Europe

Explore 4622 quotes by people from Europe

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

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Topic

Grudges Resentment Forgiveness

Speaker

Helen Burns

Author

Charlotte Brontë

Source

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Brontë, Charlotte, [published as Currer Bell]. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. Vol. 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1847, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Penguin Classics, 2006, ch. 6.

When life is so burdensome, death has become of man a sought-after refuge.

Herodotus

Histories

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Topic

Death as a blessing Over it

Speaker

Artabanus

Author

Herodotus

Source

Histories

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Herodotus. Histories. c. 430 BC, bk. 7.

Current Citation

Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 7.

The best pictures, and from a technical point of view, the most complete, seen from nearby, are but patches of color next to each other, and only make and effect at a certain distance.

Vincent Van Gogh

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Topic

Impressionism Art criticism Art

Author

Vincent Van Gogh

Source

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Medium

Letter

Language

Dutch

Time

1885 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Nov. 1885.

Current Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. Plume, 1995.

A wise man will make more opportunties than he finds.

Francis Bacon

More information about this quote

Topic

Opportunities

Author

Francis Bacon

Source

Of Ceremonies and Respects Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1625 1620s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Bacon, Francis. "Of Ceremonies and Respects." Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall. London: John Haviland, 1625.

Current Citation

Bacon, Francis. "Essays, or Counsels, Civil and Moral (1625): Of Ceremonies and Respects." Francis Bacon: The Major Works, edited by Brian Vickers. Oxford University Press, 2008.

But times do change and move continually.

Sir Walter Raleigh

The Faerie Queens

More information about this quote

Topic

The only constant is change

Author

Sir Walter Raleigh

Source

The Faerie Queens

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1599 1590s 16th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spenser, Edmund. "Two Cantos of Mutabilitie." The Faerie Queene. London: Mathew Lownes, 1609, canto 7, st. 47.

Current Citation

Spenser, Edmund. "Two Cantos of Mutabilitie." Spenser: The Faerie Queene, edited by A. C. Hamilton, Hiroshi Yamashita, and Toshiyuki Suzuki. Longman, 2006.

England expects that every man will do his duty.

Admiral Horatio Nelson

Flag signal at the Battle of Trafalgar.

More information about this quote

Topic

England Duty

Author

Admiral Horatio Nelson

Source

Flag Signal at the Battle of Trafalgar

Language

English

Time

1805 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Nelson, Horatio. Flag Signal at the Battle of Trafalgar. 21 Oct. 1805.

Who knows but life be that which men call death, and death what men call life?

Euripides

Phrixus

More information about this quote

Topic

Life and death

Author

Euripides

Source

Phrixus

Language

Greek

Time

400 BC 400s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Euripides. Phrixus. 5th century BC, fragment 830.

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.

John Milton

Areopagitica

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Topic

Freedom of thought Freedom of speech and expression Freedom

Author

John Milton

Source

Areopagitica

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1644 1640s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Milton, John. Areopagitca; a speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England. London, 1644.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "Areopagitica." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008.

The great wish of some is to avenge themselves on some particular enemy, the great wish of others to save their own pocket. Slow in assembling, they devote a very small fraction of the time to the consideration of any public object, most of it to the prosecution of their own objects. Meanwhile each fancies that no harm will come of his neglect, that it is the business of somebody else to look after this or that for him; and so, by the same notion being entertained by all separately, the common cause imperceptibly decays.

Thucydides

History of the Peloponnesian War

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Topic

Collective action problem

Author

Thucydides

Source

History of the Peloponnesian War

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

404 BC 400s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 1.

Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade.

Edward Gibbon

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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Topic

Persuasion Power dynamics Powerlessness

Author

Edward Gibbon

Source

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1789 1780s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 6, London: Strahan & Cadell, 1789, ch. 68.

Current Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-6. Vol. 6. Everyman's Library, 2010, ch. 68.

The people are the masters.

Edmund Burke

Speech in House of Commons, February 11, 1780

More information about this quote

Topic

Citizen and state

Speaker

Edmund Burke

Source

Speech in House of Commons, February 11, 1780

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1780 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Burke, Edmund. Address on the Independence of Parliament and Economical Reformation. House of Commons meeting. 11 Feb. 1780, Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK.

Justice and judgment lie often a world apart.

Emmeline Pankhurst

Read My Own Story at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Law vs. justice

Author

Emmeline Pankhurst

Source

My Own Story

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1914 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pankhurst, Emmeline. My Own Story. Hearsts's International Library, 1914.

Current Citation

Pankhurst, Emmeline. My Own Story. Vintage Classics, 2018.

Oh, what a dear ravishing thing is the beginning of an Amour!

Aphra Behn

The Emperor of the Moon

More information about this quote

Topic

New love

Speaker

Bellemante

Author

Aphra Behn

Source

The Emperor of the Moon

Genre

Comedy (play) Comedy

Language

English

Time

1687 1680s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Behn, Aphra. The Emperor of the Moon. Performed by Cave Underhill, Anthony Leigh, Thomas Jevon, Sarah Cooke, and Katherine Corey. 1687, Dorset Garden Theatre, London, England, UK, act 1, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Behn, Aphra. "The Emperor of the Moon." The Rover and Other Plays, edited by Jane Spencer. Oxford University Press, 2008.

When I find the road narrow, and can see no other way of teaching a well established truth except by pleasing one intelligent man and displeasing then thousand fools-I prefer to address myself to the man.

Maimonides

The Guide for the Perplexed

More information about this quote

Topic

Intellectual integrity

Author

Maimonides

Source

The Guide for the Perplexed

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Judeo-Arabic

Time

1190 1190s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Maimonides. דלאלת אלחאירין [The Guide of the Perplexed]. c. 1190.

Current Citation

Maimonides. The Guide of the Perplexed, translated by Chaim Rabin. Hackett Publishing Company, 1995.

It is the Russians' joy to drink; we cannot do without it.

Vladimir the Great

More information about this quote

Topic

Russia Drinking alcohol

Speaker

Vladimir the Great

Language

Old East Slavic

Time

1113 1110s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Vladimir the Great. Quoted in The Primary Chronicle, written by Nestor. c. 1113, annal for the year 987.

Current Citation

Vladimir the Great. Quoted in The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text, written by Nestor, translated by Samuel Hazzard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor. Medieval Academy of America, 2012, annal for the year 987.

Do not hold as gold all that shines as gold.

Alain de Lille

Liber Parabolarum

More information about this quote

Topic

Appearance vs. reality

Author

Alain de Lille

Source

Liber Parabolarum

Language

Latin

Time

1202 1200s 13th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Lille De, Alain. Liber Parabolarum. c. 1202, ch. 3, no. 1.

How hard it is for women to keep counsel!

William Shakespeare

Julius Caesar

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Topic

Secrets Women

Speaker

Portia

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Julius Caesar

Medium

Play

Genre

History (play) Tragedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1599 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. The Lord Chamberlain's Men, 1599, Globe Theatre, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 4.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Julius Caesar." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 2, sc. 4.

In a nation distracted by faction, there are, no doubt, always a few, though commonly but a very few, who preserve their judgment untainted by the general contagion. They seldom amount to more than here and there a solitary individual, without any influence, excluded by his own candour from the confidence of either party, and who, though he may be one of the wisest, is necessarily upon that very account one of the most insignificant men in the society.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Political faction

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 3, sect. 3, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 3, sect. 3, ch. 3.

Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.

Anton Chekhov

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Topic

Environmental destruction

Speaker

Mikhail Lvovich Astrov

Author

Anton Chekhov

Source

Uncle Vanya

Medium

Play

Language

Russian

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Dyadya Vanya. 1897, act 1.

Current Citation

Chekhov, Anton. "Uncle Vanya." Plays: Ivanov; The Seagull' Uncle Vanya; Three Sisters; The Cherry Orchard, translated by Peter Carson. Penguin Classics, 2002, act 1.

How vast a memory lovers have!

Ovid

More information about this quote

Topic

Love

Author

Ovid

Source

Sappho to Phaon The Heroides

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

8 0s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Ovid. "Sappho to Phaon." The Heroides [The Heroines]. 8 AD, no. 15, l. 43.

Current Citation

Ovid. "Sappho to Phaon." The Heroides, edited and translated by Harold Isbell. Penguin Classics, 1990, no. 15, l. 43.