Classical antiquity

Explore 1180 quotes from Classical antiquity

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1 of 1180

And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.

Acts 17:19-21

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Topic

Athens and Jerusalem

Source

Book of Acts The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Question

Language

Greek

Time

62 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Acts 17:19-21).

2 of 1180

To break a treaty is contempt for the gods. But to outwit an enemy is not only just and glorious-but profitable and sweet.

Plutarch

Plutarch's Lives

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Topic

Treaties Enemies

Author

Plutarch

Source

Plutarch's Lives

Genre

Biography

Language

Greek

Time

100 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plutarch. "Agesilaus." Βίοι Παράλληλοι [Parallel Lives]. c. 2nd century.

Current Citation

Plutarch. "Agesilaus." Roman Lives: A Selection of Eight Roman Lives, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2009.

3 of 1180

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Proverbs 14:23

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Topic

Words vs. actions Hard work Work

Source

Proverbs The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

686 BC 680s BC 7th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible, New International Version. International Bible Society, 1978. (Proverbs 14:23).

4 of 1180

You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James 4:14

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Topic

Ephemeral nature of life Shortness of life Life

Source

James The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

49 40s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (James 4:14).

5 of 1180

Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud.
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

Nagarjuna

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Topic

The ephemeral Impermanence

Author

Nagarjuna

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Sanskrit

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra [The Diamond Sutra]. c. 868.

Current Citation

The Diamond Sutra, translated by Red Pine. Counterpoint, 2002.

6 of 1180

The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

Psalm 115:17

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Topic

The afterlife Death Oblivion

Source

Psalms The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

450 BC 450s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Psalm 115:17).

7 of 1180

The wisdom of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure; and he that hath little business shall become wise.

Ben Sira

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Topic

Wisdom Leisure

Author

Ben Sira

Source

Ecclesiasticus

Genre

Religious literature Wisdom literature

Language

Greek

Time

175 BC 170s BC 2nd century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Ecclesiastus 38:24).

Current Citation

The Bible: Authorized King James Version, edited by Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett. Oxford University Press, 2008. (Ecclesiastus 38:24).

8 of 1180

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Jesus

Matthew 11:15

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Topic

Listening

Speaker

Jesus

Source

Gospel of Matthew The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

60 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Matthew 11:15).

9 of 1180

Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

1st Peter 2:11

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Topic

Lust

Source

1st Peter The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

Greek

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (1st Peter 2:11).

10 of 1180

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Proverbs 9:10

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Topic

Fear of God Wisdom

Source

Proverbs The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

686 BC 680s BC 7th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Proverbs 9:10).

11 of 1180

Man is one name belonging to every nation upon earth. In them all is one soul though many tongues. Every country has its own language; yet the subjects of which the untutored soul speaks are the same everywhere.

Tertullian

On the Testimony of the Soul

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Topic

Interconnectedness of all people Language

Author

Tertullian

Source

On the Testimony of the Soul

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

198 190s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tertullian. De Testimonio Animae [The Testimony of the Soul]. c. 198, ch. 6.

12 of 1180

No one is to seek his own advantage, but rather that of his neighbor.

Apostle Paul

1st Corinthians 10:24

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Topic

Selflessness Loving others

Author

Apostle Paul

Source

1st Corinthians The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

Greek

Time

55 50s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. The Lockman Foundation, 1971. (1st Corinthians 10:24).

13 of 1180

We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples?

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Genocide Anti-war War

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Epistles (Seneca the Younger)

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

14 of 1180

For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land.

Deuteronomy 8:7

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Topic

Israel

Source

Deuteronomy The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

1405 BC 1400s BC 15th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Deuteronomy 8:7).

15 of 1180

No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Simple living Materialism

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Moral Letters to Lucilius

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

16 of 1180

Faith without works is dead.

James 2:26

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Topic

Faith vs. works Good works Faith

Source

James The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

49 40s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (James 2:26).

17 of 1180

God is love.

1st John 4:8

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Topic

Nature of God God's love God

Source

1st John The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

95 90s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (1st John 4:8).

18 of 1180

He is a liar, and the father of it.

Jesus

John 8:44

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Topic

The devil Lies

Speaker

Jesus

Source

Gospel of John The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

90 90s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (John 8:44).

19 of 1180

Love distills desire upon the eyes,
love brings bewitching grace into the heart
of those he would destroy.
I pray that love may never come to me
with murderous intent,
in rhythms measureless and wild.
Not fire nor stars have stronger bolts
than those of Aphrodite sent
by the hand of Eros, Zeus' child.

Euripides

Hippolytus

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Topic

Power of love Love

Speaker

Chorus

Author

Euripides

Source

Hippolytus

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

428 BC 420s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Euripides. Ἱππόλυτος [Hippolytus]. 428 BC, City Dionysia festival, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Euripides. "Hippolytus." Euripides I: Alcestis, Medea, The Children of Heracles, Hippolytus, edited and translated by Richard Lattimore, et. al. University of Chicago Press, 2013.

20 of 1180

It was divine nature which gave us the country, and man's skill that built the cities.

Marcus Terentius Varro

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Topic

Rural vs. urban Cities

Author

Marcus Terentius Varro

Source

On Agriculture (Varro)

Language

Latin

Time

27 BC 20s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Varro, Marcus Terentius. Rerum rusticarum libri tres [Three Books on Agriculture]. 1st century BC, bk. 3.