Quotes API

What Can You Do with the Quotes API?

• Access Quote of the Day in 500+ categories
• Create and host your own Quote of the Day service with custom categories
• Search and retrieve quotes by author, tags, or length
• Store and retrieve your own private quotes on the They Said So platform
• Create curated quote collections with QShows
• Generate beautiful quote images, or use your own fonts and backgrounds

API Endpoint

The base endpoint for all API calls when you subscribe directly from us:

https://quotes.rest/

Authentication

Some endpoints are public and can be accessed without authentication (rate-limited to 10 calls/hour). For private endpoints and higher rate limits, set a request header:

Authorization: Bearer <your_api_key>

Alternatively, pass api_key=<key> as a query parameter — though this is discouraged as it exposes your key in server logs and browser history.

Response Formats

Choose your response format by appending the appropriate extension to the URL:

GET https://quotes.rest/qod.json

GET https://quotes.rest/qod.xml

GET https://quotes.rest/qod.js

Rate Limits

The public API is rate-limited to 10 calls per hour. Subscribing to a paid plan increases your limit significantly:

Quote of the Day public rate limited

Get the Quote of the Day via REST API — inspiring, management, life, funny, and many more categories available. The same quote is returned for the full calendar day.

GET https://quotes.rest/qod?category=inspire

A successful response looks like:

{
  "success": { "total": 1 },
  "contents": {
    "quotes": [
      {
        "quote": "The only way to do great work is to love what you do.",
        "author": "Steve Jobs",
        "length": "52",
        "language": "en",
        "tags": ["inspire","work"],
        "id": "rkWseAMW3C9NlW-IHHZ1igeF",
        "category": "inspire",
        "date": "2026-08-04"
      }
    ]
  },
  "copyright": {
    "url": "https://theysaidso.com",
    "year": "2026"
  }
}

Code Samples

<?php

$apiKey = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
$url    = 'https://quotes.rest/qod.json?category=inspire';

$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => [
        'Content-Type: application/json',
        "X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret: {$apiKey}",
    ],
]);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$data  = json_decode($response, true);
$quote = $data['contents']['quotes'][0];
echo $quote['quote'] . ' — ' . $quote['author'];

import requests

api_key = 'YOUR_API_KEY'
url     = 'https://quotes.rest/qod.json?category=inspire'
headers = {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret': api_key,
}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
quote    = response.json()['contents']['quotes'][0]
print(f"{quote['quote']} — {quote['author']}")

const apiKey = 'YOUR_API_KEY';

const res   = await fetch('https://quotes.rest/qod.json?category=inspire', {
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret': apiKey,
  },
});
const data  = await res.json();
const quote = data.contents.quotes[0];
console.log(`${quote.quote} — ${quote.author}`);

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
)

func main() {
    req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://quotes.rest/qod.json?category=inspire", nil)
    req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
    req.Header.Set("X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret", "YOUR_API_KEY")

    resp, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    var result map[string]any
    json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&result)

    contents := result["contents"].(map[string]any)
    quotes   := contents["quotes"].([]any)
    q        := quotes[0].(map[string]any)
    fmt.Printf("%s — %s\n", q["quote"], q["author"])
}

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        var client  = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
        var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create("https://quotes.rest/qod.json?category=inspire"))
            .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .header("X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret", "YOUR_API_KEY")
            .build();

        var response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(response.body());
    }
}

QOD Categories

To list all available QOD categories:

GET https://quotes.rest/qod/categories

Random Quotes

Retrieve a random quote from the database. Filter by author, tag, or length. Use the limit parameter to get multiple quotes per call (up to your plan's bulk limit).

GET https://quotes.rest/quote/random.json?limit=1

A successful response looks like:

{
  "success": { "total": 1 },
  "contents": {
    "quotes": [
      {
        "quote": "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.",
        "author": "Albert Einstein",
        "length": "50",
        "language": "en",
        "tags": ["difficulty","opportunity"],
        "id": "e4x7MLKW3C9NlW-IHZ1igeF"
      }
    ]
  },
  "copyright": {
    "url": "https://theysaidso.com",
    "year": "2026"
  }
}

Code Samples

<?php

$apiKey = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
$url    = 'https://quotes.rest/quote/random.json?limit=1';

$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ["X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret: {$apiKey}"],
]);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$data  = json_decode($response, true);
$quote = $data['contents']['quotes'][0];
echo $quote['quote'] . ' — ' . $quote['author'];

import requests

api_key = 'YOUR_API_KEY'
url     = 'https://quotes.rest/quote/random.json?limit=1'
headers = {'X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret': api_key}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
quote    = response.json()['contents']['quotes'][0]
print(f"{quote['quote']} — {quote['author']}")

const apiKey = 'YOUR_API_KEY';

const res   = await fetch('https://quotes.rest/quote/random.json?limit=1', {
  headers: { 'X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret': apiKey },
});
const data  = await res.json();
const quote = data.contents.quotes[0];
console.log(`${quote.quote} — ${quote.author}`);

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
)

func main() {
    req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://quotes.rest/quote/random.json?limit=1", nil)
    req.Header.Set("X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret", "YOUR_API_KEY")

    resp, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    var result map[string]any
    json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&result)

    contents := result["contents"].(map[string]any)
    quotes   := contents["quotes"].([]any)
    q        := quotes[0].(map[string]any)
    fmt.Printf("%s — %s\n", q["quote"], q["author"])
}

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        var client  = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
        var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create("https://quotes.rest/quote/random.json?limit=1"))
            .header("X-TheySaidSo-Api-Secret", "YOUR_API_KEY")
            .build();

        var response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(response.body());
    }
}

Quote Search

Search quotes by author, tag, query string, or minimum/maximum length. The limit parameter controls how many results are returned (up to your plan's bulk limit).

GET https://quotes.rest/quote/search.json?query=courage&limit=3

CORS

The API sends Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * for all requests, allowing browser-side JavaScript to call the API directly. However, this exposes your API key in client-side code. We strongly recommend a server-side proxy for any public-facing application.