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
“It is the preservation of the species, not of individuals, which appears to be the design of Deity throughout the whole of nature.”
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) said by 1797 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man is free, but his freedom ceases when he has no faith in it; and the greater power he ascribes to faith, the more he deprives himself of that power which God has given to him when He endowed him with the gift of reason. Reason is a particle of the Creator's divinity. When we use it with a spirit of humility and justice we are certain to please the Giver of that precious gift.”
Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) said by 1798 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I recommend to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art: that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to repeat, and even amplify, the praise to the party concerned. This is of all flattery the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 22 May 1749
“After you have made your arrangements regarding the capital of the Sultanut of Persia, it is my wish that you and I in concert with Zuman Shah should endeavour to regulate and put in order, (divide between them seemingly), the countries of Hindostan, and the Dukhun.”
Tipu Sultan (1751–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tipu to the prince of Iran, Vikram Sampath - Tipu - The Saga of Mysore's Interregnum (2024)
“Um samurai deve usar um palito de dentes mesmo que não tenha comido. Nunca demonstre as privações pelas quais você é obrigado a passar.”
Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719) said by 1719 at the latest wikiquote:pt, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[N]o human institution can arrive at perfection, and the most that human wisdom can do, is to procure the same or greater good, at the expence of less evil.”
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) said by 1751 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He proposes by this means to cure intermitting Fevers, by having the Air in the Room rarefied in the cold Fit, and condensed in the hot Fit; during the whole time of which, the Patient is to continue therein: And recommends the use of it, among other Distempers, to cure the Stone and the Pox.”
Stephen Hales (1677–1761) said by 1761 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Il en est un peu des réputations littéraires, et surtout des réputations de théâtre, comme des fortunes qu'on faisait autrefois dans les Iles. Il suffisait presque autrefois d'y passer, pour parvenir à une grande richesse, mais ces grandes fortunes mêmes ont nui à celles de la génération suivante: les terres épuisées n'ont plus rendu si abondamment.”
Nicolas Chamfort (1740–1794) said by 1794 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Maximes et Pensées (Van Bever, Paris :1923), #442
“Lengthy immersion in the works of other composers can tire. The music of Mozart does not tire, and this is one of its miracles.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) said by 1791 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man does but faintly relish that felicity which costs him nothing; happy they whom pain leads to pleasure.”
Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696–1782) said by 1782 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The English are very fond of a game they call cricket. For this purpose they go into a large open field, and knock a small ball about with a piece of wood. I will not attempt to describe this game to you, it is too complicated; but it requires agility and skill, and everyone plays it, the common people and also men of rank.”
César-François de Saussure (1705–1783) said by 1783 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Avoid all affectation and singularity. What is according to nature is best, and what is contrary to it is always distasteful. Nothing is graceful that is not our own.”
Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A mighty hunter, and his prey was man.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“How can we sufficiently extol the Goodness of His present Majesty, who is not willing to have a single Slave in his Dominions! Or enough rejoice in the Exercise of that Loyalty, which, instead of betraying a Man into the most ignominious Servitude, (as it does in some of our neighboring Kingdoms) entitles him to the highest Privileges of Freedom and Property!”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) first seen 1715 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No. 1. Friday, December 23. 1715.
“It was a' for our rightfu' King We left fair Scotland's strand.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once a day, especially in the early years of life and study, call yourselves to an account what new ideas, what new proposition or truth you have gained, what further confirmation of known truths, and what advances you have made in any part of knowledge; and let no day, if possible, pass away without some intellectual gain.”
Isaac Watts (1674–1748) said by 1748 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O homem nasceu livre, e em toda parte se encontra sob ferros.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) said by 1778 at the latest wikiquote:pt, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But ah! what mighty magick can assuage A woman's envy, and a bigot's rage?”
George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne (1666–1735) said by 1735 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“La clémence vaut mieux que la justice.”
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) said by 1747 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tr. E. Lee (1903) p. 174
“Filósofo, amante da sabedoria, ou seja, da verdade.”
Voltaire (1694–1778) said by 1778 at the latest wikiquote:pt, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause; and I was not without hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy of the present age would have put an effectual stop to contentions of this kind.”
George Washington (1732–1799) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sir Edward Newenham (22 June 1792) as published in The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (1939) as edited by John Clement Fitzpatrick
“He wanted to call this country out of that enervate state, that twenty thousand men from France could shake it. The maxims of our Government were degenerated, not our natives. He wished to see that breed restored, which under our old principles had carried our glory so high!”
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708–1778) first seen 1755 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (5 December 1755), quoted in Horace Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second. Vol. II (2nd. edn. 1847), p. 89
“Where village statesmen talk'd with looks profound, And news much older than their ale went round.”
Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) said by 1774 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Too much company is worse than none.”
James Burgh (1714–1775) said by 1775 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source