“Ah, lives of men! When prosperous they glitter - Like a fair picture; when misfortune comes - A wet sponge at one blow has blurred the painting.”

“Alas for the affairs of men! When they are fortunate you might compare them to a shadow; and if they are unfortunate, a wet sponge with one dash wipes the picture away.”

“And one who is just of his own free will shall not lack for happiness; and he will never come to utter ruin.”

“Be bold and boast, just like the cock beside the hen.”

“Bronze in the mirror of the form, wine of the mind.”

“But time growing old teaches all things.”

“By polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water.”

“Death is easier than a wretched life; and better never to have born than to live and fare badly.”

“Death is softer by far than tyranny.”

“Destiny waits alike for the free man as well as for him enslaved by another's might.”

“Everyone's quick to blame the alien.”

“Excessive fear is always powerless.”

“For a murderous blow let murderous blow atone.”

“For know that no one is free, except Zeus.”

“For somehow this disease inheres in tyranny, never to trust one's friends.”

“For the impious act begets more after it, like to the parent stock.”

“For the poison of hatred seated near the heart doubles the burden for the one who suffers the disease; he is burdened with his own sorrow, and groans on seeing another's happiness.”

“For there is no defense for a man who, in the excess of his wealth, has kicked the great altar of Justice out of sight.”

“From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.”

“God always strives together with those who strive.”

“God lends a helping hand to the man who tries hard.”

“God loves to help him who strives to help himself.”

“God's most lordly gift to man is decency of mind.”

“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.”

“He who goes unenvied shall not be admired.”

“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”

“His resolve is not to seem the bravest, but to be.”

“I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery.”

“I know how men in exile feed on dreams.”

“I, schooled in misery, know many purifying rites, and I know where speech is proper and where silence.”

“I willingly speak to those who know, but for those who do not know I forget.”

“I would rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evils.”

“In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.”

“In the lack of judgment great harm arises, but one vote cast can set right a house.”

“It is a light thing for whoever keeps his foot outside trouble to advise and counsel him that suffers.”

“It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.”

“It is always in season for old men to learn.”

“It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.”

“It is best for the wise man not to seem wise.”

“It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.”

“It is good even for old men to learn wisdom.”

“It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.”

“It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.”

“Married love between man and woman is bigger than oaths guarded by right of nature.”

“Memory is the mother of all wisdom.”

“My friends, whoever has had experience of evils knows how whenever a flood of ills comes upon mortals, a man fears everything; but whenever a divine force cheers on our voyage, then we believe that the same fate will always blow fair.”

“Obedience is the mother of success and is wedded to safety.”

“Of all the gods only death does not desire gifts.”

“Only when a man's life comes to its end in prosperity dare we pronounce him happy.”

“Search well and be wise, nor believe that self-willed pride will ever be better than good counsel.”

“Self-will in the man who does not reckon wisely is by itself the weakest of all things.”

“Since long I've held silence a remedy for harm.”

“The evils of mortals are manifold; nowhere is trouble of the same wing seen.”

“The man who does ill must suffer ill.”

“The man whose authority is recent is always stern.”

“The one knowing what is profitable, and not the man knowing many things, is wise.”

“The wisest of the wise may err.”

“The words of truth are simple.”

“There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart's controls.”

“There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.”

“There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.”

“Time as he grows old teaches all things.”

“Time brings all things to pass.”

“To be free from evil thoughts is God's best gift.”

“Too few rejoice at a friend's good fortune.”

“Unions in wedlock are perverted by the victory of shameless passion that masters the female among men and beasts.”

“We must pronounce him fortunate who has ended his life in fair prosperity.”

“What atonement is there for blood spilt upon the earth?”

“What exists outside is a man's concern; let no woman give advice; and do no mischief within doors.”

“What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest?”

“When a man's willing and eager the god's join in.”

“When a match has equal partners then I fear not.”

“When strength is yoked with justice, where is a mightier pair than they?”

“Whenever a man makes haste, God too hastens with him.”

“Who, except the gods, can live time through forever without any pain?”

“Wisdom comes alone through suffering.”

“Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.”

“You have been trapped in the inescapable net of ruin by your own want of sense.”