Browse quotes by category
Thousands of quotes organised by category, author, and topic. Every entry comes with attribution and, where possible, a plain-language meaning—so you leave with an idea you can actually use, not just a phrase to copy.
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“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.”
Meaning: This highlights imagination over reality. -
“I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the heart's affections.”
Meaning: It emphasizes emotional truth. -
“Poetry should surprise by a fine excess.”
Meaning: This reflects creativity in art. -
“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.”
Meaning: It emphasizes experiential understanding. -
“I almost wish we were butterflies and lived but three summer days.”
Meaning: This reflects fleeting beauty of life. -
“The poetry of the earth is never dead.”
Meaning: This highlights nature’s eternal beauty. -
“Philosophy will clip an angel's wings.”
Meaning: It reflects limits of logic over imagination. -
“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”
Meaning: This highlights learning through experience. -
“Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”
Meaning: It emphasizes structure for liberty. -
“Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.”
Meaning: This highlights lifelong learning. -
“All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another.”
Meaning: It emphasizes equality. -
“New opinions are always suspected.”
Meaning: This reflects resistance to change. -
“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”
Meaning: It emphasizes actions over words. -
“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge.”
Meaning: This highlights application beyond reading. -
“The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.”
Meaning: It defines purpose of law. -
“Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain.”
Meaning: This reflects influence of upbringing. -
“Curiosity in children is but an appetite for knowledge.”
Meaning: It highlights natural learning instincts. -
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”
Meaning: This highlights the power of perception and mindset. -
“Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.”
Meaning: It reflects struggle before success.
