Livy

Livy (c. 59 BCE-17 CE)

"Fate is omnipotent and men are powerless to turn it aside."

• The History of Rome (Book 1, section 42) by Livy, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002.

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Sima Qian

Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE)

"The real looks of a man lie in is reputation, for that will never die!"

• Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji 124) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

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Aristotle

Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE)

"Falsehood is in itself bad and reprehensible, while truth is a fine and praiseworthy thing."

• From The Nicomachean Ethics (Book IV, section vii, bekker page 1127a) by Aristotle, translated by J. A. K. Thomson (Penguin Classics, 2004).

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Glum Thorkelsson (recorded by Sturla Thordarson)

Glum Thorkelsson (10th or 11th century)

"Good luck to the old.
Good luck to the young."

• Glum Thorkelsson's saying was recorded by Sturla Thordarson in the Sturlubók (produced c. 1275-1280), the oldest existent version of the Icelandic Book of Settlements. The translation used here was by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (University of Manitoba Press, 1772, 2006).

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Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)

"Barbarians are arrogant by nature, with their heads almost in the clouds."

• The Alexiad (Book XV, section 6) by Anna Komnene, translated by E.R.A. Sewter, (Penguin Classics, 2009).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"I alone am inactive and reveal no signs,
Like a baby that has not yet learned to smile,
Listless as though with no home to go back to.
The multitude all have more than enough.
I alone seem to be in want."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XX), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963). 

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Tacitus

Tacitus (c. 56-117+)

"Apprehension and terror are weak bonds of affection; just break them, and, where fear has ended, hatred will begin."

• Tacitus wrote this quote from the point of view of Calgacus, said to have been a tribal leader in Britannia. It is part of a larger pre-battle speech supposedly made by Calgacus before the Battle of Mons Graupius (83 CE), where he ultimately lost to the forces of Julius Agricola. Tacitus was Julius Agricola's son-in-law, and he wrote a eulogy/biography in his honor, which he simply titled the Agricola. This quote can be found in section 31 of that work. The translation quoted here was by Harold Mattingly and edited by J. B. Rives (Penguin Classics, 2009).

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Confucius

Confucius (approximately 551-479 BCE)

"A gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias. The small man is biased and can see a question only from one side."

• From The Analects of Confucius (Book II, section 14) translated by Arthur Waley (Vintage Books, 1989).

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Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

"The surest way of harming an enemy is to find out certainly what form of attack he is most frightened of and then to employ it against him."

• From a speech attributed to Alcibiades in the History of the Peloponnesian War (Book VI, section 91) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972).

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Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1430)

"It is truly wicked of people to try to turn something which is as good and praiseworthy in a woman - her tenderness - into something bad and blameworthy. Women love children because they're not acting out of ignorance but rather a natural instinct to be gentle. And if being gentle therefore means they are childlike, so much the better for them."

• From The Book of the City of Ladies (Part I, chapter 10) by Christine de Pizan, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant (Penguin Classics, 1999).

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Arrian

Arrian (c. 90-173+)

"Luck, remember, is an unpredictable thing, and against what it may bring no man has any defence."

• From Arrian's The Campaigns of Alexander (Book 5), translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt and revised by J. Hamilton. New York; Penguin Classics, 1971. Specifically, it comes out of a speech that Arrian wrote from the point of view of Alexander's advisor, Coenus.

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Sima Qian

Sima Qian (145-90 BCE)

"Jostling and joyous,
The whole world comes after profit;
Racing and rioting,
After profit the whole world goes!"

• A poetic saying recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji 129) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

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Gudrun Osvifsdottir

Gudrun Osvifsdottir (said to have lived c. 970-1050)

"Tarry-long brings little home."

• Quote attributed to Gudrun Osvifsdottir in the anonymously-written Laxdæla Saga (section 35), c. 13th century, translated by Keneva Kunz. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008.

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Mo Tzu

Mo Tzu (5th century BCE)

"One who loves will be loved by others, and one who hates will be hated by others."

• From the Basic Writings of Mo Tzu (Universal Love, part III, section 16), translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1963).

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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342-1400)

"It's men that are untrue
And women, women ever blamed anew.
I think it a pretence that men profess
They hide behind a charge of faithlessness."

• The Canterbury Tales (The Merchant's Tale) by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated to modern English by Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics, 2003).

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Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)

"The opposition is strong when the whole body is welded together and of one mind; but let there be faction, and it splits up into many parts and becomes feebler, an easy prey to its enemies."

• The Alexiad (Book XIII, section 4) by Anna Komnene, translated by E.R.A. Sewter, (Penguin Classics, 2009).

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Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (c. 1706-1790)

"Silence is not always a sign of wisdom but babbling is ever a mark of folly."

• From Poor Richard's Almanac by Benjamin Franklin (Seven Treasures Publications, 2008).

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Kjartan Olafsson (from the Laxdæla Saga)

Kjartan Olafsson (said to have lived c. 970-1003)

"If a man's got to die anyway, he might as well make a name for himself before it comes to that."

• Quote attributed to Kjartan Olafsson in the anonymously-written Laxdæla Saga (section 40), c. 13th century, translated by Keneva Kunz. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008.

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Tacitus

Tacitus (c. 56-117+)

"Robbery, butchery, rapine, these liars call 'empire': they create desolation and call it peace."

• Tacitus wrote this quote from the point of view of Calgacus, said to have been a tribal leader in Britannia. It is part of a larger pre-battle speech supposedly made by Calgacus before the Battle of Mons Graupius (83 CE), where he ultimately lost to the forces of Julius Agricola. Tacitus was Julius Agricola's son-in-law, and he wrote a eulogy/biography in his honor, which he simply titled the Agricola. This quote can be found in section 30 of that work. The translation quoted here was by Harold Mattingly and edited by J. B. Rives (Penguin Classics, 2009).

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Jia Yi

Jia Yi (c. 201-169 BCE)

"Now the dullard gains favor and fame;
the slanderers and the toady have their way.
The wise and sage they turn aside;
The upright they have toppled over."

• Excerpt of Jia Yi's poem, "A Lament for Qu Yuan" included in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji, 84) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

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Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

"Most people, in fact, will not take trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear."

• History of the Peloponnesian War (Book I, section 20) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972).

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