Famous quotes
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Said in the 1400s
“O yowthe allas why wilt thow nat enclyne, And un-to reuled reform bowe thee? Syn resoun is the verray streighte lyne Þat ledith folk un-to felicitee.”
Thomas Occleve (1369–1426) said by 1426 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The people who have discovered something important in any of the more noble arts have principally done so when they have abandoned the body and taken refuge in the citadel of the soul.”
Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) said by 1499 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Idleness is the foundation of all evil imaginations.”
Edward, 2nd Duke of York (1373–1415) said by 1415 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you wish to be free? Then above all things, love God, love your neighbor, love one another, love the common weal; then you will have true liberty.”
Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498) said by 1498 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) edited by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 378
“It is impossible that Christendom finds its peace in God's will, if the priesthood is not being called to order.”
Jan Hus (1370–1415) said by 1415 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am your leader: follow me.”
Richard II of England (1367–1400) said by 1400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remark to the peasants at Smithfield, London, during the Peasants' Revolt, quoted in Gwilym Dodd, The Reign of Richard II (Tempus, 2000), p. 20
“I, Pope Calixtus, vow to Almighty God and the Holy Trinity that by war, maledictions, interdicts, excommunications, and all other means in my power, I will pursue the Turks, the most cruel foes of the Christian name.”
Pope Callixtus III (1379–1458) first seen 1418 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter written shortly after his election as Pope, quoted in Mandell Creighton, A History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation, Vol. II: The Council of Basel—The Papal Restoration, 1418–1464 (1882), pp. 34…
“In all the kingdom southward From the center of the earth Where is he who understands my Zen? Should the master Kido himself appear He wouldn't be worth a worn-out cent.”
Ikkyū (1394–1481) said by 1481 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only people who accept slavery are the Negroes, owing to their low degree of humanity and proximity to the animal stage. Other persons who accept the status of slave do so as a means of attaining high rank, or power, or wealth, as is the case with the Mameluke Turks in the East and with those Franks and Galicians who enter the service of the state [in Spain].”
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) said by 1406 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Bernard Lewis, Race and Color in Islam, Harper and Row, 1970, quote on page 38. The brackets are displayed by Lewis.
“Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise the King born of all England.”
Thomas Malory (1405–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thereafter in AH 823 (AD 1420-21) he proceeded to different parts of his Kingdom for establishing order and good government… He got temples demolished and palaces and mosques constructed in their stead…”
Ahmad Shah I (1389–1442) first seen 1411 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sultãn Ahmad Shãh I of Gujarat (AD 1411-1443) General Order Mir‘ãt-i-Sikandarî in S.A.A. Rizvi in Uttara Taimûr Kãlîna Bhãrata, Aligarh, 1959, Vol. II, p. 273 , in Hindu Temples, vol 2
“When Sikandar’s successor Sultan Zainul Abedin (aka Shahi Khan, r. 1417–67), another deviant Muslim ruler, permitted the converted Hindus to revert, records Sydney Owen, ‘many Hindus (i.e., Hindus converted to Islam by force) were re-admitted into the Hindu fold.’”
Zain-ul-Abidin (1401–1470) said by 1470 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quoted in M.A. Khan , Islamic Jihad: A legacy of forced conversion, imperialism and slavery (2011), quoting Owen S (1987) From Mahmud Ghazni to the Disintegration of Mughal Empire, Kanishka Publishing House, New Delhi,
“Aussi tost vient à Pasques limaçon.”
Eustache Deschamps (1340–1406) said by 1406 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Moult se vantoit li cerfs d'estre legiers", line 10; text and translation from Brian Woledge (ed.) The Penguin Book of French Verse, 1: To the Fifteenth Century (Harmondsworth: Penguin, [1961] 1968) p. 238.
“And thus love is founded otherwhile upon good prouffitable and this love endureth as longe as he seeth his prouffit. And herof men saye a comyn proverbe in England that love lasteth as longe as the money endureth and whan the money faylleth than there is no love.”
William Caxton (1422–1492) first seen 1474 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Game and Playe of the Chesse, Bk. III (1474)
“Muche crye and litil woll.”
John Fortescue (1394–1479) said by 1479 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 10 (ed. Plummer, 1885)
“Heart is not free from love pain Painless body is only soil and water Everybody vecomes lover O, there is no leveless heart in the worls.”
Jami (1414–1492) said by 1492 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For out of olde feldes, as men seith, Cometh al this newe corn fro yeer to yere; And out of olde bokes, in good feith, Cometh al this newe science that men lere.”
Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) said by 1400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Adam akay ta byun byun war — Ak layi mukhta ta ak layi na har Tsandun ti dar, arkhor ti dar Arkhor asi na barkhurdar.”
Nund Rishi (1378–1439) said by 1439 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No single bone in my body is holy - It is but an ash heap of stinking bones. Dig a deep hole and there bury these remains Thus, not a grain of dust will stain The green mountains.”
Shumpo Soki (1409–1496) said by 1496 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. 2000. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6
“So ferr I fallyng into lufis dance, That sodeynly my wit, my contenance, My hert, my will, my nature and my mynd, Was changit clene ryght in anothir kynd.”
James I of Scotland (1394–1437) said by 1437 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“... te, quem unice diligam, in haec curiae tempora miserrima ac perditissima incidisse, in quibus scelera, agitia, fraudes, fallaciae virtutis optinent nomen in precioque habentur, virtuti vero, probitati, rectis studiis honestisque artibus non modo praemium nullum neque honos propositus, sed ne usquam quidem relictus est locus.”
Lapo da Castiglionchio the Younger (1406–1438) said by 1438 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cellui ou celle en qui plus a vertus est le plus hault, ne la haulteur ou abbaisement des gens ne gist mie es corps selon le sexe mais en la perfeccion des meurs et des vertus.”
Christine de Pizan (1364–1430) said by 1430 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am king of the Romans and above grammar.”
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368–1437) said by 1437 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Original Latin: Ego sum rex Romanus et super grammaticam. Carlyle, Thomas (1858). History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great (Volume II). Gutenberg.org.
“Whoever resigns himself in love, Lives with greater freedom than anyone. Such a person lives without anxious care, For God cannot lose what is his own.”
Denis the Carthusian (1402–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Denis the Carthusian, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, trans. Ide M. Ni Riain (Dublin: The Columba Press, 2013), 110.