He (Cato) used to say that in all his life he never repented but of three things. The first was that he had trusted a woman with a secret; the second that he had gone by sea when he might have gone by land; and the third, that had passed one day without having a will by him.
A remorseful change of mind renders even a noble action base, whereas the determination which is grounded on knowledge and reason cannot change even if its actions fail.
And Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, "I have found it! Eureka!".
Let us not wonder if something happens which never was before, or if something doth not appear among us with which the ancients were acquainted.
But the Lacedaemonians, who make it their first principle of action to serve their country's interest, know not any thing to be just or unjust by any measure but that.
It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.
It is wise to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.
The soul of man... is a portion or a copy of the soul of the Universe and is joined together on principles and in proportions corresponding to those which govern the Universe.
There were two brothers called Both and Either; perceiving Either was a good, understanding, busy fellow, and Both a silly fellow and good for little, Philip said, "Either is both, and Both is neither.
Rather I fear on the contrary that while we banish painful thoughts we may banish memory as well.
To do an evil action is base; to do a good action without incurring danger is common enough; but it is the part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risks every thing.
Grief is like a physical pain which must be allowed to subside somewhat on its own before medical treatment is applied.
Democritus said, words are but the shadows of actions.
Medicine to produce health must examine disease; and music, to create harmony must investigate discord.
A friend should be like money, tried before being required, not found faulty in our need.
Painting is silent poetry.
When Philip had news brought him of divers and eminent successes in one day, "O Fortune!" said he, "for all these so great kindnesses do me some small mischief.
The human heart becomes softened by hearing of instances of gentleness and consideration.
For he who gives no fuel to fire puts it out, and likewise he who does not in the beginning nurse his wrath and does not puff himself up with anger takes precautions against it and destroys it.
The present offers itself to our touch for only an instant of time and then eludes the senses.
Of the land which the Romans gained by conquest from their neighbours, part they sold publicly, and turned the remainder into common; this common land they assigned to such of the citizens as were poor and indigent, for which they were to pay only a small acknowledgment into the public treasury. But when the wealthy men began to offer larger rents, and drive the poorer people out, it was enacted by law that no person whatever should enjoy more than five hundred acres of ground.
Though others before him had triumphed three times, Pompeius, by having gained his first triumph over Libya, his second over Europe, and this the last over Asia, seemed in a manner to have brought the whole world into his three triumphs.
It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.
Antisthenes says that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time then thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer.
Ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.
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