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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 1700s

• “But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.”

  George Washington (1732–1799) first seen 1775 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Washington's formal acceptance of command of the Army (16 June 1775), quoted in The Writings of George Washington : Life of Washington (1837) edited by Jared Sparks, p. 141

• “No further seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode There they alike in trembling hope repose), The bosom of his Father and his God.”

  Thomas Gray (1716–1771) said by 1771 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Man was born to live with his fellow human beings. Separate him, isolate him, his character will go bad, a thousand ridiculous affects will invade his heart, extravagant thoughts will germinate in his brain, like thorns in an uncultivated land.”

  Denis Diderot (1713–1784) said by 1784 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The character Suzanne Simon, in La Religieuse [The Nun] (1796)

• “...but every lyar Must have his portion in the lake That burns with brimstone and with fire.”

  Isaac Watts (1674–1748) said by 1748 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “'Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause — and of obstinacy in a bad one.”

  Laurence Sterne (1713–1768) said by 1768 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “But there is only one thing which gathers people into seditious commotion, and that is oppression.”

  John Locke (1632–1704) first seen 1689 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)

• “Sur-tout ne vous laissez point ensorceler par les attraits diaboliques de la géométrie.”

  François Fénelon (1651–1715) said by 1715 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Lettres Spirituelles, no. 59, cited from Correspondance de Fénelon, archevêque de Cambrai (Paris: Ferra Jeune, 1827) vol. 5, p. 514; translation from Georges Duby and Michelle Perrot (eds.) A History of Women in the Wes…

• “Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail.”

  Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) said by 1784 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source

• “כל שלטון מקורו באלוהים - אני מודה ומתוודה; אך גם כל מחלה מקורה באלוהים. האם משמעות הדבר היא שאסור לקרוא לרופא? כאשר שודד מפתיע אותי בפינת יער, יש למסור לו את הארנק באונס; אך האם מצפוני יחייבני לתת לו גם כשיש באפשרותי להימנע מכך? שהלוא בסופו של דבר האקדח שהוא מחזיק בידו גם הוא שלטון.”

  ז'אן-ז'אק רוסו (1712–1778) said by 1778 at the latest wikiquote:he, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Ne peut-on pas remonter jusqu'à ces anciens scélérats, fondateurs illustres de la superstition et du fanatisme, qui, les premiers, ont pris le couteau sur l'autel pour faire des victimes de ceux qui refusaient d'etre leurs disciples?”

  Voltaire (1694–1778) first seen 1740 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Letter to Frederick II of Prussia (December 1740), published in Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, Vol. 7 (1869), edited by Georges Avenel, p. 105; as translated by Richard Aldington

• “The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond; and must be polished, or the lustre of it will never appear. And ’tis manifest, that as the rational soul distinguishes us from brutes; so education carries on the distinction, and makes some less brutish than others.”

  Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “La Société n'est pas, comme on le croit d'ordinaire, le développement de la Nature, mais bien sa décomposition et sa refonte entière. C'est un second édifice, bâti avec les décombres du premier.”

  Nicolas Chamfort (1740–1794) said by 1794 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “In ev'ry age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree.”

  John Gay (1685–1732) said by 1732 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source

• “צניעות מזויפת היא הכנה שבשקרים.”

  ניקולא שאמפור (1740–1794) said by 1794 at the latest wikiquote:he, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom.”

  William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708–1778) first seen 1766 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech, Jan. 14, 1766, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

  Also quoted by: William Pitt, Earl Of Chatham

• “The Way to ſee by Faith is to ſhut the Eye of Reaſon: The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle.”

  Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) first seen 1758 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: July. VII Month.", Poor Richard's Almanack (1758), Philadelphia: B. Frankin and D. Hall

• “God created everything by number, weight and measure.”

  Isaac Newton (1643–1727) said by 1727 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in Symmetry in Plants (1998) by Roger V. Jean and Denis Barabé, p. xxxvii, a translation of a Latin phrase he wrote in a student's notebook, elsewhere given as Numero pondere et mensura Deus omnia condidit. Th…

• “I am now pretty far advanced in life, and all my views are centered in the Happiness and well-fare of my children; you will, therefore, find from me every Indulgence which you have a right to expect from an affectionate Parent.”

  George Mason (1725–1792) first seen 1783 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Letter to his son, George Mason V. (8 January 1783)

• “To believe a business impossible is the way to make it so. How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination!”

  Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When someone is giving you his opinion, you should receive it with deep gratitude even though it is worthless. If you don't, he will not tell you the things that he has seen and heard about you again. It is best to both give and receive opinions in a friendly way.”

  Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719) said by 1719 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Partial freedom seems to me the most invidious form of slavery.”

  Edmund Burke (1729–1797) said by 1797 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in "Is the Party Over?" (2017), by Daniel Ritchie, National Affairs

• “I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.”

  Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) said by 1745 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Louis cannot be judged; either he is already condemned or the Republic is not acquitted. Proposing to put Louis on trial, in whatever way that could be done, would be to regress towards royal and constitutional despotism; it is a counter-revolutionary idea, for it means putting the revolution itself in contention.”

  Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) said by 1794 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Green grow the rashes, O; Green grow the rashes, O; The sweetest hours that e'er I spend, Are spent amang the lasses, O.”

  Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Green Grow the Rashes, O, st. 1 (1787)