20 Most Famous Quotes of 20 Best Poets/Writers of All Time
Do you know the top 20 writers/poets and their best lines?
This story is a list of the top 20 writers/poets of all time and their best or most famous lines.
Don’t take it as a ranking list because everyone on this list was best in their field, language, and time.
20. Li Bai
Li Bai was a famous Tang Empire poet from the 8th century. He was one of the most popular writers of his time and probably the best Chinese of all time.
His famous quote is:
“We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.”
19. Homer
Homer was a Greek author and poet. Homer is the presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two hugely influential epic poems of ancient Greece.
His famous lines are:
“Evil deeds do not prosper; the slow man catches up with the swift.”
18. Jalal al-Din Rumi
One of the most influential Muslim poets and writers on this list is Jalal al-Din Rumi. He was a 13th-century poet. He was the best Persian who held a pen.
His famous quote is:
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
17. Sappho
Another Greek and the first female writer on the list, she was a famous writer from 700 to 600 BC.
Her famous words are:
“What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.”
16. John Milton
John Milton was an English poet of the 17th century who is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost.
His famous lines are:
“A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit.”
15. Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound was an American poet of the 19th and 20th century. He was best known for his famous poem “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley.”
His famous quote is:
“With one day’s reading a man may have the key in his hands.”
14. T.S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot is widely considered one of the best 20th-century authors and poets. He was an American poet, writer, essayist, and playwright.
“The Waste Land” one of the most famous poems of the 20th century was written by him.
His famous words are:
“Friendship should be more than biting time can sever.”
13. Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher. He was the best Italian author of his time in the 14th century.
His famous lines are:
“Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.”
12. Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Another proud English poet of the 19th century, Alfred Tennyson was famous due to his poem The Charge of the Light Brigade.
The best lines he wrote are:
“‘Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.”
11. Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, and photographer. He was also a great mathematician. He is often remembered as the author of “Jabberwocky.”
There are a lot of lines that inspired many but his most famous words are:
“It is one of the great secrets of life that those things which are most worth doing, we do for others.”
10. Lord Byron
London produced many great writers and poets and Lord Byron was one of them.
A young inspiring poet died at the age of 36 but made him immortal in the hearts of millions.
I love his poem “She Walks in Beauty.”
His best words are:
“There is no instinct like that of the heart.”
9. Langston Hughes
A modern-day American poet and social activist Langston Hughes was one of the most famous English poets of all time. He wrote a legendary poem “I Too Sing America”.
His most famous quote is:
“Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
8. Pablo Neruda
No wonder he won the Nobel Prize in literature. He was probably the best 20th-century poet. He was a poet, a writer, a diplomat, and a politician.
He started writing when he was 13 and wrote in versatile styles.
There are a lot of things that made him the best of the best but if we just consider him as a poet then his most famous poem is “I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You.”
He made many speeches and wrote many wonderful lines but the best he ever wrote is:
“To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life.”
7. E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings was a man who could do anything. He was a poet, painter, writer, screenwriter, essayist, author, and playwright born in America.
He was a great 20th-century poet famous for many professions.
He served his country in World War 1 as an ambulance driver showing his love for his country.
His most famous words are:
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
6. Robert Frost
The author of “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost was an American Poet. He started his journey in England and then published his work in America.
He is regarded as a famous poet and known as the poet of “The Road Not Taken” poem.
His best lines are:
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”
5. Edgar Allen Poe
Another 19th-century great Edgar Allen Poe was an American writer and poet. He wrote the famous poet “The Raven” which made his career fly rocket.
His best words are:
”I have great faith in fools — self-confidence my friends call it.”
4. Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was an American memoirist and poet.
She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. It made her the best of the best among female writers.
She is considered the most impactful female ever to hold a pen.
Her every word is impactful but the most impactful words she wrote are:
”I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
3. Shel Silverstein
Sheldon Silverstein was an American writer, poet, singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. He wrote cartoons for children too.
A complete man with the pen of the modern age died in 1999.
He was good with comedy, love, inspiration, and everything but the best he wrote was:
”What I do is good. I wouldn’t let it out if I didn’t think it was.”
2. Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy was the first Russian writer on the list but is regarded as the great Leo. He is the best Novelist Earth has ever produced.
“War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” can justify his fame.
His best lines are:
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
“If everyone fought for their own convictions, there would be no war.”
1. William Shakespeare
The man, the myth, the greatest human ever held pen and paper. William Shakespeare wrote many poems, novels, and plays. He wrote many great pieces including “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “Macbeth,” “King Lear,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
He was my favorite and everyone's favorite poet and writer.
His best words are:
”All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts. His acts being seven ages.”
