Cassius Dio

Cassius Dio (c. 163-235)

"I believe that far more wrongs are put right by kindness than by harshness. Those who forgive are loved not only by those to whom they have shown mercy - and these men will even strive to return the kindness - but they are also respected and revered by all the rest, who will not lightly venture to harm them."

• From Cassius Dio's The Roman History (Book 55, chapter 16), translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (Penguin Classics, 1987).

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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century Viking poet)

"It is rare to find
one to trust
amongst men who dwell
beneath Odin's gallows,
for the dark-minded
destroyer of kin
swaps his brother's
death for treasure."

• Egil's Saga (recorded c. 13th century possibly by Snorri Sturluson), translated by Bernard Scudder. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004 edition.

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Confucius

Confucius (approximately 551-479 BCE)

"To have faults and to be making no effort to amend them is to have faults indeed!"

• From The Analects of Confucius (Book XV, 29) translated by Arthur Waley (Vintage Books, 1989). 

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Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

"The utter servility of the masses comes out in their preference for a bovine existence."

• From The Nicomachean Ethics (Book I, chapter V) by Aristotle, translated by J. A. K. Thomson (Penguin Classics, 2004). 

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Tacitus

Tacitus (c. 56/57-117)

"The chief duty of a friend is not to walk behind the corpse pointlessly grieving, but to remember his desires and carry out his instructions."

• The Annals of Imperial Rome (chapter 5) by Tacitus, translated by Michael Grant. New York: Penguin Classics, 1996.

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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (English poet, c. 1342-1400)

"The busy lark, the messenger of day,
Sings salutation to the morning grey,
And fiery Phoebus rising up so bright
Sets all the Orient laughting with the light,
And with his streams he dries the dewy sheaves
And silver droplets hanging on the leaves."

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

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Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (sayings collected from 6th-3rd centuries BCE)

"The Wise Warrior,
      When he moves,
      Is never confused;
      When he acts,
      Is never at a loss."

• From Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Chapter 10), translated by John Minford (Penguin Classics, 2009).

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Svipdag (from Hrolf's Saga)

Svipdag (Swedish warrior who supposedly lived around the 6th century)

"Men must try, if they are to advance. Without effort, no one learns which way luck will turn."

• From The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, written by an anonymous Icelander in the 14th century, translated by Jesse Byock. New York: Penguin Classics, 1998.

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Sima Qian

Sima Qian (145-90 BCE)

"A man has only one death. That death may be as weighty as Mount Tai, or it may be as light as a goose feather. It all depends on the way he uses it."

• From Sima Qian's letter to Ren An, in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji), by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

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Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)

"If we are to achieve a position of strength and absolute security, it is essential that we should decide on a common policy."

• From The Alexiad (Book II) by Anna Komnene, translated by E.R.A. Sewter, (Penguin Classics, 2009).

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John Calvin

John Calvin (c. 1509-1564)

"There is, indeed, nothing that man's nature seeks more eagerly than to be flattered."

• From Theology: Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559 edition, Book II) by John Calvin, translated by F. L. Battles and edited by  J. T. McNeill (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1955).

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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century Viking poet)

"Their numbers are dwindling, the famous
warriors who met with weapons
and spread gifts like the gold of day.
Where will I find generous men,
who beyond the sea that, nailed with islands,
girds the earth, showered snows of silver
on to my hands where hawks perch,
in return for my words of praise?"

• Egil's Saga (recorded c. 13th century possibly by Snorri Sturluson), translated by Bernard Scudder. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004 edition.

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Murasaki Shikibu

Muraski Shikibu (10-11th century Japanese writer)

"Sorrows are the way of this fickle world."

• From Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji (chapter 36), translated by Royall Tyler (Penguin Classics, 2003).

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George Orwell

George Orwell (c. 1903-1950)

"As a general rule things happen too late, but just occasionally--just so that you shan't even be able to depend on their happening late--they happen too early."

• From Homage to Catalonia (Chapter I) written by George Orwell and edited by Adam Hochschild and Lionel Trilling (Mariner Books, 1969).

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Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

"Our characters are determined by our choice of what is good or evil, not by our opinion about it."

• From The Nicomachean Ethics (Book III, ii) by Aristotle, translated by J. A. K. Thomson (Penguin Classics, 2004).

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Sima Qian

Sima Qian (c. 145-87 BCE)

"Wise men make laws, stupid men are constrained by them. Worthy men change rites, unworthy men merely cling to them."

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

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Virgil

Virgil (c. 70-19 BCE)

"Since Fortune's got the upper hand,
let's follow her where she calls and change course."

• From The Aeneid (Book V) by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles (Penguin Classics, 2010).

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Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth (12th-century British writer)

"Kings were anointed not in God's name, but because they were more bloodthirsty than their fellows."

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

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Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (French authoress, c. 1364-1430)

"Let me tell you that those who speak ill of women do more harm to themselves than they do to the women they actually slander."

• From The Book of the City of Ladies (Part I, chapter 2) by Christine de Pizan, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant (Penguin Classics, 1999).

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Homer

Homer (writing around 700 BCE)

"So you, above all, must both
give and listen to advice and carry out the suggestion that
others may feel bound to put forward in the common interest."

• From The Iliad (Book 9) by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and revised by Peter Jones (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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