The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus

The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus is a collection of aphorisms attributed to Publius Syrus.

Quotes

 * As translated to English by D. Lyman (1856)


 * Even when we get what we wish, it is not ours.
 * # 15


 * A wise man rules his passions, a fool obeys them.
 * # 49


 * Human reason grows rich by self-conquest.
 * # 53


 * Tension weakens the bow; the want of it, the mind.
 * # 59


 * When Gold argues the cause, eloquence is impotent.
 * # 65


 * To receive a favor is to pawn your freedom.
 * # 87


 * The more skillfully the language of goodness is assumed, the greater the depravity.
 * # 114


 * In the presence of a good man, anger is speedily cooled.
 * # 118


 * It is well to moor your bark with two anchors.
 * # 119


 * Consult your conscience, rather than popular opinion.
 * # 147


 * Consider what you ought to say, and not what you think.
 * # 148


 * Wisdom had rather be buffeted than not be listened to.
 * # 152


 * Folly had rather be unheard than be buffeted.
 * # 153


 * Reproach in misfortune is an unseasonable cruelty.
 * # 161


 * He who can get more than belongs to him is apt to accommodate his desires to his opportunity.
 * # 167


 * Every man is a master in his own calling
 * # 169


 * Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.
 * # 170


 * The greatest of comforts is to be free from blame.
 * # 173


 * One day treats us like a hireling nurse, another, like a mother.
 * # 193


 * Pleasant is the remembrance of the ills that are past.
 * # 209


 * Avoid cupidity, and you conquer a kingdom.
 * # 212


 * A kindness should be received in the spirit that prompted it.
 * # 215


 * Speed itself is slow when cupidity waits.
 * # 218


 * The party to which the rabble belong is ever the worst.
 * # 223


 * Even calamity becomes virtue's opportunity.
 * # 224


 * The good to which we have become accustomed, is often an evil.
 * # 227


 * He who takes counsel of good faith, is just even to an enemy.
 * # 230


 * It is sometimes expedient to forget who we are.
 * # 233


 * We may with advantage at times forget what we know.
 * # 234


 * Pecuniary gain first suggested to men to make Fortune a goddess.
 * # 239


 * Many consult their reputation; but few their conscience.
 * # 254


 * The master is a slave when he fears those whom he rules.
 * # 255


 * Prosperity is the nurse of ill temper.
 * # 257


 * Bear without murmuring what cannot be changed.
 * # 260


 * Fortune has no lawful control over men's morals.
 * # 268


 * An over-taxed patience gives way to fierce anger.
 * # 289


 * A noble steed is not annoyed by the barking of dogs.
 * # 293


 * It is a useless defense which cannot find a fair trial.
 * # 299


 * The most formidable enemy lies hid in one's own heart.
 * # 300


 * There are some remedies worse than the disease.
 * # 301


 * Repentance for our past deeds is a severe mental punishment.
 * # 303


 * Powerful indeed is the empire of habit.
 * # 305


 * The severest affliction is the one which has never been tried.
 * # 307


 * Do not take part in the council, unless you are called.
 * # 310


 * Man's life is a loan, not a gift.
 * # 324


 * Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself.
 * # 345


 * The sinner who repented after the offense, was a little imprudent.
 * # 346


 * Avarice is kind to no one, and most cruel toward itself.
 * # 355


 * To be not too sanguine of our conclusions, is one half of wisdom.
 * # 363


 * To forget the wrongs you receive, is to remedy them.
 * # 383


 * To do good you should know what good is.
 * # 389


 * There is more venom than truth in the words of envy.
 * # 390


 * The rancor of envy is concealed, but is none the less hostile.
 * # 391


 * To withstand the assaults of envy, you must be either a hero or a saint.
 * # 392


 * Shun an angry man for a moment — your enemy forever.
 * # 396


 * Anger thinks crime justifiable.
 * # 397


 * Every word of an angry man conveys a reproach.
 * # 398


 * When the angry man grows cool, he is angry with himself.
 * # 399


 * Anger is apt to forget the existence of law.
 * # 419


 * The Law keeps her eye on the angry man, when he does not see the Law.
 * # 424


 * He who chases two hares will catch neither.
 * # 426


 * He who lives in solitude may make his own laws.
 * # 432


 * A noble spirit finds a cure for injustice in forgetting it.
 * # 441


 * Mighty rivers may easily be leaped at their source.
 * # 442


 * Hard to bear is the poverty which follows misuse of riches.
 * # 445


 * It is bad management when we suffer fortune to be our guide.
 * # 451


 * They live ill who expect to live always.
 * # 457


 * He who is bent on doing evil, can never want occasion.
 * # 459


 * It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.
 * # 469


 * He should be called bad, who is good only for selfish ends.
 * # 474


 * He will become wicked himself, who feasts with the wicked.
 * # 476


 * Fear, and not kindness, restrains the vicious.
 * # 489


 * The master who fears his slave, is the greater slave.
 * # 493


 * To depend on another's nod for a livelihood, is a sad destiny.
 * # 501


 * Methinks you are unhappy, if you never have been so.
 * # 503


 * Delay is always vexatious, but it is wisdom's opportunity.
 * # 505


 * Understand your friend's character, but do not hate it.
 * # 506


 * The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.
 * # 511


 * Every thing which has birth, must pay tribute to death.
 * # 513


 * We should bear our destiny, not weep over it.
 * # 538


 * Avarice never lacks a reason for refusing a favor.
 * # 542


 * No one should be judge in his own cause.
 * # 545


 * Be the first to laugh at your own blunder, and no one will laugh at you.
 * # 548


 * Depravity is its own greatest punishment.
 * # 550


 * Fortune takes nothing away but her own gifts.
 * # 554


 * There is no more shameful sight, than an old man commencing life.
 * # 566


 * The truth is lost when there is too much contention about it.
 * # 568


 * It is only the ignorant who despise education.
 * # 571


 * It is vain to be the pupil of a sage if you have no brains yourself.
 * # 572


 * He can best avoid a snare who knows how to set one.
 * # 573


 * Do not despise the lowest steps in the ascent to greatness.
 * # 579


 * He is not likely to perish in the ruins who trembles at a crack in the wall.
 * # 582


 * To control a man against his will, is not to correct him, but injure him.
 * # 583


 * That is not yours which fortune made yours.
 * # 590


 * You will find it difficult to be sole guardian over that which multitudes covet.
 * # 592


 * He bids fair to grow wise, who has discovered that he is not so.
 * # 598


 * Don't consider how many you can please, but whom.
 * # 599


 * It is not safe to indulge in a play of wits with kings.
 * # 601


 * To yield to our friends is not to be overcome, but to conquer.
 * # 603


 * There is no pleasure which continued enjoyment cannot render disgusting.
 * # 604


 * He is never happy whose thoughts always run with his fears.
 * # 614


 * The kind attentions of the wife, speedily gender disgust for the concubine.
 * # 622


 * He is a despicable sage whose wisdom does not profit himself.
 * # 629


 * A cheerful obedience is universal, when the worthy bear rule.
 * # 632


 * Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last.
 * # 633


 * Be at war with men's vices, at peace with themselves.
 * # 636


 * Craft, and not sorrow, is seen in a hypocrite's tears.
 * # 637


 * We find something of the favor sought in a graceful refusal.
 * # 642


 * Patience and fortitude create their own happiness.
 * # 646


 * You do well to consider your friend's error your own.
 * # 654


 * Be your money's master, not its slave.
 * # 657


 * To take refuge with an inferior, is to betray one's self.
 * # 667


 * Hearken rather to your conscience than to opinion.
 * # 679


 * Freedom alone is the source of noble action.
 * # 691


 * When you have good materials, employ good workmen.
 * # 699


 * He who is eager to condemn, takes delight in condemning.
 * # 707


 * A hasty verdict betrays a desire to find a crime committed.
 * # 708


 * Wit itself is folly in a sage.
 * # 710


 * He will yield to fear, who has no regard for honor.
 * # 713


 * God looks at the clean hands, not the full ones.
 * # 715


 * In being modest there is a slight touch of servility.
 * # 717


 * He who violates another's honor loses his own.
 * # 718


 * How happy the life unembarrassed by the cares of business!
 * # 725


 * How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself!
 * # 729


 * How often must he ask for pardon who has refused it when asked!
 * # 740


 * How timid is he who stands in terror of poverty!
 * # 741


 * Consider the useful agreeable, even though if were not.
 * # 743


 * He who hesitates to take the right course, deliberates to no purpose.
 * # 756


 * It is no vice to keep a vice out of sight.
 * # 761


 * He who can play the fool at pleasure can be wise if he will.
 * # 762


 * He who has the power to harm is dreaded when he does not intend harm.
 * # 764


 * He gets through too late who goes too fast.
 * # 767


 * He who praises himself will speedily find a censor.
 * # 769


 * He who fears his friend teaches his friend to fear him.
 * # 772


 * Virtue's deeds are glory's deeds.
 * # 778


 * It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.
 * # 780


 * They pass peaceful lives who ignore mine and thine.
 * # 790


 * The wise man guards against future evils as if they were present.
 * # 796


 * What we admire, we never cease commending to ourselves.
 * # 802


 * It matters not with what purpose you do it, if the act itself be bad.
 * # 806


 * He can have what he wishes who wishes just enough.
 * # 809


 * When the soul rules over itself its empire is lasting.
 * # 810


 * He is condemned every day who stands in daily fear of condemnation.
 * # 814


 * When you are in love you are not wise, and when you are wise you are not in love.
 * # 816


 * When you forgive an enemy you gain many friends.
 * # 818


 * It is robbery to receive a favor which you cannot return.
 * # 822


 * Youth should be governed by reason, not by force.
 * # 826


 * Good health and good sense are two of life's greatest blessings.
 * # 827


 * He who imposes his own talk on the circle, does not converse; he plays the master.
 * # 831


 * It is not a hard lot to be obliged to return to the state whence we came.
 * # 843


 * I should not be pleased to be king, if I must therefore be pleased to be cruel.
 * # 844


 * You can obey a request much better than a command.
 * # 846


 * The eyes and ears of the mob are often false witnesses.
 * # 852


 * Vain is that wisdom which does not profit the possessor.
 * # 860


 * You are eloquent enough if truth speaks through you.
 * # 861


 * Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it.
 * # 865


 * The angry think their power greater than it is.
 * # 869


 * Speak well of your friend in public, admonish him in secret.
 * # 870


 * Kindness of heart is always happy.
 * # 876


 * Always shun whatever may make you angry.
 * # 879


 * He punishes himself who repents of his deeds.
 * # 889


 * The greatest of empires, is the empire over one's self.
 * # 891


 * Guilt's assistant is guilt's participant.
 * # 893


 * In critical junctures, temerity is wont to take the place of prudence.
 * # 895


 * Glory is apt to follow when industry has prepared the road.
 * # 897


 * There is hope of improvement so long as a man is alive to shame.
 * # 899


 * It is folly to censure him whom all the world adores.
 * # 903


 * It is folly to punish your neighbour by fire when you live next door.
 * # 910


 * Benevolence tries persuasion first, and then severer measures.
 * # 916


 * Avarice is as destitute of what it has, as what it has not.
 * # 927


 * Suspicion begets suspicion.
 * # 928


 * He is much to be dreaded who stands in dread of poverty.
 * # 933


 * Timidity styles itself caution; stinginess frugality.
 * # 934


 * The poor man is ruined as soon as he begins to ape the rich.
 * # 941


 * When the elder do wrong, the younger learn the lesson.
 * # 950


 * The wounds of the soul should be cured before those of the body.
 * # 953


 * Either be silent, or say something better than silence.
 * # 960


 * Why do we not hear the truth? Because we don't speak it.
 * # 963


 * It is better to trust virtue than fortune.
 * # 974


 * Would you be known by every body? Then you know nobody.
 * # 979


 * He is not considered a dupe who understood that he was deceived.
 * # 1001


 * The little vices of the great must needs be accounted very great.
 * # 1004


 * It is an advantage not to possess that which you must hold against your will.
 * # 1005


 * Anger would inflict punishment on another; meanwhile, it tortures itself.
 * # 1009


 * The happy man is not he who seems thus to others, but who seems thus to himself.
 * # 1010


 * Error and repentance are the attendants on hasty decisions.
 * # 1012


 * How terrible is that anguish which can find no voice
 * # 1017


 * It is a bitter dose to be taught obedience after you have learned to rule.
 * # 1019


 * He who subdues his temper vanquishes his greatest enemy.
 * # 1027


 * He abounds in virtues who loves those of others.
 * # 1037


 * Reason avails nothing when passion has the mastery.
 * # 1044


 * Death ever uncertain gets the start of such as are always beginning to live.
 * # 1053


 * Money is a servant if you know how to use it; if not, it is a master.
 * # 1057


 * When we speak evil of others, we generally condemn ourselves.
 * # 1058


 * The later in life evil courses are begun, the more disgraceful they are.
 * # 1061


 * The same man can rarely say a great deal, and say it to the purpose.
 * # 1065


 * Not the criminals, but their crimes, it is well to extirpate.
 * # 1067


 * In our hatred of guilt, it is folly to ruin innocence.
 * # 1068


 * Let your life be pleasing to the multitude, and it can not be so to yourself.
 * # 1075


 * If you gain new friends, don't forget the old ones.
 * # 1076


 * Avarice is as destitute of what it has, as poverty of what it has not.
 * # 1079