"Shall I do it? I will; so the end of my action be to do good unto men."
- From the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (Xist Classics edition).
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Friday, December 30, 2016
Marcus Aurelius
"Shall I do it? I will; so the end of my action be to do good unto men."
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Thursday, December 29, 2016
Odin (from The Prose Edda)
"Haven't you heard that the gods built a bridge from the earth to the sky and it is called Bifrost? You will have seen it, and possibly you call it the rainbow."
- From The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 CE), translated by Jesse L. Byock (Penguin Classics edition).
Check out other Scandinavian themed quote pictures, HERE.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Rosa Parks
"I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free...so other people would also be free."
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Friedrich Schleiermacher
"Praxis is an art, speculation is a science, religion is the sensibility and taste for the infinite."
- From On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despises by Friedrich Schleiermacher, translated by Richard Crouter.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Monday, December 26, 2016
Mahatma Gandhi
"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."
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Eleanor Roosevelt
"It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it."
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Thursday, December 22, 2016
Albert Einstein
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Black Elk
"And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that make one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy."
- From Black Elk recorded by John G. Neihardt in Black Elk Speaks. The image of Black Elk is licensed under Creative Commons 2.0 (CC 2.0)
Find other Black Elk quote pictures, HERE.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Murasaki Shikibu
Monday, December 19, 2016
St. Teresa of Avila
"True perfection consists in the love of God and of our neighbor, and the more nearly perfect is our observance of these two commandments, the nearer to perfection we shall be."
- From Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila, translated by E. Allison Peers. The background image of St. Teresa is licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 (CC 4.0).
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Sunday, December 18, 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Friedrich Nietzsche
"On the contrary, let me declare expressly that in the days when mankind was not yet ashamed of its cruelty, life on earth was more cheerful than it is now that pessimists exist."
- From Friedrich Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals, translated by Walter Kaufmann in Basic Writings of Nietzsche.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Buddha
"Win over an angry person with poise.
Win over a mean one with kindness.
Win over a greedy person with generosity,
and one who speaks falsely with honesty."
- From The Dhammapada (circa 3rd Century BCE, chapter 17) translated by Glenn Wallis.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Buddha
"If something is to be done,
one should proceed firmly.
The inattentive practitioner
is more scattered than the dust."
- From The Dhammapada (chapter 22), translated by Glenn Wallis.
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Xunzi (Hsün Tzu)
"Through rites Heaven and earth join in harmony, the sun and moon shine, the four seasons proceed in order, the stars and constellations march, the rivers flow, and all things flourish."
- From Hsün Tzu: Basic Writings translated by Burton Watson.
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Monday, December 12, 2016
Joseph E. Johnston
"The Southern infantry had great advantage over the Northern in their greater familiarity with firearms. It was the reverse, however, in relation to the artillery; for that of the South had had neither time nor ammunition for practice, while much of that of the North belonged to the regular service."
- From Joseph E. Johnston's Narrative of Military Operations During the Civil War.
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Sunday, December 11, 2016
Cicero
"Eloquence is the attendant of peace, the companion of ease and prosperity, and the tender offspring of a free and a well established constitution."
- From Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators, translated by E. Jones.
Friday, December 9, 2016
Gottfried Leibniz
"We could never be informed of anything whose idea we do not already have in mind."
- From Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics, c. 1686, translated by Mary Morris and G. H. R. Parkinson.
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Thursday, December 8, 2016
Anna Komnene
"Bohemond was in fact like the acrid smoke which precedes a fire, the preliminary skirmish which comes before the great assault. Father and son you might liken to caterpillars and locusts, for what was left by Robert, his son fed on and devoured."
- From Anna Komnene's Alexiad (Book I, section 14), translated by E. R. A. Sewter (Penguin Classics edition).
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Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Jeannette Rankin
"As a woman, I can't go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else."
- This quote was stated by Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin as the United States Congress voted for war against Japan following the Pearl Harbor attack. She was the only vote against the war. Rankin was elected as a Congresswoman for two terms, first from 1917-1919, and again from 1941-1942. She was a lifelong women's and civil rights advocate, and a stalwart pacifist all her life.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Lao Tzu
"In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak
than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong
nothing can surpass it."
- From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book Two, LXXVIII), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics edition).
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Monday, December 5, 2016
Virgil
"The Harpies...no monster on earth more cruel,
no scourge more savage, no wrath of the gods has
ever raised its head from the Styx's waters.
The faces of girls, but birds! A loathsome ooze
discharges from their bellies, talons for hands,
their jaws deathly white with a hunger never sated."
- From The Aeneid (Book III, approximately line 260) by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles (Penguin Books edition).
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Friday, December 2, 2016
The Tale of Genji (by Murasaki Shikibu)
"When the clouds to me seem always to be the smoke that rose from her pyre,
how fondly i rest my eyes on the evening sky."
- From The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Sikibu, translated by Royall Tyler (Penguin Classics edition). The background photo is licensed under Creative Commons 3.0 (CC 3.0).
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Saint Augustine
"In you there is nothing that we hate, nothing we detest, nothing we abominate, nothing we condemn, except human error."
- From The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Part III, vol. 10, translated by Edmund Hill. Sermon: St. Augustine's "Sermon on the Dispute with the Donatists."
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Thomas Jefferson
"We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & unalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness."
- From an early draft of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, this version found in Joseph J. Ellis' book, American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Marcus Aurelius
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Cicero
"Even I am unable to restrain my tears, when I behold my country no longer defensible by the genius, the prudence, and the authority of a legal magistrate."
- From Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators, translated by E. Jones.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Black Elk
Black Elk (Oglala Lakota Sioux, 1863-1950)
"It is the story of all life that is holy and is good to tell, and of us two-leggeds sharing in it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the air and all green things; for these are children of one mother and their father is one Spirit."
- From Black Elk Speaks, recorded by John G. Neihardt.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Thomas More
"Instead of inflicting these horrible punishments, it would be far more to the point to provide everyone with the means of livelihood, so that nobody's under the frightful necessity of becoming first a thief and then a corpse."
- From "Humanistic Solutions to Social Problems" in Thomas More's Utopia, translated by Paul Turner.
The background picture is licensed under Creative Commons 1.0 (CC 1.0)
Monday, November 21, 2016
Virgil
"If you have no use for humankind and mortal armor,
at least respect the gods. They know right from wrong.
They don't forget."
- From The Aeneid (Book I, approx. line 650) by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles.
Background photo filed under license (CC 2.5).
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Decimus Laberius
"He whom many fear must fear many."
- Quote from a play by Decimus Laberius recorded by Cicero (Letters to His Friends), Suetonius (Caesar) and Macrobius (Saturnalia).
Find more quote pictures on our official website gallery, here.
Friday, November 18, 2016
Odin (Sayings of the High One)
"I advise you to be wary,
but not too wary;
be wariest with ale
and another man's wife;
and third, be wary
that thieves don't outwit you."
- From the Sayings of the High One (Hávamál) edited by David A. H. Evans.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Friedrich Schleiermacher
"History, in the most proper sense, is the highest object of religion. It begins and ends with religion--for in religion's eyes prophecy is also history, and the two are not to be distinguished fro one another."
- From Friedrich Schleiermacher's On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers, translated by Richard Crouter.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Erasmus
"No veneration of Mary is more beautiful than the imitation of her humility. No devotion to the saints is more acceptable to God than the imitation of their virtues."
- From Erasmus' "Inner Faith Is Better Than Mere Ritual," translated by John P. Dolan
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Han Fei Tzu
"Those who fail to change old ways are often in fact prolonging the course of disorder, while those who strive to gratify the people are after some selfish and evil end."
- From Han Fei Tzu's Basic Writings translated by Burton Watson.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Gottfried Leibniz
"Bodies act as though, per impossible, there were no souls; and souls act as if there were no bodies, and both act as if each influenced the other."
- From Gottfried Leibniz' Monadology, translated by Mary Morris and G. H. R. Parkinson in Leibniz: Philosophical Writings.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Galileo Galilei
"We need a guide in unknown and uncouth parts, but in clear thoroughfares, and in open plains, only the blind stand in need of a leader."
- From Galileo Galilei's Dialogue on the Great World-Systems. The original background picture of Galileo is filed under the Creative Commons license (4.0).
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE)
"Today the enemy would have won the war if only they had a commander who knew how to conquer."
- This comment was stated by Caesar in reference to his siege of Pompey the Great at Dyrrhachium, in ancient Greece (modern Albania). Pompey could have broken through Caesar's siege walls, but failed to press his advantage. Nevertheless, Caesar eventually abandoned the siege to regroup and resupply. The comment was recorded by Plutarch and Suetonius, each in their books similarly called Caesar (39.39 and 36 respectively).
Friday, November 11, 2016
Roman Senator Metellus Macedonius
"Fellow Romans, if we could make do without a wife, we would all be free of such a nuisance. But nature has ordained that we can't live easily with women or without them, so we must look to our long term needs rather than our short-term happiness."
- From a speech given by Metellus Macedonius to the senate of Rome in 131 BCE, recorded by Aulus Gellius in Attic Nights.
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Mo Tzu
Mo Tzu (5th Century BCE Philosopher and Theologian)
"It is the business of the benevolent man to try to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful."
- From the Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, translated by Burton Watson.
Read a short biography about Mo Tzu, here.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Murasaki Shikibu
"The letters worth reading are those sent when the writer was angry, or when dusk was falling and she anxiously awaited her lover's coming."
- From The Tale of Genji written in the 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu.
Monday, November 7, 2016
General Joseph E. Johnston
"The revolution begun was justified by the maxims so often repeated by Americans, that free government is founded on the consent of the governed, and that every community strong enough to establish and maintain its independence has a right to assert it."
- From Joseph E. Johnston's Narrative of Military Operations During the Civil War. Johnston was a general for the Confederate States of America during the U.S. Civil War. He spent much of his time in the war trying to defend the south against the Union General, W. T. Sherman.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
General W. T. Sherman
"Indeed, Florida was the Indian's paradise, was of little value to us, and it was a great pity to remove the Seminoles at all, for we could have collected there all the Choctaws, Creeks, Cherokees, and Chickasaws, in addition to the Seminoles."
- From the Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman. General Sherman was stationed in Florida and South Carolina in the United states prior to the Mexican-American War. He would later become a major figure in the Union victory over the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War.
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