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973 quotes from 439 people

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Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.
William Shakespeare1564–1616King Lear (c. 1606), Act I, Scene IV, spoken by AlbanyIn context
- Change
Beware the Ides of March.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Julius Caesar (1599), Act I, Scene II, spoken by SoothsayerIn context
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Julius Caesar (1599), Act IV, Scene III, spoken by BrutusIn context
- Decisions
- Luck
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
William Shakespeare1564–1616A Midsummer Night’s Dream (c. 1595), Act II, Scene I, spoken by PuckIn context
Full fathom five thy father lies.
Of his bones are coral made.
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Tempest (c. 1611), Act I, Scene II, spoken by ArielIn context
- Change
- Life & Death
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598), Act II, Scene III, spoken by BenedickIn context
- Age
- Change
Che sera, sera,
What will be, shall be?
Christopher Marlowe1564–1593Doctor Faustus (c. 1592), spoken by FaustusIn context
- Life & Death
- Luck
Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon;
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.
John Milton1608–1674Paradise Lost (1667), Book XIIIn context
- Change
- Hope
Remember, that to change thy mind upon occasion, and to follow him that is able to rectify thee, is equally ingenuous, as to find out at the first, what is right and just, without help.
Marcus Aurelius121–180Meditations (c. 170–180), The Eighth BookIn context
- Change
- Wisdom
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.
Niccolò Machiavelli1469–1527The Prince (1532), Chapter VIIn context
- Change
- Leadership
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft a-gley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy.
Robert Burns1759–1796To a Mouse (1786)In context
- Failure
- Luck
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it has been of yore;⁠—
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
William Wordsworth1770–1850Ode: Intimations of Immortality (1807)In context
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge1772–1834The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798), Part IIIn context
Build thee more stately mansions, my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.1809–1894The Chambered Nautilus (1858)In context
- Change
- Inspiration
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807–1882The Arrow and the Song (1845)In context