Quotes from Ancient Times
930BC-278BC Quotations
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
There thou beholdest the walls of Sparta, and every man a brick.
To one that advised him to set up a democracy in Sparta, "Pray," said Lycurgus, "do you first set a democracy in your own house."
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will like them only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful will easily break through them.
At Athens, wise men propose, and fools dispose.
The angel of spring, the mellow-throated nightingale.
Hesperus bringing together. All that the morning star scattered.
What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon also be beautiful.
Of earthly goods, the best is a good wife; A bad, the bitterest curse of human life.
Painting is silent poetry, poetry is eloquent painting.
The gods do not fight against necessity.
We count it death to falter, not to die.
Actions from youth, advice from the middle-aged, prayers from the aged.
No day is wholly unproductive of good.
But what says the Greek? "In the morning of like, work; in the midday, give counsel; in the evening, pray."
We know to tell many fictions like to truths, and we know, when we will, to speak what is true.
Night, having Sleep, the brother of Death.
On the tongue of such an one they shed a honeyed dew, and from his lips drop gentle words.
In man speaks God.
The potter is at enmity with the potter.
The artist envies what the arties gains, The bard the rival bard's successful strains.
No whispered rumours which the many spread can wholly perish.
Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.
And the evil wish is most evil to the wisher.
Everything flows and nothing stays.
You can't step twice into the same river.
The road up and the road down are one and the same.
A man's character is his fate.
In arguing one should meet serious pleading with humor, and humor with serious pleading.
We must not contradict, but instruct him that contradicts us; for a madman is not cured by another running mad also.
What is got over the devil's back is spent under his belly.
If you be a lover of instruction, you will be well instructed.
I never learned how to tune a harp, or play upon a lute; but I know how to raise a small and inconsiderable city to glory and greatness.
Strike, not hear. Strike, but hear me.
It is better to decide a difference between enemies than friends, for one of our friends will certainly become an enemy and one of our enemies a friend.
Most men are bad.
Speak of the gods as they are.
Sound intelligence promises victory in every battle.
The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.
Memorable Quotes
Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen.
Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen.
It is in these useless and superfluous things that I am rich and happy.
A just man is not one who does no ill, But he, who with the power, has not the will.
Each man is the smith of his own fortune.
Money makes the man.
When a pair of magpies fly together. They do not envy the pair of phoenixes.
Nothing is impossible to industry.
Forgiveness is better than revenge.
Quotes cards
Know thy opportunity.
Seize time by the forelock.
Know thyself.
Look to the end of a long life.
Men keep their engagements when it is an advantage to both parties not to break them.
Avoid excess.
Avoid extremes.
The Arcadians were chestnut-eaters.
Fighting men are the city's fortress.
Aerial spirits, by great Jove design'd
To be on earth the guardians of mankind:
Invisible to mortal eyes they go,
And mark our actions, good or bad, below:
The immortal spies with watchful care preside,
And thrice ten thousand round their charges
glide:
They can reward with glory or with gold,
A power they by Divine permission hold.