text:
Talk:Napoleon

Source?
"Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend"

Often attributed to Napoleon, but I can't find any source. Maybe add it under Misattributed.

==Souhand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain." - As quoted in The Money Masters (1995)
 * The above is listed under "Sourced" on the page. Where is the source?

 * And not only that quote, the majority of the "Sourced" contents is out of place... I say they all should be moved to their proper section. -- Jokes Free4Me 16:48, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Although, upon searching this, i understand that "The Money Masters (1995)" is supposed to be the source. IMO this particular quote only lacked a better phrasing of the given source. -- Jokes Free4Me 17:46, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Sources?
I put in quotes from Widger's quotations, but I stated the source as the source stated by that text. Is that right, or should I change the sources to "Widger's quotations"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jimregan (talk • contribs) 20:30, 11 July 2003 (UTC)

famous palindrome
What I have read about "Able was I ere I saw Elba" is -- When Napolean was imprisoned in Elba, one newspaper reporter went and interviewed Napolean and during interview it seems he asked As a nobleman, what and how does he feel about being imprisoned in Elba? to which Napolean replied "Able was I ere I saw Elba" that means before coming to Elba, I was not as able as I am today......

"Able I was, ere I saw Elba". Did Napoleon actually say this? It seems hard to believe, given that this is presumably only a palindrome in English, and not in French. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.168.21.13 (talk • contribs) 23:49, 19 September 2004 (UTC)

 * I strongly doubt it. What use would a Frenchman have for an English palindrome?  --Ardonik 00:30, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * On Elba he was guarded by the British was he not? --74.14.16.30 07:21, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I have heard a quote that goes something like, "It is easier to rule a country by writing its songs than it's laws." Does anyone know if there is such a quote by Napoleon? Joi 05:39, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

As for the source, I figure you should say "quoted from so and so" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.178.224.226 (talk • contribs) 18:04, 16 February 2005 (UTC)
 * Wait... It isn't a palindrome because if you reversed it, it reads "Able was I, ere saw I Elba." --Heinah 07:56, 02 April 2010 (UTC)
 * The correct rendition is, in fact: "Able was I, ere I saw Elba." I will do some searching for it in this form, and probably post it as a quote about Napoleon, though it is long purported to have been a response he made to a query as to whether he could have taken London, or presented with other such framing anecdotes. ~ Kalki (talk · contributions) 08:33, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I posted it under misattributed, because there is very little likelihood of it being genuine, with the comments:
 * The earliest publication yet located of this famous palindrome is in the "Witty and Whimsical" section of The Saturday Reader, Vol. II, No. 30 (31 March 1866), p. 64:
 * It is said that Napoleon, when asked by Dr. if he really though the could have invaded England at the time he threatened to do so, replied in the following ingenious anagram: — "Able was I ere I saw Elba." The reader will Observe that it reads the some backward or forward.
 * Of such attributions to Napoleon, there is little credence, as stated by William Irvine in Madam I'm Adam and Other Palindromes (1987): "The well-known ABLE WAS I, ERE I SAW ELBA, for example, is conveniently attributed to Napoleon, whose knowledge of English wordplay was certainly questionable, at best." There is no mention of such a palindrome in O'Meara's own work, Napoleon in Exile : or, A Voice from St. Helena (1822).

 * That seems to be a sufficient summary of the situation regarding it, as of now. ~ Kalki 14:11, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

 * Kalki, does the "Of such attributions" paragraph come from The Saturday Reader too? (Because if it does, my newly-added cquote is incomplete and needs to span over the second paragraph too...) -- Jokes Free4Me (talk) 08:41, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Out of synch
Out of Synch The French and English pages are out of synch; There are several quotes in each that don't apprear in the other language. --206.191.19.90 14:08, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
 * As at 3/2011, the French page remains remarkably small compared with the English.

God fights on the side with the best artillery
What about "God fights on the side with the best artillery." --68.80.190.94 16:58, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * First attribution is to Napoleon, but in 1947: "The Field Artillery Journal", Page 156. Cagliost (talk) 09:46, 30 July 2020 (UTC)

You must not fight too often with one enemy
"You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war." is a quote from Plutarch. He is talking about the Spartans. It goes something like 'the Spartans knew “they should not make war often, or too long, with the same enemy, lest they should train and instruct them in war”'. - Master_Gopher —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 144.131.128.204 (talk • contribs) 09:21, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

Talleyrand
How about "You are shit, Talleyrand... shit in silk stockings" (upon his dismissal of Foreign Minister and Grand Chamberlain)? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.71.56.247 (talk • contribs) 18:10, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
That was John Milton: Samson Agonistes (l. 560) --Miss.hyper 20:44, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

 * The source cited here doesn't seem correct, if Milton actually penned the line.

 * From [Samson Agonistes], (I 555-569)
 * When God with these forbid'n made choice to rear [ 555 ]
 * His mighty Champion, strong above compare,
 * Whose drink was only from the liquid brook.
 * Sam. But what avail'd this temperance, not compleat
 * Against another object more enticing?
 * What boots it at one gate to make defence, [ 560 ]
 * And at another to let in the foe
 * Effeminatly vanquish't? by which means,
 * Now blind, dishearten'd, sham'd, dishonour'd, quell'd,
 * To what can I be useful, wherein serve
 * My Nation, and the work from Heav'n impos'd, [ 565 ]
 * But to sit idle on the houshold hearth,
 * A burdenous drone; to visitants a gaze,
 * Or pitied object, these redundant locks
 * Robustious to no purpose clustring down,

One source for this reasonably close paraphrase, from 1852: " Then, gentlemen," said Napoleon, "let us wait a little ; when your enemy is executing a false movement, never interrupt him." http://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5Qae9TjqilL7Xd1nn6MjnoO47rPODyhW56grrJEquvOaaX9VwX2_eKhzuXdQHqNBvCZ7SQJ3hChotcrvRU4enYDoMi6SttKoAkJOek72yOaLJaZ5WB78p7xfCO-T3YTnE2qTdd3JUiPClOihK1f87wbVnJQlnhtcDMKacqhY96H7IISLzZW7rALkBwa1arEb8zuR0DBWluHapSwaO5EEpuQRR9SkIYJPJtUjLhO3hknP_4BKcpHE3tKTYsrbpeIf2PxgrnnJa A nearly identical quote appears in an 1836 history. Jbgfour (talk) 14:42, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Thematic organization
Is there anyone here who would be opposed if I reorganized this quotes page under a thematic structure, similar to the one that J. Christopher Herald used? -- Black Sword —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.111.12.166 (talk • contribs) 05:58, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

 * Whatever you do, don't lose the separation of source and unsourced quotes. This is the primary distinction between quotes at Wikiquote. Sourced quotes are valuable; unsourced/attributed quotes are not much better than rumor. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 08:24, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Joan of Arc
Has Napoleon Bonaparte ever mentioned about Joan of Arc? If I could remember he mentioned her but i forgot his quote. Anybody remembered or has it down? Haven't seen it here yet —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 124.187.191.123 (talk • contribs) 10:18, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Never be taken by surprise
One of my teacher when I went to an MBA program quoted Napoleon as follow : "I might be defeated, but I will never be taken by surprise"

Is this accurate ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.160.40.4 (talk • contribs) 19:51, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Comment on Format
Why are some of the quotes in bold? I don't think it's up to wikiquote-people to give importance to one quote over another. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 76.241.89.174 (talk • contribs) 02:30, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

Spirit or Mind?
The same quote is said in at least two spots: "There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit." In one, it mentions spirit, and the other it mentions the mind. Both have similar, but different wordings. Did he say both? 72.174.2.252 22:29, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

 * The French word esprit has several meanings, including "mind" and "spirit." If esprit was used in the original French, it would explain the variant translations.  An unsourced quote, precisely because it hasn't been sourced, can never be assumed as genuine.  The answer then to your question, "Did he say both?" is: We don't yet know whether he said either.  - InvisibleSun 22:49, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

In the Bible ihe words 'spirit'/mind/breath are all identified by the same Hebrew number 7306 In the psalms, David wrote "take not thy presence from me and remove not thy Holy Spirit from me. so that spirit prsence and breath all refer to the same concept of God dwelling within us by faith; and that when God removes His breath, spirit, presence from us ...we die. Some religious bodies beleive that God's spirit represent a third member of the Deity,or a Trinity. which the Bible does not teach but which was introduced by man  into mainstream religious thinking several centuries after Christ was crucified.

 * Here's the original in French:"« Il n’y a que deux puissances dans le monde, le sabre et l’esprit. « J’entends par l’esprit les institutions civiles et religieuses… A la longue, le sabre est toujours battu par l’esprit.»"
 * —KHirsch 14:40, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

The above welcome bit of information provided by KHirsch is from Revue des deux mondes, Vol. 4 (1838). p. 645; I might examine things and do a bit of tweaking a bit later, but have to soon be leaving and attending to a few other things right now. ~ Kalki (talk · contributions) 15:07, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

"What then, generally speaking, is history? A fable agreed upon."
I've done full-text searches for many keywords in this quote, and I can't find it anywhere in the Memoirs of Napoleon. Where is this quote? 76.215.192.143 20:25, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

 * I've only thus far done a vert quick search of "A fable agreed upon" in Google Book Search and found that Ralph Waldo Emerson credited to Napoleon, in his essay "History" : "What is history," said Napoleon, " but a fable agreed upon?
 * I don't know Emerson's source, and the hits are too extensive for me to investigate fully right now, or any time soon. ~ Kalki 20:34, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Money has no motherland
The source of this appears to be R. McNair Wilson's Monarchy or Money Power (1933). I haven't seen the original book, just a transcript at the Yamaguchy web site. The first two paragraphs from that book's “Chapter IX—Napoleon” are:

Having made peace with the whole world, Bonaparte set about his task of preparing himself and the French people for the return to the God-system. It was ordained by him that money should not be exported from France on any pretext whatever except with the consent of the Government, and that in no circumstances should loans be employed to meet current expenditure whether civil or military.

The object was to withhold from finance the power to embarrass the Government as it had embarrassed the Government of Louis XVI. When a Government, Bonaparte declared, is dependent for money upon bankers, they and not the leaders of that Government control the situation, since “the hand that gives is above the hand that takes”57. He did not allow anyone to forget the shipments of gold to England organized by Barras at the expense of the army of Italy, and at a moment when France was denuded of metallic currency. “Money,” he declared, “has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency: their sole object is gain.”

...

Note 57.—This was among his favourite quotations.

The only part I can verify is “the hand that gives is above the hand that takes”, which other sources also attribute to Napoleon, although not with respect to banks (and not as an original saying). For example, in Napoléon a dit: aphorismes, citations et opinions, p. 82:

 * La main qui donne est au-dessus de celle qui reçoit.
 * Dicton italien, cité par Bonaparte pendant la première campagne d'Italie pour souligner la dépendance pécuniaire du Directoire enver l'armée d'Italie qui lui procura des million et des trésors, butin des pays conquis.

I somewhat doubt the rest is valid. I find “l'argent n'a pas de patrie” (money has no fatherland) several times in the 19th century, but never attributed to Napoleon, which is very odd if he said it. I also can't find any trace of the rest of the quote in Google Books, but this doesn't mean much since there are many ways to translate it and there aren't as many French books yet in Google Books.

I'm also a bit suspicous because R. McNair Wilson was quite a fanatic on the money issue. Besides Monarchy or Money Power, he once wrote a book, about a monetary change which now is just a footnote in French history, with the hyperbolic title The Defeat of Debt: Being an account of the world-wide and secret battle which, on June 6th, 1935, ended in the downfall of the International Money Power Together with certain forecasts about the prosperity which all men are now about to enjoy. He also wrote Promise to pay; an inquiry into the principles and practice of the latter-day magic called sometimes high finance.

A few French web sites give the quote in French, but without a source and it seems a bit awkward, as if the quotation is translated from English, rather than originally in French. For example:

 * Lorsqu'un gouvernement est dépendant des banquiers pour l'argent, ce sont ces derniers, et non les dirigeants du gouvernement qui contrôlent la situation, puisque la main qui donne est au dessus de la main qui reçoit. ... L'argent n'a pas de patrie; les financiers n'ont pas de patriotisme et n'ont pas de décence; leur unique objectif est le gain.

References

 * Reprinted as
 * Reprinted as

KHirsch 02:32, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Unsourced quotes removed
... by this edit.

And salvaged to this page, as seeds for further research:

A-C

 * A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.

 * A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction; you must speak to the soul in order to electrify him.

 * A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
 * This is from Napoleon in his own words (1916), translated from the French by Jules Bertaut (Virilites : maximes et pensees de Napoleon I). I can't find the original French version though. Gssq (talk) 07:40, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

 * A man like me troubles himself little about the lives of a million men

 * A picture is worth a thousand words.

 * A portion of the multitude must ever be coerced.

 * A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.

 * A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon.

 * A true man hates no one.

 * Ah, tenez, vous êtes de la merde dans un bas de soie.
 * Look, you're shit in a silk stocking.
 * Referring to Talleyrand (28 January 1809)

 * All men are equal before God: wisdom, talents, and virtue are the only difference between them.

 * Ambition never is in a greater hurry than I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.

 * America is a fortunate country. She grows by the follies of our European nations.

 * An army marches on its stomach.

 * '''An emperor confides his trust in National Soldiers, not in mercenaries.

 * Authoritarian government required to speak, is silent... Representative government required to speak, lies with impunity.

 * Better not to have been born than to live without glory.

 * Better to have a known enemy than a forced ally.
 * Variant: Better to have an open enemy, than hidden friends.

 * Calumny, envy, and all revengeful passions appear almost exclusively to direct the actions of men.

 * Ces terribles chevaux gris! Comme ils travaillent!
 * Those terrible grey horses, how they strive!

 * Chartres is no place for an atheist.
 * Upon visiting the Cathedral of Chartres.

 * Civil liberty depends upon the security of property.

 * Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.

 * Cruelty can only be justified by necessity.

D-G

 * Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.

 * Death may expiate faults, but cannot repair them.

 * Different subjects and different affairs are arranged in my head as in a cupboard. When I wish to interrupt one train of thought, I shut that drawer and open another. Do I wish to sleep, I simply close all the drawers and then I am— asleep.

 * Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.

 * Every soldier carries a marshal's baton in his pack.

 * Everything has a limit, even human emotions.

 * Everything in religion should be gratuitous, and for the people; care must be taken not to deprive the poor... of the only thing which consoles them for their poverty.

 * Experience proves that armies are not always sufficient to save a nation; while a nation defended by its people is ever invincible.

 * Fanaticism must first be lulled, in order that it may be eradicated.

 * Female virtue has been held in suspicion from the beginning of the world, and ever will be.

 * "For my Poles there is no such thing as impossible."

 * Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.

 * France, the army, Josephine...
 * Reportedly his last words. In French: 'France, armée, Joséphine...'

 * Free trade favors all classes, excites all imaginations, and rouses the whole population; it is identical with equality, and tends naturally to independence.

 * Frenchmen know not how to conspire.

 * Friendship is but a name.

 * Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

 * Great ambition is the passion of a great character. He who is endowed with it may perform either very great actions or very bad ones; all depends upon the principles which direct him.

H-L

 * He who fights against his country, is a child who would kill his own mother.

 * He who is unmoved by tears has no heart.

 * He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.

 * How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares, 'God wills it thus.' Religion is excellent stuff for keeping people quiet.

 * I accept I might be defeated, but caught in surprise, never.

 * I am never angry when contradicted, I seek to be enlightened.

 * I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other. (Idea originally conceptualized by Machiavelli in The Prince)

 * I believe love to be hurtful to society, and to the individual happiness of men. I believe, in short, that love does more harm than good.

 * I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.

 * I feel as if I am being driven towards an unknown goal. As soon as it is attained and there will no longer be any use for me, an atom will be sufficient to annihilate me; but until then, all human efforts whether in Paris or in the army will be powerless to prevail against me.

 * If you start to take Vienna — take Vienna.

 * I have been called upon to change the face of the world.

 * I have not come to you except for the purpose of restoring your rights from the hands of the oppressors... (motivation for invading Egypt in 1798)

 * I have recognized the limits of my eyesight and of my legs, but never the limits of my working power.

 * I made all my generals out of mud.

 * In the world there are but two powers the sword and the mind, in the long run the latter always beats the former.

 * I was born and made for work.

 * If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking, I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur. It is not genius where reveals to me suddenly and secretly what I should do in circumstances unexpected by others; it is thought and preparation.

 * If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.

 * If the whole world was a state, Istanbul would be the capital of it.

 * If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.

 * If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

 * If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.

 * Imagination rules the world.

 * In a great nation, the majority are incapable of judging wisely of things.

 * In choosing a wife, a man does not renounce his mother, and still less is he justified in breaking her heart.

 * In great crisis, it is the lot of women to soften our misfortunes.

 * In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
 * Variant: In politics an absurdity is not a handicap.

 * In victory, you deserve Champagne; in defeat, you need it.

 * In warfare, the mental to the physical is as three is to one.
 * It is an approved maxim in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for this reason alone, that he desires it.

 * It is in the workshops of the country that the most successful war is waged against an enemy, at least it does not cost a drop of its people's blood.

 * It is not enough that I succeed — everyone else must fail.- Adapted from Hannibal.

 * It is the cause, and not the death, that makes the martyr.

 * It is the province of honest men to enlighten the government.

 * It requires more courage to suffer than to die.

 * It would have been better for the peace of France if this man had never existed.
 * Said of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

 * Let China sleep. For when China wakes, it will shake the world.
 * Variant translation: When China awakes, the world will tremble.
 * Variant: Let China slumber, for when she wakes, she will conquer the world
 * Variant: Let China thusly slumber, for when China wakes up the world will shiver (original: Laissez donc la Chine dormir, car lorsque la Chine s'éveillera le monde entier tremblera, purportedly said in 1816 at Sainte-Hélène after having read Voyage dans l'intérieur de la Chine et en Tartarie by Lord Macartney)

M-S

 * Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.

 * Men are moved by two levers only— fear and self interest.
 * Variant: There are only two forces that unite men— fear and interest.

 * Men take only their needs into consideration—never their abilities.

 * My motto has always been: A career open to all talents, without distinctions of birth.
 * Quoted in Mémorial de Ste Hélène by Las Cases

 * Never attack in front of a position that can be taken by turning.

 * Never awake me when you have good news to announce, because with good news nothing presses; but when you have bad news, arouse me immediately, for then there is not an instant to be lost.

 * Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

 * Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

 * Now we are in a fix. Peace has been declared.
 * After the treaty of Amien

 * One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.

 * One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.

 * Passionate people invariably deny their anger, and cowards often boast their ignorance of fear.

 * People accustomed to great victories, know not how to support a day of reverse.

 * Popes have committed too many absurdities to create a belief in their infallibility.

 * Power is founded on opinion.

 * Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.

 * Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

 * Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

 * Respect the burden.

 * Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.

 * Six hours sleep for a man, seven for a woman and eight for a fool.

 * Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.

 * So you think the police foresees and knows everything. The police invents more than it discovers.

 * Some men have sufficient strength of mind to change their disposition, or at least to yield to imperative circumstances.

 * Speeches pass away, but acts remain.

 * Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less concerned about the latter than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never.

 * Stupidity is not a handicap in politics.

 * Such work as mine is not done twice in a century. I saved the Revolution as it lay dying, I have cleansed it of its crimes and have held it up to the people shining with fame. I inspired France and Europe with new ideas which will never be forgotten.

T

 * Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.

 * The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely.

 * The allies we gain by victory, will turn against us upon the bare whisper of our defeat.

 * The aristocracy has the advantage of concentrating the power of Government into less dangerous hands than those of the ignorant multitude.

 * The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.

 * The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.

 * The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

 * The English... are a nation of shopkeepers
 * Quoted in B. B. B. O'Meara's Napoleon at St. Helena
 * Quoting the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

 * The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it.

 * The favorable opportunity must be seized; for fortune is female, and if you balk her today you must not expect to meet her again tomorrow.

 * The guilt of many men may be traced to over-affection for their wives.

 * The heart of a minister should be nowhere but in his head.

 * The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.

 * The most important qualification of a soldier is fortitude under fatigue and privation. Courage is only second; hardship, poverty and want are the best school for a soldier.

 * The nature of Christ's existence is mysterious, I admit; but this mystery meets the wants of man. Reject it and the world is an inexplicable riddle; believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactorily explained.

 * The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.

 * The only victory over love is flight.

 * The people never rub themselves against naked bayonets.

 * The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.

 * The revolution is over. I am the Revolution

 * The spectacle of a field of battle after the combat is sufficient to inspire princes with the love of peace and the horror of war.

 * The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.

 * The stupid speak of the past, the wise of the present, and fools of the future.

 * The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.

 * The true character of man ever displays itself in great events.

 * The woman we love is ever the prettiest of her sex.

 * There are calumnies against which even innocence loses courage.

 * There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.

 * There is neither subordination, nor fear in empty bellies.

 * There is no greater misfortune for a man than to be governed by his wife: in such case he is neither himself nor his wife, he is a perfect nonentity.

 * There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.

 * There is one thing that's not French: for a woman to be able to do what she likes.

 * They think I am stern, even hardhearted. So much the better— this makes it unnecessary for me to justify my reputation. My firmness is taken for callousness. I shall not complain, since this notion is responsible for the good order that is prevailing, so that there is nothing that needs to be repressed.

 * To abandon oneself to despair without a struggle, to commit suicide as a relief, is like leaving the field of battle before we have vanquished the enemy.

 * To extraordinary circumstances we must apply extraordinary remedies.

 * To have a right estimate of a man's character, we must see him in misfortune.

 * To have good soldiers, a nation must always be at war.

 * To seduce a wife from her husband, or a son from his father, are odious acts, unworthy of civilised nations.

 * To write history, one must be more than a man, since the author who holds the pen of this great justiciary should be free from all pre-occupation of interest or of vanity.

 * There is nothing we can do.

U-Z

 * Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu'un long discours.
 * Translation: A good sketch is better than a long speech.
 * Alternate translation: A picture is worth a thousand words.

 * Victory belongs to the most persevering.

 * War is the business of barbarians.

 * Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.

 * We cannot escape from the arbitrariness of the judge, unless we place ourselves under the despotism of the law.

 * We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.

 * We must not obstinately contend against circumstances, but rather let us obey them. We have many projects in life but little determination.

 * We must not take up arms for vain prospects of grandeur, nor the allurements of conquest.

 * We must take things as we find them, and not as we wish them to be.

 * We walk faster when we walk alone.

 * When he who measures the duration of life has pronounced his secret, all the sciences of humanity are but useless essays.

 * You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.

 * You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
 * Quoted in Representative Men: Uses of Great Men by Ralph Waldo Emerson

 * You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? Excuse me, I have no time to listen to such nonsense.
 * To Robert Fulton about his steam ship.

unsourced quote about Fashion
"Fashion condemns us to many follies; the greatest is to make oneself its slave."

... sources anyone? --Immer in Bewegung 07:42, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

No Cowardly Source
"The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know."
 * Searched through French equivalents, nothing. Nothing in an English search much before Norman Lockridge's 1945 "World's wit and wisdom" either.
 * would this have to be linked to "En tout et partout ce ne sont pas les entêtés de bonne foi qui sont à craindre, ce sont les hypocrites." ?
 * would this have to be linked to "En tout et partout ce ne sont pas les entêtés de bonne foi qui sont à craindre, ce sont les hypocrites." ?

Misquotation?
"The world suffers a lot, not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people". Some (not authoritative) sites refer the quote as his though I suspect not. c.f: http://forum.chatdd.com/quotes-sayings/62289-fabulous-quotes.html http://qna.rediff.com/questions-and-answers/the-world-suffers-a-lot-not-because-of-the-violenc/17350669/answers Galoism (talk) 03:33, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Was he anti-Semitic?
I have found a troublesome quote from him:

‘The evils of the Jews do not stem from individuals but from the fundamental nature of this people.’

Examples:

How do we explain this? --Romanophile (talk) 03:36, 18 November 2015 (UTC)

 * I see this attributed to other people. Can't find it in Google Books before 1900. Cagliost (talk) 09:56, 30 July 2020 (UTC)

interwiki
It's so weird French page not referenced from the article. https://fr.wikiquote.org/wiki/Napol%C3%A9on_Bonaparte, other languages seems to lack link to French too. The French page though does have interwikis. Alliumnsk (talk) 09:57, 21 February 2018 (UTC)

Able was I ere I saw Elba
I found an earlier, and possibly original, source for this palindrome. I linked to the publication in Google Books. Someone might be able to improve the reference by linking directly to the page.

Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world
“Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.” is allegedly from Napoleon. Could it be included? Pier4r (talk) 14:18, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

The sanhedrin is at least useful to me."
Obviously relevant 206.174.198.66 14:56, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

To be inserted in the right place
Perhaps it was the spirit of the time and the place that affected me. But I assure you no occurrence of any of my other battlefields impressed me so keenly. I halted on my tour to gaze on the spectacle, and to reflect on its meaning.

This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment; yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog... I had looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations. Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands.

Yet, here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what? By the grief of one dog. I am certain that at that instant I felt more ready than at any other time to show mercy toward a suppliant foe-man. I could understand just then the tinge of mercy which led Achilles to yield the corpse of his enemy, Hector, to the weeping Priam. Creatoreoccasionale (talk) 18:52, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Napoleon


text:
User talk:Fonzy~enwikiquote

Hello, I would like to ask how can other language versions of Wikiquote be created. Incidentally I have quite a large collection of quotations (from my now offline website) that I would like to transfer to the Polish incarnation of Wikiquote. Can it be done ? Mav proposed on textbook.wikipedia.org that .../wiki/... part of the URL path can be made into .../en/... .../pl/... .../fr/... and so on. What do you think ? Best wishes, Kpjas 12:29 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Well as I am not a developer, i can't do anything. you have to qwiat till Brion, stes up different language versions. eg. en.wikiquote.org/, fr.wikiquote.org, pl.wikiquote.org. Wiktionary hasn;t even got different langauge versions yet. Altough Brion is hopeong to change the format to http://primaryname.org/language/article -fonzy

Is Wikiquote suitable place for buzzwords, memes, and everyday household names like "the global village" by McLuhan ? Kpjas 16:15 13 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Possibly, do a few examples. - fonzy

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Fonzy. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Fonzy~enwikiquote that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:23, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 05:47, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Fonzy~enwikiquote


text:
Romeo and Juliet

The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet  (first published 1597) is a play by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young star-crossed lovers. Perhaps the most famous of his plays, it is one of his earliest theatrical triumphs and is considered the archetypal love story of the Renaissance.

Act I

 * Abraham: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sampson: I do bite my thumb, sir. Abraham: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sampson (to Gregory): Is the law of our side if I say ay? Gregory: No. Sampson: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you sir; but I bite my thumb, sir. Gregory: Do you quarrel, sir? Abraham: Quarrel, sir? No, sir. Sampson: If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good a man as you. Abraham: No better. Sampson: Well, sir. Gregory: (to Sampson) Say 'better'; here comes one of my master's kinsmen. Sampson: Yes, better, sir. Abraham: You lie. Sampson: Draw, if you be men! Gregory, remember thy swashing blow. (They fight)
 * Scene i

 * Benvolio: Part, fools! Put up your swords; you know not what you do. (Tybalt enters) Tybalt: What, art thou drawn among these hartless hinds? Turn thee, Benvolio; look upon thy death. Benvolio: I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me. Tybalt: What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward!
 * Scene i

 * Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel, — Will they not hear? — What, ho! you men, you beasts, That quench the fire of your pernicious rage With purple fountains issuing from your veins! On pain of torture, from those bloody hands, Throw your distemper weapons to the ground, And hear the sentence of your moved Prince. Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word, By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets, And made Verona's ancient citizens Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments, To wield old partisans, in hands as old, Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate. If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. For this time, all the rest depart away. You, Capulet, shall go along with me — And Montague, come you this afternoon — To know our further pleasure in this case, To old Free-town, our common judgment-place. Once more, on the pain of death, all men depart.
 * Prince, scene i

 * Benvolio: What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours? Romeo: Not having that, which, having, makes them short. Benvolio: In love? Romeo: Out- Benvolio: Of love? Romeo: Out of her favour, where I am in love.
 * Scene i

 * Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O anything, of nothing first created; O heavy lightness! serious vanity! Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
 * Romeo, scene i

 * Romeo: Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn. Mercutio: If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
 * Scene iv

 * Romeo: I dream'd a dream to-night. Mercutio: And so did I. Romeo: Well, what was yours? Mercutio: That dreamers often lie.
 * Scene iv

 * O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone On the fore-finger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies Athwart men’s noses as they lie asleep.
 * Mercutio, scene iv

 * Romeo: Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! Thou talkest of nothing. Mercutio: True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes Even now the frozen bosom of the north, And, being angered, puffs away from thence, Turning his face to the dew-dropping south. Benvolio: This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves; Supper is done, and we shall come too late.
 * Scene iv

 * Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
 * Romeo, scene v

 * You kiss by the book.
 * Juliet, scene v

 * My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
 * Juliet, scene v

Act II

 * This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle Of some strange nature, letting it there stand Till she had laid it and conjured it down; That were some spite: my invocation Is fair and honest, and in his mistress' name I conjure only to raise up him.
 * Mercutio, scene I

 * But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!
 * Romeo, scene II

 * O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
 * Juliet, scene ii

 * 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; — Thou art thyself though, not a Montague. What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title: — Romeo, doff thy name; And for thy name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself.
 * Juliet, scene ii, a variant in many published editions reads: What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other word would smell as sweet.

 * I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I'll be new baptis'd; Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
 * Romeo, scene ii

 * O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
 * Juliet, scene ii

 * Romeo: O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? Juliet: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight? Romeo: The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine. Juliet: I gave thee mine before thou didst request it: And yet I would it were to give again. Romeo: Wouldst thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love? Juliet: But to be frank, and give it thee again. And yet I wish but for the thing I have; My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.
 * Scene ii

 * Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their books, But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.
 * Romeo, scene ii

 * Good-night, good-night! Parting is such sweet sorrow That I shall say good-night till it be morrow.
 * Juliet, scene ii

 * The earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb.
 * Friar Laurence, scene iii

 * For naught so vile that on the earth doth live But to the earth some special good doth give; Nor aught so good but, strain'd from that fair use, Revolts from true birth, stumbling on the abuse: Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied; And vice sometimes by action dignified.
 * Friar Laurence, scene iii

 * Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set On the fair daughter of rich Capulet: As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine; And all combin'd, save what thou must combine By holy marriage: when, and where, and how We met, we woo'd, and made exchange of vow, I'll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray, That thou consent to marry us to-day.
 * Romeo to Friar Laurence, scene iii

 * Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
 * Friar Laurence to Romeo, scene iii

 * Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.
 * Friar Laurence to Romeo, scene iii

Act III

 * Benvolio: I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire: The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl; For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring. Mercutio: Thou art like one of those fellows that when he enters the confines of a tavern claps me his sword upon the table and says 'God send me no need of thee!' and by the operation of the second cup draws it on the drawer, when indeed there is no need. Benvolio: Am I like such a fellow? Mercutio: Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.
 * Scene i

 * Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford No better term than this: thou art a villain.
 * Tybalt, scene i

 * Mercutio: O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! "Alla stoccata" carries it away. (draws his sword) Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk? Tybalt: What wouldst thou have with me? Mercutio: Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out.
 * Scene i

 * I am hurt; — A plague o' both the houses! — I am sped. — Is he gone, and hath nothing?
 * Mercutio, scene i

 * Romeo: Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mercutio: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o' both your houses!
 * Scene i

 * Mercutio: Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Romeo: I thought all for the best. Mercutio: Help me into some house, Benvolio, Or I shall faint. — A plague o' both your houses! They have made worm's meat of me. I have it, and soundly too: — A plague o' both your houses!
 * Scene i

 * Benvolio: Romeo, away, be gone! The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain: — Stand not amaz'd: — the Prince will doom thee death, If thou are taken: — hence! — be gone! — away! Romeo: O, I am fortune's fool! Benvolio: Why dost thou stay?
 * Scene i

 * Lady Capulet: I beg for justice, which thou, Prince, must give; Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live. Prince: Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe? Montague: Not Romeo, Prince, he was Mercutio's friend; His fault concludes but what the law should end, The life of Tybalt. Prince: And for that offence Immediately we do exile him hence: I have an interest in your hate's proceeding, My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding; But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine That you shall all repent the loss of mine: I will be deaf to pleading and excuses; Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses: Therefore use none: let Romeo hence in haste, Else, when he's found, that hour is his last. Bear hence this body and attend our will: Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.
 * Scene i

 * Come, gentle night, — come, loving black brow'd night, Give me my Romeo; and when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of Heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun.
 * Juliet, scene ii

 * There's no trust, No faith, no honesty in men; all are perjur'd All foresworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
 * Nurse, scene ii

 * O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!
 * Friar Laurence, scene iii, line 24

 * Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree. Believe me love, it was the nightingale.
 * Juliet, scene v

Act IV

 * Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this, Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it: If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help, Do thou but call my resolution wise, And with this knife I'll help it presently. God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands; And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd, Shall be the label to another deed, Or my true heart with treacherous revolt Turn to another, this shall slay them both: Therefore, out of thy long-experienc'd time, Give me some present counsel; or behold, 'Twixt my extremes and me, this bloody knife Shall play the umpire; arbitrating that Which the commission of thy years and art Could to no issue of true honour bring. Be not so long to speak; I long to die, If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.
 * Juliet, scene i

 * Or bid me go into a new-made grave, And hide me with a dead man in his shroud — Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble — And I will do it without fear or doubt, To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.
 * Juliet, scene i

 * O woe! O woeful, woeful, woeful day! Most lamentable day! Most woeful day That ever, ever I did yet behold! O day, O day, O day! O hateful day! Never was seen so black a day as this. O woeful day! O woeful day!
 * Nurse, scene p

Act V

 * A beggerly account of emptie boxes, Greene earthen pots, Bladders, and mustie seedes, Remnants of packthred, and old cakes of Roses Were thinly scattered, to make vp a shew.
 * Romeo, scene i, edition of 1623

 * There is thy gold; worse poison to men's souls, Doing more murder in this loathsome world Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
 * Romeo, scene i

 * Shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous, And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in the dark to be his paramour?
 * Romeo, scene iii

 * O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. — Thus with a kiss I die.
 * Romeo, scene iii

 * Yea, noise? then I'll be brief.O, happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die.
 * Juliet, scene iii

 * Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague! See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punish'd.
 * Prince, scene iii

 * A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun for sorrow will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished: For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
 * Prince, scene iii

title: Romeo and Juliet


text:
Talk:William Shakespeare

These quotes should be move to the entry for those books. Only quotes said (or thought to be said) by William Shakespeare should be here, not ones that he wrote down in his plays. Altough soemthing could be added to template for authors, about linking to there books/plays. However an autobiogrophy quotes should be on the authors page IMO. -fonzy

I think we are rather unlikely to find any real life Shakespeare quotations ;-) Besides, most quotations were published somewhere Churchill's etc People would look both for quotations from some specific Shakespeare play and look for a quotation knowing only it was by Shakespeare. I think it wouldn't harm to have duplicates or redirects under Shakespeare and Romeo and Julliet, Hamlet etc. Kpjas 16:07 13 Jul 2003 (UTC)

How about just something like the top of the page? We can have the play name, followed by a set of the more general/interesting/etc. quotes from that play. If the user wants to read more quotes from that play, they click on the link. -- Gaurav 08:58 19 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Ten years later: good idea! ~ DanielTom (talk) 22:01, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

I read a very interesting book, stating that Shakespeare was a Puritan. (Ned-Sept.) I think as many quotes of Shakespeare's as can be quoted, might be helpful.

I added a notice saying that the quotes are from Shakespeare's works. Lbc07 (talk) 12:42, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

 * This notice is misleading. These are his words, since he wrote them. Most are from plays, and most/all of these say which play and which character is speaking. A few aren't from plays. I conclude this notice is not entirely true and certainly unnecessary.

=Verse= It really is ridiculous to have these quotes written out as prose. Is there no way we can write them as they were written (and spoken, for that matter); as verse? 72.138.207.91 07:17, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

william shakespeare is known as bard.

Translate to modern english
Can we change some of the quotes to modern english?Mooncrest 15:43, 20 May 2008 (UTC) he died on his 52 b'day

 * All of these quotes are in Modern English.

is it normal ?
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Modernity_of_Shakespeare.jpg

Quotes from the plays on this page
Initial conversation between DanielTom and BD2412, copied from User talk:DanielTom:

Greetings. Why are you adding quotes from Shakespeare's plays to his page? Each play already has its own page. Cheers! BD2412 T 15:56, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi BD. I know, I am adding quotes to those pages as well, trying to make them more complete, but then I select 3 of the best quotes from each play and add those to the William Shakespeare page, with a link to the in-depth articles (using the template). I did a similar thing in the Bertrand Russell article (see, e.g., here, here and here), at first following the format of Dostoevsky's article. I want key quotes to be in the main articles. For example, if people now go to the William Shakespeare page and search "kill all the lawyers", they will easily find that quote. If they want, they can then click in the link right next to it and go to the play's main article, to read further. The Shakespeare page should potentially be the best page on WQ, and the most popular, but as it stands it has almost no quotes by him whatever, so it is not much visited. Adding a few sample quotes (the most famous ones) from each play to his main article not only improves his page, but also makes the sub-pages you mentioned get more visits. (Is that controversial?) ~ DanielTom (talk) 16:35, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I don't know that it is "controversial" but it is duplicative. My thinking on this is that if we are to have any duplication, it should only be of Shakespeare's best known quotes - "To be or not to be", "What a piece of work is a man!", "Romeo, O' Romeo, wherefore art thou, O' Romeo". Not every work will necessarily be represented in that collection. BD2412 T 16:42, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I agree with your idea (only "duplicate" the most famous quotes), except that I think we should add the best known quotes from each play. (I would be satisfied to only add the ones you mention if Wikiquote was just some sort of elementary school project, but it isn't.) I don't have a problem with 3 "duplicates" per play, but if you do I will stop — there is room for reasonable disagreement here. ~ DanielTom (talk) 16:53, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

Continued conversation:
 * As great as Shakespeare was, not all of his plays were hits, and some contain no lines that have pervaded the general polity. Not every play has an "Is this a dagger I see before me" moment, and it diminishes those moments a bit to surround them with lesser known lines, from lesser known plays. BD2412 T 17:05, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * That inevitably happens in all articles. Anyway, I really do not see how adding just 3 sample quotes from each of his plays could possibly "[diminish] those moments". (In fact, as it now stands, the William Shakespeare article has almost no quotes at all, so there is not much to "diminish".) I have nothing to add to what was said above, so I await other people's thoughts with interest. ~ DanielTom (talk) 17:24, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Three quotes from each of 40 plays would be 120 quotes. Why don't we start with the truly monumental quotes from the truly monumental plays, and see how the page looks with those included? BD2412 T 17:36, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Sure, starting with the "truly monumental quotes" is a good idea, but I have only read two of Shakespeare's "monumental plays", so I cannot add quotes from those works myself without 1) research and 2) spoilers. Others are welcome to do it. Indeed, I will eventually get to those, but as I am going through his plays chronologically, it may take me some time. (BTW, 120 quotes [if we ever get to that] is not that bad for someone like Shakespeare. Compare that with the Bertrand Russell article, which must have almost 400 quotes!) ~ DanielTom (talk) 18:20, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * You can "see how the page looks" now. Not sure if you will like it or not. ~ DanielTom (talk) 19:14, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * It's looking good. When you say "spoilers", do you mean spoiling the plays for yourself, since you have not read them yet? BD2412 T 20:01, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I just added some more, so the article now covers at least most of his best known quotes. (I've hidden the ones I had added earlier, so that only the most famous ones appear.) Yes, I was afraid of spoiling them for myself, but fortunately nothing bad happened (I think). Okay, ~ DanielTom (talk) 21:00, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

Misattributed section
At the bottom of this section, a user has put, 'The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. Not by Shakespeare, but from Finding Your Strength in Difficult Times: A Book of Meditations, a 1993 self-help book by David S. Viscott.' I believe that David S. Viscott simply copied this quote from Shakespeare, therefore making the user's claim redundant. Lbc07 (talk) 12:13, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

misattributed quote
Add "An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server could not be made." Because 2607:FEA8:551D:2E00:9574:232F:CA4E:8194 21:15, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:William Shakespeare


text:
Wikiquote:What Wikiquote is not

Wikiquote briefly describes what Wikiquote is, and what its goals are. The following discusses what Wikiquote is not.

Wikiquote is not an encyclopedia
Wikiquote is not the same as its sister project, Wikipedia. A short introduction is used to identify an article's subject and, if needed, indicate why it is notable. Longer expositions, encyclopedic references, and suggestions for further reading about the subject may be added to a corresponding Wikipedia article, but do not belong in Wikiquote.

Wikiquote is not a dictionary
Wikiquote is not a place for dictionary definitions, which may be added to its sister project, Wiktionary, which is a dictionary. Quotes can be about a certain theme, such as Love, but not any random word.

Wikiquote is not a textbook
Wikiquote is not a collection of information found in textbooks and guides. See Wikibooks.

Wikiquote is not a place for public domain documents
Wikiquote is not a collection of public domain documents such as source code, original historical documents, letters, laws, whole books or whole poems.

 * Famous speeches of historical value can be added to the speeches portal at Wikisource.
 * Whole public domain books can be added to Wikisource or Wikibooks, see Wikisource Project:Annotations.
 * Generic deposits of published information may be appropriate at Wikisource.
 * Book PDFs/DJVUs, pictures, sound files, and other forms of media that are in the public domain or under a libre license are accepted at Wikimedia Commons.

Wikiquote is not a personal website
Wikiquote is not Myspace or Facebook. Every registered user is able to create a user page about themself as a Wikiquotian, but they should not use it for posting non-Wikiquote related topics, such as résumés, personal files, etc. Please see User page for more information on userpages.

Wikiquote is not a collection of your personal quotes
Any user can place quotes they or their friends may have said on their user page, but you should not create your own page in the main namespace for your own quotes, or add your own personal quotes, or those of your friends and acquaintances to existing articles.

Wikiquote is not an internet directory
Articles are for collections of quotes, not random links. You should not create pages solely for the purpose of listing your favorite sites, random phone numbers, and other unrelated information.

Wikiquote is not a discussion forum
Users are allowed to post messages to each other on their respective User talk pages, but you must confine those chats to those pages only, not to the article talk pages, which are reserved for discussion regarding that page only.

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Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Johan Ibsen (20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of realism" and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. It is said that Ibsen is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare.

Quotes

 * He who possesses liberty otherwise than as an aspiration possesses it soulless, dead. One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands still in the midst of the struggle and says, "I have it," merely shows by so doing that he has just lost it. Now this very contentedness in the possession of a dead liberty is characteristic of the so-called State, and, as I have said, it is not a good characteristic. No doubt the franchise, self-taxation, etc., are benefits — but to whom? To the citizen, not to the individual. Now, reason does not imperatively demand that the individual should be a citizen. Far from it. The State is the curse of the individual. With what is Prussia's political strength bought? With the absorption of the individual in the political and geographical idea. The waiter is the best soldier. And on the other hand, take the Jewish people, the aristocracy of the human race — how is it they have kept their place apart, their poetical halo, amid surroundings of coarse cruelty? By having no State to burden them. Had they remained in Palestine, they would long ago have lost their individuality in the process of their State's construction, like all other nations. Away with the State! I will take part in that revolution. Undermine the whole conception of a State, declare free choice and spiritual kinship to be the only all-important conditions of any union, and you will have the commencement of a liberty that is worth something. Changes in forms of government are pettifogging affairs — a degree less or a degree more, mere foolishness. The State has its root in time, and will ripe and rot in time. Greater things than it will fall — religion, for example. Neither moral conceptions nor art-forms have an eternity before them. How much are we really in duty bound to pin our faith to? Who will guarantee me that on Jupiter two and two do not make five?
 * Letter to Georg Brandes (17 February 1871), as translated in Henrik Ibsen : Björnstjerne Björnson. Critical Studies (1899) by Georg Morris Cohen Brandes
 * Variant translation: The quality of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands still in the midst of the struggle and says: "I have it," merely shows by so doing that he has lost it. Now this very contentedness in the possession of a dead liberty is a characteristic of the so-called state; and it is worthless.
 * As translated in Ibsen : The Man, His Art & His Significance (1907) by Haldane Macfall, p. 238
 * Variant translation: Neither moral concepts nor art forms can expect to live forever. How much are we obliged to hold on to? Who can guarantee that 2 plus 2 don't add up to 5 on Jupiter?

 * There are three Empires. First there is the Empire which was founded on the tree of knowledge. Then there is the Empire founded on the tree of the Cross. The third is still a secret Empire which will be founded on the tree of knowledge and the tree of the Cross — brought together.
 * Emperor and Galilean (1873), as quoted by Lester B. Pearson in his address on accepting the Nobel Peace Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway (10 December 1957)

 * That power which circumstances placed in my hands, and which is an emanation of divinity, I am conscious of having used to the best of my skill. I have never wittingly wronged any one. For this campaign there were good and sufficient reasons; and if some should think that I have not fulfilled all expectations, they ought in justice to reflect that there is a mysterious power without us, which in a great measure governs the issue of human undertakings.
 * The Emperor Julian, as portrayed in Emperor and Galilean (1873).

 * Erring soul of man — if thou wast indeed forced to err, it shall surely be accounted to thee for good on that great day when the Mighty One shall descend in the clouds to judge the living dead and the dead who are yet alive!
 * Makrina, in Emperor and Galilean (1873), Final lines.

 * At leve er — krig med trolde i hjertets og hjernens hvælv. At digte, — det er at holde dommedag over sig selv.
 * To live is to battle the demons in the heart as well as the brain. To write is to preside at judgement day over one's self.
 * Et vers (A Verse), inscribed on the volume Poems (1877)
 * Ibsen may have written this originally in German as a dedication to a female reader. It was published in German in Deutsche Rundschau in November 1886:
 * Leben, das heisst bekriegen In Herz und Hirn die Gewalten; Und dichten; über sich selber Den Gerichtstag halten.

 * The great secret of power is never to will to do more than you can accomplish. The great secret of action and victory is to be capable of living your life without ideals. Such is the sum of the whole world's wisdom.
 * As quoted in The Ibsen Calendar : A Quotation from the Works of Henrik Ibsen for Every Day (1913) by C. A. Arfwedson

 * I hold that man is in the right who is most closely in league with the future.
 * Letter to Georg Brandes (3 January 1882).

 * The great task of our time is to blow up all existing institutions — to destroy.
 * Letter of 1883, quoted in The Drama of Ibsen and Strindberg (1962) by Frank Laurence Lucas, p. 34.

 * It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on journalists and politicians.
 * As quoted in The Book of Poisonous Quotes (1993) edited by Colin Jarman, p. 232.

 * Tvert imot!
 * On the contrary!
 * His last words, in response to a nurse who said she thought he looked better than usual; as quoted in The History of World Theater : From the English Restoration to the Present (1999) by Felicia Hardison Londré and Margot Berthold, p. 341.

Love's Comedy (1862)

 * Kjærlighedens Komedie as translated by C. H. Herford (1900)

 * I thank God that in the bath of Pain He purged my love. What strong compulsion drew Me on I knew not, till I saw in you The treasure I had blindly sought in vain. I praise Him, who our love has lifted thus To noble rank by sorrow, — licensed us To a triumphal progress, bade us sweep Thro' fen and forest to our castle-keep, A noble pair, astride on Pegasus!
 * Falk, Act III

 * I feel myself like God's lost prodigal; I left Him for the world's delusive charms. With mild reproof He wooed me to his arms; And when I come, He lights the vaulted hall, Prepares a banquet for the son restored, And makes His noblest creature my reward. From this time forth I'll never leave that Light, — But stand its armed defender in the fight; Nothing shall part us, and our life shall prove A song of glory to triumphant love!
 * Falk, Act III

 * '''Tho' Doubt's beleaguering forces hem us in, Yet Truth upon the Serpent's head shall trample. The cause of Love shall win —
 * Falk, Act III

 * Yes, Love shall win!
 * Crowd, responding to Falk, in Act III

 * An unromantic poem I mean to make Of one who only lives for duty's sake.
 * Guldstad

 * I go to scale the Future's possibilities! Farewell! God bless thee, bride of my life's dawn, Where'er I be, to nobler deed thou'lt wake me.
 * Falk, in a statement rich with ironies.

Brand (1866)

 * Ikke tusend ord sig prenter, som én gernings spor.
 * A thousand words can't make the mark a single deed will leave.
 * Manden, Act II

 * Tabets alt din vinding skabte — Evigt ejes kun det tabte!
 * Losing all was winning's cost! Eternally owned is but what's lost!
 * Brand, Act IV

 * Brand: Svar mig, Gud, i dødens slug! gælder ej et frelsens fnug mandeviljens quantum satis? [Skreden begraver ham; hele dalen fyldes.] En Røst: [Räber gennem tordenbragene] Han er deus caritatis!
 * Brand: Answer me, God, in the jaws of death: Is there no salvation for the Will of Man? No small measure of salvation? [The avalanche buries him. The valley is swallowed up.] A Voice: [Calls through the crashing thunder] He is the God of Love.
 * Act V

Peer Gynt (1867)

 * [First performed in Oslo (then called Christiania) on February 24, 1876, with incidental music by Edvard Grieg]

 * Peer, du lyver!
 * Peer, you are lying!
 * Åse, Act I, Scene I

 * Om jeg hamrer eller hamres, ligefuldt så skal der jamres!
 * Whether I pound or am being pounded, all the same there will be moaning!
 * Peer Gynt, declaring that no matter what he does, it is not what people want, Act I, Scene I

 * Ja, tænke det; ønske det; ville det med; men gjøre det! Nej, det skjønner jeg ikke!
 * To think it, wish it, even want it — but do it! No, that I cannot understand.
 * Peer Gynt, after he sees a boy cut off his finger to avoid serving in the army, Act III, Scene I

 * Really to sin you have to be serious about it.
 * Button-Moulder, Act V, Scene VII

The Pillars of Society (1877)

 * I'm afraid for all those who'll have the bread snatched from their mouths by these machines. You are very fond, sir, of talking about the consideration we owe to the community; it seems to me, however, that the community has its duties too. What business has science and capitalism got, bringing all these new inventions into the works, before society has produced a generation educated up to using them!
 * Aune, Act II

 * Look into any man's heart you please, and you will always find, in every one, at least one black spot which he has to keep concealed.
 * Bernick, Act III

 * The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom — these are the pillars of society.
 * Lona, Act IV

A Doll's House (1879)

 * There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.
 * Torvald Helmer, Act I

 * Nora.'Look here, Doctor Rank - you know you want to live.
 * Rank.'Certainly. However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible."
 * Act I

 * I don't know whether you find also in your part of the world that there are certain people who go zealously snuffing about to smell out moral corruption, and, as soon as they have found some, put the person concerned into some lucrative position where they can keep their eye on him. Healthy natures are left out in the cold.
 * Dr. Rank, Act I

 * What's to become of the morally sound? Left out in the cold, I suppose. We must heal the sick.
 * Dr. Rank, Act I

 * Many a man can save himself if he admits he's done wrong and takes his punishment.
 * Torvald Helmer, Act I

 * Jeg har en sånn umåtelig lyst til å si: død og pine.
 * I've the most extraordinary longing to say 'Bloody Hell'!
 * Nora Helmer, Act I

 * You don't get nothing for nothing in this life.
 * Dr. Rank, Act III

 * There is a big black hat and it makes you invisible. Have you heard of that hat? You put it on and then no one can see you.
 * Dr. Rank, Act III, speaking of death

 * The black, cold, icy water. Down and down, without end — if it would only end.
 * Nora Helmer, Act III

 * But our home's been nothing but a playpen. I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll-child. And in turn the children have been my dolls. I thought it fun when you played with me, just as they thought it fun when I played with them. That's been our marriage, Torvald.
 * Nora Helmer, Act III
 * Variant translation: Our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa's doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls. I thought it great fun when you played with me, just as they thought it great fun when I played with them. That is what our marriage has been, Torvald.

 * If I'm ever to reach any understanding of myself and the things around me, I must learn to stand alone. That's why I can't stay here with you any longer.
 * Nora Helmer, Act III

 * I have other duties equally sacred … Duties to myself.
 * Nora Helmer, Act III
 * Variant translation: I have another duty equally sacred … My duty to myself.

 * Helmer: First and foremost, you are a wife and mother. Nora: That I don't believe any more. I believe that first and foremost I am an individual, just as you are.

Ghosts (1881)

 * To crave for happiness in this world is simply to be possessed by a spirit of revolt. What right have we to happiness?
 * Manders, Act I

 * I am half inclined to think we are all ghosts, Mr. Manders. It is not only what we have inherited from our fathers and mothers that exists again in us, but all sorts of old dead ideas and all kinds of old dead beliefs and things of that kind. They are not actually alive in us; but there they are dormant, all the same, and we can never be rid of them. Whenever I take up a newspaper and read it, I fancy I see ghosts creeping between the lines. There must be ghosts all over the world. They must be as countless as the grains of the sands, it seems to me. And we are so miserably afraid of the light, all of us.
 * Mrs. Alving, Act II

An Enemy of the People (1882)

 * A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
 * Billing, Act I

 * There is one thing I esteem higher than that; and that is for a man to be self-reliant and sure of himself.
 * Hovstad, Act II

 * I have already told you that what I want to speak about is the great discovery I have made lately - the discovery that all the sources of our moral life are poisoned and that the whole fabric of our civic community is founded on the pestiferous soil of falsehood.
 * Dr. Stockmann, Act IV

 * Dr. Stockmann: It is the majority in our community that denies me my freedom and seeks to prevent my speaking the truth. Hovstad: The majority always has right on its side. Billing: And truth too, by God! Dr. Stockmann: The majority never has right on its side. Never I say! That is one of those social lies against which an independent, intelligent man must wage war. Who is it that constitute the majority of the population in a country? Is it the clever folk or the stupid? I don't imagine you will dispute the fact that at present the stupid people are in an absolutely overwhelming majority all the world over. But, good Lord!—you can never pretend that it is right that the stupid folk should govern the clever ones! [the crowd cries out] Oh yes—you can shout me down, I know! But you cannot answer me. The majority has might on its side-unfortunately; but right it has not. I am in the right—I and a few other scattered individuals. The minority is always in the right.
 * Act IV
 * Flertallet har magten — desværre —; men retten har det ikke. Retten har jeg og de andre få, de enkelte. Minoriteten har altid retten.
 * The majority has the might — more's the pity — but it hasn't right. I am right — I and one or two other individuals like me. The minority is always right.

 * The common people are nothing more than the raw material of which a People is made.
 * Dr. Stockmann, Act IV

 * You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
 * Dr. Stockmann, Act V
 * Robert Farquharson translation

 * Sagen er den, ser I, at den stærkeste mand i verden, det er han, som står mest alene.
 * You see, the point is that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
 * Dr. Stockmann, Act V

The Wild Duck (1884)

 * Always do that, wild ducks do. They shoot to the bottom as deep as they can get, sir — and bite themselves fast in the tangle and seaweed — and all the devil's own mess that grows down there. And they never come up again.
 * Ekdal, Act II

 * A marriage based on full confidence, based on complete and unqualified frankness on both sides; they are not keeping anything back; there's no deception underneath it all. If I might so put it, it's an agreement for the mutual forgiveness of sin.
 * Hjalmar, Act IV

 * Forget that foreign word "ideals." We have that good old native word: "lies."
 * Relling, Act V

 * Tar De livsløgnen fra et gennemsnitsmenneske, så tar De lykken fra ham med det samme.
 * If you take the life lie from an average man, you take away his happiness as well.
 * Relling, Act V

Hedda Gabler (1890)

 * Our common lust for life.
 * Lövborg, Act II

 * Oh courage...oh yes! If only one had that...Then life might be livable, in spite of everything.
 * Hedda, Act II

 * Back he'll come...With vine leaves in his hair. Flushed and confident.
 * Hedda, Act II

 * Mrs. Elvsted: You have some hidden motive in this, Hedda! Hedda: Yes, I have. I want for once in my life to have power to mold a human destiny. Mrs. Elvsted: Have you not the power? Hedda: I have not—and never had it. Mrs. Elvsted: Not your husband's? Hedda: Do you think it's worth the trouble? Oh, if only you could understand how poor I am. And fate has made you so rich!
 * Act II

 * Everything I touch seems destined to turn into something mean and farcical.
 * Hedda, Act IV

The Master Builder (1892)

 * The younger generation will come knocking at my door.
 * Solness, Act I

 * A forest bird never wants a cage.
 * Hilda, Act III

 * Castles in the air — they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build, too.
 * Hilda, Act III

When We Dead Awaken (1899)

 * People who don't know how to keep themselves healthy ought to have the decency to get themselves buried, and not waste time about it.
 * Ulfhejm, in Act I

 * When we dead awaken. … We see that we have never lived.
 * Irene, in Act II

Quotes about

 * The real pioneers in ideas, in art and in literature have remained aliens to their time, misunderstood and repudiated. And if, as in the case of Zola, Ibsen and Tolstoy, they compelled their time to accept them, it was due to their extraordinary genius and even more so to the awakening and seeking of a small minority for new truths, to whom these men were the inspiration and intellectual support. Yet even to this day Ibsen is unpopular, while Poe, Whitman and Strindberg have never "arrived."
 * Emma Goldman "Intellectual Proletarians" (1914)

title: Henrik Ibsen