Europe

Explore 4622 quotes by people from Europe

When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object.

Milan Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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Topic

Reason and emotion The heart Emotions The mind Reason

Author

Milan Kundera

Source

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Medium

Novel

Language

Czech

Time

1984 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Kundera, Milan. L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être [The Unbearable Lightness of Being]. Gallimard, 1984.

Current Citation

Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, translated by Michael Henry Heim. Harper Perennial, 2009.

War is father of all and king of all. Some he reveals as gods, other as men; some he makes slaves, other free.

Heraclitus

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Topic

War Fate

Author

Heraclitus

Medium

Presocratic fragment Fragment

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Heraclitus. Fragments. 5th century BC, F23 - DK B53.

Current Citation

Heraclitus. "Heraclitus of Ephesus." The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2009, F23 - DK B53.

What ought a man to be? Well, my short answer is "himself."

Henrik Ibsen

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Topic

Being oneself Authenticity

Speaker

Peer Gynt

Author

Henrik Ibsen

Source

Peer Gynt

Medium

Play

Statement Type

Advice

Language

Norwegian

Time

1867 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ibsen, Henrik. Peer Gynt. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1867, act 4, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Ibsen, Henrik. "Peer Gynt." Peer Gynt and Brand, translated by Geoffrey Hill. Penguin Classics, 2017, act 4, sc. 1.

Things without all remedy
Should be without regard. What’s done is done.

William Shakespeare

Macbeth

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Topic

Letting go of the past Looking back The past

Speaker

Lady Macbeth

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Macbeth

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1616 1610s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Macbeth." Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. London: Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1623, act 3, sc. 2.

Current Citation

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

A duller spectacle this earth of ours has not to show than a rainy Sunday in London.

Thomas De Quincey

London Magazine

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Topic

Rainy days Sunday London

Author

Thomas De Quincey

Source

Confessions of an English Opium Eater London Magazine

Medium

Magazine

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1821 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

De Quincey, Thomas [published anonymously]. "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater." The London Magazine, Sept. - Oct., 1821.

Current Citation

De Quincey, Thomas. "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater." Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings, edited by Robert Morrison. Oxford University Press, 2013.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Apostle Paul

Romans 1:20

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Topic

Nature of God God

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, New International Version. International Bible Society, 1978. (Romans 1:20).

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

Archilochus

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Topic

Hedgehogs and foxes Nature of knowledge Knowledge

Author

Archilochus

Language

Greek

Time

600 BC 600s BC 7th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Archilocus. The Fox and the Hedgehog. c. 650, fragment 103.

Current Citation

Archilocus. Quoted in The Fox and the Hedgehog, written by Isaiah Berlin. Princeton University Press, 2013.

Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world only, our own, we see that world multiply itself and we have at our disposal as many worlds as there are original artists, worlds more different one from the other than those which revolve in infinite space, worlds which, centuries after the extinction of the fire from which their light first emanated, whether it is called Rembrandt or Vermeer, send us still each one its special radiance.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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Topic

Power of art Art

Author

Marcel Proust

Source

The Past Recaptured In Search of Lost Time

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

French

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Le Temps retrouvé [Time Regained]. Paris: Gallimard, 1927.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. Finding Time Again, edited and translated by Ian Patterson. Penguin Classics, 2023.

Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings.

John Keats

Lamia

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Topic

Disenchanted world Philosophy

Author

John Keats

Source

Lamia

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1820 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Keats, John. "Lamia." Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St Agnes and Other Poems. London: Taylor and Hessey, 1820, pt. 2, I. 234.

Current Citation

Keats, John. "Lamia." John Keats: The Major Works, edited by Elizabeth Cook. Oxford University Press, 2009, pt. 2, I. 234.

I could not possibly exist with the nature I actually have, that is, one endowed with the idea of God, unless there really is a God; the very God, I mean, of whom I have an idea.

René Descartes

Meditations on First Philosophy

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Topic

God and man Existence of God God

Author

René Descartes

Source

Meditations on First Philosophy

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1641 1640s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Descartes, René. Meditationes de Prima Philosophia, in qua Dei existentia et animæ immortalitas demonstratur [Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated]. Paris, 1641, third meditation.

Current Citation

Descarte, René. "Meditations on First Philosophy." Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, translated by Donald A. Cress. Hackett Publishing, 1999, third meditation.

Gossip is mischievous, light and easy to raise, but grievous to bear and hard to get rid of. No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it: it too is a kind of divinity.

Hesiod

Works and Days

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Topic

Effects of gossip Gossip

Author

Hesiod

Source

Works and Days

Medium

Poem

Genre

Didactic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hesiod. Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι [Works and Days]. c. 700 BC, l. 761-764.

Current Citation

Hesiod. "Works and Days." Theogony and Works and Days, translated by M. L. West. Oxford University Press, 2009, l. 761-764.

America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement. The idea of novelty is there indissolubly connected with the idea of amelioration.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

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Topic

America

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

Democracy in America

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1835 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 1, London: Saunders and Otley, 1835, ch. 18, pt. 10.

Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 1, ch. 18, pt. 10.

Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.

Winston Churchill

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Topic

Dictators Authoritarianism

Author

Winston Churchill

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Churchill, Winston. Letter. 11 Nov. 1937.

It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.

Voltaire

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Topic

Virginity Patriarchy

Author

Voltaire

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1750 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Voltaire. The Piccini Notebooks. c. 1738-1750.

The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.

Albert Einstein

More information about this quote

Topic

Nuclear weapons

Author

Albert Einstein

Source

Telegram to prominent Americans

Language

German

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Einstein, Albert. "Atomic Education Urged by Einstein." New York Times, 25 May 1946. Originally from "Telegram to prominent Americans." 24 May 1946. USA.

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.

William Blake

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Topic

Trees Nature Relativism

Author

William Blake

Source

Letters of William Blake

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1799 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Blake, William. "To Rev. Dr. Tussler." 23 Aug. 1799.

Current Citation

Blake, William. "[To] Revd Dr Tusler, 23 Aug. 1799." The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. University of California Press, 2008.

Age will not be defied.

Francis Bacon

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Topic

Relentlessness of time Aging Death The human condition

Author

Francis Bacon

Source

Of Regimen of Health 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 Regimen of Health." Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall. London: John Haviland, 1625.

Current Citation

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

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.

If equal affection cannot be
let the more loving one be me.

W.H. Auden

More information about this quote

Topic

Unrequited love Generous love Love

Author

W.H. Auden

Source

The More Loving One

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Auden, W. H. "The More Loving One." Homage to Clio. ‎Faber and Faber/Random House, 1960.

Against my soul's pure truth why labor you
To make it wander in an unknown field?

William Shakespeare

The Comedy of Errors

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Topic

Temptation Dishonesty Honesty Truth

Speaker

Antipholus of Syracuse

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

The Comedy of Errors

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1594 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. The Comedy of Errors. 1594, Gray's Inn Hall, London, England, UK, act 3, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Comedy of Errors." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 3, sc. 2.