This is the bitterest pain among men, to have much knowledge but no power.

Egypt is the gift of the Nile.

In peace, children inter their parents; war violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children.

Soft men tend to be born from soft countries.

Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give lustre, and many more people see than weigh.

So much, then, for the fish.

Now if a man thus favoured died as he has lived, he will be just the one you are looking for: the only sort of person who deserves to be called happy. But mark this: until he is dead, keep the word happy in reserve. Till then, he is not happy, but only lucky.

It is the greatest and the tallest of trees that the gods bring low with bolts and thunder. For the gods love to thwart whatever is greater than the rest. They do not suffer pride in anyone but themselves.

How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.

I am bound to tell what I am told, but not in every case to believe it.

The man who has planned badly, if fortune is on his side, may have had a stroke of luck; but his plan was a bad one nonetheless.

Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.

We often see misery dwelling in the midst of splendor, whilst real happiness is found in humbler stations.

A real friend ... exults in his friend’s happiness, rejoices in all his joys, and is ready to afford him the best advice.

God does not suffer presumption in anyone but himself.

The most hateful human misfortune is for a wise man to have no influence.

For if one should propose to all men a choice, bidding them select the best customs from all the customs that there are, each race of men, after examining them all, would select those of

his own people; thus all think that their own customs are by far the best.

A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king.

In soft regions are born soft men.

Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.