15th century

Explore 17 quotes from the 15th century

Oh how quickly the glory of the world passes away!

Thomas à Kempis

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Topic

Sic transit gloria

Author

Thomas à Kempis

Source

The Imitation of Christ

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

1427 1420s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. De Imitatione Christi [The Imitation of Christ]. c. 1427.

Current Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. The Complete Imitation of Christ, translated by John Julian. Paraclete Press, 2012.

He said not "Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shall not be travailed, thou shalt not be diseased"; but he said, "Thou shalt not be overcome."

Julian of Norwich

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Topic

Adversity

Author

Julian of Norwich

Source

Revelations of Divine Love

Language

English

Time

1413 1410s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. London, c. 1670.

Current Citation

Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love, translated by Barry Windeatt. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 68.

For man proposes, but God disposes.

Thomas à Kempis

The Imitation of Christ

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Topic

God's will Free will Making plans

Author

Thomas à Kempis

Source

The Imitation of Christ

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

1427 1420s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. De Imitatione Christi [The Imitation of Christ]. c. 1427.

Current Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. The Complete Imitation of Christ, translated by John Julian. Paraclete Press, 2012.

They consider the deed but God weighs the motive.

Thomas à Kempis

The Imitation of Christ

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Topic

God and man Intent

Author

Thomas à Kempis

Source

The Imitation of Christ

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

1418 1410s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. De Imitatione Christi [The Imitation of Christ]. c. 1418, bk. 2, ch. 6.

Current Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. The Complete Imitation of Christ, translated by John Julian. Paraclete Press, 2012.

At two hours after midnight appeared the land, at a distance of two leagues. They handed all sails and set the treo, which is the mainsail without bonnets, and lay-to waiting for daylight Friday, when they arrived at an island of the Bahamas that was called in the Indians' tongue Guanahaní.

Christopher Columbus

Referring to an island located in what is now the Bahamas.

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Topic

Discovery of America

Author

Christopher Columbus

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Spanish

Time

1492 1490s 15th century

Era

Age of Exploration

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Columbus, Christopher. Journal entry. 12 Oct. 1492.

Current Citation

Columbus, Christopher. The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America 1492-1493, translated by Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley, Jr. University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.

I have always read that the world, both land and water, was spherical, as the authority and researches of Ptolemy and all the others who have written this subject demonstrate and prove, as do the eclipses of the moon and other experiments that are made from east to west, and the elevation of the North Star from north to south.

Christopher Columbus

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Topic

Curvature of the earth The earth

Author

Christopher Columbus

Medium

Letter

Language

Spanish

Time

1498 1490s 15th century

Era

Age of Exploration

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Columbus, Christopher. Letter to the Sovereigns on the Third Voyage. Oct. 1498.

Current Citation

Columbus, Christopher. "Narrative of the third voyage of Christopher Columbus to the Indies, in which he discovered the mainland, dispatched to the sovereigns from the island of hispanola." The Four Voyages, translated by J. M. Cohen. Penguin Classics, 1992.

And they know neither sect nor idolatry, with the exception that all believe that the source of all power and goodness is in the sky, and they believe very firmly that I, with these ships and people, came from the sky, and in this belief they everywhere received me, after they had overcome their fear.

Christopher Columbus

Describing the natives of what came to be called Hispaniola.

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Topic

First contact with Native Americans

Author

Christopher Columbus

Medium

Letter

Language

Spanish

Time

1493 1490s 15th century

Era

Age of Exploration

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Columbus, Christopher. Letter to the Sovereigns on the First Voyage. 15 Feb. 1493 - 4 Mar. 1493.

Current Citation

Columbas, Christopher. "Letter to various persons describing the results of his first voyage and written on the return journey." The Four Voyages, translated by J. M. Cohen. Penguin Classics, 1992.

I am dying of thirst by the side of the fountain.

Charles d'Orléans

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Topic

Thirst

Author

Charles d'Orléans

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Paradox Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

French

Time

1440 1440s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Citation

D'Orleans, Charles. "Je meurs de soif en couste la fontaine [I die of thirst beside the fountain]." Poesies de Charles d'Orleans. c. 1440.

Of the two evils the lesser is always to be chosen.

Thomas à Kempis

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Topic

Evil

Author

Thomas à Kempis

Source

The Imitation of Christ

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

Latin

Time

1427 1420s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. De Imitatione Christi [The Imitation of Christ]. c. 1427.

Current Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. The Complete Imitation of Christ, translated by John Julian. Paraclete Press, 2012.

The month of May was come, when every lusty heart beginneth to blossom, and to bring forth fruit.

Sir Thomas Mallory

Le Morte d'Arthur

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Topic

May Spring Seasons

Author

Sir Thomas Mallory

Source

Le Morte d'Arthur

Language

English

Time

1485 1480s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte d'Arthur. London: William Caxton, 1485, bk. 18, ch. 25.

Current Citation

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte D'Arthur. Vol. 2, Penguin Classics, 1970, bk. 18, ch. 25.

The joy of love is too short, and the sorrow thereof, and what cometh thereof, dureth over long.

Sir Thomas Mallory

Le Morte d'Arthur

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Topic

Downsides of love Love

Author

Sir Thomas Mallory

Source

Le Morte d'Arthur

Language

English

Time

1485 1480s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte d'Arthur. London: William Caxton, 1485, bk. 10, ch. 56.

Current Citation

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte D'Arthur. Vol. 2, Penguin Classics, 1970, bk. 10, ch. 56.

I could hardly find a book on morals where, even before I had read it in its entirety, I did not find several chapters or certain sections attacking women, no matter who the author was... I finally decided that God formed a vile creature when He made woman, and I wondered how such a worthy artisan could have deigned to make such an abominable work which, from what they say, is the vessel as well as the refuge and abode of ever evil and vice.

Christine de Pizan

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Topic

Misogyny Patriarchy

Author

Christine de Pizan

Language

Italian

Time

1405 1400s 15th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

De Pizan, Christine. Le Livre de la cité des dames [The Book of the City of Ladies]. Paris, c. 1405.

Current Citation

De Pizan, Christine. The Book of the City of Ladies. Penguin Classics, 2000.

Who so pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England.

Sir Thomas Mallory

Le Morte d'Arthur

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Topic

England

Author

Sir Thomas Mallory

Source

Le Morte d'Arthur

Language

English

Time

1485 1480s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte d'Arthur. London: William Caxton, 1485, bk. 1, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte D'Arthur. Vol. 1, Penguin Classics, 1970, bk. 1, ch. 5.

How beautiful is youth,
that is always slipping away!
Whoever wants to be happy, let him be so:
of tomorrow there's no knowing.

Lorenzo de Medici

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Topic

Youth Living in the moment

Author

Lorenzo de Medici

Source

Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne

Medium

Poem

Language

Italian

Time

1490 1490s 15th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Medici, Lorenzo. Il trionfo di Bacco e Arianna [The Triumph of Bacchus and Arianna]. c. 1490.

Painting contains a divine force which not only makes absent men present, as friendship is said to do, but moreover makes the dead seem almost alive.

Leon Battista Alberti

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Topic

Power of art Painting Art

Author

Leon Battista Alberti

Language

Latin

Time

1435 1430s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Alberti, Leon Battista. De Pictura [On Painting]. c. 1450, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Alberti, Leon Battista. On Painting, translated by John R. Spencer. Yale University Press, 1966, bk. 2.

The season has shed its mantle of wind and chill and rain.

Charles d'Orléans

More information about this quote

Topic

Seasons

Author

Charles d'Orléans

Medium

Poem

Language

French

Time

1440 1440s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 1

Citation

D'Orleans, Charles. Le temps a laissie son manteaux [Winter has cast his cloak away]. c. 1440.

The thread on which the different good qualities of human beings are strung as pearls, is the fear of God. When the fastenings of this fear are unloosed, the pearls roll in all directions, and are lost one by one.

Orchot Tzaddikim

More information about this quote

Topic

Fear of God

Source

Orchot Tzaddikim

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

1499 1490s 15th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Orchot Tzaddikim. 15th century, introduction, no. 19.

Current Citation

Orchos Tzaddikim: A Treasure for Life Commentary by Rabbi Avrohom G. Yachnes. Feldheim Publishers, 2016, introduction.