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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

• “προσήκειν δὲ ἔγωγε νομίζω, ὅταν μὲν νομοθετῶμεν, τοῦθ᾿ ἡμᾶς σκοπεῖν ὅπως καλῶς ἔχοντας καὶ συμφέροντας νόμους τῇ πολιτείᾳ θησόμεθα, ἐπειδὰν δὲ νομοθετήσωμεν, τοῖς νόμοις τοῖς κειμένοις πείθεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ μὴ πειθομένους κολάζειν, εἰ δεῖ τὰ τῆς πόλεως καλῶς ἔχειν.”

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

• “Ὅτι δι' αἵματος, οὐ διὰ μέλανος, τοὺς νόμους ὁ Δράκων ἔγραψεν.”

  Demades (381–317 BC) said by 317 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: In Plutarch, Life of Solon, sec. 17 (tr. Bernadotte Perrin, 1923). See also: Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, bk. 11, ch. 18, and 'draconian'

• “τοιαῦτα αὐτοῖς τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τοσαῦτα τὸ πλῆθος εἴργασται, ὥστε μήτ᾿ ἂν ψευδόμενον δεινότερα τῶν ὑπαρχόντων κατηγορῆσαι, μήτε τἀληθῆ βουλόμενον εἰπεῖν ἅπαντα δύνασθαι, ἀλλ᾿ ἀνάγκη ἢ τὸν κατήγορον ἀπειπεῖν ἢ τὸν χρόνον ἐπιλιπεῖν.”

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

• “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…

• “Man is a universe in little [Microcosm].”

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

  Recorded in: Freeman (1948), p. 150

• “With wine and words of love and every vow He lulled me into bed and closed my eyes, A sleepy, stupid innocent . . . So now I dedicate the spoils of my surprise: The silk that bound my breasts, my virgin zone, The cherished purity I could not keep. Goddess, remember we were all alone, And he was strong—and I was half asleep.”

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

  Recorded in: Louis Untermeyer, "Seduced Girl", The New Penguin Book of Love Poetry (2003)

• “One day, observing a child drinking out of his hands, he cast away the cup from his wallet with the words, "A child has beaten me in plainness of living.”

  Diogenes of Sinope (400–323 BC) said by 323 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

• “最もよく統治される者が統治するべきだ。”

  アリストテレス (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote:ja, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “私は自分が無知であるということ以外何も知らない。--ディオギネス・ラエルティオス『哲学者列伝』”

  ソクラテス (470–399 BC) said by 399 BC at the latest wikiquote:ja, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “σοφόν γε τοί τι πρὸς τὸ βουλεύειν ἔχει τὸ γῆρας, ὡς δὴ πόλλ᾿ ἰδόν τε καὶ παθόν.”

  Antiphanes (408–334 BC) said by 334 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Frg. 218 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• “Ἐκ μέντοι γε τῶν τοιούτων παθῶν [ὡς] ἐγή φημι ἀνθρώπους παιδεύεσθαι μάλιστα μὲν [οὖν] ⟨ὡς⟩ οὐδ᾿ οἰκέτας χρῇ ὀργῇ κολάζειν· πολλάκις γὰρ καὶ δεσπόται ὀργιζόμενοι μείζω κακὰ ἔπαθον ἢ ἐποίησαν· ἀτὰρ ἀντιπάλοις τὸ μετ᾿ ὀργῆς ἀλλὰ μὴ γνώμῃ προσφέρεσθαι ὅλον ἁμάρτημα. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὀργὴ ἀπρονόητον, ἡ δὲ γνώμη σκοπεῖ οὐδὲν ἧττον μή τι πάθῃ ἢ ὅπως βλάψῃ τι τοὺς πολεμίους.”

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

  Recorded in: In my opinion, however, disasters such as these teach men this lesson with regard to anger: one ought not to punish even a slave in anger; for masters who have lost their tempers often do more harm to themselves than th…

• “Ἀρίστων ὁ Χῖος ὁ Φάλανθος, ἐπικαλούμενος Σειρήν, τέλος ἔφησεν εἶναι τὸ ἀδιαφόρως ἔχοντα ζῆν πρὸς τὰ μεταξὺ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας μηδ᾿ ἡντινοῦν ἐν αὐτοῖς παραλλαγὴν ἀπολείποντα, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπίσης ἐπὶ πάντων ἔχοντα· εἶναι γὰρ ὅμοιον τὸν σοφὸν τῷ ἀγαθῷ ὑποκριτῇ, ὃς ἄν τε Θερσίτου ἄν τε Ἀγαμέμνονος πρόσωπον ἀναλάβῃ, ἑκάτερον ὑποκρινεῖται προσηκόντως.”

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

• “ἕτερον δέ, ὃ φύσει πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ὑπάρχει, τῶν μὲν λοιδοριῶν καὶ τῶν κατηγοριῶν ἀκούειν ἡδέως, τοῖς ἐπαινοῦσι δ᾿ αὑτοὺς ἄχθεσθαι.”

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

  Recorded in: XVIII.3 (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1864)

• “ὁ δὲ Κλείταρχός φησιν ἁμάξας τετρακύκλους δένδρα κομιζούσας τῶν μεγαλοφύλλων, ἐξ ὧν ἀπήρτηται γένη τετιθασσευμένων ὀρνέων, ὧν εὐφωνότατον μὲν εἴρηκε τὸν ὠρίωνα, λαμπρότατον δὲ κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν καὶ πλείστην ἔχοντα ποικιλίαν τὸν καλούμενον κατρέα· τὴν γὰρ ἰδέαν ταῷ μάλιστα ἐγγίζειν, τὴν δὲ λοιπὴν εἰκονογραφίαν παρ᾿ ἐκείνου ληπτέον.”

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

  Recorded in: F 20 FGrHist; Strabo, Geography, bk. XV, ch. i, sec. 69 (tr. H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer, 1854)

• “τέχνη τύχην ἔστερξε καὶ τύχη τέχνην.”

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

  Recorded in: Frg. 6 TrGF (tr. R. W. Browne, 1850)

• “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

• “As to supposing that I am emulous of , you are mistaken; for he, with the support of all Greece, hardly took one city in ten years; I, on the contrary with the force of this one city of ours, and in one day, delivered all Greece by defeating the Lacedaemonians.”

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

• “Οὐκ εἶναί φησιν οὐδέν· εἰ δ᾿ ἔστιν, ἄγνωστον εἶναι· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔστι καὶ γνωστόν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ δηλωτὸν ἄλλοις.”

  Gorgias (485–375 BC) said by 375 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Gorgias maintains first, that nothing exists; secondly, that if anything exists it is unknowable; and thirdly, that if anything exists and is knowable, it cannot be demonstrated to others. (tr. W. S. Hett, 1936)

• “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…

• “τρία γάρ ἐστι τὰ μέγιστα, ἃ διαφυλάττει καὶ διασῴζει τὴν δημοκρατίαν καὶ τὴν τῆς πόλεως εὐδαιμονίαν, πρῶτον μὲν ἡ τῶν νόμων τάξις, δεύτερον δ᾿ ἡ τῶν δικαστῶν ψῆφος, τρίτον δ᾿ ἡ τούτοις τἀδικήματα παραδιδοῦσα κρίσις.”

  Lycurgus of Athens (390–324 BC) said by 324 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: For the things which in the main uphold our democracy and preserve the city’s prosperity are three in number: first the system of law, second the vote of the jury, and third the method of prosecution by which the crimes…

• “He who drinks with the greatest appetite is the least inclined to look for a draught which is not at hand.”

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

• “Keep a watch also on the faults of the patients, which often make them lie about the taking of things prescribed. (XIV, Translated by W. H. S. Jones. LCL 148, Pages 296-297)”

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