The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Classical antiquity14 quotes
Every instant of time is a pinprick of eternity. — Marcus Aurelius · 180One more such victory over the Romans and we are lost. — Pyrrhus · 279 BCOne cannot step twice into the same river, for the waters are continually flowing on. — HeraclitusMake war that we may live in peace. — Aristotle · 322 BCOne might perhaps say that this very thing is probable, that many things happen to men that are not probable. — AgathonDeath, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are death is not come, and when death is come, we are not. — Epicurus · 240All 14 quotes →The Renaissance12 quotes
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep. The more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite. — William Shakespeare · 1597Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy. — William Shakespeare · 1616How apt the poor are to be proud! — William Shakespeare · 1602Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour. — William Shakespeare · 1595I must be cruel only to be kind. — William Shakespeare · 1616The first and wisest of them all professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew. — John Milton · 1671All 12 quotes →New Testament Era5 quotes
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. — Jesus · 60But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. — Jesus · 60He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. — Jesus · 60Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you. — Jesus · 61For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. — Luke 14:11 · 61Ancient World4 quotes
The sage does not accumulate for himself.
The more he uses for others, the more he has himself.
The more he gives to others, the more he possesses of his own.
The Way of Heaven is to benefit others and not to injure.
The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCEven to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. — Jianzhi Sengcan · 606If you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCThe pursuit of learning is to increase day after day.
The pursuit of Tao is to decrease day after day.
It is to decrease and further decrease until one reaches the point of taking no action.
No action is undertaken, and yet nothing is left undone. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCAge of Enlightenment3 quotes
Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old. — Jonathan Swift · 1727Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. — Alexander Pope · 1727All punishment is mischief: all punishment in itself is evil. — Jeremy Bentham · 1789Colonial America1 quote
Success has ruin’d many a Man. — Benjamin Franklin · 1752Middle Ages1 quote
I am dying of thirst by the side of the fountain. — Charles d'Orleans · 1440Old Testament Era1 quote
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full. — Ecclesiastes 1:7 · 931 BC