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
“I cannot * * * say that Pan Passeth Apollo in music manyfold; Praisé Sir Thopas for a noble tale, And scorn the story that the Knighté told.”
Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542) said by 1542 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In Henry Morley, Burlesque Plays and Poems (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1885) p. 5. See also American Notes and Queries (28 September 1889) p. 257
“The league at Allstedt wanted to establish this principle, Omnia sunt communia, ‘All property should be held in common’ and should be distributed to each according to his needs, as the occasion required. Any prince, count, or lord who did not want to do this, after first being warned about it, should be beheaded or hanged.”
Thomas Müntzer (1489–1525) said by 1525 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in Revelation and Revolution: Basic Writings of Thomas Müntzer (1993), p. 200
“Ah! Falso ribaldo!”
Cesare Borgia (1475–1507) first seen 1502 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cesare grabs Vitelli as they shake hands and says this (December 1502), as quoted by Edoardo Alvisi, 'Cesare Borgia, Duke of Romagna', Section 358, 1878.
“Tell your master that if there were as many devils at Worms as tiles on its roofs, I would enter.”
Martin Luther (1483–1546) first seen 1521 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Psalm. Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (translated by Frederic H. Hedge), Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). "On the 16th of April, 1521, Luther entered the imperial city [of Worms]... On his app…
“Friendship ... receives its real sustenance from an equality that, to proceed without a limp, must have its two limbs equal.”
Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) said by 1563 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This hath not offended the king.”
Thomas More (1478–1535) said by 1535 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who breaks his faith, no faith is held with him.”
Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544–1590) said by 1590 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Du Bartas
“L'homme d'entendement n'a rien perdu, s'il a soi-même.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What indeed is more beautiful than heaven, which of course contains all things of beauty.”
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) said by 1543 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction to Book 1, as quoted/translated by Edward Rosen, Nicholas Copernicus on the Revolutions (1978) ed. Jerzy Dobrzycki, Edward Rosen.
“With still others, all those they wanted to capture alive, they cut off their hands and hung them round the victim's neck, saying, "Go now, carry the message," meaning, Take the news to the Indians who have fled to the mountains.”
Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566) said by 1566 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“È meglio essere capo di Lucerta che coda di Dracone.”
Stefano Guazzo (1530–1593) said by 1593 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 294.
“Che serà, serà: What will be, shall be.”
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) said by 1593 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I doe assure your lordship since Queen Mary's time the papists were never in that jollity they be at present in this country.”
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (1532–1588) first seen 1579 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a letter to Lord Burghley (20 October 1579), written at ; BL, Harley MS. 6992, fol. 112r; see also: Edgar I. Fripp, Shakespearean Studies (1930), p. 91
“He who improvises can never make a perfect line of poetry.”
Titian (1490–1576) said by 1576 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in A Dictionary of Art and Artists (1959) by Peter Murray and Linda Murray, p. 321.
“Gavin Douglas, set on a particular labour, with his mind full of Latin quantitative metre, attains a robuster versification than you are likely to find in Chaucer…the texture of Gavin's verse is stronger, the resilience greater.”
Gavin Douglas (1474–1522) said by 1522 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1934), p. 103.
“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
“Ch' assai frutto maggior riporta il poco Quando ben colto sia, che 'l molto incolto.”
Luigi Alamanni (1495–1556) said by 1556 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Chè sovente addivien che 'l saggio e 'l forte Fabbro a se stesso è di beata sorte.”
Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) said by 1595 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(after writing this book, Agrippa sent it to Trithemius, who after reading the manuscript and then answered Agrippa)”
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535) said by 1535 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe that it is possible for one to praise, without concern, any man after he is dead since every reason and supervision for adulation is lacking.”
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) said by 1527 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Comment osons-nous juger les autres quand nous sentons si bien tout ce qui leur manque pour nous juger?”
Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566) said by 1566 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The little white dove Has returned to the ark with the bough; And now the turtle-dove Its desired mate On the green banks has found. ~ 34”
John of the Cross (1542–1591) said by 1591 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who shoots at the mid-day sun, though he be sure he shall never hit the mark, yet as sure he is he shall shoot higher than who aims but at a bush.”
Philip Sidney (1554–1586) said by 1586 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must not only resist, but boldly attack prevailing evils.”
John Calvin (1509–1564) said by 1564 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source