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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 300 and 201 BC

• “Be immeasurably great, be unfathomably deep; make certain that names and results tally, examine laws and customs, punish those who act willfully, and the state will be without traitors.”

  Han Fei (280–233 BC) said by 233 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Way of the Ruler", in Han Feizi: Basic Writings (2003)

• “天下共苦戰鬥不休，以有侯王。賴宗廟，天下初定，又復立國，是樹兵也，而求其寧息，豈不難哉！”

  Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BC) said by 210 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “All men are my children. What I desire for my own children, and I desire their welfare and happiness both in this world and the next, that I desire for all men. You do not understand to what extent I desire this, and if some of you do understand, you do not understand the full extent of my desire.”

  Ashoka (304–232 BC) said by 232 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A wise man, who puts himself under the government of reason, will be able to receive an injury with calmness, and to treat the person who committed it with lenity; for he will rank injuries among the casual events of life, and will prudently reflect that he can no more stop the natural current of human passions, than he can curb the stormy winds.”

  Epicurus (342–270 BC) said by 270 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “ἐς Τροίαν πειρώμενοι ἦνθον Ἀχαιοί, καλλίστα παίδων· πείρᾳ θην πάντα τελεῖται.”

  Theocritus (401–260 BC) said by 260 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: XV.61–62 (tr. A. S. F. Gow, 1952)

• “السعادة هي التدفق الرائع للحياة.”

  زينون الرواقي (334–263 BC) said by 263 BC at the latest wikiquote:ar, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “No one entrusts a secret to a drunken man; but one will entrust a secret to a good man; therefore, the good man will not get drunk.”

  Zeno of Citium (334–263 BC) said by 263 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Ναυηγοῦ τάφος εἰμί: σὺ δὲ πλέε: καὶ γὰρ ὅθ᾽ ἡμεῖς ὠλλύμεθ᾽, αἱ λοιπαὶ νῆες ἐποντοπόρουν.”

  Theodoridas of Syracuse (301–261 BC) said by 261 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Palatine Anthology, bk. 7, no. 282 (ed. W. R. Paton, vol. 2, 1917)

• “And now, from somewhere in the bowels of the earth, from the smoky stronghold where they slept, the pair of bulls appeared, breathing flames of fire. The Argonauts were terrified at the sight. But Jason planting his feet apart stood to receive them... He held his shield in front of him, and the two bulls, bellowing loudly, charged and butted it with their strong horns...”

  Apollonius of Rhodes (295–215 BC) said by 215 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Lines 1289–1294 and 1296–1297

• “世溷浊而嫉贤兮，好蔽美而称恶。”

  Qu Yuan (343–278 BC) said by 278 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “ἅπαντα τὰ ζητούμεν᾿ ἐξευρίσκεται, ἂν μὴ προαποστῇς μηδὲ τὸν πόνον φύγῃς. ὅπου γὰρ εὑρήκασιν ἄνθρωποί τινες μέρος τι τῶν θείων, τοσούτῳ τῷ τόπῳ ἀπέχοντες, ἄστρων ἐπιτολάς, δύσεις, τροπάς, ἔκλειψιν ἡλίου· τί τῶν κοινῶν ⟨κάτω⟩ καὶ συγγενικῶν δύναιτ᾿ ἂν ἄνθρωπον φυγεῖν;”

  Alexis (372–270 BC) said by 270 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Frg. 31 K.-A. (tr. T. F. Higham, 1938)

• “οὐχ αἱ τρίχες ποιοῦσιν αἱ λευκαὶ φρονεῖν.”

  Menander (341–291 BC) said by 291 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Καλλίμαχος ὁ γραμματικὸς τὸ μέγα βιβλίον ἴσον ἔλεγεν εἶναι τῷ μεγάλῳ κακῷ.”

  Callimachus (306–240 BC) said by 240 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Fr. 465 (tr. S. Douglas Olson, 2007)

• “Non est regia [inquit Euclides] ad Geometriam via.”

  Euclid (334–285 BC) said by 285 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Greek is from Proclus (412–485 AD) in his Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements, the Latin translation is by Francesco Barozzi (1560), the English translation follows Glenn R. Morrow (1970), p. 57.

• “All Indians are free, and not one of them is a slave.”

  Megasthenes (351–291 BC) said by 291 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Superstition would seem to be simply cowardice in regard to the supernatural.”

  Theophrastus (371–287 BC) said by 287 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Characters, ch. 28 (16); translation from R. C. Jebb and J. E. Sandys (trans.), The Characters of Theophrastus (London: Macmillan, 1909), p. 139.

• “Weep not for me: suffering, as I do, unjustly, I am in a happier case than my murderers.”

  Agis IV (265–241 BC) said by 241 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: To one of his executioners, whom he noticed weeping, as quoted in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1844) by WIlliam Smith, p. 73.

• “Ὀψὲ δὲ αὐτῷ γεωμετροῦντι λέγει τις, "εἶτα νῦν καιρός;" "εἶτα μηδὲ νῦν.”

  Lacydes of Cyrene (301–205 BC) said by 205 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Translated by C. D. Yonge (1853)

• “Smooth are his words, his voice as honey sweet, Yet war is in his heart, and dark deceit!”

  Moschus (201–201 BC) said by 201 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Seseque i perire mavolunt ibidem quam cum stupro redire ad suos popularis.”

  Gnaeus Naevius (275–201 BC) said by 201 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “They who accord with Heaven are preserved, and they who rebel against Heaven perish.”

  Mencius (372–289 BC) said by 289 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Τὰν ἐκφυγοῦσαν ματρὸς ἐκ κόλπων, ἔτι ἀφρῷ τε μορμύρουσαν, εὐλεχῆ Κύπριν ἰδὼν Ἀπελλῆς, κάλλος ἱμερώτατον, οὐ γραπτόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔμψυχον ἐξεμάξατο. εὖ μὲν γὰρ ἄκραις χερσὶν ἐκθλίβει κόμαν, εὖ δ᾽ ὀμμάτων γαληνὸς ἐκλάμπει πόθος, καὶ μαζός, ἀκμῆς ἄγγελος, κυδωνιᾷ: αὐτὰ δ᾽ Ἀθάνα καὶ Διὸς συνευνέτις φάσουσιν ‘ὦ Ζεῦ, λειπόμεσθα τῇ κρίσει.’”

  Leonidas of Tarentum (320–260 BC) said by 260 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Anthologia Palatina, xvi, 182, "On the of ", as translated by Charles Whibley, Selections from the Greek Anthology (1895), p. 119.

• “He who knows what is of God and who knows what is of Man has reached indeed the height (of wisdom).”

  Zhuangzi (369–288 BC) said by 288 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Ch. 6 (tr. Lin Yutang, 1942)

• “εἰ δέ γε ᾔδειν ὅτι νοσεῖν μοι καθείμαρται νῦν, καὶ ὥρμων ἂν ἐπ᾿ αὐτό. καὶ γὰρ ὁ ποῦς, εἰ φρένας εἶχεν, ὥρμα ἂν ἐπὶ τὸ πηλοῦσθαι.”

  Chrysippus (281–208 BC) said by 208 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: SVF III 191; Epictetus, Discourses, II.6.10 (tr. G. Long, 1952)