“He is nearest to the gods who knows how to be silent.”

You should summon your overseer the next day, and should call for a report of what work has been done in good season and why it has not been possible to complete the rest, and what wine and corn and other crops have been gathered.

I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right.

The hero saves us. Praise the hero! Now, who will save us from the hero?

Buy not what you want, but what you have need of; what you do not want is dear at a farthing.

Lighter is the wound foreseen.

Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.

When you have observed how the field work has progressed, what things have been done, and what remains undone.

You must keep her on a tight rein.

All mankind rules its women, and we rule all mankind, but our women rule us.

I prefer to do right and get no thanks than to do wrong and receive no punishment.

Furthermore, I think Carthage must be destroyed.

The more you go, the more will the place please you, if it be worth your attention. Give heed to the appearance of the neighbourhood.

Not at all. Once they have achieved equality, they will be your masters . . .

Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise.

Tis sometimes the height of wisdom to feign stupidity.

Farming, if you do one thing late, you will be late in all your work.

It’s all about knowing the balance, because I like to remain somewhat of a mystery. You need to have that, you know what I mean?

No man knows till he experiences it, what it is like to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the woman he loves.

The more you know, the more you see

When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are.

Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don’t know because we don’t want to know.

Governance can dig itself into a huge hole and not even know it’s in there.

Doctor, you don’t know what it is to doubt everything, even yourself. No, you don’t; you couldn’t with eyebrows like yours.

It is dangerous to know, but it is more dangerous not to know.