Aesop (quotes)

Love can tame the wildest.
Clumsy jesting is no joke.
Appearances are deceptive.
Don’t cry over spilt milk.
A kindness is never wasted
Self-help is the best help
Once a wolf, always a wolf.
Most arguments are useless.
In union there is strength.
Distrust interested advice.
Perseverance, Winning, Race
Familiarity breeds contempt.
Much outcry, little outcome.
Distrust unsolicited advice.
Example is the best precept.
Don’t go looking for trouble.
Appearances may be deceiving.
Equals make the best friends.
Implementation beats oration.
Facts speak plainer than words
Pride goes before destruction.
Obscurity often brings safety.
Much wants more and loses all.
I am sure the grapes are sour.
Slow but steady wins the race.
Vices are their own punishment.
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
Acquaintance softens prejudice.
Put your shoulder to the wheel.
Liars often set their own traps.
Little by little does the trick.
Appearances often are deceiving.
Be satisfied with what you have.
The great do not always prevail.
Do not attempt too much at once.
Appearances are often deceiving.
Persuasion is better than force.
The more honor, the more danger.
It is absurd to ape our betters.
The memory of a good deed lives.
Every tale is not to be believed.
Each person has his strong point.
United we stand, divided we fall.
Don’t make much ado about nothing.
A false tale often betrays itself.
Zeal should not outrun discretion.
Only cowards insult dying majesty.
A word in season is most precious.
What a splendid head, yet no brain.
Good things come in small packages.
We learn from the things we suffer.
Familiarity gives rise to contempt.
Change of habit cannot alter Nature.
Kindness effects more than severity.
It pays to be content with your lot.
Little liberties are great offenses.
Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.
Please all, and you will please none.
Beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
A man is known by the company he keeps
Wealth unused might as well not exist.
Example is more powerful than precept.
Kindness is more persuasive than force.
Uninvited guests seldom meet a welcome.
Labour is the source of every blessing.
Little friends may prove great friends.
It is useless attacking the insensible.
The gods help them who help themselves.
After the rain cometh the fair weather.
Never soar aloft on an enemy’s pinions.
Wise men say nothing in dangerous times
Adversity tests the sincerity of friends
If words suffice not, blows must follow.
Those who suffer most cry out the least.
Better to starve free than be a fat slave
Enemies’ promises were made to be broken.
He that has many friends, has no friends.
Give assistance, not advice, in a crisis.
It is easy to despise what you cannot get
Self-conceit may lead to self destruction.
Straw shows which way the wind is blowing.
God helps those who have no-cut contracts.
One story sounds good until another is told
The cat always leaves a mark on his friend.
We often despise what is most useful to us.
Conceit may bring about one’s own downfall.
Great determination can overcome most odds.
It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.
The strong and the weak cannot keep company.
The hero is brave in deeds as well as words.
Evil companions bring more hurt than profit.
None but those who work are entitled to eat.
It is easy to kick a person when he is down.
False friends leave you in times of trouble.
The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.
In a crisis, give help first and then advice.
The more you want, the more you stand to lose
The value is in the worth, not in the number.
Gentle persuasion succeeds where force fails.
Do nothing without regard to the consequences.
Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
Persuasion is often more effectual than force.
Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease.
Better poverty without care, than riches with.
Evil wishes, like chickens, come home to roost.
Being a good example teaches others to be good.
Better poverty without care, than riches with.
It is possible to have too much of a good thing.
Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.
He who plots to hurt others often hurts himself.
There is always someone worse off than yourself.
What’s bred in the bone will stick to the flesh.
Every one is more or less master of his own fate.
The least outlay is not always the greatest gain.
Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.
It is easy to be brave when far away from danger.
It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.
It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.
A crust in comfort is better than a feast in fear.
He who shares the danger ought to share the prize.
It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.
Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
Don’t be in a hurry to change one evil for another.
The greatest kindness will not bind the ungrateful.
Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
After all is said and done, more is said than done.
Our mere anticipations of life outrun its realities.
Better a long life of toil than a short one of ease.
Our insignificance is often the cause of our safety.
Keep your place in life and your place will keep you
Don’t put off for tomorrow what you should do today.
Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.
It is foolish to try to imitate the skills of others.
We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.
Try as one may, it is impossible to deny one’s nature
Every man should be content to mind his own business.
We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.
Do not attempt to hide things which cannot be hidden.
Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.
The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.
He that is hard to please, may get nothing in the end.
There can be little liking where there is no likeness.
The quarrels of friends are the opportunities of foes.
Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.
Sometimes the slow ones blame the active for the delay.
Uninvited guests are often most welcome when they leave
The quarrels of friends are the opportunities of foes.
We should use our judgment before coming to a decision.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
One who steals has no right to complain if he is robbed.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.
One who steals has no right to complain if he is robbed.
A fair-minded man tries to see both sides of an argument.
Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.
The unhappy derive comfort from the misfortunes of others.
The safeguards of virtue are hateful to the evil disposed.
He that is neither one thing nor the other has no friends.
To be well prepared for war is the best guarantee of peace.
A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.
A person’s true nature will reveal itself despite disguise.
Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.
The loiterer often imputes delay to his more active friend.
We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.
Even a hare, the weakest of animals, may insult a dead lion.
Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.
A fair-minded person tries to see both sides of an argument.
All of us, the great and the little have need of each other.
Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
People often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.
Bad as any government may be, it is seldom worse than anarchy.
We should look to the mind, and not to the outward appearance.
Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.
Children are not to be blamed for the faults of their parents.
Better to die once and for all, than live in continual terror.
Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool
He who incites to strife is worse than he who takes part in it.
If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.
Betray a friend, and you’ll often find you have ruined yourself.
If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.
If we really want something done, it is best to do it ourselves.
Time and place often give advantage to the weak over the strong.
He is not to be trusted as a friend who illtreats his own family.
Look and see which way the wind blows before you commit yourself.
We like other people to show themselves to us as they really are.
It is one thing to conceive a good plan, and another to execute it
Never trust advice from a man in the throes of his own difficulty.
Others may try to feed our ego, but it is up to us to constrain it.
Fools take to themselves the respect that is given to their office.
If you don’t want to lose, you should wait for the right opportunity
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
No argument, no matter how convincing, will give courage to a coward
In critical moments even the very powerful have need of the weakest.
I thought these grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.
Beware that you do not lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
He that is discontented in one place will seldom be happy in another.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
Those who cry the loudest are not always the ones who are hurt the most
You will only injure yourself if you take notice of despicable enemies.
The grateful heart will always find opportunities to show its gratitude.
You may share the labors of the great, but you will not share the spoil.
Better to learn wisdom from other people’s misfortunes than from your own.
The injuries we do and those we suffer are seldom weighed in the same scales.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
You can fool people some of the time, but you can’t fool them all of the time.
He collected audiences around him, and flourished and exhibited and harangued.
The desire for imaginary benefits often involves the loss of present blessings.
He that always gives way to others will end in having no principles of his own.
Benefits bestowed upon the evil-disposed, increase their means of injuring you.
Always stop to think whether your fun may be the cause of another’s unhappiness
If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs.
Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and uncertainty.
Men often bear little grievances with less courage than they do large misfortunes.
Your birthday is the vintage of your wine; the mark that warns you of your future.
I will have nought to do with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath.
Those who enter through the back door can expect to be shown out through the window
All men are more concerned to recover what they lose than to acquire what they lack.
If you are a friend, why do you bite me so hard? If an enemy, why do you fawn on me?
Those who return evil for good should not expect the kindness of others to last long.
It is in vain to expect our prayers to be heard, if we do not strive as well as pray.
The fly sat upon the axel-tree of the chariot-wheel and said, What a dust do I raise!
It is easier to become entangled with an enemy than to disentangle oneself afterwards.
Whoever neglects old friends for the sake of new deserves what e gets if he loses both
The fly sat upon the axel-tree of the chariot-wheel and said, ‘What a dust do I raise!’
If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.
We should find out as much as possible about someone before coming into conflict with him.
If you had half as much brains as you have beard, you would have looked before you leaped.
It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.
Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous.
In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.
Don’t neglect the future in times of plenty, for tomorrow you may need what you wasted today.
Here is an Unity Quote that we have all known since school: United we stand; divided we fall.
It is with our passions as it is with fire and water, they are good servants, but bad masters.
Expect no reward when you serve the wicked, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pain
Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either.
A consciousness of misfortunes arising from a man’s own misconduct aggravates their bitterness.
If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.
It is with our Passions, as it is with Fire and Water, they are ‘Good Servants,’ but ‘Bad Masters.’
Be content with what nature made you, or run the risk of earning contempt by trying to be what you’re not.
The little reed, bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright again when the storm had passed over.
Thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find-nothing.
If you are wise you won’t be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.
Forbear harping on what was of yore, for it is the common lot of mortals to sustain the ups and downs of fortune.
The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit; and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in.
A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know how to meet him.
While I see many hoof marks going in, I see none coming out. It is easier to get into the enemy’s toils than out again.
Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant … must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.
There are many statues of men slaying lions, but if only the lions were sculptors there might be quite a different set of statues.
If these town gods can’t detect the thieves who steal from their own temples, it’s hardly likely they’ll tell me who stole my spade.
The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own Lures. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.
The shaft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.
Don’t let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth – don’t let that get swallowed up by the great chewing complacency.
If you wish me well, do not stand pitying me, but lend me some succour as fast as you can; for pity is but cold comfort when one is up to the chin in water, and within a hair’s breadth of starving or drowning.
An oak and a reed were arguing about their strength. When a strong wind came up, the reed avoided being uprooted by bending and leaning with the gusts of wind. But the oak stood firm and was torn up by the roots.
Pray do not grieve so; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it.
A Fox entered the house of an actor and, rummaging through all his properties, came upon a Mask, an admirable imitation of a human head. He placed his paws on it and said, “What a beautiful head! Yet it is of no value, as it entirely lacks brains.”
Every man carries two bags about him, one in front and one behind, and both are full of faults. The bag in front contains his neighbors’ faults, the one behind his own. Hence it is that men do not see their own faults, but never fail to see those of others.
once upon a time all the rivers combined to protest against the action of the sea in making their waters salt. “When we come to you,” sad they to the sea, “we are sweet and drinkable; but when once we have mingled with you, our waters become as briny and unpalatable as your own.” The sea replied shortly, “Keep away from me, and you’ll remain sweet.
A wild boar was sharpening his tusks upon the trunk of a tree in the forest when a fox came by and asked, Why are you doing that, pray? The huntsmen are not out today and there are no other dangers at hand that I can see. True, my friend, replied the Boar, but the instant my life is in danger, I shall need to use my tusks. There will be no time to sharpen them then.
There was once a Bald Man who sat down after work on a hot summer’s day. A Fly came up and kept buzzing about his bald pate, and stinging him from time to time. The Man aimed a blow at his little enemy, but — whack — his palm came on his head instead; again the Fly tormented him, but this time the Man was wiser and said: YOU WILL ONLY INJURE YOURSELF IF YOU TAKE NOTICE OF DISPICABLE ENEMIES.
There once was a Bald Man who sat down after work on a hot summer’s day. A Fly came up and kept buzzing about his bald pate, and stinging him from time to time. The Man aimed a blow at his little enemy, but – whack – his palm come on his own head instead; again the Fly tormented him, but this time the Man was wiser and said: YOU WILL ONLY INJURE YOURSELF IF YOU TAKE NOTICE OF DISPICABLE ENEMIES.
Now we the American working population Hate the fact that eight hours a day Is wasted on chasing the dream of someone that isn’t us. And we may not hate our jobs, But we hate jobs in general That don’t have to do with fighting our own causes. We the American working population Hate the nine-to-five, day-in day-out When we’d rather be supporting ourselves By being paid to perfect the pastimes That we have harbored based solely on the fact That it makes us smile if it sounds dope.
A farmer who had a quarrelsome family called his sons and told them to lay a bunch of sticks before him. Then, after laying the sticks parallel to one another and binding them, he challenged his sons, one after one, to pick up the bundle and break it. They all tried, but in vain. Then, untying the bundle, he gave them the sticks to break one by one. This they did with the greatest ease. Then said the father, “Thus, my sons, as long as you remain united, you are a match for anything, but differ and separate, and you are undone”.

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About Aesop

Quotes by Aesop