Quote Authors List

Quotes from Ancient Times

Aesop ~ Zeuxis Quotations

In critical moments even the very powerful have need of the weakest.

Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC)

Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC)

It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.

Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC)

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

I grow old learning something new every day.

Solon 636 BC~ 558 BC, Greek Statesman

 Let no man be called happy before his death. Till then, he is not happy, only lucky.

Solon

No man is happy; he is at best fortunate.

Solon

Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.

Solon

Rich people without wisdom and learning are but sheep with golden fleeces.

Solon

Society is well governed when its people obey the magistrates, and the magistrates obey the law.

Solon

Speech is the mirror of action.

Solon 636 BC~ 558 BC, Greek Statesman

Arguments about Scripture achieve nothing but a stomachache and a headache.

Tertullian 160 ~ 240, Roman

He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.

Tertullian 160 ~ 240, Roman

Hope is patience with the lamp lit.

Tertullian 160 ~ 240, Roman

You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave.  Discipline is an index to doctrine.

Tertullian 160 ~ 240, Roman

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

Tertullian 160 ~ 240, Roman

Nothing that is God's is obtainable by money.

Tertullian 160 ~ 240, Roman

You cannot parcel out freedom in pieces because freedom is all or nothing.

Tertullian 160 ~ 240, Roman

Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.

Thucydides 460 BC ~ 395 BC Greek Historian

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.

Thucydides 460 BC ~ 395 BC Greek Historian

The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage. Wars spring from unseen and generally insignificant causes, the first outbreak being often but an explosion of anger.

Thucydides 460 BC ~ 395 BC Greek Historian

Faith is not sure, if you cannot turn love to quarrel; may my enemies obtain a mild mistress.

Propertius Sextus (c. 50–16 B.C.), Roman elegist.

Let each man pass his days in that wherein his skill is greatest.

Propertius Sextus (c. 50–16 B.C.), Roman elegist.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Propertius Sextus (c. 50–16 B.C.), Roman elegist.

Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent.

Propertius Sextus (c. 50–16 B.C.), Roman elegist.

Afflicted by love's madness all are blind.

Propertius Sextus (c. 50–16 B.C.), Roman elegist.

Short is the joy that guilty pleasure brings.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Do not consider painful what is good for you.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Your very silence shows you agree.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

A bad beginning makes a bad ending.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Beware lest in your anxiety to avoid war you obtain a master.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

The readiest and surest way to get rid of censure, is to correct ourselves.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

To remind a man of the good turns you have done him is very much like a reproach.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.

Marcus Porcius Cato, 95-46 BC, Cato the Younger

An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.

Marcus Porcius Cato

Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternatives.

Marcus Porcius Cato

The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new.

Marcus Porcius Cato

The first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to the gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right.

Marcus Porcius Cato

Acquaintance lessens fame.

Claudius 10 BC ~ 54 AD, Roman Leadre

No one is free who does not lord over himself.

Claudius 10 BC ~ 54 AD, Roman Leadre

No one is more miserable than the person who wills everything and can do nothing.

Claudius 10 BC ~ 54 AD, Roman Leadre

Say not always what you know, but always know what you say.

Claudius 10 BC ~ 54 AD, Roman Leadre

To do no evil is good, to intend none better.

Claudius 10 BC ~ 54 AD, Roman Leadre

To do nothing evil is good; to wish nothing evil is better.

Claudius 10 BC ~ 54 AD, Roman Leadre

Mankind is poised midway between the gods and the beasts.

Plotinus 204 or 205 C.E., Egyptian Philosopher

Knowledge, if it does not determine action, is dead to us.

Plotinus 204 or 205 C.E., Egyptian Philosopher

Knowledge has three degrees-opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition.

Plotinus 204 or 205 C.E., Egyptian Philosopher

Music is part of us, and either ennobles or degrades our behavior.

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, (A.D. 475-523?), Roman Statesman

Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law.

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, (A.D. 475-523?), Roman Statesman

Theisdom.

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, (A.D. 475-523?), Roman Statesman

Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired.

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, (A.D. 475-523?), Roman Statesman

To add insult to injury.

Phaedrus (15 BC - 50 AD)

The humble suffer when the mighty disagree.

Phaedrus (15 BC - 50 AD)

There is danger in both belief and unbelief.

Phaedrus (15 BC - 50 AD)

Men in however high a station ought to fear the humble.

Phaedrus (15 BC - 50 AD)

Aggression unchallenged is aggression unleashed.

Phaedrus (15 BC - 50 AD)

Courage is of no value unless accompanied by justice; yet if all men became just, there would be no need for courage.

Agesilaus the Second 443 ~ 359 BC, King of Sparta 401-360 BC

If all men were just, there would be no need for valor.

Agesilaus the Second 443 ~ 359 BC, King of Sparta 401-360 BC


It is not the places that grace men, but men the places.

Agesilaus the Second 443 ~ 359 BC, King of Sparta 401-360 BC

It isn't positions which lend distinction, but men who enhance positions.

Agesilaus the Second 443 ~ 359 BC, King of Sparta 401-360 BC

It is easier to do many things than to do one thing continuously for a long time.

Marcus Fabius Quintilian (35 - 90) Roman orator

The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.

Marcus Fabius Quintilian (35 - 90) Roman orator

We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.

Marcus Fabius Quintilian (35 - 90) Roman orator

We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide.

Marcus Fabius Quintilian (35 - 90) Roman orator

What is food to one man is bitter poison to others.

Lucretius (96 BC - 55 BC)

Such evil deeds could religion prompt.

Lucretius (96 BC - 55 BC)

Nothing can be created from nothing.

Lucretius (96 BC - 55 BC)

What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.

Lucretius (96 BC - 55 BC)

The falling drops at last will wear the stone.

Lucretius (96 BC - 55 BC)

Wait for that wisest of all counselors, Time.

Pericles (490 BC - 429 BC)

Fishes live in the sea, as men do on land: the great ones eat up the little ones.

Pericles (490 BC - 429 BC)

For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial.

Pericles (490 BC - 429 BC)

The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged.

Democritus 460 BC ~ 370 BC Greek

By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.

Democritus 460 BC ~ 370 BC Greek

Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.

Democritus 460 BC ~ 370 BC Greek

Force has no place where there is need of skill.

Herodotus (484 BC - 430 BC), Greek historian and traveler

Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.

Herodotus (484 BC - 430 BC), Greek historian and traveler

Haste in every business brings failures.

Herodotus (484 BC - 430 BC), Greek historian and traveler

The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.

Thucydides (born ca. 460-455 B.C.) Greek Historian

The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.

Thucydides (born ca. 460-455 B.C.) Greek Historian

It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.

Thucydides (born ca. 460-455 B.C.) Greek Historian

Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war.

pThucydides (born ca. 460-455 B.C.) Greek Historian

The secret of Happiness is Freedom, and the secret of Freedom, Courage.

Thucydides (born ca. 460-455 B.C.) Greek Historian

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.

Thucydides (born ca. 460-455 B.C.) Greek Historian

Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.

Thucydides (born ca. 460-455 B.C.) Greek Historian

There is nothing more foolish than a foolish laugh. Risu inepto res ineptior nulla est.

Gaius Valerius Catullus (c.84 B.C. - c.54 B.C.) Roman lyric poet

I hate and I love. Perhaps you ask why I do so. I do not know, but I feel it, and am in agony.

Gaius Valerius Catullus (c.84 B.C. - c.54 B.C.) Roman lyric poet

It is difficult to suddenly give up a long love. Difficile est longum subito deponere amorem

Gaius Valerius Catullus (c.84 B.C. - c.54 B.C.) Roman lyric poet

One good turn deserves another.

Gaius Petronius Arbiter 27-66 A.D, Emperor Nero's advisor

What power has law where only money rules.

Gaius Petronius Arbiter 27-66 A.D, Emperor Nero's advisor

You see a louse on someone else, but not a tick on yourself. —In alio pediculum, in te ricinum non vides.

Gaius Petronius Arbiter 27-66 A.D, Emperor Nero's advisor

Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.

Pythagoras (582 BC - 507 BC)

It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence.

Pythagoras (582 BC - 507 BC)

Man is the measure of all things.

Protagoras (485 BC - 421 BC)

There are two sides to every question.

Protagoras (485 BC - 421 BC)

Know thyself.

Thales (640 AD - 546 AD)

The past is certain, the future obscure.

Thales (640 AD - 546 AD)

A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind.

Thales (640 AD - 546 AD)

Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship.

Zeuxis (464 ~400 BC)

Justice is simply the advantage of the stronger.

Thrasymachus 5th century B.C., Greek philosopher.

Familiarity breeds contempt, while rarity wins admiration.

Apuleius (124 - 170)

Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.

Marcus Valerius Martialis (40 - 103)

 The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.

Euclid 325 BC ~ 265 BC Egyptian mathematician

Another such victory over the Romans, and we are undone.

Pyrrhus Molossian c.318-272 B.C, King of Epirus

There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.

Publius Terentius Afer

Moderation in all things.

Terence (185 BC - 159 BC)

Though bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects.

Sima Qian 145 BC ~ 86 BC, Chinese Historian

The mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return the better to thinking.

Phaedrus (15 BC - 50 AD)

 It is destruction to the weak man to attempt to imitate the powerful.

Phaedrus (15 BC - 50 AD)

Just” or “right” means nothing but what is to the interest of the stronger.

Thrasymachus 5th century B.C., Greek philosopher.

Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.

Polybius (205 BC - 118 BC)

There is no witness so dreadful, no accuser so terrible as the conscience that dwells in the heart of every man.

Polybius (205 BC - 118 BC)

He who confers a favor should at once forget it, if he is not to show a sordid ungenerous spirit.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

To remind a man of a kindness conferred and to talk of it, is little different from reproach.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

Memorable Quotes

A happy life consists in tranquillity of mind.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Advice is judged by results, not by intentions.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

He who will not economize will have to agonize.

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus (540 BC - 480 BC)

Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.

Democritus 460 BC ~ 370 BC Greek

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.

Democritus 460 BC ~ 370 BC Greek

Quotes cards

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Liars when they speak the truth are not believed.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it.

Democritus 460 BC ~ 370 BC Greek

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.

Democritus 460 BC ~ 370 BC Greek

In giving advice seek to help, not to please, your friend.

Solon 636 BC~ 558 BC, Greek Statesman
Be a craftsman in speech that thou mayest be strong, for the strength of one is the tongue, and speech is mightier than all fighting.
Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly.
 Trees, though they are cut and lopped, grow up again quickly, but if men are destroyed, it is not easy to get them again.
If I have done any deed worthy of remembrance, that deed will be my monument. If not, no monument can preserve my memory.
Our minds are like our stomachs; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetites.
Here is a field open for talent; and here, merit will a have certain favor, and industry is graced with its due reward.

Famous Quotes

Social Links