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.
Philosophical literature22 quotes
I am condemned to be free. — Jean-Paul Sartre · 1943Every instant of time is a pinprick of eternity. — Marcus Aurelius · 180The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. — William Blake · 1793This is hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver. — Friedrich Nietzsche · 1883One cannot step twice into the same river, for the waters are continually flowing on. — HeraclitusNature to be commanded must be obeyed. — Francis Bacon · 1620All 22 quotes →Religious literature14 quotes
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. — Jesus · 60All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full. — Ecclesiastes 1:7 · 931 BCThe 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 · 606But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. — Jesus · 60The first and wisest of them all professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew. — John Milton · 1671All 14 quotes →Political literature7 quotes
The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution. — Hannah Arendt · 1970We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. — Karl Popper · 1945The most melancholy of human reflections, perhaps, is that, on the whole, it is a question whether the benevolence of mankind does most good or harm. — Walter Bagehot · 1872You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power-he's free again. — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn · 1968A war regarded as inevitable or even probable, and therefore much prepared for, has a very good chance of eventually being fought. — George F. Kennan · 1977All punishment is mischief: all punishment in itself is evil. — Jeremy Bentham · 1789All 7 quotes →Biography4 quotes
One more such victory over the Romans and we are lost. — Pyrrhus · 279 BCIt is part of human nature to hate the man you have hurt. — Tacitus · 56Life is much more fun when you have to worry about money coming in. — Pierre Auguste RenoirMen of genius sometimes accomplish most when they work the least. — Leonardo da Vinci · 1568Comedy (play)4 quotes
How apt the poor are to be proud! — William Shakespeare · 1602The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. — William Shakespeare · 1598To do a great right, do a little wrong. — William Shakespeare · 1598Eternity was in that moment. — William Congreve · 1693Tragedy (play)4 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 · 1616I must be cruel only to be kind. — William Shakespeare · 1616So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity. — William Shakespeare · 1599Autobiography and memoir3 quotes
The best way to lift one's self up is to help someone else. — Booker T. Washington · 1900The most exciting thing is not-doing-it. If you fall in love with someone and never do it, it's much more exciting. — Andy Warhol · 1975Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. — Viktor Frankl · 1946Fantasy3 quotes
Repressing your feelings will only make them stronger. — Yu Shu Lien · 2000There's no eternity to the things we can touch. My master used to say, there's nothing we can hold onto in this world. Only by letting go can we finally possess what is real. — Master Li Mu Bai · 2000Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid. — Jack Sparrow · 2003Fantasy (film)3 quotes
Repressing your feelings will only make them stronger. — Yu Shu Lien · 2000There's no eternity to the things we can touch. My master used to say, there's nothing we can hold onto in this world. Only by letting go can we finally possess what is real. — Master Li Mu Bai · 2000Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid. — Jack Sparrow · 2003Satire3 quotes
Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old. — Jonathan Swift · 1727Appetite comes with eating. — Francois Rabelais · 1534Anyone who campaigns for public office becomes disqualified for holding any office at all. — Thomas More · 1516Science fiction3 quotes
Only a free society... Can produce the technology that makes tyranny possible. — John Keith Laumer · 1967If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine. — Obi-Wan Kenobi · 1977Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. — Douglas Adams · 1980Drama2 quotes
It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything. — Tyler Durden · 1999You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man. — Kane · 1941Drama (film)2 quotes
It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything. — Tyler Durden · 1999You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man. — Kane · 1941History (play)2 quotes
Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour. — William Shakespeare · 1595So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity. — William Shakespeare · 1599Legal writing2 quotes
It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. — Felix Frankfurter · 1950In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently. — Harry A. Blackmun · 1978Martial arts2 quotes
Repressing your feelings will only make them stronger. — Yu Shu Lien · 2000There's no eternity to the things we can touch. My master used to say, there's nothing we can hold onto in this world. Only by letting go can we finally possess what is real. — Master Li Mu Bai · 2000Martial arts (film)2 quotes
Repressing your feelings will only make them stronger. — Yu Shu Lien · 2000There's no eternity to the things we can touch. My master used to say, there's nothing we can hold onto in this world. Only by letting go can we finally possess what is real. — Master Li Mu Bai · 2000Scientific literature2 quotes
The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility. — Albert Einstein · 1936The only certainty is that nothing is certain. — Pliny the Elder · 77 BCAction1 quote
Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true. So, it's simple, you project strength to avoid conflict. — Bodhi · 1991Action (film)1 quote
Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true. So, it's simple, you project strength to avoid conflict. — Bodhi · 1991Adventure1 quote
Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid. — Jack Sparrow · 2003Adventure (film)1 quote
Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid. — Jack Sparrow · 2003Adventure novel1 quote
In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. — Mark Twain · 1876Children's literature1 quote
In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. — Mark Twain · 1876Comedy1 quote
This woman hates me so much, I'm starting to like her. — George Costanza · 1993Comedy (TV)1 quote
This woman hates me so much, I'm starting to like her. — George Costanza · 1993Crime1 quote
Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true. So, it's simple, you project strength to avoid conflict. — Bodhi · 1991Crime (film)1 quote
Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true. So, it's simple, you project strength to avoid conflict. — Bodhi · 1991Detective fiction1 quote
It is completely unimportant... That is why it is so interesting. — Agatha Christie · 1926Dissenting opinion1 quote
It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. — Felix Frankfurter · 1950