"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

First Inaugural Address

"That government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Gettysburg Address

"I think, therefore I am."

Discourse on the Method

"To be, or not to be, that is the question."

Hamlet

"All that glitters is not gold."

The Merchant of Venice

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

Tao Te Ching

"Knowledge is power."

Meditationes Sacrae

"The unexamined life is not worth living."

Plato's Apology

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Pride and Prejudice

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

A Tale of Two Cities

"Please, sir, I want some more."

Oliver Twist

"Call me Ishmael."

Moby-Dick

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."

The Importance of Being Earnest

"To thine own self be true."

Hamlet

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

Hamlet

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Hamlet

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."

Julius Caesar

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet

"Now is the winter of our discontent."

Richard III

"Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble."

Macbeth

"The course of true love never did run smooth."

A Midsummer Night's Dream

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

Twelfth Night

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."

The Tempest

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

Walden

"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."

Self-Reliance

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Self-Reliance

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Attributed interview

"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Attributed interview

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

Attributed

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Attributed

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Inaugural Address

"The buck stops here."

Desk sign

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

Berlin Wall Speech

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation."

Gettysburg Address

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people."

Gettysburg Address

"The die is cast."

Attributed by Suetonius and Plutarch

"Veni, vidi, vici."

Attributed historical phrase

"I came, I saw, I conquered."

English rendering of Veni, vidi, vici

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

Julius Caesar

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."

As You Like It

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

Henry IV, Part 2

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on."

The Tempest

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Hamlet

"The better part of valour is discretion."

Henry IV, Part 1

"The pen is mightier than the sword."

Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy

"The child is father of the man."

My Heart Leaps Up

"Hope is the thing with feathers."

Poem 314

"Forever is composed of nows."

Poem 690

"Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me."

Poem 479

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood."

The Road Not Taken

"I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

The Road Not Taken

"Good fences make good neighbors."

Mending Wall

"Whose woods these are I think I know."

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

"I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

Endymion

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."

Ode on a Grecian Urn

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Ulysses

"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

In Memoriam A.H.H.

"Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die."

The Charge of the Light Brigade

"Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink."

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

"If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

Ode to the West Wind

"Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Ozymandias

"I wandered lonely as a cloud."

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

"The world is too much with us; late and soon."

The World Is Too Much with Us

"A little learning is a dangerous thing."

An Essay on Criticism

"To err is human; to forgive, divine."

An Essay on Criticism

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

An Essay on Criticism

"Whatever is, is right."

An Essay on Man

"No man is an island."

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

"For whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may."

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."

Invictus

"It matters not how strait the gate."

Invictus

"O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done."

O Captain! My Captain!

"I contain multitudes."

Song of Myself

"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself."

Song of Myself

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself."

Song of Myself

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."

Essays: First Series

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

Essays: First Series

"Hitch your wagon to a star."

Society and Solitude

"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."

Attributed Emerson collection

"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."

Walden

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."

Walden

"Simplify, simplify."

Walden

"Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful."

Frankenstein

"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."

Frankenstein

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness."

Attributed sermon phrase

"The journey itself is my home."

Attributed haiku-era saying

"Even the longest day has its end."

Traditional saying

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done."

A Tale of Two Cities

"God bless us, every one!"

A Christmas Carol

"There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor."

A Christmas Carol

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me."

Jane Eyre

"Reader, I married him."

Jane Eyre

"I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!"

Wuthering Heights

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

Wuthering Heights

"There is nothing new under the sun."

King James Version

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

King James Version

"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons."

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

"April is the cruellest month."

The Waste Land

"The horror! The horror!"

Heart of Darkness

"We live as we dream, alone."

Heart of Darkness

"Lost time is never found again."

Poor Richard's Almanack

"Well done is better than well said."

Poor Richard's Almanack

"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

Poor Richard's Almanack

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

Attributed

"Speak softly and carry a big stick."

Speech at Minnesota State Fair

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Attributed

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

The Life of Reason

"The life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Leviathan

"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."

The Social Contract

"Dare to know."

What Is Enlightenment?

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

Twilight of the Idols

"Without music, life would be a mistake."

Twilight of the Idols