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William Shakespeare310 quotes
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. — William Shakespeare · 1616To be or not to be—that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep—
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep—
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. — William Shakespeare · 1616Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date. — William Shakespeare · 1609My 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 · 1597Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never. — William Shakespeare · 1600What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals-And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? — William Shakespeare · 1616All 310 quotes →Jesus138 quotes
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. — Jesus · 90It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. — Jesus · 60Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. — Jesus · 60So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. — Jesus · 60And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. — Jesus · 60But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. — Jesus · 60All 138 quotes →Mark Twain91 quotes
Imagination labors best in distant fields. — Mark Twain · 1869Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it. — Mark Twain · 1897The report of my death was an exaggeration. — Mark Twain · 1897Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. — Mark Twain · 1884Life does not consist mainly—or even largely—of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing through one's head. — Mark Twain · 1910Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. — Mark Twain · 1876All 91 quotes →Benjamin Franklin81 quotes
Remember that Time is Money. — Benjamin Franklin · 1748Rebellion to Tyrants is obedience to God. — Benjamin Franklin · 1775Diligence is the mother of good luck. — Benjamin Franklin · 1736Early to Bed and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy and wise. — Benjamin Franklin · 1735Fish and Visitors stink after three days. — Benjamin Franklin · 1736Haste makes Waste. — Benjamin Franklin · 1753All 81 quotes →Abraham Lincoln66 quotes
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. — Abraham Lincoln · 1865Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. — Abraham Lincoln · 1863We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. — Abraham Lincoln · 1861But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. — Abraham Lincoln · 1863Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." — Abraham Lincoln · 1865It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. — Abraham Lincoln · 1865All 66 quotes →Apostle Paul61 quotes
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. — Apostle Paul · 56If God be for us, who can be against us? — Apostle Paul · 56But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. — Apostle Paul · 56Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. — Apostle Paul · 55But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. — Apostle Paul · 50Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. — Apostle Paul · 56All 61 quotes →Oscar Wilde61 quotes
To recognise that the soul of a man is unknowable, is the ultimate achievement of wisdom. The final mystery is oneself. When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul? — Oscar Wilde · 1897The curves of your lips rewrite history. — Oscar Wilde · 1891Where there is sorrow there is holy ground. — Oscar Wilde · 1897We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. — Oscar Wilde · 1892Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed. — Oscar Wilde · 1890A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. — Oscar Wilde · 1891All 61 quotes →James Madison55 quotes
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. — James Madison · 1789Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. — James Madison · 1788Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. — James Madison · 1787Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. — James Madison · 1789Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency. — James Madison · 1787It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. — James Madison · 1788All 55 quotes →Thomas Jefferson54 quotes
A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. — Thomas Jefferson · 1787Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just. — Thomas Jefferson · 1785The boisterous sea of liberty indeed is never without a wave. — Thomas Jefferson · 1820The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. — Thomas Jefferson · 1787We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather-bed. — Thomas Jefferson · 1790What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment... Inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose. — Thomas Jefferson · 1786All 54 quotes →Samuel Johnson49 quotes
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. — Samuel Johnson · 1778The triumph of hope over experience. — Samuel Johnson · 1784Claret is the liquor for the boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero (smiling) must drink brandy. — Samuel Johnson · 1779No, Sir; to act from pure benevolence is not possible for finite beings. Human benevolence is mingled with vanity, interest, or some other motive. — Samuel Johnson · 1776Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all. — Samuel Johnson · 1763Such is the delight of mental superiority , that none on, whom nature or study have conferred it, would purchase the gifts of fortune by its loss. — Samuel Johnson · 1751All 49 quotes →God48 quotes
Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. — God · 1405 BCThou shalt not steal. — God · 1405 BCSaul, Saul, why do you persecute me? — God · 62Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. — God · 1405 BCIn the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. — God · 1405 BCYour lamb shall be without blemish. — God · 1405 BCAll 48 quotes →George Orwell46 quotes
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. — George Orwell · 1949All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. — George Orwell · 1945History is written by the winners. — George Orwell · 1944WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH — George Orwell · 1949If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever. — George Orwell · 1949If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. — George Orwell · 1944All 46 quotes →John Milton46 quotes
Long is the way
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light. — John Milton · 1667O fairest of Creation, last and best
Of all God's works. — John Milton · 1667Her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate:
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe
That all was lost. — John Milton · 1667Of Man's First Disobedience, and the fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing, Heav'nly Muse. — John Milton · 1667What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great Argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men. — John Milton · 1667Who overcomes
By force hath overcome but half his foe. — John Milton · 1667All 46 quotes →William Blake46 quotes
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. — William Blake · 1793The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. — William Blake · 1793Everything that lives,
Lives not alone, nor for itself. — William Blake · 1789Great things are done when men and mountains meet. — William Blake · 1807To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour — William Blake · 1803The cistern contains: the fountain overflows. — William Blake · 1794All 46 quotes →Ralph Waldo Emerson45 quotes
Always do what you are afraid to do. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1841In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1841The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1841This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1837Come out of your warm, angular house, resounding with few voices, into the chill, grand, instantaneous night, with such a Presence as a full moon in the clouds. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1838Men are what their mothers made them. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1860All 45 quotes →Edmund Burke44 quotes
A state without some means of change is without the means of its own conservation. — Edmund Burke · 1790Make the Revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions. — Edmund Burke · 1790The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. — Edmund Burke · 1784Parties must ever exist in a free country. — Edmund Burke · 1775Every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. — Edmund Burke · 1775Old religious factions are volcanoes burnt out. — Edmund Burke · 1792All 44 quotes →Socrates44 quotes
Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder. — Socrates · 400 BCThe unexamined life is not worth living. — Socrates · 399 BCThe true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention. — Socrates · 375 BCDemocracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BCFor our discussion is about no ordinary matter, but on the right way to conduct our lives. — Socrates · 375 BCI know that I do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCAll 44 quotes →Homer43 quotes
All men have need of the Gods. — Homer · 700 BCZeus does not bring all men's plans to fulfillment. — Homer · 700 BCAmong all men on Earth, bards have a share of honor and reverence, because the Muse has taught them songs, and loves the race of bards. — Homer · 700 BCOf all the creatures that breathe and move across the earth, there is nothing feebler than man. — Homer · 700 BCI should rather labor as another's serf, in the home of a man without fortune, one whose livelihood was meager, than rule over all the departed dead. — Homer · 700 BCBad herdsmen ruin their flocks. — Homer · 700 BCAll 43 quotes →Aristotle42 quotes
All men by nature desire to know. — Aristotle · 322 BCMan is by nature a political animal. — Aristotle · 350 BCHope is a waking dream. — Aristotle · 240No tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. — Aristotle · 350 BCOne soul dwelling in two bodies. — AristotleOne swallow does not make a spring. — Aristotle · 322 BCAll 42 quotes →Francis Bacon42 quotes
All rising to great place is by a winding stair. — Francis Bacon · 1625Chiefly, the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands. — Francis Bacon · 1625Ancient times were the youth of the world. — Francis Bacon · 1605For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. — Francis Bacon · 1620The joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs and fears. — Francis Bacon · 1625Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. — Francis Bacon · 1625All 42 quotes →Henry David Thoreau39 quotes
Our life is frittered away by detail…. Simplify, simplify. — Henry David Thoreau · 1854The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. — Henry David Thoreau · 1854If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. — Henry David Thoreau · 1854I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. — Henry David Thoreau · 1854I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. — Henry David Thoreau · 1854In the long run men hit only what they aim at. — Henry David Thoreau · 1854All 39 quotes →Horace39 quotes
Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow! — Horace · 23 BCI have erected a monument more lasting than bronze. — Horace · 23 BCLovely and honorable it is to die for one's country. — Horace · 23 BCIt is the mountaintop that the lightning strikes. — Horace · 23 BCThe centuries roll back to the ancient age of gold. — Horace · 23 BCIt's insane to carry timber to the forest. — Horace · 34 BCAll 39 quotes →Charles Dickens38 quotes
Please, sir, I want some more. — Charles Dickens · 1837I wear the chain I forged in life. — Charles Dickens · 1843It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. — Charles Dickens · 1859No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for any one else. — Charles Dickens · 1865Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies. — Charles Dickens · 1860Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire, secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. — Charles Dickens · 1843All 38 quotes →Johann Wolfgang von Goethe36 quotes
One lives but once in this world. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1774Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves and with others. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1787Of all peoples the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life best. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1819The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through all eternity. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1808Who strives always to the utmost,
For him there is salvation. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1808If you inquire what the people are like here, I must answer, "The same as everywhere!" — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1774All 36 quotes →John Stuart Mill34 quotes
He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. — John Stuart Mill · 1859A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for...is a miserable creature, who has no chance of being free. — John Stuart Mill · 1862Human existence is girt round with mystery: the narrow region of our experience is a small island in the midst of a boundless sea. — John Stuart Mill · 1873We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. — John Stuart Mill · 1859The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful, is the cause of half their errors. — John Stuart Mill · 1859An opinion that corn-dealers are starvers of the poor, or that private property is robbery, ought to be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly incur punishment when delivered orally to an excited mob assembled before the house of a corn-dealer. — John Stuart Mill · 1859All 34 quotes →Alexander Pope33 quotes
Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blessed. — Alexander Pope · 1733Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. — Alexander Pope · 1711To err is human, to forgive divine. — Alexander Pope · 1711Woman's at best a contradiction still. — Alexander Pope · 1735A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again. — Alexander Pope · 1711The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jurymen may dine. — Alexander Pope · 1714All 33 quotes →Franklin D. Roosevelt33 quotes
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1933Yesterday, December 7, 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1941We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression-everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want... Everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear... Anywhere in the world. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1941They are unanimous in their hatred for me-and I welcome their hatred. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1936The true conservative seeks to protect the system of private property and free enterprise by correcting such injustices and inequalities as arise from it. The most serious threat to our institutions comes from those who refuse to face the need for change. Liberalism becomes the protection for the far-sighted conservative. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1936A radical is a man with both feet firmly planted-in the air. A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward. A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards. A liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest...of his head. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1939All 33 quotes →Lord Byron33 quotes
How little do we know that which we are!
How less what we may be! — Lord Byron · 1824I am ashes where once I was fire. — Lord Byron · 1824You have deeply ventured;
But all must do so who would greatly win. — Lord Byron · 1821There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the Lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I Love not Man the Less, but Nature more. — Lord Byron · 1818Who would be free themselves must strike the blow? — Lord Byron · 1818When one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation),—sleep, eating, and swilling—buttoning and unbuttoning—how much remains of downright existence? The summer of a dormouse. — Lord Byron · 1813All 33 quotes →John Adams32 quotes
A government of laws, and not of men. — John Adams · 1775I agree with you, that in Politicks the Middle Way is none at all. — John Adams · 1776The happiness of society is the end of government. — John Adams · 1776The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the Minds and Hearts of the People. — John Adams · 1818Every project has been found to be no better than committing the lamb to the custody of the wolf, except that one which is called a balance of power. — John Adams · 1789We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. — John Adams · 1798All 32 quotes →Michel de Montaigne32 quotes
I find that the best goodness I have has some tincture of vice. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant and uniform judgement on him. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580It happens as with the cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580For truth itself does not have the privilege to be employed at any time and in every way; its use, noble as it is, has its circumscriptions and limits. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Let us give Nature a chance; she knows her business better than we do. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580The easy, gentle and sloping path…is not the path of true virtue. It demands a rough and thorny road. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580All 32 quotes →