Classical antiquity

Explore 1180 quotes from Classical antiquity

And seek for truth in the groves of Academe.

Horace

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Topic

Seeking the truth Truth Learning Education

Author

Horace

Source

Epistles 2

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Advice

Language

Latin

Time

14 BC 10s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Horace. Epistularum liber secundus [Second Book of Letters]. 14 BC, bk. 2, epistle 2.

Current Citation

Horace. "Epistles." Satires and Epistles, translated by John Davie. Oxford University Press, 2011, bk. 2, epistle 2.

We know how to speak many falsehoods which resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things.

Hesiod

Theogony

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Topic

Lying Telling the truth

Author

Hesiod

Source

Theogony

Medium

Poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hesiod. Θεογονία [Theogony]. c. 700 BC, l. 27-28.

Current Citation

Hesiod. "Theogony." Theogony and Works and Days, translated by M. L. West. Oxford University Press, 2009, l. 27-28.

Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.

Apostle Paul

Romans 5:12

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Topic

Original sin Death Sin Human nature

Author

Apostle Paul

Source

Romans The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

56 50s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Romans 5:12).

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

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Topic

Positive influences Friendship

Source

Proverbs The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

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 27:17).

Things are not always what they seem.

Phaedrus

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Topic

Looks are deceiving Appearance vs. reality

Author

Phaedrus

Source

Fables

Medium

Fable and fairy tale

Language

Latin

Time

50 50s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Phaedrus. Fables. c. 50 AD, bk. 4, fable 2.

Current Citation

Phaedrus and Babrius. Fables, translated by Ben Edwin Perry. Harvard University Press, 1965, bk. 4, fable 2.

As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.

Publilius Syrus

Sententiae

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Topic

Death as equalizer Death

Author

Publilius Syrus

Source

Sententiae

Medium

Epigram

Language

Latin

Time

43 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Publilius Syrus. Sententiae. c. 1st century BC.

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Jesus

Mark 11:24

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Topic

Prayer

Speaker

Jesus

Source

Gospel of Mark 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. (Mark 11:24).

And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

Genesis 39:12

On Potiphar's wife, who tried to seduce David.

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Topic

Temptresses Temptation

Source

Genesis 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. (Genesis 39:12).

For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable.

Hippocrates

More information about this quote

Topic

Medicine

Author

Hippocrates

Source

Aphorisms

Language

Greek

Time

370 BC 370s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hippocrates. Aphorisms. c. 370 BC, sect. 1, pt. 6.

Current Citation

Hippocrates. The Aphorisms. Classics of Medicine Library, 1982, sect. 1, pt. 6.

It is the gods' custom to bring low all things of surpassing greatness.

Herodotus

Histories

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Topic

Regression to the mean God and man The gods

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.

I sing of arms and the man who first from the shores of Troy came destined an exile to Italy and the Lavinian beaches, a man much buffeted on land and on the deep by force of the gods because of fierce Juno's never-forgetting anger.

Virgil

Aeneid

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Author

Virgil

Source

Aeneid

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Statement Type

Opening lines

Language

Latin

Time

19 BC 10s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Virgil. Aenē̆is [Aeneid]. 19 BC, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Virgil. The Aeneid, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2010, bk. 1.

The god
Visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.

Euripides

Phrixus

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Topic

Collective guilt

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 970.

Do not try to find out-we're forbidden to know-what end the gods may bestow on me or you.

Horace

Odes

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Topic

Fate God and man

Author

Horace

Source

Odes

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Advice

Language

Latin

Time

23 BC 20s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Horace. Carmina [Odes]. 23 BC, bk. 1, no. 11.

Current Citation

Horace. "Odes." The Complete Odes and Epodes, translated by David West. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 1, no. 11.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs 4:23

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Topic

Self-protection The heart

Source

Proverbs The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Advice

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 4:23).

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.

James 1:12

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Topic

Temptation

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 1:12).

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3

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Topic

Meaninglessness Work Impossibility of progress

Source

Ecclesiastes The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Question

Language

Hebrew

Time

931 BC 930s BC 10th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982. (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3).

It is to believed because it is absurd.

Tertullian

On the Flesh of Christ

More information about this quote

Topic

Christianity Faith The absurd

Author

Tertullian

Source

On the Flesh of Christ

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

206 200s 3rd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tertullian. De Carne Christi [On the Flesh of Christ]. c. 206, sect. 5.

It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance.

St. Jerome

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Topic

Willful ignorance Ignorance

Author

St. Jerome

Source

Letters of St. Jerome

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

394 390s 4th century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Saint Jerome. Letter to Paulinus. c. 394.

Current Citation

Saint Jerome. The Letters of Saint Jerome. Aeterna Press, 2016.

Man is a reasoning animal.

Seneca the Younger

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Topic

Nature of man Reason Man and animals

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.

And distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

Acts 4:35

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Topic

Redistribution of resources Sharing Early Christians

Source

Book of Acts The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Greek

Time

62 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Acts 4:35).