The following quotatations have been grouped by author and sorted alphabetically by author name.
A
Acton, Lord (1834 – 1902), English Catholic historian, politician, and writer
Adams, Douglas (1952 – 2001), English humorist & science fiction novelist
Adams, John (1735 – 1826), US diplomat & politician
Aeschylus (525 – 456BC), Greek poet and dramatist
Aesop (c620–c560BC), Greek slave & fable author
Alighieri, Dante (1265 – 1321), Italian national epic poet
Allen, Woody (1935 – ), US movie actor, comedian, & director
Aristotle (384BC – 322BC), Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist
Asimov, Isaac (1920 – 1992), US science fiction novelist & scholar
Auden, W.H. (1907 – 1973) US (English-born) critic & poet
Angelou, Maya (1928 – ), US author & poet
Austen, Jane (1775 – 1817) English novelist
B
Bach, Richard (b. 1936), American writer
Bacon, Francis (1561 – 1626), English author, courtier, & philosopher
Ballard, James Graham “J. G.” (1930 – 2009), English novelist, short story writer
Balzac, Honore de (1799 – 1850), French realist novelist
Barrie, James M. (1860 – 1937), Scottish dramatist & novelist
Barry, Dave (1947 – ), US columnist & humorist
Beckett, Samuel (1906 – 1989) – Irish author, dramatist, & novelist
Bellow, Saul (1915 – 2005), US (Canadian-born) author
Berra, Yogi (1925 – ), US baseball player, coach, & manager
Bierce, Ambrose (18) – US author & satirist (1842 – 1914)
Blake, William (1757 – 1827), English engraver, illustrator, & poet
Bohr, Niels (1885 – 1962), Danish physicist
Bonaparte, Napoleon (1769 – 1821), French general & politician
Browning, Robert (1812 – 1889), English poet
Buddha (563 BC – 483 BC), Indian philosopher & religious leader
Buffett, Warren (1930 – ), US financier & investment businessman
Bujold, Lois McMaster (b. 1949), US science fiction author
Burke, Edmund (1729 – 1797), Irish orator, philosopher, & politician
Burns, George (1896 – 1996), US actor & comedian
Butler, Samuel (1835 – 1902), English composer, novelist, & satiric author
Byron, Lord (1788 – 1824), English poet & satirist
C
Camus, Albert (1913 – 1960), French existentialist author & philosopher
D
da Vinci, Leonardo (1452 – 1519), Italian engineer, painter & sculptor
Darrow, Clarence (1857 – 1938), US defence lawyer
E
Edison, Thomas A. (1847 – 1931), US inventor
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803 – 1882) US essayist & poet
F
Faulkner, William (1897 – 1962), US novelist
G
Galileo (1564 – 1642), Italian astronomer & physicist
Gandhi, Mahatma (1869 – 1948), Indian political and spiritual leader
H
Harris, Sam (born 1967), American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist
I
Ibsen, Henrik (1828 – 1906), Norwegian dramatist
Irving, Washington (1783 – 1859), US essayist, historian, & novelist
J
James, Henry (1843 – 1916), British (US-born) author
Jesus (7–2 BC to 30–33 AD), Jewish revolutionary, cult founder and leader, political activist, humanitarian, pacifist, egalitarian social reformer, lecturer and moral philosopher
K
Kafka, Franz (1883 – 1924), Austrian (Czechoslovakian-born) author
L
Lao-tzu (604 BC – 531 BC), Chinese philosopher
M
Macleod, Hugh (cartoonist)
Maugham, W. Somerset (1874 – 1965), English dramatist & novelist
N
Nash, Ogden (1902 – 1971), US humorist & poet
O
O’Rourke, P. J. (1947 – ), US humorist & political commentator
Orwell, George (1903 – 1950), English essayist, novelist, & satirist
P
Paine, Thomas (1737 – 1809),US patriot & political philosopher
Q
Quindlen, Anna (b.1953), American author, journalist, and opinion columnist
R
Radcliffe, Ann (1764 – 1823), English writer and pioneer of the gothic novel
Russell, Bertrand (1872 – 1970), British author, mathematician, & philosopher
S
Saadi (1184 – 1291), Persian poet
Sagan, Carl (1934 – 1996), US astronomer & populariser of astronomy
Seneca (5 BC – 65 AD), Roman dramatist, philosopher, & politician
Shakespeare, William (1564 – 1616), Greatest English dramatist & poet
Shaw, George Bernard (1856 – 1950), Irish dramatist & socialist
T
Tacitus, Cornelius (55 AD – 117 AD), Roman historian & politician
Terence (185 BC – 159 BC), Roman comic dramatist
Twain, Mark (1835 – 1910), US humourist, novelist, short story author, & wit
U
Updike, John (1932 – ), US author
Ustinov, Peter (1921 – 2004), English actor & author
Valery, Paul (1871 – 1945), French critic & poet
Voltaire (1694 – 1778) French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist
W
Wilde, Oscar (1854 – 1900), Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet
Miscellaneous quotes under W
X
Y
Youngman, Henny (1906 – 1998), US (English-born) comedian
Miscellaneous quotes under Y
Z