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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 500 and 401 BC

• “Μολὼν λαβέ [Molōn labe!]”

  Leonidas I (died 480 BC) said by 480 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Στᾶλαι, καὶ Σειρῆνες ἐμαί, καὶ πένθιμε κρωσσέ, ὅστις ἔχεις Ἀΐδα τὰν ὀλίγαν σποδιάν, τοῖς ἐμὸν ἐρχομένοισι παρ᾿ ἠρίον εἴπατε χαίρειν, αἴτ᾿ ἀστοὶ τελέθωντ᾿, αἴθ᾿ ἑτέρας πόλιος· χὤτι με νύμφαν εὖσαν ἔχει τάφος, εἴπατε καὶ τό· χὤτι πατήρ μ᾿ ἐκάλει Βαυκίδα, χὤτι γένος Τηνία, ὡς εἰδῶντι· καὶ ὅττι μοι ἁ συνεταιρὶς Ἤρινν᾿ ἐν τύμβῳ γράμμ᾿ ἐχάραξε τόδε.”

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

  Recorded in: Anthologia Palatina, vii, 710, as translated by C. A Elton, Specimens of the Classic Poets, Vol. 1 (1813), p. 117: "Epitaph on a Virgin of Mitylene, who died on her weddding-day

• “すべての問題には二つの側面がある。”

  プロタゴラス (490–420 BC) said by 420 BC at the latest wikiquote:ja, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Statue of Zeus in Olympia”

  Polykleitos (490–420 BC) said by 420 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Also quoted by: Phidias

• “知者は水を楽しみ、仁者は山を楽しむ。知者は動き、仁者は静かなり。知者は楽しみ、仁者はし。”

  孔子 (551–479 BC) said by 479 BC at the latest wikiquote:ja, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “νήπιοι· οὐ γάρ σφιν δολιχόφρονές εἰσι μέριμναι, οἵ δὴ γίγνεσθαι πάρος οὐκ ἐὸν ἐλπίζουσιν ἤ τι καταθνήισκειν τε καὶ ἐξόλλυσθαι ἁπάντηι.”

  Empedocles (494–434 BC) said by 434 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον ἄνθρωπον εἶναι, τῶν μὲν ὄντων, ὡς ἔστι, τῶν δὲ μὴ ὄντων, ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν.”

  Protagoras (490–420 BC) said by 420 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Quoted in Plato, Theaetetus, sec. 152a. Translated by John Stuart Mill, "Plato", in the Edinburgh Review (April 1866)

• “He who controls the sea controls everything.”

  Themistocles (524–459 BC) said by 459 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “… ζωγραφίαν ποίησιν σιωπῶσαν προσαγορεύει [sc. ὁ Σιμωνίδης], τὴν δὲ ποίησιν ζωγραφίαν λαλοῦσαν.”

  Simonides of Ceos (556–468 BC) said by 468 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Also quoted by: Σιμωνίδης ο Κείος (el)

• “τὸ μὴ κακῶς φρονεῖν θεοῦ μέγιστον δῶρον.”

  Aeschylus (525–456 BC) said by 456 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “ἐν δὲ δικαιοσύνῃ συλλήβδην πᾶσ᾿ ἀρετή ᾿στιν, πᾶς δέ τ᾿ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς Κύρνε δίκαιος ἐών.”

  Theognis of Megara (570–485 BC) said by 485 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Lines 147–148 (tr. H. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• “Wrongly do the Greeks suppose that aught begins or ceases to be; for nothing comes into being or is destroyed; but all is an aggregation or secretion of pre-existent things: so that all-becoming might more correctly be called becoming-mixed, and all corruption, becoming-separate.”

  Anaxagoras (500–428 BC) said by 428 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: quoted in Heinrich Ritter, Tr. from German by Alexander James William Morrison, The History of Ancient Philosophy, Vol.1 (1838)

• “What is God-given is what we call human nature. To fulfil the law of our human nature is what we call the moral law. The cultivation of the moral law is what we call culture.”

  Zisi (483–402 BC) said by 402 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As translated by Lin Yutang in The Importance of Living (1937), p. 143

• “οὐ λέγειν τύ γ᾿ ἐσσὶ δεινός, ἀλλὰ σιγῆν ἀδύνατος.”

  Epicharmus of Kos (540–435 BC) said by 435 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Frg. 184 K.-A. = B 29 DK (tr. K. Freeman, 1948)

• “魯の大臣である季氏は閔子騫を己の領土である費の代官にしようとした。閔子騫は[使者に]云った「どうか私のかわりによろしくお断り下さい。もしふたたび私をお召しになるのであれば、きっとのほとりに身を隠しましょう。--『論語』雍也第六・七節”

  閔子騫 (536–481 BC) said by 481 BC at the latest wikiquote:ja, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Οὐδ᾿ ἂν τὸ ὑγιὲς ἀλγῆσαι δύναιτο· ἀπὸ γὰρ ἂν ὄλοιτο τὸ ὑγιὲς καὶ τὸ ἐόν, τὸ δὲ οὐκ ἐὸν γένοιτο. Καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀνιᾶσθαι ὡυτὸς λόγος τῶι ἀλγέοντι. Οὐδὲ κενεόν ἐστιν οὐδέν· τὸ γὰρ κενεὸν οὐδέν ἐστιν· οὐκ ἂν οὖν εἴη τό γε μηδέν. Οὐδὲ κινεῖται· ὑποχωρῆσαι γὰρ οὐκ ἔχει οὐδαμῆι, ἀλλὰ πλέων ἐστίν. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ κενεὸν ἦν, ὑπεχώρει ἂν εἰς τὸ κενόν· κενοῦ δὲ μὴ ἐόντος οὐκ ἔχει ὅκηι ὑποχωρήσει.”

  Melissus of Samos (491–431 BC) said by 431 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Also quoted by: Μέλισσος ο Σάμιος (el)

• “Something I have never seen before, and never even heard of-now all the marvelous purity of the Buddha land is visible before me!”

  Śāriputra (568–484 BC) said by 484 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “顏淵が仁とはなにか尋ねた。孔子は云った「己に克ち、礼に帰るのが仁である。為政者が一日己に克ち礼に帰れば、天下が仁に立ち返るであろう。仁は己の実践から始まるもので、他から始まるものではない。顏淵は云った「とくに注意すべきことをお伺いできますか」。孔子は云った「非礼なものを見ないように。非礼なものを聴かないように。非礼なことをいわないように。非礼なことを行わないように。顏淵は云った「いたらないわたくしではございますが、お言葉を守っていきたいと存じます」。”

  顔回 (521–481 BC) said by 481 BC at the latest wikiquote:ja, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius" , Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 6, C.E.1920”

  Lucio Quinzio Cincinnato (451–451 BC) said by 451 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If now you shall think that "How many are the countries which King Darius held?" look at the sculptures [of those] who bear the throne, then shall you know, then shall it become known to you: the spear of a Persian man has gone forth far; then shall it become known to you: a Persian man has delivered battle far indeed from Persia.”

  Darius I of Persia (550–486 BC) said by 486 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I was Euphorbus at the siege of Troy.”

  Pythagoras (583–491 BC) said by 491 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As reported by Heraclides Ponticus (c. 360 BC), and Diogenes Laërtius (Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, "Pythagoras", Sect. 4), and quoted in Cosmic Optimism: A Study of the Interpretation of Evolution (1949)…

• “敵間之來間我者，因而利之，導而捨之，故反間可得而用也；”

  Sun Tzu (544–470 BC) said by 470 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “κακὴ ... δελφῖνος ἐν χέρσῳ βία.”

  Ion of Chios (490–422 BC) said by 422 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Frg. 58 TrGF; quoted in Plutarch, Demosthenes, sec. 3 (tr. Bernadotte Perrin, 1919)