Browse 80438 quotes about Men.
“Accommodated; that is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated; or when a man is, being, whereby a' may be thought to be accommodated,?which is an excellent thing.”
Source: The New Oxford Shakespeare: Modern Critical Edition: The Complete Works
“He is the most wretched of men who has never felt adversity.”
“Then know, that I have little wealth to lose. A man I am, crossed with adversity; My riches are these poor habiliments, Of which if you should here disfurnish me, You take the sum and substance that I have.”
Source: The Complete Works of William Shakspeare
“When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again.”
Source: The Plays and Poems of William Shakspeare: Timon of Athens. Troilus and Cressida. Cymbeline. King Lear. Vol. 8
“Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious, Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man.”
Source: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
“Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man.”
“Tis gold Which buys admittance--oft it doth--yea, and makes Diana's rangers false themselves, yield up This deer to th' stand o' th' stealer: and 'tis gold Which makes the true man kill'd and saves the thief, Nay, sometimes hangs both thief and true man.”
Source: Cymbeline: Second Series
“What, shall one of us, That struck for the foremost man of all this world But for supporting robbers--shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes, And sell the mighty space of our large honors For so much trash as may be grasped thus?”
Source: The Family Shakespeare: In One Volume, in which Nothing is Added to the Original Text, But Those Words and Expressions are Omitted which Cannot with Propriety be Read Aloud in a Family
“What infinite heart's-ease Must kings neglect that private men enjoy! And what have kings that privates have not too, Save ceremony, save general ceremony?”
“O Ceremony, show me but thy worth? What is thy soul of adoration? Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form, Creating awe and fear in other men?”
Source: King Henry V: Third Series
“Ever note, Lucilius, When love begins to sicken and decay It useth an enforced ceremony. There are no tricks in plain and simple faith; But hollow men, like horses hot at hand, Make gallant show and promise of their mettle; But when they should endure the bloody spur, They fall their crests, and like deceitful jades Sink in the trial.”
Source: Making Sense of Julius Caesar! a Students Guide to Shakespeare's Play (Includes Study Guide, Biography, and Modern Retelling)
“I will not choose what many men desire, Because I will not jump with common spirits And rank me with the barbarous multitudes.”
“Men so noble, However faulty, yet should find respect For what they have been: 'tis a cruelty To load a falling man.”
Source: The plays and poems of William Shakspeare
“I'll forbear; And am fallen out with my more headier will To take the indisposed and sickly fit For the sound man.”
Source: The Tragedy of King Lear
“The eagle suffers little birds to sing, And is not careful what they mean thereby, Knowing that with the shadow of his wings He can at pleasure stint their melody: Even so mayest thou the giddy men of Rome.”
“We make ourselves fools to disport ourselves And spend our flatteries to drink those men Upon whose age we void it up again With poisonous spite and envy.”
Source: The works of William Shakespeare
“All men's faces are true, whatsome'er their hands are.”
Source: Antony and Cleopatra
“Though men can cover crimes with bold, stern looks, poor women's faces are their own faults' books.”
Source: The Plays and Poems of William Shakspeare: With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators
“O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle.”
“So holy and so perfect is my love, And I in such a poverty of grace, That I shall think it a most plenteous crop To glean the broken ears after the man That the main harvest reaps.”
Source: As You Like it
“An two men ride of a horse, one must ride behind.”
“I think the King is but a man as I am: the violet smells to him as it doth to me.”
“Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them; But, in the less foul profanation.”
“Do all men kill the things they do not love?”
Source: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English
“Many a man's tongue shakes out his master's undoing.”
Source: All's Well That Ends Well
“What many men desire--that 'many' may be meant By the fool multitude that choose by show, Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach, Which pries not to th' interior, but like the martlet Builds in the weather on the outward wall, Even in the force and road of casualty.”
“O, Men's vows are women's traitors! All good seeming, By thy revolt, O husband, shall be thought Put on for villainy, not born where't grows, But worn a bait for ladies.”
Source: Cymbeline
“What should a man do but be merry? For look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within's two hours.”
Source: Hamlet: Revised Edition
“Either war is obsolete, or men are.”
“Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning; One pain is less'ned by another's anguish; Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning; One desperate grief cures with another's languish.”
Source: CliffsComplete Romeo and Juliet
“It may do good; pride hath no other glass To show itself but pride, for supple knees Feed arrogance and are the proud man's fees.”
Source: The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare: From the Text of Johnson, Stevens, and Reed; with Glossarial Notes, His Life, and a Critique on His Genius & Writings
“I do not hate a proud man, as I do hate the engendering of toads.”
Source: Troilus and Cressida: Third Series, Revised Edition
“There is a history in all men's lives, Figuring the nature of the times deceased, The which observed, a man may prophesy, With a near aim, of the main chance of things As yet not come to life, which in their seeds And weak beginnings lie intreasured.”
“Reflection is the business of man; a sense of his state is his first duty: but who remembereth himself in joy? Is it not in mercy then that sorrow is allotted unto us?”
“The mightier man, the mightier is the thing That makes him honored or begets him hate; For greatest scandal waits on greatest state.”
Source: The Narrative Poems
“You know That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard, And after scandal them.”
Source: Julius Caesar: Third Series
“Ships are but boards, sailors but men.”
“When clouds are seen wise men put on their cloaks; When great leaves fall then winter is at hand.”
Source: The plays of William Shakespeare : accurately printed from the text of the corrected copy left by the late George Steevens: with a series of engravings, from original designs of Henry Fuseli, and a selection of explanatory and historical notes, from the most eminent commentators; a history of the stage, a life of Shakespeare, &c. by Alexander Chalmers
“Great men should drink with harness on their throats.”
Source: Timon of Athens
“Two starving men cannot be twice as hungry as one; but two rascals can be ten times as vicious as one.”
“In man's life, the absence of an essential component usually leads to the adoption of a substitute. The substitute is usually embraced with vehemence and extremism, for we have to convince ourselves that what we took as second choice is the best there ever was. Thus blind faith is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves; insatiable desire a substitute for hope; accumulation a substitute for growth; fervent hustling a substitute for purposeful action; and pride a substitute for an unattainable self-respect.”
Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
“The monstrous evils of the twentieth century have shown us that the greediest money grubbers are gentle doves compared with money-hating wolves like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, who in less than three decades killed or maimed nearly a hundred million men, women, and children and brought untold suffering to a large portion of mankind.”
Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
“When watching men of power in action it must be always kept in mind that, whether they know it or not, their main purpose is the elimination or neutralization of the independent individual- the independent voter, consumer, worker, owner, thinker- and that every device they employ aims at turning men into a manipulable animated instrument which is Aristotle's definition of a slave.”
Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
“Unity and self-sacrifice, of themselves, even when fostered by the most noble means, produce a facility for hating. Even when men league themselves mightily together to promote tolerance and peace on earth, they are likely to be violently intolerant toward those not of a like mind.”
Source: THE TRUE BELIEVER
“A man's soul is pierced as it were with holes, and as his longings flow through each they are transmuted into something specific.”
Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
“Take man's most fantastic invention- God. Man invents God in the image of his longings, in the image of what he wants to be, then proceeds to imitate that image, vie with it, and strive to overcome it.”
“Nature attains perfection, but man never does. There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished. He is both an unfinished animal and an unfinished man. It is this incurable unfinishedness which sets man apart from other living things. For, in the attempt to finish himself, man becomes a creator. Moreover, the incurable unfinishedness keeps man perpetually immature, perpetually capable of learning and growing.”
Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
“It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since man has no inborn skills, the survival of the species has depended on the ability to acquire and perfect skills. Hence the mastery of skills is a uniquely human activity and yields deep satisfaction.”
Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
“Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.”
Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
“We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight and die for a word than for anything else. Words shape thought, stir feeling, and beget action; they kill and revive, corrupt and cure. The "men-of-words"- priests, prophets, intellectuals- have played a more decisive role in history than military leaders, statesmen, and businessmen.”
Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer