Quotes to inspire and reflect

It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty.

Count it the greatest sin to prefer life to honor, and for the sake of living to lose what makes life worth having.

When you close your doors, and make darkness within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; nay, God is within, and your genius is within. And what need have they of light to see what you are doing?

What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.

When the candles are out all women are fair.

An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.

It is better, ofcours, to know useless things than to know nothing.

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.

It is quality rather than quantity that matters.

You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.

One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.

The best ideas are common property.

It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.

He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure.

Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.

The years as they pass plunder us of one thing after another.

The covetous man is ever in want.

Think to yourself that every day is your last; the hour to which you do not look forward will come as a welcome surprise.

Make money, money by fair means if you can, if not, but any means money.

He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!

Many brave men lived before Agamemnon; but all are overwhelmed in eternal night, unwept, unknown, because they lack a sacred poet.

It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.

Force without wisdom falls of its own weight.

With you I should love to live, with you be ready to die.

In adversity remember to keep an even mind.

Whoever cultivates the golden mean avoids both the poverty of a hovel and the envy of a palace.

Cease to ask what the morrow will bring forth. And set down as gain each day that Fortune grants.

Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.

We rarely find anyone who can say he has lived a happy life, and who, content with his life, can retire from the world like a satisfied guest.

Believe one who has proved it. Believe an expert.

Each of us bears his own Hell.

One of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid.

Yield not to evils, but attack all the more boldly.

Whatever it is, I fear Greeks even when they bring gifts.

Let us go singing as far as we go: the road will be less tedious.

I have known sorrow and learned to aid the wretched.

A snake lurks in the grass.

Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.

What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.

The renown which riches or beauty confer is fleeting and frail; mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.

Such evil deeds could religion prompt.

It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking.

Men willingly believe what they wish.

Endless money forms the sinews of war.

The shifts of Fortune test the reliability of friends.

Let the punishment match the offense.

The freedom of poetic license.

History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity.