Humorous Sayings

1,488 sayings found from the Early Modern era

Dogs, would you live forever?

— Frederick the Great 1757
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Can you keep a secret? — Yes sire! — Good, so can I.

— Frederick the Great Approx. 18th Century
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Madame has become more stout.

— Frederick the Great Approx. 18th Century
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The more I see of people, the more I love my dog.

— Frederick the Great Approx. 18th Century
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All religions must be tolerated... every man must go to heaven in his own way.

— Frederick the Great Approx. 18th Century
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Whatever defamation of character my enemies are spreading about me, I do not feel the need to justify myself toward them. While discretion obliges me to remain silent, my duty compels me to prevent them from doing any more harm.

— Toussaint Louverture Late 18th - early 19th century (approximate, during his leadership)
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Is it not like cutting off a man's legs and telling him to walk? Is it not like cutting out a man's tongue and telling him to talk? Is it not burying a man alive?

— Toussaint Louverture 1802-1803 (during his imprisonment)
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My best friend is he who rights my wrongs or reproaches my mistakes.

— Jose de San Martin Undated, but likely during his active years as a leader (early 19th century)
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Of what my Granadiers are capable, only I know — who they equal will exist, who exceeds them won't.

— Jose de San Martin Early 19th century (approximate, during his military campaigns)
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Your coarse impudence in making me a proposition to employ my sword in a civil war is simply incomprehensible. You insolent scoundrel! Do you realize it has never been dipped in American blood?

— Jose de San Martin 1823
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Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.

— Immanuel Kant 1785
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All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

— Immanuel Kant 1781
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Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.

— Immanuel Kant 1781
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Man is an animal that, so long as he lives among other animals of his species, needs a master.

— Immanuel Kant 1784
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Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) 'Have courage to use your own understanding!'—that is the motto of enlightenment.

— Immanuel Kant 1784
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Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination.

— Immanuel Kant 1785
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The greatest human endeavor is the striving for a good character.

— Immanuel Kant 1780s (approximate)
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Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

— Immanuel Kant 1780s (approximate)
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Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.

— Immanuel Kant 1785
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It's easier to be original and foolish than original and wise.

— Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Unknown, likely 17th-18th century
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