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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

• “Δύο λόγους εἶναι περὶ παντὸς πράγματος.”

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

  Recorded in: Quoted in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, b. 9, sec. 51. Translated by R. D. Hicks, Diogenes Laertius, vol. 2 (1925) p. 463. Similar "proverbial sayings" quoted by George Huntingford, Twelve Discourses…

• “καίτοι τάδε μὲν κέρδος ἀκεῖσθαι μολπαῖσι βροτούς.”

  Euripides (481–407 BC) said by 407 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

• “The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.”

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

  Recorded in: Attributed to Confucius in Out of the Blue: Delight Comes Into Our Lives (1996) by Mark Victor Hansen, Barbara Nichols, and Patty Hansen, p. 93

• “Συμποσίων δ᾽ ἐρατῶν βρίθοντ᾽ ἀγυιαί, παιδείοι θ᾽ ὕμνοι φλέγονται.”

  Bacchylides (516–451 BC) said by 451 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Philip Ayres, 1687

• “For example, the great linguist Panini gave the concept for meta-language-and constructed one-thousands of years before computer scientists began exploring the same idea. No one has been able to match him to this day.”

  Pāṇini (520–460 BC) said by 460 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Sir Monier Monier-Williams in: Organiser, Volume 52 , Bharat Prakashan., 2001

• “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)

• “Τοῦ γὰρ ἐόντος ἀληθινοῦ κρεῖσσον οὐδέν.”

  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)

• “Γένος οὐδὲν εἰς Ἔρωτα· σοφίη, τρόπος πατεῖται· μόνον ἄργυρον βλέπουσιν.”

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

  Recorded in: Odes, XXIX (XXVIL, b), 5 (tr. Harbottle, 1897, p. 343)

• “Τίς γὰρ αὐτῶν νόος ἢ φρήν; [δήμων] ἀοιδοῖσι ἕπονται καὶ διδασκάλῳ χρέωνται ὁμίλῳ, οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι πολλοὶ κακοὶ ὀλίγοι δὲ ἀγαθοί. αἱρεῦνται γὰρ ἓν ἀντία πάντων οἱ ἄριστοι, κλέος ἀέναον θνητῶν, οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ κεκόρηνται ὅκωσπερ κτήνεα.”

  Heraclitus (535–471 BC) said by 471 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “不遇敵者，必戰無不勝，但每次交鋒，終必敗北。”

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

• “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

  Pericles (494–429 BC) said by 429 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in Flicker to Flame : Living with Purpose, Meaning, and Happiness (2006) by Jeffrey Thompson Parker, p. 118

• “Μολὼν λαβέ [Molōn labe!]”

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

• “Such being the nature of absolute truth, it manifests itself without being seen; it produces effects without motion; it accomplishes its ends without action.”

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

• “It is not proper either to have a blunt sword or to use freedom of speech ineffectually. Neither is the sun to be taken from the world, nor freedom of speech from erudition.”

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

  Recorded in: As quoted in the translation of Thomas Taylor (1818)

• “ὁ μέγας δὲ κίν- δυνος ἄναλκιν οὔ φῶτα λαμβάνει.”

  Pindar (517–437 BC) said by 437 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Sine cognitione cum legis decentiae, mores stabilire non potest. 不知禮、無以立也。”

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

• “γλυκὺν Ἠρίννης παρθενόχρωτα κρόκον.”

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

  Recorded in: Meleager of Gadara, Anthologia Palatina, iv, 1, l. 12, as translated by W. R. Paton, Greek Anthology, I (1916), p. 110

• “Never will this prevail, that the things that are not are — bar your thought from this road of inquiry.”

  Parmenides (515–470 BC) said by 470 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “W. R. Paton, tr. Greek Anthology, Vol. 2, LCL 68 (1917)”

  Chaeremon (400–401 BC) said by 401 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Αἰθίοπές τε σιμοὺς μέλανάς τε Θρῇκἐς τε γλαυκοὺς καὶ πυρρούς .”

  Xenophanes (570–478 BC) said by 478 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source