Lesson 1/44 min
Famous sayings of world figures
Politics, history and social thought
| Saying | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Give me blood and I promise you freedom | Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose |
| Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate | John F. Kennedy |
| We shall fight on the beaches | Winston Churchill |
| Imperialism is the last stage of capitalism | Lenin |
| The state is the extended outgrowth of the family | Aristotle |
| The people are the holders of sovereign power | Rousseau |
| Universal suffrage needs universal education | John Stuart Mill |
| Culture is what we are and Civilization is what we use or have | MacIver |
| Population grows geometrically, food production arithmetically | Thomas Malthus |
| Bad money drives good money out of circulation | Gresham (Gresham's law) |
| I have not seen the Himalayas; I have seen Sheikh Mujib | Fidel Castro |
Philosophy, poetry, literature and others
| Saying | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Man is the measure of all things | Protagoras |
| I die, you to live — which is better only God knows | Socrates |
| Poets are the unacknowledged legislature of the world | Shelley |
| Cowards die many times before their death | William Shakespeare |
| He prayeth best who loveth best, both man and bird and beast | Samuel Taylor Coleridge |
| It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife | Jane Austen (novelist) |
| One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind | Neil Armstrong |
| Imagination is more important than knowledge | Einstein |
| Innovation distinguishes between a leader and follower | Steve Jobs |
| Don't count the days, make the days count | Muhammad Ali |
Memory trick: The same pairs keep coming: Kennedy = negotiation, Churchill = beaches, Shakespeare = cowards, Coleridge = prayer, Shelley = poets.
Watch out: Some famous lines have uncertain speakers in the books (for example “nobody learns from history” and “honesty is the best policy”). They could not be verified, so they are not listed here.
Check yourself
Who said “Poets are the unacknowledged legislature of the world”?
At a glance
- 1
“Give me blood and I promise you freedom” — Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
- 2
“Let us never negotiate out of fear...” — John F. Kennedy; “We shall fight on the beaches” — Churchill.
- 3
“Cowards die many times before their death” — Shakespeare; “Poets are the unacknowledged legislature...” — Shelley.
- 4
“I have not seen the Himalayas; I have seen Sheikh Mujib” — Fidel Castro.
- 5
“Man is the measure of all things” — Protagoras; “Bad money drives out good” — Gresham.