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 800s
“The first essential in chemistry is that you should perform practical work and conduct experiments, for he who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain to the least degree of mastery. But you, O my son, do experiment's so that you may acquire knowledge. Scientists delight not in abundance of material; they rejoice only in the excellence of their experimental methods.”
Jabir ibn Hayyan (721–815) said by 815 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by , Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists (2008) p. 163.
“If speaking pleases you, be silent! If silence pleases you, Speak!”
Bishr the Barefoot (767–842) said by 842 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In an ebullient exchange with the Baghdadi singing-girl ‘Inan he wrote: "Gorgeous one! – God has made your face a qibla for me, /So allow me to pray toward your face, and lets have a kiss." Here "kiss" (qubla) and "the direction of prayer" (qibla) are made to rhyme, an almost inevitable rhyming couplet.”
Abu Nuwas (756–814) said by 814 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Philip F. Kennedy, Abu Nuwas: A Genius of Poetry (2005)
“Aut lego vel scribo, doceo scrutorve sophiam, obsecro celsithronum nocte dieque meum, vescor, poto libens, rithmizans invoco Musas, dormisco stertens oro Deum vigilans. Conscia mens scelerum deflet peccamina vitae: parcite vos misero, Christe Maria, viro.”
Sedulius Scottus (801–875) said by 875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Translated by James Carney, in Robert McNally (ed.) Old Ireland (New York: Fordham University Press, 1965) p. 250. Other translations: Helen Waddell, Medieval Latin Lyrics (London: Constable & Co, 1929) p. 123 · George …
“Man's death by sins is more than his death by fate and his life by charity is more than his life by age.”
Muhammad al-Taqi (811–835) said by 835 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Satisfaction is better than asceticism in this world because one who is satisfied never wishes for anything beyond his station.”
Al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad (725–803) said by 803 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If Zoroastrian and idolatrous women are taken prisoner, they are coerced into Islam; if they embrace it, sexual relations with them are permissible and they can (also) be used as maidservants. If they do not embrace Islam, they are used as maidservants but not for sexual relations.”
Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780–855) said by 855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ibn Hanbal cited in Jāmi‘ of al-Khallāl (d. 311 A.H. / 923 A.D.) quoted in Yohanan Friedmann, "Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization)" F…
“We ought not to be ashamed of appreciating the truth and of acquiring it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us. For the seeker of truth nothing takes precedence over the truth.”
Al-Kindi (801–873) said by 873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ibid., trans. Alfred L. Ivry, Al-Kindi's Metaphysics (SUNY Press, 1978) p. 58
“[The master] entered the hall and said: Rather than the hundred varieties of erudition, to be without seeking is primary. A religious person is someone who does nothing and is truly without the numerous types of mind. There is also no meaning that can be preached. There’s nothing else, so you may go.”
Huangbo Xiyun (800–855) said by 855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like bubbles in the water, the worlds rise, exist and dissolve in the Supreme Self, which is the material cause and the prop of everything.”
Adi Shankara (788–820) said by 820 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bishops should despise this world and inspire others by their example to seek after heavenly things. But now you are corrupted by ambition beyond all the rest of mankind; and one of them not content with holding the first episcopal see in Germany has dared without my approval to claim my golden scepter, which I carry to signify my royal will, in order that he might use it as his pastoral staff.”
Charlemagne (742–814) said by 814 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Notker's The Deeds of Charlemagne (translated 2008 by David Ganz)
“Do not love the one who doesn’t love Allah. If they can leave Allah, they will leave you.”
Al-Shafi‘i (767–820) said by 820 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Quid est aliud de philosophia tractare, nisi verae religionis, qua summa et principalis omnium rerum causa, Deus, et humiliter colitur, et rationabiliter investigatur, regulas exponere? Conficitur inde, veram esse philosophiam veram religionem, conversimque veram religionem esse veram philosophiam.”
John Scotus Eriugena (800–877) said by 877 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: De Divina Praedestinatione, ch. 1; translation from Kenelm Henry Digby Mores Catholici, vol. 8 (London: Booker & Dolman, 1837) p. 198.
“身無疑鳳雙飛翼, 心有靈犀一點通。”
Li Shangyin (813–858) said by 858 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in A Dictionary of Chinese Popular Sayings and Famous Quotes by Chan Sin-wai (HK: The Commercial Press, 2021), p. 241
“The book is silent as long as you need silence, eloquent whenever you want discourse. He never interrupts you if you are engaged but if you feel lonely he will be a good companion. He is a friend who never deceives or falters you, and he is a companion who does not grow tired of you.”
Al-Jahiz (775–869) said by 869 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“寥落古行宫，宫花寂寞红。 白头宫女在，闲坐说玄宗。”
Yuan Zhen (779–831) said by 831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At an Old Palace", in Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, trans. Yuanchong Xu (Beijing: New World Press, 1994), p. 128
“The church of St Cuthbert is spattered with the blood of the priests of God, stripped of all its furnishing, exposed to the plundering of pagans.”
Alcuin (740–804) said by 804 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the king of Northumbria, after the Viking raid on Lindisfarne (793), as quoted in Dan Jones, Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages (2021)
“Geðenc hwelc witu us ða becomon for ðisse worulde, ða ða we hit nohwæðer ne selfe ne lufodon ne eac oðrum monnum ne lefdon!”
Alfred the Great (849–899) said by 899 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ziyad then appointed Rashid son of Umru-l Judaidi of the tribe of Azd to the frontier. He proceeded to Makran and was victorious in warring against Kikan; but he was slain fighting against the Meds. Sinan, son of Salama, then succeeded to the command and was confirmed therein by Ziyad. He remained there two years.”
Al-Baladhuri (820–892) said by 892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I so detached my heart from the world and cut short my hopes that for thirty years now I have performed each prayer as though it were my last and I were praying the prayer of farewell.”
Rabia of Basra (710–801) said by 801 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted in Early Islamic Mysticism (New York: Paulist Press: 1996), p. 165
“He, who is certain of recompense (from Allah), will give generously.”
Ali al-Hadi (829–868) said by 868 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source