Olaf Peacock (from Laxdæla Saga)

Olaf "Peacock" Hoskuldsson (c. 938-1006)

"Let the man of best judgement determine our course; the counsel of fools is the more misguided the more of them there are."

• Quote attributed to Olaf Peacock in the anonymously-written Laxdæla Saga, c. 13th century, translated by Keneva Kunz. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008.

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"The reason I have great trouble is that I have a body. When I no longer have a body, what trouble have I?"

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

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Lysander (recorded by Plutarch)

Lysander (d. 395 BCE)

"Children have to be tricked with dice, but men with oaths."

• Quote attributed to Lysander in the Sayings of the Spartans, presumably collected by Plutarch, in On Sparta, translated by Richard J. A. Talbert. New York: Penguin Classics, 2005.

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Livy

Livy (c. 59 BCE - 17 CE)

"The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see."

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

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The Buddha

The Buddha (c. 6th-5th century BCE)

"For oneself there is not even a self."

• The Dhammapada (Verses on the Way, Chapter 5), recorded in the 3rd century BCE. Translation by Glenn Wallis, 2004.

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Tacitus

Tacitus (c. 56-117+)

"Defeat in battle always begins with the eyes."

• Germania (section 43) by Tacitus, translated by Harold Mattingly and edited by J. B. Rives. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009.

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Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1430)

"Despite what the slanderers say, there's a positively infinite number of countesses, baronesses, ladies, maidens, bourgeoises and women of every estate who are honourable and distinguished."

• From The Book of the City of Ladies (Part II, chapter 68) by Christine de Pizan, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant (Penguin Classics, 1999).

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Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)
"Such is every barbarian - constantly lusting after massacre and war."

• The Alexiad (Book IX, section 3) by Anna Komnene, translated by E.R.A. Sewter, (Penguin Classics, 2009).

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Luo Guanzhong

Luo Guanzhong (14th century)

"The wise bird carefully choses its branch; the wise servant likewise is careful in the choice of his master."

• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (chapter 3) by Luo Guanzhong and translated by Martin Palmer. New York: Penguin Classics, 2018. 

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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342-1400)

"Never let innocence besot your head,
But take the helm yourselves and trim the sail."

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

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Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

"Remember that success comes from foresight and not so much is ever gained simply by wishing for it."

• History of the Peloponnesian War (Book VI, section 13) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972).

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Mencius

Mencius (c. 4th century BCE)

"The Empire has its basis in the state, the state in the family, and the family in one's own self."

• From The Mencius (Book IV, Part A) by Mencius, translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 2003).

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Jarl Rognvald Kali

Jarl Rognvald Kali of Orkney (d. 1158)

"I'll swear, clever sweetheart,
you're a slender delight
to grasp and to'cuddle,
my golden-locked girl.
Ravenous the haw, crimson-
clawed, flesh-crammed -
but now, heavily hangs
the silken hair."

• This poem is attributed to Rognvald Kali, a 12th-century jarl (earl) of Orkney. He wrote this love poem after having met Viscountess Ermengarde of Narbonne (c. 1120-1194) while traveling on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Rognvald Kali's poetry was preserved in the Orkneyinga Saga, written c. 1200 by an anonymous Icelander. The translation used here was by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (Penguin Classics, 1981).  

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Tacitus

Tacitus (c. 56-117+)

"It is true indeed that noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop."

• Agricola (section 1) by Tacitus, translated by Harold Mattingly and edited by J. B. Rives. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009.

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Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1430)

"If I were to recount to you all the great gifts that women have brought, it would take up far too many pages."

• From The Book of the City of Ladies (Part II, chapter 35) by Christine de Pizan, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant (Penguin Classics, 1999).

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Thurid (Grettir's Saga)

Grettir's Saga  (anonymously-written Icelandic text, c. 14th century)

"Few things lead more certainly to misfortune than not being able to accept what is good."

• Spoken by the witch, Thurid, in the anonymously written Grettir's Saga (c. 14th century), translated by Jesse Byock (Oxford World's Classics, 2009).

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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342-1400)

"Still in the flower of your youth's delights
Age creeps upon you, silent as a stone.
Death menaces all ages and he smites
The high and low, the known and the unknown;
We see for certain, are obliged to own
That we must die, but we are ignorant of all
Of when the hour's to come, the blow to fall."

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

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Sima Qian

Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE)

"Saving others in distress, helping those who cannot help themselves - is this not what a benevolent man does?"

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

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Confucius

Confucius (c. 551-479 BCE)

"I for my part am not one of those who have innate knowledge. I am simply one who loves the past and who is diligent in investigating it."

• From The Analects of Confucius (Book VII, 19) translated by Arthur Waley (Vintage Books, 1989).

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Arrian

Arrian (c. 90-173+)

"Ah well! You soon will be dead, and then you will own just as much of this earth as will suffice to bury you."

• A quote attributed to an unnamed Indian sage in The Campaigns of Alexander (Book 7) by Arrian, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt and revised by J. Hamilton. New York; Penguin Classics, 1971.

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