Great Throughts Treasury

"Calumny is a monstrous vice; for, where parties indulge in it, there are always two that are actively engaged in doing wrong, and one who is subject to injury. The calumniator inflicts wrong by slandering the absent; he who gives credit to the calumny before he has investigated the truth is equally implicated. The person traduced is doubly injured - first by him who propagates, and secondly by him who credits the calumny."

"Men trust their ears less than their eyes."

"Men are dependent on circumstances, not circumstances on men."

"No man is ever full fed with success."

"Pride is the possession of fools."

"He is the best man who is timid in counsel but bold in action."

"It is better by a noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half of the evils we anticipate, than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what may happen."

"The destiny of man is in his own soul."

"The two great gods, Persuasion and Necessity."

"The worst pain a man can have is to know much and be impotent to act."

"Chance rule men, and not men chances."

"There is nothing in all the world so precious as a friend who is at once wise and true."

"Human happiness never continues long in one stay."

"Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts that ever before."

"In peace, sons bury their fathers; in war, fathers bury their sons."

"I am satisfied that we are less convinced by what we hear than by what we see."

"This is the worst pain a person can suffer: to have insight into much and power over nothing."

"No one is fool enough to choose war instead of peace. For in peace sons bury their fathers, but war violates the order of nature, and fathers bury sons."

"Where wisdom is called for, force is of little use."

"It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half of the evils we anticipate than to remain in the cowardly listlessness for fear of what may happen."

"Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks."

"Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances. "

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

"Men trust their ears less than their eyes. "

"The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance. "

"There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob."

"Of all possessions a friend is the most precious. "