Sign in with your pod

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

EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina

Said between 400 and 301 BC

• “ἢν γὰρ ταῦτα πράττῃς, ἅπαντές σοι χάριν ἕξουσιν, οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες ὑπὲρ ὧν ἂν εὖ πάσχωσι, Μακεδόνες δ᾿ ἢν βασιλικῶς ἀλλὰ μὴ τυραννικῶς αὐτῶν ἐπιστατῇς, τὸ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων γένος, ἢν διὰ σὲ βαρβαρικῆς δεσποτείας ἀπαλλαγέντες Ἑλληνικῆς ἐπιμελείας τύχωσιν.”

  Isocrates (436–338 BC) said by 338 BC at the latest wikiquote, 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

• “τίς οὖν μόνη φυλακὴ καὶ δικαία καὶ βέβαιος τῶν νόμων; ὑμεῖς οἱ πολλοί.”

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

  Recorded in: XXIV.37 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• “Faber est quisque fortunae suae (or) Faber est suae quisque fortunae (or) Est unusquisque faber ipsae suae fortunae.”

  Appius Claudius Caecus (died 301 BC) said by 301 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: This quote from Appius' famous speech (279 BC) opposing peace with the Greek general Pyrrhus I is sourced from the earliest known Roman historian with surviving works, Sallust, within a letter of political counsel writt…

• “παύσομαι κατηγορῶν. ἀκηκόατε, ἑοράκατε, πεπόνθατε, ἔχετε· δικάζετε.”

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

• “Οὐκέτι δὴ πλωτοῖσιν ἀγαλλόμενος πελάγεσσιναὐχέν᾽ ἀναρρίψω βυσσόθεν ὀρνύμενος,οὐδὲ περὶ σκαλάμοισι νεὼς περικαλλέα χείληποιφύσσω, τἀμᾷ τερπόμενος προτομᾷ:ἀλλά με πορφυρέα πόντου νοτὶς ὦς᾽ ἐπὶ χέρσον,κεῖμαι δὲ ῥαδινὰν τάνδε παρ᾽ ἠιόνα.”

  Anyte of Tegea (died 301 BC) said by 301 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Anthologia Palatina, vii, 215, as translated by Francis Hodgson, in Robert Bland, et al. Collections from the Greek Anthology, new ed. (1833), "On a Dolphin cast ashore

• “Are you still to learn that the end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue?”

  Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When the Spartans accused the Thebans of a long list of serious offences, he retorted, "These Thebans, however, have put a stop to your brevity of speech!”

  Epaminondas (418–362 BC) said by 362 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “No man of sense can put himself and his soul under the control of names... You must consider courageously and thoroughly and not accept anything carelessly.”

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

• “Antisthenes ... was asked on one occasion what learning was the most necessary, and he replied, "To unlearn one's bad habits.”

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

• “The speech is admirable, but the speaker is not to be trusted; for he has never been amid the blare of trumpets.”

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

  Recorded in: Speech about a philosopher who had claimed that philosophers were the only good generals, Quoted in Plutarch Apophthegmata Laconica, translated by F. C. Babbitt, 1931, also quoted in Chambers Dictionary of Quotations, p…

• “आलस्य में जीवन बिताना आत्महत्या के समान है।”

  सुकरात (470–399 BC) said by 399 BC at the latest wikiquote:hi, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Εἰς οὐχ ὁσίην τρυμαλιὴν τὸ κέντρον ὠθεῖς.”

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

  Recorded in: On the occasion when Ptolemy II Philadelphus had remarried, to his sister Arsinoë II. Reported in Plutarch, On the Education of Children, sec. 11a, and in Athenaeus, bk. 14, sec. 621a: "So Patroclus, Ptolemy's general, …

• “τάχ᾿ ἄν τις εἰκὸς αὐτὸ τοῦτ᾿ εἶναι λέγοι, βροτοῖσι πολλὰ τυγχάνειν οὐκ εἰκότα.”

  Agathon (445–400 BC) said by 400 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Frg. 9 TrGF (tr. J. H. Freese, G. Striker, 2020)

• “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)

• “संकोच युवाओं के लिए एक आभूषण है, लेकिन बड़ी उम्र के लोगों के लिए धिक्कार।”

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

• “The unwritten laws of the gods were promulgated against depraved manners, inflicting a severe destiny and penalty on the disobedient; and these unwritten laws are the fathers and leaders of those that are written, and of the dogmas established by men.”

  Archytas (430–345 BC) said by 345 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Thomas Taylor (Tr.) Political fragments of Archytas, Charondas, Zaleucus, and other Ancient Pythagoreans, preserved by Stobæus; and also, Ethical Fragments of Pierocles (1822)

• “आवश्यकता…आविष्कार की जननी।”

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

• “Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.”

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

• “ὅπου γὰρ τοὺς ὄντως ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς οἷς πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ σύνισμεν ἔργα, τοὺς καθ᾿ ἑαυτῶν ἐπαίνους ἐὰν λέγωσιν, οὐ φέρομεν.”

  Aeschines (390–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: III.241 (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1864)

• “Fragment 2. All things, at least those we know, contain number; for it is evident that nothing whatever can either be thought or known, without number. Number has two distinct kinds: the odd, and the even, and a third, derived from a mingling of the other two kinds, the even-odd. Each of its subspecies is susceptible of many very numerous varieties; which each manifests individually.”

  Philolaus (470–390 BC) said by 390 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Virtue is the health of the soul.”

  Aristo of Chios (300–301 BC) said by 301 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source