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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

• “Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, comes of Her own accord where fools are not respected, grain is well stored up, and the husband and wife do not quarrel.”

  Chanakya (375–283 BC) said by 283 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I have collected all the writings of the Empire and burnt those which were of no use.”

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

  Recorded in: As quoted in The Tyrants: 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption (2006) by Clive Foss, p. 10, ISBN 1905204965

• “Two magnitudes whether commensurable or incommensurable, balance at distances reciprocally proportional to the magnitudes.”

  Archimedes (287–212 BC) said by 212 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Fato Metelli Romae fiunt consules.”

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

  Recorded in: W. Beare, The Roman Stage, 3rd ed. (1964), p. 40:

• “Ἐπισκήπτειν μὲν ἔχειν οὐδέν, πλὴν ὅτι πολλὰ τῶν ἡδέων ὁ βίος διὰ τὴν δόξαν καταλαζονεύεται. Ἡμεῖς γὰρ ὁπότ' ἀρχόμεθα ζῆν, τότ' ἀποθνῄσκομεν. Οὐδὲν οὖν ἀλυσιτελέστερόν ἐστι φιλοδοξίας.”

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

  Recorded in: Quoted by Diogenes Laërtius; translation from C. D. Yonge (trans.), The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (London: H. G. Bohn, 1853), p. 196.

• “[Their] law ordains that no one among them shall, under any circumstances, be a slave, but that, enjoying freedom, they shall respect the equal right to it which all possess: for it is but fair and reasonable to institute laws which bind all equally, but allow property to bo unevenly distributed.”

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

• “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

• “J. C. Rolfe, The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Vol. 1, LCL 195 (1927), p. 204”

  Laevius (151–201 BC) said by 201 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “ἴσον ἐστὶ τὸ κατ᾿ ἀρετὴν ζῆν τῷ κατ᾿ ἐμπειρίαν τῶν φύσει συμβαινόντων ζῆν.”

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

  Recorded in: SVF III 4; Diogenes Laërtius, VII.87 (tr. R. D. Hicks, 1925)

• “Schlimm ist der Zwang, doch es gibt keinen Zwang, unter Zwang zu leben." - Sprüche in: Briefe, Sprüche, Werkfragmente”

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

• “Heureka!" (dt. "Ich hab's (gefunden)!") - Der Ausruf ist nach einer von Plutarch und Vitruv überlieferten Anekdote berühmt geworden, derzufolge Archimedes von Syrakus unbekleidet und laut »Heureka!« rufend durch die Stadt gelaufen sein soll, nachdem er in der Badewanne das nach ihm benannte »Archimedische Prinzip« entdeckt hatte.”

  Archimedes (287–212 BC) said by 212 BC at the latest wikiquote:de, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Nur der Mensch, der zu manchen Taten nicht fähig ist, ist fähig, Taten zu vollbringen.”

  Meng Zi (372–289 BC) said by 289 BC at the latest wikiquote:de, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “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.

• “To his friends he said that he thought the man who feared gibes and jeers was more of a coward than the one who ran away from the enemy.”

  Fabius Maximus (died 203 BC) said by 203 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Wer seine Geschäfte maschinenmäßig betreibt, der bekommt ein Maschinenherz." - Kapitel 12 (Himmel und Erde), Vers 11”

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

• “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)

• “Verzage nicht, auch bei allzugroßem Leid; vielleicht ist das Unglück die Quelle eines Glücks." - Fragmente, 306”

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

• “φωρὸς δ᾿ ἴχνια φὼρ ἔμαθον.”

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

  Recorded in: Epigram 43.6 (tr. R. A. Furness, G. M. Young, 1931)

• “Ἰαίνετο δὲ φρένας εἴσω τηκομένη, οἷόν τε περὶ ῥοδέῃσιν ἐέρση τήκεται ἠῴοισιν ἰαινομένη φαέεσσιν.”

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

  Recorded in: Lines 1019–1021

• “To govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong.”

  Han Fei (280–233 BC) said by 233 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.

• “Proposition 7. The distance of the sun from the earth is greater than eighteen times, but less than twenty times, the distance of the moon from the earth.”

  Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 BC) said by 230 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “知止乎其所不能知，至矣。若有不即是者，天鈞敗之。”

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

  Recorded in: Ch. 23, sect. 7 (tr. James Legge, 1891)

• “Was zu beweisen war." - Die Elemente”

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