The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
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.
The Renaissance6 quotes
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. — William Shakespeare · 1599Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne’er turns the key to th’ poor. — William Shakespeare · 1606O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle. — William Shakespeare · 1597Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered. — William Shakespeare · 1611The cause of the bad and of the good fortune of men is the way in which their method of working fits the times. — Niccolo Machiavelli · 1531Though Fortune’s malice overthrow my state,
My mind exceeds the compass of her wheel. — William Shakespeare · 1595Classical antiquity3 quotes
The man who has planned badly, if fortune is on his side, may have had a stroke of luck; but his plan was a bad one nonetheless. — Herodotus · 430 BCFortune assists the brave. — Terence · 161 BCOf all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny. — Sophocles · 430 BCSpanish Golden Age1 quote
Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and idleness, its opposite, never led to good intention's goal. — Miguel de Cervantes · 1615