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 in the 1000s
“That it has pleased God to make Holy Scripture obscure in certain places lest, if it were perfectly clear to all, it might be vulgarized and subjected to disrespect or be so misunderstood by people of limited intelligence as to lead them into error.”
Pope Gregory VII (1020–1085) first seen 1079 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In response to the request made in 1079 by Vratislaus, duke of Bohemia, seeking permission to use Slavonic in local church services. Quoted in Awake! magazine (December 2011), p. 7; "They Tried to Keep God's Word From t…
“Whom the Lord guides, the Path is shortened for him.”
Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani (963–1033) said by 1033 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Get up and bring fur clothes as Autumn is here A cold wind is blowing from the Khawrazm yonder Look at that vine leaf hanging on the vine bough It looks like the shirt of dyers The farmer is biting his finger with wonder As in the lawn or garden is left no more rose or lavender”
Manuchehri (1000–1040) said by 1040 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Arrogance cannot bear to see itself scorned and humility held in honor.”
Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) said by 1022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“春风又绿江南岸，明月何时照我还？”
Wang Anshi (1021–1086) said by 1086 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The church shall be catholic, chaste and free: catholic in faith and the communion of saints, chaste from all contagion of evil, and free from all secular power.”
Pope Urban II (1035–1099) first seen 1050 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Decree, also quoted in Colin Morris, The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250 (1991), p. 125
“为天地立心，为生民立命，为往圣继绝学，为万世开太平。”
Zhang Zai (1020–1077) said by 1077 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Complete Works of Master Zhang, "Supplements to Reflections on Things at Hand", as quoted in Wang Chunyong's Famous Chinese Sayings Quoted by Wen Jiabao, trans. Chan Sin-wai (Hong Kong: Chung Hwa Book Co., 2009), p. 10
“Religious law makes it illegal for the ignorant to drink wine, but intelligence makes it legal for the intellectual.”
Avicenna (980–1037) said by 1037 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Jason Goodwin, "The Glory That Was Baghdad", The Wilson Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 2 (2003), p. 27
“Be glad," she said, "God brought you to fifty years in your world"— but didn't know there's no division between, as I see it, my days that have passed and Noah's of which I've heard. In the world I have nothing but the hour I'm in, which stands for a moment and then like a cloud moves on.”
Shmuel HaNagid (993–1056) said by 1056 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The city of Taneshar is highly venerated by Hindus. The idol of that place is called Cakrasvamin, i.e. the owner of the cakra, a weapon which we have already described. It is of bronze, and is nearly the size of a man. It is now lying in the hippodrome in Ghazna, together with the Lord of Somanath, which is a representation of the penis of Mahadeva, called Linga.”
Al-Biruni (973–1048) said by 1048 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: E.C. Sachau (tr.), Alberuni's India, New Delhi Reprint, 1983 p. 117.
“A faithless wife brings ruin to the state.”
Matilda of Flanders (1031–1083) said by 1083 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Matilda of Flanders – Queen of the Conqueror, By Moniek Bloks, Friday 29 December 2017.
“This world is such an abode that if those present here Have their wits entire, they will never weep for the absent ones.”
Al-Ma'arri (973–1057) said by 1057 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No thought, no reflection, no analysis, No cultivation, no intention; Let it settle itself.”
Tilopa (988–1069) said by 1069 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Six Precepts" of Tilopa, quoted in Powell Zen and Reality (1975), p. 72
“The heart in which love and compassion for all living beings resides, can have no room for seeking after personal pleasures. O friend, take care to do no harm to any living creature; to hurt his creation is to forget the Creator.”
Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (1006–1089) said by 1089 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Tales of the Mystic East: An Anthology of Mystic and Moral Tales Taken from the Teachings of the Saints (, 1997), p. 208
“No tool is more beneficial than intelligence. No enemy is more harmful than ignorance.”
Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid (948–1022) said by 1022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Book of Guidance into the Lives of the Twelve Imams, 1981, "The Life of the Commander of the Faithful" (I. K. A. Howard (tr.)).
“I before Thy greatness Stand, and am afraid:— All my secret thoughts Thine eye beholdeth Deep within my bosom laid.”
Solomon ibn Gabirol (1020–1070) said by 1070 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ἡ γὰρ συνήθεια εὔκαταφρονήτους ποιεῖν εἴωθεν.”
Kekaumenos (1020–1070) said by 1070 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Strategikon, ch. 12. Reported in Georgina G. Buckler, "Proverb: Familiarity Breeds Contempt", Notes and Queries (18 July 1936) p. 46
“Stillness is an undisturbed state of the intellect,”
Niketas Stethatos (1000–1090) said by 1090 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“See — I have taken England with both my hands.”
William I of England (1028–1087) first seen 1066 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remark after he stepped off his ship on the coast of England and fell into the sand (28 September 1066), as quoted in LIFE magazine, Vol. 40, No. 13 (26 March 1956), p. 85