Classical antiquity

Explore 1180 quotes from Classical antiquity

The good of man is the active exercise of his soul's faculties in conformity with excellence or virtue... Moreover this activity must occupy a complete lifetime; for one swallow does not make spring, nor does one fine day; and similarly one day or a brief period of happiness does not make a man supremely blessed and happy.

Aristotle

The Nicomachean Ethics

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Topic

Purpose of life Incremental improvement Self-improvement Personal growth

Author

Aristotle

Source

The Nicomachean Ethics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

322 BC 320s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, Ēthika Nikomacheia [Nicomachean Ethics]. c. 322 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, translated by Terence Irwin. Hackett Publishing, 2019, bk. 1.

Nowhere can a man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Inner life Inner peace Solitude

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

Hear the other side.

St. Augustine

More information about this quote

Topic

Tolerance Listening Goodwill

Author

St. Augustine

Source

On Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Statement Type

Advice

Language

Latin

Time

391 390s 4th century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Citation

St. Augustine of Hippo. De Duabus Animabus Contra Manichaeos. [Concerning Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans.] 391 AD.

’Tis very dishonourable in life, that the soul should fail and desert its duty; while the body can hold out, and sustain its part.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Giving up Body and soul The soul

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 6.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 6.

My child, you are still young, and time as it advances [888b] will cause you to reverse many of the opinions you now hold: so wait till then before pronouncing judgment on matters of most grave importance; and of these the gravest of all—though at present you regard it as naught—is the question of holding a right view about the gods and so living well, or the opposite.

Plato

Laws

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Topic

Belief in God How to live

Author

Plato

Source

Laws

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

346 BC 340s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plato. Νόμοι [Laws]. c. 346 BC, bk. 10.

Current Citation

Plato. Laws, translated by Tom Griffith, edited by Malcolm Schofield. Cambridge University Press, 2016, bk. 10.

As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

The human condition

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 2.

The gods are on the side of the stronger.

Tacitus

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Topic

God taking sides Might makes right

Author

Tacitus

Source

Histories (Tacitus)

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Latin

Time

110 BC 110s BC 2nd century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tacitus. Historiae [Histories]. Venice, c. 110, bk 4, ch. 17.

Current Citation

Tacitus. The Histories, translated by W. H. Fyfe. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 4, ch. 17.

The centuries roll back to the ancient age of gold.

Horace

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Topic

The good old days

Author

Horace

Source

Odes (Horace)

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

23 BC 20s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Horace. Carmina [Odes]. 23 BC, bk. 4, no. 2.

Current Citation

Horace. "Odes." The Complete Odes and Epodes, translated by David West. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 4, no. 2.

Mere cleverness is not wisdom.

Euripides

Bacchae

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Topic

Wisdom Cleverness

Speaker

Chorus

Author

Euripides

Source

Bacchae

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

405 BC 400s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Euripides. The Bacchae. 405 BC, l. 395.

Current Citation

Euripides. "The Baccae." Euripedes V: Bacchae, Iphigenia in Aulis, The Cyclops, Rhesus, translated by Richard Lattimore, et. al. University of Chicago Press, 2013, l. 395.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

God

Exodus 20:8-11

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Topic

Sabbath Rest The Ten Commandments

Speaker

God

Source

Exodus 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. (Exodus 20:8-11).

Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.

Aristotle

The Nicomachean Ethics

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Topic

Habits Virtue Self-improvement Personal growth Human nature

Author

Aristotle

Source

The Nicomachean Ethics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

322 BC 320s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, Ēthika Nikomacheia [Nicomachean Ethics]. c. 322 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, translated by Terence Irwin. Hackett Publishing, 2019, bk. 2.

Either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to gain; for eternity is then only a single night.

Socrates

Quoted in Apology, by Plato

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Topic

The unknown Death The afterlife

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Apology

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

339 BC 330s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plato. Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους [Apology of Socrates]. Speech of legal self-defence which Socrates spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption. 399 BC, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Plato. "Apology." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

He cannot have God for his father who has not the church for his mother.

St. Cyprian

More information about this quote

Topic

Catholic church God and man Christianity

Author

St. Cyprian

Source

On the Unity of the Catholic Church

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Latin

Time

251 250s 3rd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Saint Cyprian. De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate. c. 251, ch. 6.

He preferred to be rather than to seem good.

Sallust

On Cato.

More information about this quote

Topic

Appearance vs. reality

Author

Sallust

Source

Catiline

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Latin

Time

42 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Sallust. Bellum Catilinae [War of Catiline]. c. 43–40 BC.

Current Citation

Sallust. "The War with Catiline." The War with Catiline and The War with Jugurtha, translated by John T. Ramsey J. C. Rolfe. Harvard University Press, 2013.

Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.

Job 37:5

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Topic

Incomprehensibility of God Nature of God God

Speaker

Elihu

Source

Book of Job The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

500 BC 500s BC 6th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Job 37:5).

He that trusteth in his riches shall fall.

Proverbs 11:28

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Topic

Wealth

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 11:28).

There are more disorders of the mind than of the body, and they are of a more dangerous nature.

Cicero

Tusculan Disputations

More information about this quote

Topic

Body and soul Sickness The soul Human body

Author

Cicero

Source

Tusculan Disputations

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

45 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Tusculanae Disputationes [Tusculan Disputations]. c. 45 BC, bk. 3, ch. 3.

While there's life, there's hope.

Cicero

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Topic

Hope springs eternal Hope

Author

Cicero

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

49 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Epistulae ad Atticum [Letters to Atticus]. c. 50, bk. 9, no. 10.

Let the punishment match the offense.

Cicero

On the Laws

More information about this quote

Topic

Theory of punishment Punishment

Speaker

Marcus

Author

Cicero

Source

On the Laws

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

43 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De Legibus [On the Laws]. c. 43 BC, bk. 3, sect. 11.

The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same things.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Death as equalizer Length of life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 2.