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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 400 and 301 BC

• “Since the women were extraordinary in appearance, the men, who were completely overcome with their fond feeling (for them), the women treated violently or killed during sexual pleasure. We captured only two of these. Their complexion was snow-white, (and) like nymphs their hair spread over their backs.”

  Callisthenes (360–327 BC) said by 327 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: W. Boer, Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem (Meisenheim am Glan, 1973), p. 57; translation: L. Gunderson, Alexander’s Letter to Aristotle about India (Meisenheim am Glan, 1980), p. 156. Dated by Gunderson to between 308 …

• “πρὸς γὰρ τὸ τελευταῖον ἐκβὰν ἕκαστον τῶν προϋπαρξάντων κρίνεται.”

  Demosthenes (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: I.11 (tr. J. H. Vince, 1930)

• “Φείδῃ παρθενίης· καὶ τί πλέον; οὐ γὰρ ἐς Ἅιδην ἐλθοῦς᾽ εὑρήσεις τὸν φιλέοντα, κόρη. ἐν ζωοῖσι τὰ τερπνὰ τὰ Κύπριδος· ἐν δ᾽ Ἀχέροντι ὀστέα καὶ σποδιή, παρθένε, κεισόμεθα.”

  Asclepiades of Samos (320–301 BC) said by 301 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Anthologia Palatina, bk. 5, no. 85 (ed. & tr. W. R. Paton, vol. i, 1916, p. 169)

• “Όποιος φροντίζει για τον αδελφό του, φροντίζει για τον εαυτό του.”

  Ξενοφών (431–354 BC) said by 354 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “ὅπου γὰρ ἡ λεοντῆ μὴ ἐφικνεῖται, προσραπτέον ἐκεῖ τὴν ἀλωπεκῆν”

  Λύσανδρος (402–395 BC) said by 395 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Μην κρατάς την οργή σου αθάνατη, αφού είσαι θνητός.”

  Αριστοτέλης (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Τοσοῦτον δ' ἀπολέλοιπεν ἡ πόλις ἡμῶν περὶ τὸ φρονεῖν καὶ λέγειν τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους, ὥσθ' οἱ ταύτης μαθηταὶ τῶν ἄλλων διδάσκαλοι γεγόνασιν, καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὄνομα πεποίηκεν μηκέτι τοῦ γένους, ἀλλὰ τῆς διανοίας δοκεῖν εἶναι, καὶ μᾶλλον Ἕλληνας καλεῖσθαι τοὺς τῆς παιδεύσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας ἢ τοὺς τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως μετέχοντας.”

  Ισοκράτης (436–338 BC) said by 338 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When the slave auctioneer asked in what he was proficient, he replied, "In ruling people.”

  Diogenes of Sinope (400–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Whatever, in connection with my professional practice, or not in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret.”

  Hippocrates (460–370 BC) said by 370 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Ο χρόνος είναι η μορφή της αιωνιότητας”

  Διογένης (400–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “οἶνον σὺ τολμᾷς εἰς ἐπίνοιαν λοιδορεῖν; οἴνου γὰρ εὕροις ἄν τι πρακτικώτερον; ὁρᾷς, ὅταν πίνωσιν ἅνθρωποι, τότε πλουτοῦσι, διαπράττουσι, νικῶσιν δίκας, εὐδαιμονοῦσιν, ὠφελοῦσι τοὺς φίλους. ἀλλ᾿ ἐξένεγκέ μοι ταχέως οἴνου χοᾶ, τὸν νοῦν ἵν᾿ ἄρδω καὶ λέγω τι δεξιόν.”

  Aristophanes (445–385 BC) said by 385 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: : Do you dare to accuse wine of clouding the reason? Quote me more marvellous effects than those of wine. Look! when a man drinks, he is rich, everything he touches succeeds, he gains lawsuits, is happy and helps his fr…

• “The best friend is he that, when he wishes a person's good, wishes it for that person's own sake.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Men have made an idol of luck as an excuse for their own thoughtlessness. Luck seldom measures swords with wisdom. Most things in life quick wit and sharp vision can set right.”

  Democritus (461–361 BC) said by 361 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Magic consists of, and is acquired by the worship of the gods.”

  Plato (429–349 BC) said by 349 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Quoted by H.P. Blavatsky, in The Theosophical Glossary, (1892)

• “Άνθρωποι τύχης είδωλον επλάσαντο πρόφασιν ιδίης αβουλίης. Βαιά γαρ φρονήσει τύχη μάχεται, τα δε πλείστα εν βίω εξύνετος οξυδερκείη κατιθύνει.”

  Δημόκριτος (461–361 BC) said by 361 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “And Clitarchus and others say that in Carthage, during great prayers, they place a boy in the hands of Cronus (a bronze statue is set up, with outstretched hands, and under it a baking oven) and then put fire under; the boy shrunk by the fire seems to laugh.”

  Cleitarchus (401–301 BC) said by 301 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Άραγε Αθηναίοι, θα πιστεύατε πόσο μεγάλους κινδύνους διατρέχω για τη δική σας δόξα;”

  Μέγας Αλέξανδρος (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Επακόλουθο της αχαριστίας είναι η αναισχυντία”

  Λυσίας (445–380 BC) said by 380 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “τοὺς μὲν γὰρ λόγους οὐχ οἷόν τε καλῶς ἔχειν, ἢν μὴ τῶν καιρῶν καὶ τοῦ πρέποντος καὶ τοῦ καινῶς μετάσχωσιν, τοῖς δὲ γράμμασιν οὐδενὸς τούτων προσεδέησεν.”

  Isocrates (436–338 BC) said by 338 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Τὰς πόλεις ἀπόλλυσθαι, ὅταν μὴ δύνωνται τοὺς φαύλους ἀπὸ τῶν σπουδαίων διακρίνειν. - Αντισθένης, 5”

  Αντισθένης (445–365 BC) said by 365 BC at the latest wikiquote:el, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Hui Shih was a man of many devices and his writings would fill five carriages. But his doctrines were jumbled and perverse and his words wide of the mark. His way of dealing with things may be seen from these sayings:”

  Hui Shi (370–310 BC) said by 310 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “By day certainly the combatants have a clearer notion, though even then by no means of all that takes place, no one knowing much of anything that does not does not go on in his own immediate neighborhood; but in a night engagement (and this was the only one that occurred between great armies during the war) how could anyone know anything for certain?”

  Thucydides (461–395 BC) said by 395 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A general good at commanding troops is like one sitting in a leaking boat or lying under a burning roof. For there is no time for the wise to offer counsel nor the brave to be angry. All must come to grips with the enemy. And therefore it is said that of all the dangers in employing troops, timidity is the greatest and that the calamities which overtake an army arise from hesitation.”

  Wu Qi (440–381 BC) said by 381 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Wuzi ('The Word of Wu') ch. 2, sec. 2. Translated by Samuel b. Griffith, Sun Tzu: The Art of War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1963) appx. 1, p. 159