The Buddha

The Buddha (c. 6th-5th century BCE)

"It is better indeed to conquer yourself
rather than other people."

• The Dhammapada (Verses on the Way, Chapter 8), recorded in the 3rd century BCE. Translation by Glenn Wallis, 2004.

Check out more quotes from the Buddha, HERE.

Take a look at other religious quotes, HERE.

Glance through our ancient quote picture category, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE. 

Luo Guanzhong

Luo Guanzhong (lived between 1315 and 1400)

"Empires arise from chaos and empires collapse back into chaos. This we have known since time began,"

• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong and translated by Martin Palmer. New York: Penguin Classics, 2018.

Read more Luo Guanzhong quotes, HERE.

Check out more Chinese quote pictures, HERE.

Take a look at other medieval quotes, HERE.

Glance through ancient quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote pictures home page, HERE.

Black Elk

Black Elk (c. 1863-1950)

"Seeds sprout in the darkness of the ground before they know the summer and the day."

• From Black Elk Speaks (chapter 18), narrated by Black Elk and recorded/edited by John G. Neihardt. (University of Nebraska Press, 2014).

Take a look at more Black Elk quotes, HERE.

Check out more quote pictures from the United States, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Emperor Wen of Han

Emperor Wen of Han (r. 180-157 BCE)

"Agriculture is the basis of empire. Among the endeavours of man, none is more important."

• From a speech/edict delivered by Emperor Wen in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji, 10) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

Look at more Sima Qian quotes, HERE.

Check out more Chinese quote pictures, HERE.

Glance through more ancient quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote pictures home page, HERE.

Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)

"There is no one method of achieving victory, nor one form of it, but from ancient times up to the present, success has been won in different ways."

• From The Alexiad (Book XV) by Anna Komnene, translated by E.R.A. Sewter, (Penguin Classics, 2009).

Read our biography on Anna Komnene, HERE.

Take a look at other Anna Komnene quote pictures, HERE.

Check out other medieval quote pictures, HERE.

Look at more quotes from women throughout history, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (c. 1706-1790)

"A good Conscience is a continual Christmas."

• From Poor Richard's Almanac by Benjamin Franklin (Seven Treasures Publications, 2008).

Have a look at our Benjamin Franklin biography, HERE.

Take a look at more Benjamin Franklin quote pictures, HERE.

Check out more United States quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

The Didache

The Didache (anonymously-written Christian text, created around year 100)

"Do not be one who holds his hand out to take, but shuts it when it comes to giving."

• The anonymously-written Didache ("The Teaching," c. 100 CE), translated by Cyril C. Richardson (1970) in After The New Testament: A Reader In Early Christianity, edited by Bart D. Ehrman. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Check out other Christian quote pictures, HERE.

Take a look at more Roman quote pictures, HERE.

Glance through other ancient quotes, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE. 

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor, c. 121-180)

"Consider both the infiniteness of the time already past, and the immense vastness of that which is to come, wherein all things are to be resolved and annihilated."

• From the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Book V, meditation XIX, (Xist Publishing edition, 2015).

Read our biography on Emperor Marcus Aurelius, HERE.

Browse Marcus Aurelius quotes, HERE.

Check out other quotes from Roman sources, HERE.

Take a look at more philosophy quotes, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1430)

"What in the world is more tender than a mother toward her child? What greater pain is there than that felt in a mother's heart when she sees her child suffer?"

• From The Book of the City of Ladies (Part III, chapter 11) by Christine de Pizan, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant (Penguin Classics, 1999). 

 Take a look at other quote pictures from Christine de Pizan, HERE.

Check out more quotes from women throughout history, HERE.

Glance through other medieval quotes, HERE.

Return to the quote picture page, HERE.

Mencius

Mencius (c. flourished 4th century BCE)


"What is the most important duty? One's duty towards one's parents. What is the most important thing to watch over? One's own character."

• From The Mencius (Book IV, Part A) by Mencius, translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 2003).

Take a look at more quote pictures from Mencius, HERE.

Check out more Chinese quote pictures, HERE.

Browse through more philosophy quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Tacitus

Tacitus (c. 56/57-117+)

"Perhaps not only the seasons but everything else, social history included, moves in cycles."

• The Annals of Imperial Rome (Book III, translator chaptor 6), by Tacitus, translated by Michael Grant (Penguin Classics, 1996).

Take a look at other Tacitus quotes, HERE.

Take a look at other Roman quote pictures, HERE.

Glance through the ancient quote picture section, HERE.

Return to the quote picture page, HERE. 

Confucius

Confucius (6th century BCE)

"He who by reanimating the Old can gain knowledge of the New is fit to be a teacher."

• From The Analects of Confucius (Book II, 11) translated by Arthur Waley (Vintage Books, 1989).

Check out more wise quotes from Confucius, HERE.

Glance through other Chinese quotes, HERE.

Take a look at more philosophy quotes, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (c. 1706-1790)

"Historians relate, not so much what is done, as what they would have believed."

• From Poor Richard's Almanac by Benjamin Franklin (Seven Treasures Publications, 2008).

Have a look at our Benjamin Franklin biography, HERE.

Take a look at more Benjamin Franklin quote pictures, HERE.

Check out more United States quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE

Emperor Domitian (recorded by Suetonius)

Emperor Domitian (r. 81-96)

"How pleasant it is to be elegant, yet how quickly that stage passes!"

• Quote attributed to Domition in his book, Care of the Hair, later recorded in The Twelve Caesars (Domitian) by Suetonius, translated by Robert Graves and edited by James B. Rives. New York: Penguin Classics, 2007.

Check out more quotes recorded by Suetonius, HERE.

Take a look at other Roman quote pictures, HERE.

Glance through the ancient quote picture section, HERE.

Return to the quote picture page, HERE. 

Hildr Hrólfsdóttir (recorded by Snorri Sturluson)

Attributed to Hildr Hrólfsdóttir (c. 9th century), recorded by Snorri Sturluson (c. 1179-1241)

"Tis ill 'gainst wolf to be wolfish,
warrior, such wolf opposing.
Hard that wolf will harry
your herds, once he runs to the forest."

• This poem is attributed to Hildr Hrólfsdóttir in The Saga of Harald Fairhair, included in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla. The translation used here is by Lee Hollander (University of Texas Press, 1964, 2018). Hildr Hrólfsdóttir reportedly stated this poem after King Harald Fairhair (or Finehair) of Norway outlawed her son, Hrolf (Rollo), who would go on to rule Normandy.

Watch a short video about Snorri Sturluson, HERE.

Take a look at other Sturluson quote pictures, HERE.

Check out other medieval quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (Sayings recorded between the 6th and 3rd century BCE)

"Subtlety of subtleties!
     Spies have
     Innumerable uses."

From Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Chapter Thirteen), translated by John Minford (Penguin Classics edition, 2009).



Read our biography about Sun Tzu, HERE.

Check out other quote pictures from Sun Tzu, HERE.

Take a look at more Chinese quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400)

"Love is a thing as any spirit free;
Women by nature long for liberty
And not to be constrained or made a thrall,
And so do men, if I may speak for all."

• From The Canterbury Tales (The Franklin's Tale) by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated to modern English by Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics, 2003).

Watch a short YouTube video about the life of Geoffrey Chaucer, HERE.

Read out article about the life of Geoffrey Chaucer, HERE.

Take a look at more Geoffrey Chaucer quote pictures, HERE.

Check out more medieval quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote pictures home page, HERE.

Homer

Homer (flourished c. 700 BCE)

"A timid beggar is a bad beggar."

• The Odyssey (Book 17) by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and edited by D. C. H. Rieu. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009. The quote comes from a line delivered by Penelope. She commenting on Odysseus, who was at the time disguised as a beggar.

Check out our short video on who Homer really was, HERE.

Take a look at our video about The Iliad, The Odyssey and Troy, HERE.

Find other Homer quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 11th century)

"Lost in my sorrows I never knew months and

days were still pasing by--

is the year really over, and my time, too, in the world?"

• From Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji (chapter 41), translated by Royall Tyler (Penguin Classics, 2003).

Take a look at more Murasaki Shikibu quote pictures, HERE.

Check out other quotes from Japan, HERE.

Glance through other quotes from women throughout history, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

"Colonists are not sent abroad to be slaves of those who remain behind, but to be their equals."

• History of the Peloponnesian War (Book I, section 34) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972). The quote was supposedly from a speech delivered by a Corcyraean ambassador to Athens in 433 BCE, when they were seeking help agaisnt Corinth.

Take a look at more quotes from Thucydides, HERE.

Check out other Greek quote pictures, HERE.

Glance through more ancient quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Josephus

Josephus (c. 37/38-100)

"Famine is truly the worst form of suffering and decency its greatest victim."

• From The Jewish War by Josephus (trans. Henry Thackeray, Loeb 1961) and also referenced in Eusebius' The Church History (trans. Paul Maier, 1999). The quote comes from Josephus' commentary about the Roman siege of Jerusalem in the year 70.

Take a look at other Roman-era quote pictures, HERE.

Browse quotes from Jewish authors, HERE.

Glance through the ancient quote picture section, HERE.

Return to the quote picture page, HERE.

Sima Qian

Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE)

"Merit is difficult to achieve and easy to lose. The right time is hard to find and easy to let slip."

• From a speech delivered in the character of Kuai Tong within the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji, 92) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

Look at more Sima Qian quotes, HERE.

Check out more Chinese quote pictures, HERE.

Glance through more ancient quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote pictures home page, HERE.