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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 400 and 301 BC

• “美德是自我满足：无需约束，无需语言，无需行动。”

  安提西尼斯 (445–365 BC) said by 365 BC at the latest wikiquote:zh, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Θάεο τὸν Βρομίου κεραὸν τράγον, ὡς ἀγερώχως ὄμμα κατὰ λασιᾶν γαῦρον ἔχει γενύων,κυδιόων ὅτι οἱ θάμ᾽ ἐν οὔρεσιν ἀμφὶ παρῇδα βόστρυχον εἰς ῥοδέαν Ναῒς ἔδεκτο χέρα.”

  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, 745, as translated by J. R. Rodd, Love, Worship and Death (1916), "The Goat

• “When Alexander the Great addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, Diogenes replied "Yes, stand a little out of my sunshine.”

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

• “我不害怕由一隻綿羊所帶領的一群獅子，但我害怕由一隻獅子所帶領的一群綿羊。”

  亞歷山大大帝 (356–323 BC) said by 323 BC at the latest wikiquote:zh, 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)

• “From this course of life, we reap liberty.”

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

• “如果我們把每個人的不幸堆一堆由大家均分，大多數人都甘願接受一份，欣然離去。”

  蘇格拉底 (470–399 BC) said by 399 BC at the latest wikiquote:zh, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “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)

• “應該熱心地致力於照道德行事，而不要空談道德。”

  德谟克利特 (461–361 BC) said by 361 BC at the latest wikiquote:zh, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Those things which are sacred, are to be imparted only to sacred persons; and it is not lawful to impart them to the profane until they have been initiated in the mysteries of the science.”

  Hippocrates (460–370 BC) said by 370 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

• “It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs but not of being unable to defend himself with reason when the use of reason is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.”

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

• “天道無私，是以恆正；天道常正，是以清明。地道不作，是以常靜；地道常靜，是以正方。”

  申不害 (385–337 BC) said by 337 BC at the latest wikiquote:zh, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “ΕΥ. φέρ᾿ ἴδω, τί δ᾿ ἡμῖν ὄνομ᾿ ⟨ἄρ᾿⟩ ἔσται τῇ πόλει; [...] ΧΟ. ἐντευθενὶ ἐκ τῶν νεφελῶν καὶ τῶν μετεώρων χωρίων χαῦνόν τι πάνυ. ΠΕ. βούλει Νεφελοκοκκυγίαν;”

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

  Recorded in: : Come let me see, what shall the name be for our city? [...] : Hence, from the clouds, and these meteoric regions, some all-swelling name. : Would you "Cloud-cuckoo-land?" (tr. Warter 1830, p. 215)

• “Fragment 1. (Stob.21.7; Diog.#.8.85) The world's nature is a harmonious compound of infinite and finite elements; similar is the totality of the world in itself, and of all it contains. b. All beings are necessarily finite or infinite, or simultaneously finite and infinite; but they could not all be infinite only.”

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

• “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…

• “The Cimmerians inhabit subterranean dwellings, which they call argillas.”

  Ephorus (400–330 BC) said by 330 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Quoted in Strabo, v, p. 375; reported in Jules Michelet, History of France, tr. G. H. Smith (New York, 1882), vol. i, p. 35

• “無言而不讎，無德而不報，投我以桃，報之以李。”

  墨子 (470–391 BC) said by 391 BC at the latest wikiquote:zh, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “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)

• “ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς ἡ αὐτὴ ἀρετή.”

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

• “τὸ μὲν εἶναι ἀφανὲς μὴ τυχὸν τοῦ δοκεῖν, τὸ δὲ δοκεῖν ἀσθενὲς μὴ τυχὸν τοῦ εἶναι.”

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

  Recorded in: Being is unrecognizable unless it manages to seem, and seeming is feeble unless it manages to be. (tr. P. E. Wheelwright, 1966)

• “So would I, if I were Parmenion.”

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

  Recorded in: Variants: I too, if I were Parmenion. But I am Alexander. So would I, if I were Parmenion. So should I, if I were Parmenion. So should I, if I were Parmenion: but as I am Alexander, I cannot. I would do it if I was Parm…