(Fabulist and Storyteller) 620 BCE - 564 BCE, (Delphi, Greece)
Aesop
The covetous are poor givers.
Much wants more and loses all.
Who acts in haste repent at leisure.
Slow but steady wins the race.
Do not be in a hurry to change one evil for another.
If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs.
Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.
Do not attempt to hide things which cannot be hidden.
The quarrels of friends are the opportunities of foes.
Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.
I can’t be friends with a man who blows hot and cold with the same breath.
Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
No arguments will give courage to the coward.
Better to starve free than be a fat slave.
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
Put your shoulder to the wheel.
Sometimes the slow ones blame the active for the delay.
Prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.
The more you want, the more you stand to lose.
We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.
The injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scales.
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
Look and see which way the wind blows before you commit yourself.
Facts speak plainer than words.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
It is easy to despise what you cannot get.
Please all, and you will please none.
Those who cry the loudest are not always the ones who are hurt the most.
If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.
Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool.
There are many statues of men slaying lions, but if only the lions were sculptors there might be quite a different set of statues.
Betray a friend, and you’ll often find you have ruined yourself.
Children are not to be blamed for the faults of their parents.
The hero is brave in deeds as well as words.
A man is known by the company he keeps.
In critical moments, even the very powerful have need of the weakest.
Give assistance, not advice, in a crisis.
Most arguments are useless.
Uninvited guests are often most welcome when they leave.
It is with our passions, as it is with fire and water, they are good servants but bad masters.
A word in season is most precious.
Zeal should not outrun discretion.
The little reed, bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright again when the storm had passed over.
Once a wolf, always a wolf.
Those who suffer most cry out the least.
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
Little by little does the trick.
It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
Self-help is the best help.
