Europe

Explore 4622 quotes by people from Europe

There are more dead people than living. And their numbers are increasing. The living are getting rarer.

Eugene Ionesco

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Topic

Dead people

Speaker

Berenger

Author

Eugene Ionesco

Source

Rhinoceros

Medium

Play

Language

French

Time

1959 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ionesco, Eugene. Rhinoceros. 1959, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany, act 1.

To have common glories in the past, a common will in the present; to have done great things together, to will to do the like again-these are the essential conditions for the making of a people.

Ernest Renan

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Topic

Political community

Author

Ernest Renan

Source

What is a Nation?

Medium

Lecture

Language

French

Time

1882 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Renan, Ernest. "Qu’est-ce qu’une nation? [What is a Nation?]" 11 Mar. 1882, University of Sorbonne, Paris, France, pt. 3.

Current Citation

Renan, Ernest. "What is a Nation?" What is a Nation and Other Political Writings, translated by M. F. N. Giglioli. Columbia University Press, 2018, ch. 10, pt. 3.

Hamlet is a name: His speeches and sayings but the idle coinage of the poet's brain. What then, are they not real? They are as real as our own thoughts. Their reality is in the reader's mind. It is we who are Hamlet.

William Hazlitt

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Topic

Power of literature

Author

William Hazlitt

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hazlitt, William. "Hamlet." Characters of Shakespear's Plays. London: Rowland Hunter and Charles Ollier and James Ollier, 1817.

Whoever hath an absolute authority to interpret any written, or spoken laws; it is He, who is truly the Law-giver to all intents and purposes, and not the Person who first wrote, or spoke them.

Benjamin Hoadly

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Topic

Legal theory Law

Speaker

Benjamin Hoadly

Medium

Sermon

Genre

Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1717 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hoadly, Benjamin. "The Nature of the Kingdom, or Church, of Christ." 31 Mar. 1717, The Royal Chapel at St. James's, London, England, UK. Sermon.

Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others; that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to see some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage.

Albert Schweitzer

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Topic

Interconnectedness of all people

Author

Albert Schweitzer

Source

Memoirs of Childhood and Youth

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

German

Time

1949 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Schweitzer, Albert. Aus Meiner Kindheit und Jugendzeit [Memoirs of Childhood and Youth]. C. H. Beck, 1924.

Current Citation

Scweitzer, Albert. Memoirs of Childhood and Youth, translated by Kurt Bergel and Alice R. Bergel. Syracuse University Press, 1997.

Men flourish only for a moment.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Ephemeral nature of life

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 19, l. 328.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 19, l. 328.

If you are very valiant, it is a god, I think, who gave you this gift.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

Bravery

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 1, l. 178.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 1, l. 178.

The Olympian is a difficult foe to oppose.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

God's will God and man

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 1, l. 589.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 1, l. 589.

You ought not to practice childish ways, since you are no longer that age.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Childishness Maturity

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 1, l. 296-297.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk.1, l. 296-297.

It is not unseemly for a man to die fighting in defense of his country.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

Dying for one's country

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 15, l. 496-497.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 15, l. 496-497.

Gaul as a whole is divided into three parts.

Julius Caesar

The Gallic Wars

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Topic

France

Author

Julius Caesar

Source

The Gallic Wars

Genre

Historical literature Autobiography and memoir

Language

Latin

Time

49 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Caesar, Julius. Commentarii de Bello Gallico [Commentaries on the Gallic War]. c. 58, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Caesar, Julius. The Gallic War, translated by Carolyn Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 1.

Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.

Aristotle

Politics

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Topic

Elegance of nature Efficiency of nature Nature

Author

Aristotle

Source

Politics

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aristotle. Politics. 4th century BC, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Politics, translated by R. F. Stalley and Sir Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 1.

Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.

Julius Caesar

The Gallic Wars

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Topic

Credulity Human nature

Author

Julius Caesar

Source

The Gallic Wars

Genre

Historical literature Autobiography and memoir

Language

Latin

Time

49 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Caesar, Julius. Commentarii de Bello Gallico [Commentaries on the Gallic War]. c. 49 BC, bk. 3.

Current Citation

Caesar, Julius. The Gallic War, translated by Carolyn Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 3.

I wish you to know you have been the last dream of my soul.

Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities

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Topic

Infatuation

Speaker

Sydney Carton

Author

Charles Dickens

Source

A Tale of Two Cities

Medium

Novel

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. "A Tale of Two Cities." London: Chapman & Hall. April-Nov. 1859. Weekly serial.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities, edited by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst. W. W. Norton & Company, 2019, bk. 2, ch. 13.

When reason fails, the devil helps!

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment

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Topic

Reason Bad decisions Decisions and choices

Speaker

Raskolnikov

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

Crime and Punishment

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1866 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Feodor. Преступленіе и наказаніе [Crime and Punishment]. The Russian Messenger, 1866, monthly serial.

Current Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment, translated and edited by Michael R. Katz. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.

The guest will judge better of a feast than a cook.

Aristotle

Politics

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Topic

Hospitality Self-criticism Criticism

Author

Aristotle

Source

Politics

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aristotle. Politics. 4th century BC, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Politics, translated by R. F. Stalley and Sir Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 4.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

Aristotle

Quoted in The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, by Diogenes Laërtius

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Topic

Value of education Education

Speaker

Aristotle

Author

Diogenes Laërtius

Source

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

Genre

Biography Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

3rd century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Quoted in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, written by Diogenes Laertius. c. 240 AD, bk. 5, ch. 1, sect. 18.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Quoted in The Lives of Eminent Philosophers, written by Diogenes Laërtius, translated by Pamela Mensch, edited by James Miller. Oxford University Press, 2018, bk. 5, ch. 1, sect. 18.

He listens well who takes notes.

Dante Alighieri

Inferno

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Topic

Paying attention

Author

Dante Alighieri

Source

Inferno The Divine Comedy

Medium

Poem

Genre

Narrative poem Epic poem Religious literature

Language

Italian

Time

1321 1320s 14th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Inferno [Hell]." La Comedia di Dante Alleghieri [The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri]. Foligno: Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da Trevi, 1472.

Current Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Inferno." The Divine Comedy, edited by David H. Higgins, translated by C. H. Sisson. Oxford University Press, 2008.

No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunities misused!

Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol

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Topic

Regrets Missed opportunities Carpe diem

Author

Charles Dickens

Source

A Christmas Carol

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1843 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843, stave 1.

Current Citation

Dickens, Charles. "A Christmas Carol." A Christmas Carol and Other Writings, edited by Michael Slater. Penguin, 2003, stave 1.

In His will is our peace.

Dante Alighieri

Paradiso

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Topic

God's will

Speaker

Beatrice Protinari

Author

Dante Alighieri

Source

Paradiso The Divine Comedy

Medium

Poem

Genre

Narrative poem Epic poem Religious literature

Language

Italian

Time

1321 1320s 14th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Paradiso [Paradise]." La Comedia di Dante Alleghieri [The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri]. Foligno: Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da Trevi, 1472.

Current Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Paradiso." The Divine Comedy, edited by David H. Higgins, translated by C. H. Sisson. Oxford University Press, 2008.