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A Traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a
Lacedaemonian, "I do not believe you can do as much." "True,"
said he. "but every goose can."
Topic: Ability
Source: Laconic Apothegms--Remarkable Speeches of Some Obscure Men
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He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the
bush.
Topic: Birds
Source: Of Garrulity
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Like watermen who look astern while they row the boat ahead.
Topic: Boating
Source: Whether 'twas rightfully said, Live concealed
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Socrates ... said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
Topic: Citizenship
Source: None
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Learn to be pleased with everything; with wealth, so far as it makes us beneficial to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied.
Topic: Contentment
Source: None
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What, did you not know, then, that to-day Lucullus dines with
Lucullus?
Topic: Eating
Source: Lives--Life of Lucullus (vol. III, p. 280)
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Nothing is cheap which is superfluous, for what one does not need, is dear at a penny.
Topic: Economy
Source: None
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For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is
at least human.
Topic: Errors
Source: Morals--Against Colotes the Epicurean
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I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
Topic: Friendship
Source: None
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God is the brave man's hope, and not the coward's excuse.
Topic: God
Source: None
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Not Philip, but Phillip's gold, took the cities of Greece.
Topic: Gold
Source: Life of Paulus Aemilius, quoted as a common saying, referring to Philip II of Macedon
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The wildest colts only make the best horses.
Topic: Horses
Source: Life of Themistocles
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Zeno first started that doctrine, that knavery is the best
defence against a knave.
Topic: Knavery
Source: Morals (vol. 1, Of Bashfulness)
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I have heard that Tiberius used to say that that man was
ridiculous, who after sixth years, appealed to a physician.
Topic: Medicine
Source: De Sanitate tuenda (vol. II)
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Why does pouring Oil on the Sea make it Clear and Calm? Is it
that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause
any waves?
Topic: Navigation
Source: Morals--Natural Questions (XII)
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When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he
answered, "Action," and which was the second, he replied,
"action," and which was the third, he still answered "Action."
Topic: Oratory
Source: Morals--Lives of the Ten Orators
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It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against
another man's oration,--nay, it is a very easy matter; but to
produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.
Topic: Oratory
Source: Of Hearing (VI)
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Socrates said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of
the world.
Topic: Patriotism
Source: On Banishment
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Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.
Topic: Perseverance
Source: Of the Training of Children
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The drop hollows out the stone not by strength, but by constant
falling.
[Lat., Gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed saepe cadendo.]
Topic: Perseverance
Source: Of the Training of Children
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Even if a minefield or the abyss should lie before me, I will
march straight ahead without looking back.
Topic: Perseverance
Source: Of the Training of Children
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Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.
Topic: Perseverance
Source: None
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Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little.
Topic: Perseverance
Source: None
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He [Cato] used to say that in all his life he never repented but
of three things. The first was that he had trusted a woman with
a secret; the second that he had gone by sea when he might have
gone by land; and the third, that had passed one day without
having a will by him.
Topic: Repentance
Source: Life of Cato (vol. II, p. 495), (Langhorne's translation)
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Rest: the sweet sauce of labor.
Topic: Rest
Source: None
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. . . And holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and
well made. "Yet," added he, "none of you can tell where it
pinches me."
Topic: Shoemaking
Source: Lives (vol. II, Life of Aemilius Paulus)
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As to Caesar, when he was called upon, he gave no testimony
against Clodius, nor did he affirm that he was certain of any
injury done to his bed. He only said, "He had divorced Pompeia
because the wife of Caesar ought not only to be clear of such a
crime, but of the very suspicion of it."
Topic: Suspicion
Source: Life of Cicero
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Julius Caesar divorced his wife Pompeia, but declared at the
trial that he knew nothing of what was alleged against her and
Clodius. When asked why, in that case, he had divorced her, he
replied: "Because I would have the chastity of my wife clear
even of suspicion."
Topic: Suspicion
Source: Life of Julius Caesar
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Time is the wisest of all counselors.
Topic: Time
Source: None
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He [Caesar] loved the treason, but hated the traitor.
Topic: Treason
Source: Life of Romulus
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A Locanian having plucked all the feathers off from a nightingale
and seeing what a little body it had, "surely," quoth he, "thou
art all voice and nothing else." (Vox et praeterea nibil.)
Topic: Voice
Source: Laconic Apothegms, credited to Lacon "Incert. XIII" by Lipsius
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The giving of riches and honors to a wicked man is like giving strong wine to him that hath a fever.
Topic: Wickedness
Source: None
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Ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting
solidity or exactness of beauty.
Topic: Work
Source: Life of Pericles
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