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- Famous Quotes Throughout World History -
Quotes from the Dark and Middle Ages

Pope Gregory the Great c.540 - 604

"Non Angli sed Angeli." (Not Angles but Angels.)

The Venerable Bede 673 - 735

"O King, seems to me the present life of men on earth, in comparison with that time which to us is uncertain, as if when on a winter's night you sit feasting with your ealdormen and thegns, - a single sparrow should fly swiftly into the hall, and coming in at one door, instantly fly out through another."

Pope Gregory VII c.1020 - 1085

"I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile."

Henry II 1133 - 1189 Speaking of Thomas Becket: "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" (Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on December 1170.)

Magna Carta - 1215 "Except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land." "To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice."

Stephen Langton - d.1228

"Veni, Sancte Spiritus, Et emitte coelitus Lucis tuae radium."
(Come Holy Spirit, and send out from heaven the beam of your light.)

- Also attributed to Pope Innocent III and others.

Dante Alighieri 1265 - 1321

From Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) "Inferno"

Inscription at the entrance to Hell:
"Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate!" (Abandon all hope, you who enter!)

"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita" (Midway along the path of our life)

"Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda, e passa." (Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass on.)

"Il gran rifiuto." (The great refusal.)

" ... Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria." (There is no greater pain than to remember a happy time when one is in misery.)

From Divina Commedia "Paradiso"

"E'n la sua volontade e nostra pace." (In His will is our peace.)

"Tu proverai si come sa di sale
Lo pane altrui, e com'e duro calle
Lo scendere e'l salir per l'altrui scale." (You shall find out how salt is the taste of another man's bread, and how hard is the way up and down another man's stairs.)

"L'amor che muove il sole e I'altre stelle." (The love that moves the sun and the other stars.)

Geoffrey Chaucer c.1343 - 1400

From Canterbury Tales:

"He was as fresh as the month of May."

"And what is better than wisedoom (wisdom)? Woman. And what is better than a good woman? Nothing."

Edward III 1312 - 1377 1346 - Speaking of the Black Prince at Crécy: "Also say to them, that they suffer him this day to win his spurs, for if god be pleased, I will this journey be his, and the honor thereof." (Commonly quoted as: "Let the boy win his spurs.")

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- Famous Quotes Throughout World History -

| Index of Quotes by Speaker / Historical Period |
| The Great Quotes of Ancient Greece |
| Profound Quotes of Ancient Rome - BC |
| Quotes from the Roman Empire - AD |
| Famous Quotes from the Dark and Middle Ages |
| Relevant Quotes from the Reformation and Renaissance |
| Quotes from England: 15th, 16th and 17th Centuries |
| Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution Quotes | Voltaire |
| Quotes from the French Revolution and Napoleon Era |
| Modern European History Quotes from the 1800s |
| Quotes from Europe and Asia - 1900s | Winston Churchill |

Famous Quotes from American History
| Benjamin Franklin | Quotes from America in the 1700s |
| Thomas Jefferson | United States Quotes from the 1800s |
| Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War | Mark Twain |
| American Quotes from the Early 1900s and World War I |
| US 20th-Century and World War II Quotes |
| Famous American Pop Culture Quotes |