Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321)

"The soul is by vile fear assail'd, which oft
So overcasts a man, that he recoils
From noblest resolution, like a beast
At some false semblance in the twilight gloom"

• Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Canto II), translated by Henry F. Cary in the Harvard Classics series, edited by Charles W. Eliot, and published by P. F. Collier & Son (1909, 1937).

Take a look at quotes from other poets, HERE.

Check out other medieval quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE. 

Plutarch

Plutarch (c. 50-120)

"So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of any thing by history, when, on the one hand, those who afterwords write it find long periods of time intercepting their view, and, on the other hand, the contemporary records of any actions and lives, partly through envy and ill-will, partly through favor and flattery, pervert and distort truth."

• Plutarch in Parallel Lives (Life of Pericles, 13.12). The edition used here is from the Harvard Classics series, edited by Charles W. Eliot, and published by P. F. Collier & Son (1909, 1937).

Check out more Plutarch 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 (c. 551-479 BCE)

"A gentleman is ashamed to let his words outrun his deeds."

• The Analects of Confucius (Book XIV, section 29) 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)

"Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning."

• 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. 

Aristotle

Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE)

"To dislodge by argument habits long embedded in the character is a difficult if not impossible task."

• From The Nicomachean Ethics (Book X, section 9, Bekker page 1179b) by Aristotle, translated by J. A. K. Thomson (Penguin Classics, 2004).

Take a look at more Aristotle quote pictures, HERE.

Check out other Greek quotes, HERE.

Glance through the ancient quote picture section, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE. 

Book of Psalms

The Book of Psalms (a multi-generational work likely finalized between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC)

"Whoever of you loves life
     and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil
     and your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good;
     seek peace and pursue it."

--Psalms 34: 12-14 (New International Version, 1978, 2011)




Check out Christian quote pictures, HERE.

Browse quotes from Jewish authors, HERE.

Take a look at Roman quote pictures, HERE.

Glance through other ancient quotes, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Friedrich Schleiermacher

Friedrich Schleiermacher (c. 1768-1834)

"All religious feelings are supernatural, for they are religious only insofar as they are produced directly by the universe; whether they are religious in oneself, each person must judge best."

• From Friedrich Schleiermacher's On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers (second speech), translated by Richard Crouter (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Take a look at other Friedrich Schleiermacher quotes, HERE. 

Take a look at more philosophy quotes, HERE.

Take a look at other religious quotes, HERE.

Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (sayings recorded between 6th-3rd century BCE)

"Weakness
     Stems from
     Preparing against attack.

Strength
     Stems from
     Obliging the enemy
     To prepare against an attack."

• Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Chapter Six), 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.

Confucius

Confucius (c. 551-479 BCE)

"In official speeches all that matters is to get one's meaning through."

• The Analects of Confucius (Book XV, section 40) 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. 

Aristotle

Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE)

"Life is a desirable thing, especially for the good, because for them existence is good and pleasant (since they feel pleasure in the consciousness of what is in itself good)."

• From The Nicomachean Ethics (Book XI, section 9, Bekker page 1170b) by Aristotle, translated by J. A. K. Thomson (Penguin Classics, 2004).

Take a look at more Aristotle quote pictures, HERE.

Check out other Greek quotes, HERE.

Glance through the ancient quote picture section, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE. 

The Buddha

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

"A comfort is virtue into old age.
A comfort is the establishment of conviction.
A comfort is the attainment of insightful knowledge.
Not acting destructively is a comfort."

• The Dhammapada (Verses on the Way, Chapter 23), 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. 

Livy

Livy (c. 59 BCE-17 CE)

"Learn by another's sorrow to avoid it for yourselves."

• The History of Rome (Book 3, section 30) by Livy, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002.

Check out other Livy 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.

Odin (from Hávamál)

Odin (Norse god)

"The stupid man stays awake all night
and worries about everything;
he's tired out when the morning comes
and all's just as bad as it was."

• This quote comes from stanza 23 of Hávamál (Sayings of the High One), an old poem which was preserved in the 13th-century Poetic Edda which was produced anonymously in Iceland. The translation is by Carolyne Larrington (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Glance through more quotes attributed to Odin, HERE.

Take a look at more Norse-themed quotes, HERE.

Check out other medieval quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.

Sima Qian

Sima Qian (145-90 BCE)

"The wise ruler is primarily concerned in perceiving the sources from which all changes arise, in understanding the keys to safety and peril, and in incorporating this knowledge in his governing of the nation, in order to forestall danger before it has taken form."

• Quote from an essay attributed to Xu Yue in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji, 112) 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. 

Cassius Dio

Cassius Dio (163-235)

"Let no man be the object of your jealousy, and when you compete with one another let it not be for the personal advantage of this man or that, but to ensure the safety and prosperity of the city."

• From a speech attributed to Octavian/Augustus in Cassius Dio's The Roman History (Book 53, chapter 10), translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (Penguin Classics, 1987).

Browse more quotes from Cassius Dio, 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. 

Pericles

Pericles (c. 495-429 BCE)

"A general ought not only to have clean hands, but also clean eyes."

• Quote attributed to Pericles by Plutarch in Parallel Lives (Life of Pericles, 8.5). The edition used here is from the Harvard Classics series, edited by Charles W. Eliot, and published by P. F. Collier & Son (1909, 1937).

Check out more Plutarch 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.

Sima Qian

Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE)

"Thus the shifts of success and failure are entwined like the strands of a rope."

• Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji 113) 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.

Aristotle

Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE)

"For where there is nothing in common between ruler and ruled there is no friendship either, just as there is no justice."

• From The Nicomachean Ethics (Book VIII, section 11, Bekker page 1161a) by Aristotle, translated by J. A. K. Thomson (Penguin Classics, 2004).

Take a look at more Aristotle quote pictures, HERE.

Check out other Greek quotes, HERE.

Glance through the ancient quote picture section, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE. 

Mo Tzu

Mo Tzu (c. 5th century BCE)

"Now let us try sounding the great bells, striking the rolling drums, strumming the zithers, blowing the pipes, and waving the shields and axes in the war dance. Does this do anything to rescue the world from chaos and restore it to order? I hardly think so."

• From the Basic Writings of Mo Tzu (Against Music, part I, section 32), translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1963).

Read our short biography of Mo Tzu, HERE.

Take a look at other Mo Tzu quote pictures, HERE.

Check out other philosophy Quotes, HERE.

Glance through other Chinese quotes, HERE. 

Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 11th century)

"How sad and cruel it is, the way we cling to what lasts like evening dew!"

• From Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji (chapter 39), 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. 

Homer

Homer (flourished c. 700 BCE)

"Are we to stir up evil war again, with all the sound and fury of battle, or shall we make peace between the two sides?"

• From The Iliad (Book 4, approx. line 10) by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and revised by Peter Jones (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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. 

Confucius

Confucius (c. 551-479 BCE)

"Learn as if you were following someone whom you could not catch up, as though it were someone you were frightened of losing."

• The Analects of Confucius (Book VIII, section 17) 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. 

Odin (from Hávamál)

Odin (from Hávamál)

"The cowardly man thinks he'll live for ever,
if he keeps away from fighting;
but old age won't grant him a truce
even if spears spare him."

• This quote comes from stanza 16 of Hávamál (Sayings of the High One), an old poem which was preserved in the 13th-century Poetic Edda which was produced anonymously in Iceland. The translation is by Carolyne Larrington (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Glance through more quotes attributed to Odin, HERE.

Take a look at more Norse-themed quotes, HERE.

Check out other medieval quote pictures, HERE.

Return to the quote picture home page, HERE.