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Famous quotes

Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

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Said between 100 and 1 BC

• “Bear in mind, that if through toil you accomplish a good deed, that toil will quickly pass from you, the good deed will not leave you so long as you live; but if through pleasure you do anything dishonourable, the pleasure will quickly pass away, that dishonourable act will remain with you for ever.”

  Cato the Younger (95–46 BC) said by 46 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: John C. Rolfe, ed. The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Vol. 3, LCL 212 (1928), p. 131

• “Alea iacta est.”

  Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) first seen 49 BC wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Said when crossing the river Rubicon with his legions on 10 January, 49 BC, thus beginning the civil war with the forces of Pompey. The Rubicon river was the boundary of Gaul, the province Caesar had the authority to ke…

  Also quoted by: Gaio Giulio Cesare (it), Gaius Iulius Caesar (la)

• “Te propter nullos tellus tua postulat imbres, arida nec pluvio supplicat herba Iovi.”

  Tibullus (51–16 BC) said by 16 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Aut patrio qualis ponit vestigia ponto Mille Venus teneris cincta Cupidinibus.”

  Propertius (47–16 BC) said by 16 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Autumn wind rises, white clouds fly. Grass and trees wither; geese go south.”

  Emperor Wu of Han (156–87 BC) first seen 127 BC wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Autumn Wind 127 BC (translated by Arthur Waley), Dictionary of Quotations, Chambers: Edinburgh, U.K, 2005, p. 930

• “There are never any occasions when you need think yourself safe because you wield the weapons of Fortune; fight with your own! Fortune does not furnish arms against herself; hence men equipped against their foes are unarmed against Fortune herself.”

  Posidonius (135–51 BC) said by 51 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full.”

  Sulla (138–78 BC) said by 78 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: His self-made epitaph, as quoted in Will Durant, Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age (2001). Variant: ". . . nor enemy harmed me". Paraphrase: "No better f…

• “Nam risu inepto res ineptior nulla est.”

  Catullus (84–54 BC) said by 54 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “To sail is necessary, to live is not.”

  Pompey (106–48 BC) said by 48 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “He [King Philip] wanted as many Greeks as possible to take part in the festivities in honour of the gods, and so planned brilliant musical contests and lavish banquets for his friends and guests. Out of all Greece he summoned his personal guest-friends and ordered the members of his court to bring along as many as they could of their acquaintances from abroad.”

  Diodorus Siculus (90–20 BC) said by 20 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 16.91.5-6, translated by C. Bradford Welles, LCL 422 (1963), p. 91

• “Οὐκέτι παφλάζοντα διαΐσσων βυθὸν ἅλμης δελφίς, πτοιήσεις εἰναλίων ἀγέλας, οὐδὲ πολυτρήτοιο μέλος καλάμοιο χορεύων ὑγρὸν ἀναρρίψεις ἅλμα παρὰ σκαφίσιν οὐδὲ σὺ γ᾽, ἀφρηστά, Νηρηίδας ὡς πρὶν ἀείρων νώτοις πορθμεύσεις Τηθύος εἰς πέρατα. ἦ γὰρ ἴσον; πρηῶνι Μαλείης ὡς ἐκυκήθη, κῦμα πολυψάμμους ὦσέ σ᾿ ἐπὶ ψαμάθους.”

  Aulus Licinius Archias (121–61 BC) said by 61 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Anthologia Palatina, vii, 214; "A Stranded Dolphin", as translated by A. J. Butler, Amaranth and Asphodel (1922), p. 46

• “Marmoreo Licinus tumulo jacet, at Cato parvo, Pompeius nullo. Quis putet esse deos? Saxa premunt Licinum, levat altum Fama Catonem, Pompeium tituli. Credimus esse deos.”

  Varro Atacinus (82–36 BC) said by 36 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The first two lines are an epigram from the Latin Anthology in reference to the magnificent tomb of one Licinus, the slave and steward of Julius Caesar. The two lines in answer are of more recent origin. — H. T. Riley, …

• “Sed abiit in sodalicium sacrilegi Nigidiani.”

  Nigidius Figulus (98–45 BC) said by 45 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: See: Federico Santangelo, "Whose Sacrilege? A Note on Sal. 5.14", The Classical World, vol. 104, no. 3 (2011), pp. 333–38

• “Nam idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est.”

  Sallust (86–35 BC) said by 35 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Ἁ φίλερως χαροποῖς Ἀσκληπιὰς οἷα γαλήνης ὄμμασι συμπείθει πάντας ἐρωτοπλοεῖν.”

  Meleager of Gadara (151–51 BC) said by 51 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: ("Love’s Mariners") W. G. Headlam, A Book of Greek Verse (1907), pp. 226-7.

• “余嘗西至空峒，北過涿鹿，東漸於海，南浮江淮矣，至長老皆各往往稱黃帝、堯、舜之處，風教固殊焉，總之不離古文者近是。”

  Sima Qian (145–86 BC) said by 86 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Νυκτερινή, δίκερως, φιλοπάννυχε, φαῖνε, Σελήνη, φαῖνε, δι᾽ εὐτρήτων βαλλομένη θυρίδων αὔγαζε χρυσέην Καλλίστιον ἐς τὰ φιλεύντων ἔργα κατοπτεύειν οὐ φθόνος ἀθανάτῃ. ὀλβίζεις καὶ τήνδε καὶ ἡμέας, οἶδα, Σελήνη: καὶ γὰρ σὴν ψυχὴν ἔφλεγεν Ἐνδυμίων.”

  Philodemus of Gadara (110–35 BC) said by 35 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: J. A. Symonds Jr., Studies of the Greek Poets (1873), p. 380:

• “Tene magis salvum populus velit an populum tu? servet in ambiguo, qui consulit et tibi et Urbi, Iuppiter.”

  Lucius Varius Rufus (74–14 BC) said by 14 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: From Panegyricus Augusti, quoted by Horace, Epistles, I, xvi, 27; , Satires, Epistles and Ars Poëtica (1869); see also: Norbert Guterman, A Book of Latin Quotations (1966), p. 118

• “He was dispos'd to mirth; but on the sudden A Roman thought hath struck him.”

  Cleopatra (69–30 BC) said by 30 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Vitare, plagas in amoris ne iaciamur, non ita difficile est quam captum retibus ipsis exire et validos Veneris perrumpere nodos.”

  Lucretius (94–55 BC) said by 55 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Lines 1146–1148 (tr. Munro)

• “Go and get accurate information about the child. As soon as you have found him, report to me, so that I too may go & honor him.”

  Herod the Great (74–4 BC) said by 4 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Some springs are acid, as at Lyncestus and in Italy in the Velian country, at Teano in Campania, and in many other places. These when used in drinks have the power of breaking up stones in the bladder, which form in the human body.”

  Vitruvius (80–15 BC) said by 15 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Your councils be long, your doings be slow, consider the end.”

  Marcus Junius Brutus (85–42 BC) said by 42 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source