Cassius Dio

Cassius Dio (c. 163-235)

"It is human beings, not wild beasts whom you govern, and you will only make them truly well disposed towards you if you can convince them by every means and on every occasion consistently that you will wrong no man, either deliberately or unwillingly."

• From Cassius Dio's The Roman History (Book 55, chapter 19), translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (Penguin Classics, 1987).

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Miyamoto Musashi

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645)

"An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit."

• From Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings, (Lord Majesty Productions, 2005 edition).

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Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (c. 1706-1790)

"Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed."

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

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Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

"To pay back a just debt by acting unjustly is more disgraceful than not to pay at all."

• History of the Peloponnesian War (Book III) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972). The quote comes from a speech that Thucydides wrote while in the character of a Theban diplomat.

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Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

"Virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, and by that which a prudent man would use to determine it. It is a mean between two kinds of vice, one of excess and the other of deficiency."

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

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Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe (c. 1809-1849)

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

• From Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" in Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Works (JKL Classics, 2017).

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Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (Sayings recorded between 6th-3rd century BCE)

"Anger
     Can turn to
     Pleasure;
Spite
     Can turn to 
     Joy.
But a nation destroyed
     Cannot be
     Put back together again;
     A dead man
     Canot be brought back to life."

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

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