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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

• “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

• “The Unseasonable man is one who will go up to a busy person, and open his heart to him. He will serenade his mistress when she has a fever. He will address himself to a man who has been cast in a surety-suit, and request him to become his security. He will come to give evidence when the trial is over.”

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

  Recorded in: Characters, ch. 9 (12); translation from R. C. Jebb and J. E. Sandys (trans.), The Characters of Theophrastus (London: Macmillan, 1909), p. 75.

• “That which exercises reason is more excellent than that which does not exercise reason; there is nothing more excellent than the universe, therefore the universe exercises reason.”

  Zeno of Citium (334–263 BC) said by 263 BC at the latest wikiquote, 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)

• “Qui stadium currit, eniti et contendere debet, quam maxime possit, ut vincat; supplantare eum, quocum certer, aut manu depellere nullo modo debet. Sic in vita sibi quemque petere quod pertineat ad usum, non iniquum est: alteri deripere ius non est.”

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

  Recorded in: SVF III 689; Cicero, De Officiis, III.42 (tr. A. P. Peabody, 1887)

• “[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

• “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.

• “Emil Bährens, Fragmenta Poetarum Romanorum (Leipzig, 1886), p. 287”

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

• “Whatever good deeds have been done by me, those the people accept and those they follow. Therefore they have progressed and will continue to progress by being respectful to mother and father, respectful to elders, by courtesy to the aged and proper behavior towards Brahmans and ascetics, towards the poor and distressed, and even towards servants and employees.”

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

• “ὑπαλείφεται τὰς ῥῖνας· ὑγιείας μέρος μέγιστον ὀσμὰς ἐγκεφάλῳ χρηστὰς ποιεῖν.”

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

  Recorded in: Frg. 195.2–3 K.-A. (tr. C. D. Yonge, 1854); cf. Posidonius

• “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

• “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

• “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)

• “ἔργον εὑρεῖν συγγενῆ πένητός ἐστιν· οὐδὲ εἷς γὰρ ὁμολογεῖ αὑτῷ προσήκειν τὸν βοηθείας τινὸς δεόμενον, αἰτεῖσθαι γὰρ ἅμα τι προσδοκᾷ.”

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

  Recorded in: Frg. 9 K.-A., Adelphoi (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1864)

• “But we, the great, the valiant, and the wise, When once the seal of death has closed our eyes, Lost in the hollow tomb obscure and deep, Slumber, to wake no more, one long unbroken sleep!”

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

• “When all within the four seas have been put in their proper places, [the sage] sits in darkness to observe the light. When those to his left and right have taken their places, he opens the gate to face the world. He changes nothing, alters nothing, but acts with the two handles of reward and punishment, acts and never ceases: this is what is called walking the path of principle.”

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

  Recorded in: Wielding Power", in Han Feizi: Basic Writings (2003)

• “荃者所以在魚，得魚而忘荃；蹄者所以在兔，得兔而忘蹄；言者所以在意，得意而忘言。吾安得忘言之人而與之言哉！”

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

  Recorded in: Ch. 26 莊子/外物 (tr. Burton Watson, 1968)

• “Proposition 1. Two equal spheres are comprehended by one and the same cylinder, and two unequal spheres by one and the same cone which has its vertex in the direction of the lesser sphere; and the straight line drawn through the centres of the spheres is at right angles to each of the circles in which the surface of the cylinder, or of the cone, touches the spheres.”

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

• “Εἰ δ᾽ ἄγε νῦν, Ἐρατώ, παρά θ᾽ ἵστασο, καί μοι ἔνισπε, ἔνθεν ὅπως ἐς Ἰωλκὸν ἀνήγαγε κῶας Ἰήσων Μηδείης ὑπ᾽ ἔρωτι.”

  Apollonius of Rhodes (295–215 BC) said by 215 BC at the latest wikiquote, 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.

• “We must consider both the ultimate end and all clear sensory evidence, to which we refer our opinions; for otherwise everything will be full of uncertainty and confusion. (22)”

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

• “Any segment of a right-angled conoid (i.e., a paraboloid of revolution) cut off by a plane at right angles to the axis is 1½ times the cone which has the same base and the same axis as the segment”

  Archimedes (287–212 BC) said by 212 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)

• “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