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 500s
“Quis legem det amantibus? Maior lex amor est sibi.”
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480–524) said by 524 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who has trembled before the pedagogue's rod will not face the spear willingly.”
Theodoric the Great (454–526) said by 526 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed in Charles Oman, Europe, 476–918, Periods of European History I (New York: Macmillan & Co, 1893) ch. 5, p. 74
“When the return of the Sun took place from the middle of Aslesha, the solstice was then right. It now takes place from Punarvasu.”
Varāhamihira (505–587) said by 587 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted in David Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization, 2000.
“Γραμματικοῦ θυγάτηρ ἔτεκεν φιλότητι μιγεῖσα παιδίον ἀρσενικόν, θηλυκόν, οὐδέτερον.”
Palladas (400–500) said by 500 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: W. S. Marris, "A Question of Gender", The Oxford Book of Greek Verse in Translation (1938), p. 655:
“α. Οὔνομά μοι. β. Τί δὲ τοῦτο; α. Πατρὶς δέ μοι. β. Ἐς τί δὲ τοῦτο; α. Κλεινοῦ δ᾽ εἰμὶ γένους. β. Εἰ γὰρ ἀφαυροτάτου; α. Ζήσας δ᾽ ἐνδόξως ἔλιπον βίον. β. Εἰ γὰρ ἀδόξως; α. Κεῖμαι δ᾽ ἐνθάδε νῦν. β. Τίς τίνι ταῦτα λέγεις;”
Paul the Silentiary (520–575) said by 575 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Anthologia Palatina, vii, 307, as translated by William Cowper, in W. Hayley, ed. Life, and Posthumous Writings of W. Cowper, Vol. 2 (1803), "An Epitaph"; "Vanities"; "A Nameless Grave
“Seeing through the mundane and witnessing the sublime is less than an eye-blink away. Realization is now. Why worry about gray hair?”
Bodhidharma (440–540) said by 540 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“tribhujasya phalashariram samadalakoti bhujardhasamvargah”
Aryabhata (476–550) said by 550 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Heinrich Denzinger, Enchiridion Symbolorum, bilingual edition edited by Peter Hünermann, Italian version edited by Angelo Lanzoni and Giovanni Zaccherini, Edb, 2001.”
Pope Pelagius I (505–561) said by 561 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have good hopes that God will grant us to restore the authority over the remaining countries which the ancient Romans possessed to the limit of both oceans and lost by subsequent neglect.”
Justinian I (482–565) said by 565 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Impulsus furiis homines terrasque reliquit et turpem latebram credulus exsul adit, infelix putat illuvie caelestia pasci seque premit laesis saevior ipse deis. num, rogo, deterior Circaeis secta venenis? tunc mutabantur corpora, nunc animi.”
Rutilius Claudius Namatianus (400–500) said by 500 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are times when good words are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence.”
Benedict of Nursia (480–547) said by 547 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rule of Saint Benedict (516 AD), as edited by Timothy Fry, O. S. B (1981), p. 15
“Interea non cessant uncinata nudorum tela, quibus miserrimi cives de muris tracti solo allidebantur.”
Gildas (500–570) said by 570 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gildas here describes post-Roman Britons on Hadrian's Wall defending it against the Scots and Picts below. This bizarre image, familiar to students of British history for generations, is belied by a more recent translat…
“Has anything deceived you about me, that your love is killing me, And that verily as often as you order my heart, it will do what you order?”
Imru' al-Qais (501–544) said by 544 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only virtue's water can wash out the stain in living things.”
Buddhaghoṣa (401–500) said by 500 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where comes a cow, there follows a woman; and where comes a woman follows trouble.”
Columba (521–597) said by 597 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed in Seumas MacManus, Heavy Hangs the Golden Grain (1950) Ch. 3
“Book-learning scarcely tells me Of severe afflictions after death-bed; And such as have heard my bardic books They shall obtain the region of heaven, the best of all abodes.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀντιπόδων ἐπεξεργαστικώτερον θελήσειέ τις ζητῆσαι, ῥᾳδίως τοὺς γραώδεις μύθους αὐτῶν ἀνακαλύψει.”
Cosmas Indicopleustes (600–550) said by 550 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Topographia Christiana, bk. 1, sec. 20 (tr. J. W. McCrindle, 1897)
“Ζωσίμη ἡ πρὶν ἐοῦσα μόνῳ τῷ σώματι δούλη καὶ τῷ σώματι νῦν εὗρεν ἐλευθερίην.”
Damascius (450–550) said by 550 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: J. A. Symonds Jr., "Epitaph of a Slave", Studies of the Greek Poets (1873), p. 357:
“In warfare, it is the unexpected which is accustomed to govern the course of events.”
Belisarius (505–565) said by 565 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If one is able to become deeply aware of the negative consequences of desires, one will not become involved in them. This is what is meant by renouncing desire.”
Zhiyi (538–597) said by 597 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'He who does not hold to his own will always has what he will; for externally he does not get his own way but whatever happens, no matter what it is, gives him quiet satisfaction and he discovers for himself that he has what as they he will. For he does not want things to happen as he wishes; he wants things to have happened as they happened.'”
Dorotheus of Gaza (510–565) said by 565 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source