Julius Caesar 100 - 44 B.C.

It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking.

Julius Caesar, From PLUTARCH, Lives, Antony, sec. 11.

Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 - 43 B.C.

These studies are a spur to the young, a delight to the old; an ornament in prosperity, a consoling refuge in adversity; they are pleasure for us at home, and no burden abroad; they stay up with us at night, they accompany us when we travel, they are with us in our country visits.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, VII, 16.

Euclid fl. 300 B.C.

Q.E.D. [Quod erat demonstrandum: Which was to be proved.]

Euclid, Elements, bk. I, proposition 5

Socrates 469 - 399 B.C

Often when looking at a mass of things for sale, he would say to himself, "How many things I have no need of!"

Socrates, From DIOGENES LAERTIUS, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, bk. II, sec 25.

Confucius 551 - 479 B.C.

When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

The Confucian Analects, bk. 4:17.

Simonides c. 556 - 468 B.C.

The city is the teacher of the man.

Simonides, Fragment 53.

Hesiod c. 700 B.C.

If you should put even a little on a little, and should do this often, soon this too would become big.

Hesiod, Works and Days, l. 361

Ptahhotpe - Twenty-fourth century B.C.

Do not be arrogant because of your knowledge, but confer with the ignorant man as with the learned.... Good speech is more hidden than malachite, yet it is found in the possession of women slaves at the millstones.

The Maxims of Ptahhotpe [c. 2350 B.C.], maxim no. 1

Familiar Quotations

John Bartlett's Familiar Quotations