old and I saw the printing presses rolling at the Sydney newspaper where my dad worked as a proofreader.

I think that episode in the third season was great. I’m really glad that we did that. He got to sleep with Sydney and kill Evil Francie and go on a mission and pretend he’s a rock star.

It’s definitely good to play out of my comfort zone, especially in the Sydney Premier League which is one of the toughest leagues in the world.

Western countries are thoroughly accustomed to being the centre of global attention, which they have come to regard as their natural birthright. Not so China. It was thwarted in its attempt to hold the 2000 Olympics, which, as a result of American-led pressure, was awarded to Sydney.

I was first in Sydney in 1993, and have been a few times since then. For someone who didn’t know Australia, it came as a shock how intelligent, interesting and funny the people were. If I lived there I might see it differently, but as a visitor it was a lot of fun.

My last real race was at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000.

In Nova Scotia, there are some definite down-home accents, and it’s funny because you can go to Sydney, and one guy is from North Sydney, and you can’t understand a thing he’s saying, or Glace Bay or wherever.

I saw ‘The Wild Duck’ at the Belvoir St. Theatre in Sydney, and it was one of the best pieces of theatre I’d ever seen.

No, ‘Point Break’ for me – growing up on the beaches of Sydney as a surfer, it was kind of the movie that we watched every week. For me to be Johnny Utah, I’m beside myself.

At first I moved from Sydney to Melbourne, because most of the comedy was shot in Melbourne, and then from Melbourne to Los Angeles – and you have to sacrifice stuff.

Sometimes his methods are questionable, and even his morals are questionable, but his intention is always to protect Sydney. So in that way I think he’s a good parent.

There’s an ease that I have living in Australia. The best things about Sydney are free: the sunshine’s free, and the harbour’s free, and the beach is free.

You have a character who is wearing a scarf on her head on a billboard in LA, New York, Sydney and Melbourne. That’s how I would face barriers being thrown at me.

As a result of the asthma I was sent to school in the country, and only visited Sydney for brief, violently asthmatic sojourns on my way to a house we owned in the Blue Mountains.

I’ve changed Sydney. It’s my city, my people. I’m theirs. We belong to each other.

The great thing about coming to Melbourne is that people talk about Sydney being the food capital but Melbourne is a lot more; it has that residential feel, a feeling of homeliness. When you go to restaurants, it’s known as a creative, artistic city. That’s what you get with the food.

For me, back in Sydney, it was just being there and going out and beating Alexander Karelin, 13-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist. It was everything for me.

Kuala Lumpur was my first ever multi-sports games. I didn’t do very well but the experience and enjoyment I had of those games really made me realize how much work I had to do and inspired me to work harder for the Sydney Olympics.

After a year of post-graduate research, I won an 1851 Exhibition scholarship to work at Oxford with Robert Robinson. Two such scholarships were awarded each year, and the other was won by Rita Harradence, also of Sydney and also an organic chemist.

When I was a teenager, me and a couple of my friends entered a couple of modeling competitions just for fun, and one of those got me an agent in Sydney.

Sydney is a very good market for us – we have a very strong following here.

I didn’t really like my Sydney accent – nobody likes the sound of their own voice – and when I was a little younger tried to change my accent gradually. But I’ve only ever really lived in Sydney and Los Angeles, so I haven’t been influenced by the accents of some far-off land.

I remember watching the 2000 Sydney Olympics, with my nose right up to the screen, knowing there and then that I wanted a sporting career.

My first five years on this planet were spent in Sudan and Zambia and after a short stint in London my family finally settled in Sydney. Right off the bat I knew I was different from the other kids.

I’d love to do Broadway or the West End. I’m sure doing eight shows a week is gruelling, but I did a lot of stage shows in Sydney and I love performing live.

The food in Sydney is an Asian Pacific cuisine. It’s eclectic but above all it’s fresh, inventive and creative and that’s what I love about it.

Sydney’s beautiful, the weather’s great, and the air’s fresh and clean, but it doesn’t have the scene and the amount of likeminded people. At home, things are very comfortable, but I feel like putting myself out there a bit.

Sydney has the world’s best swimming pool. Walk through the Botanical Gardens and you come to the Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton Pool on Mrs Macquaries Road, with incredible views of Finger Wharf and the Harbour.

I was a civil engineer in Sydney, I liked to re-do old houses.

The Sydney Cricket Ground is my favourite ground in the world, my home ground, and growing up in the bush all I wanted was to play at the SCG.

Anyway, when I was a kid, I dutifully went to the Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College.

Being a young Kiwi lad, a young Polynesian boy, I was pretty close to my family. But when I moved to Sydney, I went from training twice a week, playing touch footy with my mates, to working full-time as a labourer and training professionally.

I come from the rougher side of Sydney. I don’t know whether you can compare them to the projects, but in Australia, it definitely is the rougher side.

Living in Sydney, I’ve taken the chance to start surfing again. One of my best memories of growing up is catching my first proper wave and surfing across it and my brother cheering at me from the shore.

I’m the son of an everyman. My father is a teacher. He teaches physics at a boys’ school in Sydney.

I wanted to have the opportunity to travel to Vietnam and Sydney, and have the chance to work there.

It is completely surreal because two years ago I wasn’t swimming, I was 10 kilos heavier and was on a completely different path in my life, I was still living in Sydney, I’m just so happy now.

If you put 20 cents in me and ask me to talk about South Sydney, I’ll play all night.

I am trying to get used to living in Sydney and it is not really happening so I might have to get a house in Adelaide somewhere.

My father went to boarding school in Sydney when he was 14.

I think the thing that L.A. had on Sydney is an awesome music scene, especially for what I do.

People sometimes forget that Sydney is a harbour and it’s the ferries that make it unique.

New York City is the financial capital of the world. The Dodd-Frank Act, I think, is going to change that. It’s going to send jobs to London and Geneva and Hong Kong and Sydney instead of keeping New York the financial center of the world.

I’d really like to go Sydney. I’ve been to Australia a few times, but I have never been there.

I studied law at university and wanted to go on a working holiday in Sydney. I got a job at the Sydney Morning Herald and later on a TV station, and that was that. I stayed there for four years.

I have a few homes. I have my family home in Adelaide where my parents and my brothers and sisters are, and I have a few friends and my place where I used to live in Sydney, and then my husband and our family in London, so… I’m from everywhere and nowhere.