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 1500s
“Then think I thus: "Sith such repair, So long time war of valiant men, Was all to win a lady fair, Shall I not learn to suffer then? And think my life well spent to be, Serving a worthier wight than she?”
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516–1547) said by 1547 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Suerly my lord I suppose this had been no greate cause more to reiect the one than thother for ye know by histories of the bible that god may by his reuelation dispense with his own Law, as with the Israelites spoyling the egiptians and with Jacob to hue iiij wifes, and suche other.”
Thomas Cromwell (1485–1540) first seen 1534 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to John Fisher (February 1534), quoted in Roger Bigelow Merriman, Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell, Volume I: Life, Letters to 1535 (1902), p. 376
“God always helps madmen, lovers, and drunkards.”
Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549) said by 1549 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At Christmas be merry and thankful withal, And feast thy poor neighbors, the great with the small.”
Thomas Tusser (1524–1580) said by 1580 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Mass is Idolatry. All worshipping, honouring, or service invented by the brain of man in the religion of God, without his own express commandment, is idolatry. The Mass is invented by the brain of man, without any commandment of God; therefore it is idolatry.”
John Knox (1514–1572) first seen 1550 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Knox, A Vindication of the Doctrine that the Sacrifice of the Mass is Idolatry, 1550; as quoted in Selected Writings of John Knox: Public Epistles, Treatises, and Expositions to the Year 1559
“I am looking at you, You at him, Kabir asks, how to solve This puzzle — You, he, and I?”
Kabir (1398–1518) said by 1518 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Es ist der Natur ein unleidlichs Werk, die Furcht Gottes zum Anfang des Glaubens zu machen.”
Thomas Müntzer (1489–1525) said by 1525 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”
William Tyndale (1494–1536) said by 1536 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In his time Hindu temples were razed to the ground, and neither name nor vestige of them was allowed to remain.”
Sikandar Khan Lodi (1458–1517) said by 1517 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Zubdatu’t-Tawarikh in Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, 8 Volumes, Allahabad Reprint, 1964. Eliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, pp. 187
“My lute, awake! perform the last Labour that thou and I shall waste, And end that I have now begun; For when this song is sung and past, My lute, be still, for I have done.”
Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542) said by 1542 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Les gens légers prennent légèrement les choses sérieuses et sérieusement les choses légères.”
Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566) said by 1566 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We shall go at once To the deep caverns of the rock Which are all secret, There we shall enter in And taste of the new wine of the pomegranate. ~ 37”
John of the Cross (1542–1591) said by 1591 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Than upon him scho kest up baith hir Ene, And with ane blenk it come into his thocht, That he sumtime hir face befoir had sene. Bot scho was in sic plye he knew hir nocht, Yit than hir luik into his mynd it brocht The sweit visage and amorous blenking Of fair Cresseid sumtyme his awin darling.”
Robert Henryson (1425–1506) said by 1506 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The image of the sun where it falls appears as a thing which covers the person who attempts to cover it.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) said by 1519 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The people resemble a wild beast, which, naturally fierce and accustomed to live in the woods, has been brought up, as it were, in a prison and in servitude, and having by accident got its liberty, not being accustomed to search for its food, and not knowing where to conceal itself, easily becomes the prey of the first who seeks to incarcerate it again.”
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) said by 1527 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns, Shall with their goat feet dance the antic hay.”
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) said by 1593 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Almost from the time of Xavier's actual presence on the Coast, the work of legend-building began, and it came to be firmly believed that he possessed miraculous powers, which extended even to the raising of the dead. Xavier never made such extravagant claims for himself.”
Francis Xavier (1506–1552) said by 1552 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Neill, S. (2004). A history of Christianity in India: The beginning to AD 1707. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
“[W]e have exhibited to the queen all our articles of religion and doctrine, and have not departed in the slightest degree from the confession of Zurich.”
John Jewel (1522–1571) first seen 1559 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Peter Martyr (23 April 1559), quoted in The Zurich Letters, Comprising the Correspondence of Several English Bishops and Others, With Some of the Helvetian Reformers, During the Early Part of the Reign of Quee…
“And never have the Indians in all the Indies committed any act against the Spanish Christians, until those Christians have first and many times committed countless cruel aggressions against them or against neighboring nations.”
Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566) said by 1566 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have come to believe that this is a mighty continent which was hitherto unknown. I am greatly supported in this view by reason of this great river, and by this sea which is fresh.”
Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) said by 1506 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ils veulent servir pour amasser des biens: comme s'ils pouvaient rien gagner qui fût à eux, puisqu'ils ne peuvent même pas dire qu'ils sont à eux-mêmes.”
Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) said by 1563 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot approve of monarchs who want to rule over the conscience of the people, and take away their freedom of choice and religion.”
William the Silent (1533–1584) first seen 1564 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1564- Havo Exam
“Ha qualche volta un ortolan parlato Cose molte a proposito a la gente; E da un mantel rotto e sporco e stato Molte volte coperto un uom prudente.”
Francesco Berni (1497–1535) said by 1535 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pryde will have a fall; For pryde goeth before and shame commeth after.”
John Heywood (1497–1580) said by 1580 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Geoffrey Chaucer