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
“If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) said by 1784 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Feeling deeply the difference between oneself and others, bearing ill will and falling out with people — these things come from a heart that lacks compassion. If one wraps up everything with a heart of compassion, there will be no coming into conflict with people.”
Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719) said by 1719 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He produced a work of art which by its deep appreciation of natural beauty and the melancholy tenderness of its treatment of the ancient legend did more than any single work to bring about the romantic movement in European, and especially in German, literature.”
James Macpherson (1736–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edn. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910-11) vol. 17, p. 268.
“Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, Emblem right meet of decency does yield.”
William Shenstone (1714–1763) said by 1763 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Enfin, monsieur, je suis convaincu que tout nous vient des bords du Gange, astronomie, astrologie, métempsycose, etc.”
Voltaire (1694–1778) first seen 1777 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lettres sur l'origine des sciences et sur celle des peuples de l'Asie adressés à M. de Voltaire par M. Bailly et précédées de quelques lettres de M. de Voltaire a l'auteur (Paris, 1777), quoted in E. F. Bryant, The Ques…
“Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1745 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 19 November 1745
“Hasty resolutions are of the nature of vows, and to be equally avoided.”
William Penn (1644–1718) said by 1718 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beware the fury of a patient man.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pt. I, l. 1005
“Grac'd as thou art with all the power of words, So known, so honour'd at the House of Lords.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“I wish to know whether I must increase the number of pack-horses. Orders have been given for one thousand; but General Sullivan thinks near five hundred more will be wanted. It does not appear so to me; but I am not a good judge of the business. The Board of War are out of lead; and I fear the ammunition will not be ready. This is only conjectural.”
Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) said by 1786 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the hills the unbelievers of the land of the enemy have forbidden fasting and prayer; convert them all to Islam, so that the religion of Thy messenger may gain in strength.”
Tipu Sultan (1751–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From Tipu Sultan's dream journal. quoted in Vikram Sampath - Tipu - The Saga of Mysore's Interregnum (2024)
“A on his lips and not-A in his heart.”
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I imagined... it was possible... to establish by what means the circle could be squared, or... that it could... not, or... something would emerge... worthwhile.”
John Wallis (1616–1703) said by 1703 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...the excellence of the mental entertainment consists less in the subject than in the author's skill in well dressing it up.”
Henry Fielding (1707–1754) said by 1754 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The author of human nature impressed it with certain sensitive aptitudes and mental powers, so that apprehension, reflection or understanding could no otherwise be exerted or produced in the compound nature of man, but in the order prescribed by the creator.”
Ethan Allen (1738–1789) said by 1789 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And feels a thousand deaths in fearing one.”
Edward Young (1683–1765) said by 1765 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are born too late to see the beginning, and we die too soon to see the end of many things.”
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) said by 1751 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.”
Denis Diderot (1713–1784) said by 1784 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 3, as quoted in Selected Writings (1966) edited by Lester G. Crocker
“The method of demonstration, which was invented by the author of fluxions, is accurate and elegant; but we propose to begin with one that is somewhat different; which, being less removed from that of the antients, may make the transition to his method more easy to beginners (for whom chiefly this treatise is intended), and may obviate some objections that have been made to it.”
Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746) said by 1746 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hail, ye small, sweet courtesies of life! for smooth do ye make the road of it.”
Laurence Sterne (1713–1768) said by 1768 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That the people have a Right to mass and to bear arms; that a well-regulated militia composed of the Body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper natural and safe defense of a free state, that standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided.”
George Mason (1725–1792) said by 1792 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Learn from me that a wise man who has heard a criminal accusation related with so many absurd particulars ceases to be wise when he makes himself the echo of what he has heard, for if the accusation should turn out to be a calumny, he would himself become the accomplice of the slanderer.”
Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) said by 1798 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“La plupart des institutions sociales paraissent avoir pour objet de maintenir l'homme dans une médiocrité d'idées et de sentiments qui le rendent plus propre à gouverner ou à être gouverné.”
Nicolas Chamfort (1740–1794) said by 1794 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I can any way contribute to the diversion or improvement of the country in which I live, I shall leave it, when I am summoned out of it, with the secret satisfaction of thinking that I have not lived in vain.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) first seen 1711 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No. 1 (1 March 1711)