Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (14th century English poet)

"I heard this proverb when I was a kid,
'Do evil and be done by as you did.'
Tricksters will get a tricking, so say I."

• From The Canterbury Tales (The Reeve's Tale) by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill. New York, Penguin Classics, 1977).

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Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE)

"You shall see by the success, what you are to expect from your soldiers."

• From Julius Caesar's  War Commentaries (The African War), translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, 2014.

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Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (sayings recorded from 6th-3rd century BCE)

"The Skillful Warrior
First ensured
His own
Invulnerability;
Then he waited for
The enemy's
Vulnerability."

• From Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Chapter 4), translated by John Minford (Penguin Classics, 2009).

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Herodotus

Herodotus (490 - 425/420 BCE)

"Everyone without exception believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best."

• From The Histories by Herodotus, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt and revised by John Marincola. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002).

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Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

"I felt enough of the effect of withdrawing from the world then, to see that it led to an antisocial and misanthropic state of mind, which severely punishes him who gives in to it."

• From a letter from Thomas Jefferson's to his daughter, Maria Jefferson Eppes, written in March 3, 1802.

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Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall

Admiral Sir William Reginald "Blinker" Hall (British Intelligence officer, 1870-1943)

"How Simple is intelligence!"

• From surviving notes for Hall's lost manuscript housed in the Cambridge Archive. Also mentioned in Erik Larson's Dead Wake (Broadway Books, 2016).

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Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (French Writer, 1364-1430 CE)

"One shouldn't refrain from cultivating things which are good and useful just because some idiots use them unwisely."

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

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Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth (12th century British writer)

"The man who piles insults and injuries upon the comrades-in-arms by whose very help he has triumphed is nothing but a fool."

• From Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain, completed in 1136 CE, translated from Latin into English by Lewis Thorpe (Penguin Classics, 1966).

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Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson (Icelandic chieftain and recorder of Norse mythology, 1179-1241 CE)

"Truly, I say, all you have been told is equally reliable, even though you have no way to test some things."

• From The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics, 2005).

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Apollonius of Rhodes

Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd Century BCE Greek/Egyptian Scholar and Poet)

"The truth is, we
the members of the woe-struck tribes of mortals
never tread the pathways to delight
with confidence. Some bitter anguish always
shambles along beside our happiness."

• From Apollonius of Rhodes' epic poem, Argonautica, based on the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. The translation is by Aaron Poochigian (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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Confucius

Confucius (Chinese philosopher, 6th-5th century BCE)

"The gentleman calls attention to the good points in others; he does not call attention to their defects. The small man does just the reverse of this."

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

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Plato

Plato (5th Century BCE Greek Philosopher)

"The eyes are made for astronomy, and by the same token the ears are presumably made for the type of movement that constitutes music."

• From Republic by Plato, translated by Robin Waterfield (Oxford World's Classics, 2008).

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The Buddha

The Buddha (Lived between 6th-4th century BCE)

"Some do not understand
that we are perishing here.
Those who understand this
bring to rest their quarrels."

• From The Dhammapada (Verses on the Way, Chapter 1), recorded in the 3rd century BCE. Translation by Glenn Wallis, 2004.

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Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russian author, 1821-1881 CE)

"I assure you, gentlemen, that to be too acutely conscious is a disease, a real, honest-to-goodness disease."

• From Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by David Magarshack (Modern Library, 1992).

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Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE)

"You will either welcome me into your city or I will besiege it!"

• This quote is from Alexander the Great's threat to the stubborn city of Tyre in 332 BCE, recorded by the ancient Roman historian, Curtius.

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Lionel Giles

Lionel Giles (1875-1958)

"The greatest fault in war is hesitation; the worst calamities for an army arise from indecision."

• From Master Wu's Art of War (Wuzi bingfa), translated by Lionel Giles.

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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (English poet, 1342-1400 CE)

"A knowing wife if she is worth her salt
Can always prove her husband is at fault."

• From The Canterbury Tales (Wife of Bath's prologue) by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated to modern English by Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics, 2003).

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Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE)

"You take favors for offenses, and insults for benefits, are insolent and restless in peace, and cowardly and effeminate in war.

• A segment of Julius Caesar's speech to the citizens of Munda and Ursao in Spain, from Julius Caesar's War Commentaries (The Spanish War), translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, 2014.

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Heraclitus

Heraclitus (6th and 5th Century Greek Philosopher)

"If one does not expect it, one will not find out the unexpected; it is not to be tracked down and no path leads to it."

• From the Fragments of Heraclitus, translated by Diels-Kranz.

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Miyamoto Musashi

Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645)

"In short, the Way of the Ichi school is the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon and whatever its size."

• From The Book of Five Rings written by Miyamoto Musashi around 1643-1645, translated by Lord Majesty Productions, 2005.

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Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 CE)

"The goddesses are no less sacred, nor are they less powerful."

• Spoken by Odin in The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics, 2005).

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