Aesop Quotations | Page 2

A crust in comfort is better than a feast in fear.

A fair-minded man tries to see both sides of an argument.

If you are a friend, why do you bite me so hard? If an enemy, why do you fawn on me?

The desire for imaginary benefits often involves the loss of present blessings.

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.

There can be little liking where there is no likeness.

Distrust interested advice.

We should use our judgment before coming to a decision.

The safeguards of virtue are hateful to the evil disposed.

Equals make the best friends.

None but those who work are entitled to eat.

Better a long life of toil than a short one of ease.

The value is in the worth, not in the number.

Bad as any government may be, it is seldom worse than anarchy.

I thought these grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.

All men are more concerned to recover what they lose than to acquire what they lack.

If you are wise you won't be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.

Much wants more and loses all.

Never trust advice from a man in the throes of his own difficulty.

Appearances are deceiving.

Distrust unsolicited advice.

Better to die once and for all, than live in continual terror.

A kindness is never wasted

We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.

Being a good example teaches others to be good.

Better to learn wisdom from other people's misfortunes than from your own.

Familiarity gives rise to contempt.

It is easier to become entangled with an enemy than to disentangle oneself afterwards.

God helps those who have no-cut contracts.

Good things come in small packages.

Straw shows which way the wind is blowing.

Don't make much ado about nothing.

Harm seek, harm find.

The great do not always prevail.

Do nothing without regard to the consequences.

Little liberties are great offenses.

Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.

Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.

Time and place often give advantage to the weak over the strong.

Every tale is not to be believed.

Pride goes before destruction.

He is not to be trusted as a friend who illtreats his own family.

It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.

Every man for himself.

Example is more powerful than precept.

What's bred in the bone will stick to the flesh.

Benefits bestowed upon the evil-disposed, increase their means of injuring you.

The loiterer often imputes delay to his more active friend.

One story sounds good until another is told

Much outcry, little outcome.

If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all.

The more you want, the more you stand to lose

Those who enter through the back door can expect to be shown out through the window

Self-help is the best help

Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.

Others may try to feed our ego, but it is up to us to constrain it.

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.

All of us, the great and the little have need of each other.

There is always someone worse off than yourself.

The gods help them who help themselves.

Adversity tests the sincerity of friends

Appearances may be deceiving.

You may share the labors of the great, but you will not share the spoil.

Enemies' promises were made to be broken.

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".

If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.

He that is hard to please, may get nothing in the end.

It pays to be content with your lot.

No argument, no matter how convincing, will give courage to a coward

Keep your place in life and your place will keep you

Uninvited guests are often most welcome when they leave

Persuasion is better than force.

A person's true nature will reveal itself despite disguise.

Most arguments are useless.

If we really want something done, it is best to do it ourselves.

We often despise what is most useful to us.

Don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant ... must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.

A word in season is most precious.

Children are not to be blamed for the faults of their parents.

He who shares the danger ought to share the prize.

Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and uncertainty.

Kindness effects more than severity.

We should find out as much as possible about someone before coming into conflict with him.

Change of habit cannot alter Nature.

Slow but steady wins the race.

Each person has his strong point.

After the rain cometh the fair weather.

Wealth unused might as well not exist.

The fly sat upon the axel-tree of the chariot-wheel and said, What a dust do I raise!

The least outlay is not always the greatest gain.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

You can fool people some of the time, but you can't fool them all of the time.

False friends leave you in times of trouble.

In a crisis, give help first and then advice.

I am sure the grapes are sour.

It is absurd to ape our betters.

It is easy to despise what you cannot get

Try as one may, it is impossible to deny one's nature

Wise men say nothing in dangerous times