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
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Said in the 1600s
“Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.”
Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695) first seen 1668 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Book VI (1668), fable 17.
Also quoted by: French proverb (french)
“In large-scale strategy you can frighten the enemy not by what you present to their eyes, but by shouting, making a small force seem large, or by threatening them from the flank without warning. These things all frighten. You can win by making best use of the enemy's frightened rhythm.”
Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[M]y care was against all underminings, both at home and abroad, of the established doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, for which I am now like to suffer. And I pray God that point of Arminianism, libertas prophetandi [the right to proclaim different opinions], do not more mischief in short time, than is expressible by me.”
William Laud (1573–1645) first seen 1644 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at his trial (17 June 1644), quoted in The Works of the Most Reverend Father in God, William Laud, sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Volume IV: History of Troubles and Trial (1854), p. 263
“Much money makes a countrey poor, for it sets a dearer price on every thing.”
George Herbert (1593–1633) said by 1633 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.”
Richard Hooker (1554–1600) said by 1600 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Samuel Johnson in the preface to A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
“Wise men say nothing in dangerous times.”
John Selden (1584–1654) said by 1654 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is nothing that will make you a Christian indeed, but a taste of the sweetness of Christ.”
Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661) said by 1661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.”
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) said by 1678 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Weeds and nettles, briars and thorns, have thriven under your shadow, dissettlement and division, discontentment and dissatisfaction, together with real dangers to the whole.”
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) first seen 1655 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech dissolving the First Protectorate Parliament (22 January 1655)
“[N]either this nor that supposition is worthy of the name of an astronomical hypothesis, but rather that which is implied in both alike.”
Johannes Kepler (1572–1630) said by 1630 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Alas! alas! who's injured by my love? What merchant's ships have my sighs drown'd? Who says my tears have overflow'd his ground? When did my colds a forward spring remove? When did the heats which my veins fill Add one more to the plaguy bill? Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still Litigious men, which quarrels move, Though she and I do love.”
John Donne (1572–1631) said by 1631 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wine is a mixture of moisture and light.”
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) said by 1642 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Lorenzo Magalotti's Scientific and Scholarly Letter (1721)
“I look upon you as a gem of the old rock.”
Thomas Browne (1605–1682) said by 1682 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wanting persuade others who have been greatly wronged, one only persuades oneself.”
Claude La Colombière (1641–1682) said by 1682 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love, the most generous passion of the mind The softest refuge innocence can find.”
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647–1680) first seen 1680 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Letter from Artemisia in Town to Chloe in the Country (1680), p. 1. Republished in Samuel Johnson, The Works of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1800), p. 9
“Il n'y a guère d'homme assez habile pour connaître tout le mal qu'il fait.”
François de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) said by 1680 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her neck is like a stately tower, Where Love himself imprison'd lies.”
Thomas Lodge (1558–1625) said by 1625 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might Be wrong; his life, I'm sure, was in the right.”
Abraham Cowley (1618–1667) said by 1667 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Weak men are apt to be cruel.”
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) said by 1695 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although during these years Rolland's chief interest was directed towards philosophy, although he was a diligent student of the pre-Socratic philosophers of ancient Greece, of the Cartesians, and of Spinoza,...”
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) said by 1677 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stefan Zweig, in his book Romain Rolland: The Man and His Work. Translated from the original manuscript by Eden and Cedar Paul. (New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1921)
“Now as they were going along and talking, they espied a Boy feeding his Father’s Sheep. The Boy was in very mean Cloaths, but of a very fresh and well-favoured Countenance, and as he sate by himself he sung. Hark, said Mr Greatheart, to what the Shepherd’s boy saith. So they hearkened, and he said—”
John Bunyan (1628–1688) said by 1688 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not your strength and your natural power that subjects all these people to you. Do not pretend then to rule them by force or to treat them with harshness. Satisfy their reasonable desires; alleviate their necessities; let your pleasure consist in being beneficent; advance them as much as you can, and you will act like the true king of desire.”
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) said by 1662 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And for Incoherent Speech, it was amongst the Gentiles taken for one sort of Prophecy, because the Prophets of their Oracles, intoxicated with a spirit, or vapor from the cave of the Pythian Oracle at Delphi, were for a time really mad, and spake like mad-men; of whoose loose words a sense might be made to fit any event, in such sort, as all bodies are said to be made of Materia prima.”
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) said by 1679 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“24 Proposition. The great ten-horned beast, is the whole bodie of the Latine Empire, whereof the Antichrist is a part.”
John Napier (1550–1617) said by 1617 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source