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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 …

• “Timidity betrays want of powers, and audacity a want of skill. There are, indeed, two things, knowledge and opinion, of which the one makes its possessor really to know, the other to be ignorant.”

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

• “Κλέαρχος τοσοῦτον εἶπεν ὅτι οὐ τῶν νικώντων εἴη τὰ ὅπλα παραδιδόναι.”

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

  Recorded in: Clearchus spoke, and his words were few; "Conquerors do not, as a rule, give up their arms." (tr. H. G. Dakyns, 1890)

• “τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐπιτιμᾶν ἴσως φήσαι τις ἂν ῥᾴδιον καὶ παντὸς εἶναι, τὸ δ᾿ ὑπὲρ τῶν παρόντων ὅ τι δεῖ πράττειν ἀποφαίνεσθαι, τοῦτ᾿ εἶναι συμβούλου.”

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

  Recorded in: Ι.16 (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873)

• “I would like somebody to be hated more than I am.”

  Dionysius I of Syracuse (431–367 BC) said by 367 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Clive Foss, The Tyrants: 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption, London: Quercus Publishing, 2006, , p. 11

• “And this, Cebes, is the reason why the true lovers of knowledge are temperate and brave; and not for the reason that the world gives. For not in that way does the soul of a philosopher reason. ...Never fear, Simmias and Cebes, that a soul which has been thus nurtured and has had these pursuits, will at her departure from the body be scattered and blown away by the winds and be nowhere and nothing.”

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

• “πενθεῖν δὲ μετρίως τοὺς προσήκοντας φίλους· οὐ γὰρ τεθνᾶσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδόν, ἣν πᾶσιν ἐλθεῖν ἐστ᾿ ἀναγκαίως ἔχον, προεληλύθασιν.”

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

  Recorded in: Frg. 54.1–4 K.-A. (tr. F. A. Paley, 1889)

• “ψεύδεσθαι προχειρότατον τοῖς πολλάκις ἁμαρτάνουσιν.”

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

  Recorded in: Frg. 423 Carey (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• “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

• “Ἐπαρίστερ´ ἔμαθες, ὦ πόνηρε, γράμματα· ἀνέστροφέν σου τὸν βίον τὰ βιβλία· πεφιλοσόφηκας γῇ τε κοὐρανῷ λαλῶν, οἷς οὐθέν ἐστιν ἐπιμελὲς τῶν σῶν λόγων.”

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

  Recorded in: Φάσμα (The Ghost), in Athenaeus, bk. 15, sec. 11 (tr. C. D. Yonge, 1854)

• “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

• “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

• “ἄνδρα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ λόγον καὶ ἔργον καὶ πόλιν καὶ πρᾶγμα χρὴ τὸ μὲν ἄξιον ἐπαίνου ἐπαίνῳ τιμᾶν, τῷ δὲ ἀναξίῳ μῶμον ἐπιθεῖναι· ἴση γὰρ ἁμαρτία καὶ ἀμαθία μέμφεσθαί τε τὰ ἐπαινετὰ καὶ ἐπαινεῖν τὰ μωμητά.”

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

  Recorded in: Man and woman and speech and deed and city and object should be honored with praise if praiseworthy and incur blame if unworthy, for it is an equal error and mistake to blame the praisable and to praise the blamable. (t…

• “ἰδίας ὁδοὺς ζητοῦσι φιλόπονοι φύσεις.”

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

  Recorded in: Frg. 21 TrGF (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• “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)

• “A madman is running towards the east, the man who chases after him also running towards the east. They are similar in running towards the east, but different in why they run towards the east.”

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

  Recorded in: As quoted in Chinese Culture (Chinese Cultural Research Institute, 1996), p. 35

• “Ἑρμᾶς τᾶιδ᾽ ἕστακα παρ᾽ ὄρχατον ἠνεμόεντα ἐν τριόδοις πολιᾶς ἐγγύθεν ἀιόνος,ἀνράσι κεκμηῶσιν ἔχων ἄμπαυσιν ὁδοῖο· ψυχρὸν δ᾽ ἀχραὲς κράνα ὑποπροχέει.”

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

  Recorded in: Anthologia Palatina, ix, 314, as translated by J. R. Rodd, Love, Worship and Death (1916), "The God of the Cross-Roads

• “When a well-contrived but difficult plan to free Greece was proposed to Agis II, he replied, “Friend, thy words need an army and a treasure.”

  Agesilaus II (444–360 BC) said by 360 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “συμμαχίας γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων συνελθούσης, εἷς ὢν τούτων Ἀμύντας ὁ Φιλίππου πατὴρ καὶ πέμπων σύνεδρον καὶ τῆς καθ᾿ αὐτὸν ψήφου κύριος ὤν, ἐψηφίσατο Ἀμφίπολιν τὴν Ἀθηναίων συνεξαιρεῖν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων Ἀθηναίοις. καὶ τούτων τὸ κοινὸν δόγμα τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τοὺς ψηφισαμένους ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων γραμμάτων μάρτυρας παρεσχόμην.”

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

• “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)

• “The Spartans meanwhile, man to man, and with their war songs in the ranks, exhorted each brave comrade to remember what he had learned before; well aware that the long training of action was of more use for saving lives than any brief verbal exhortation, though ever so well delivered.”

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

• “Crito, gallum debeo Asclepio; memorabis rem solvere?" - verba ultima Socratis”

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

• “πρός τε τὸ Ποντικὸν μειράκιον μέλλον φοιτᾶν αὐτῷ καὶ πυθόμενον τίνων αὐτῷ δεῖ, φησί, “βιβλιαρίου καινοῦ καὶ γραφείου καινοῦ καὶ πινακιδίου καινοῦ,” τὸν νοῦν παρεμφαίνων.”

  Antisthenes (445–365 BC) said by 365 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…