Nennius

Nennius (flourished c. 800)

"Truth regards not who is the speaker, nor in what manner it is spoken, but that the thing be true."

• From History of the Britons by Nennius, translated by J. A. Giles (c. 19th century), republished by Oxford University Press, 2018. 

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Plutarch

Plutarch (c. 50-120)

"By definition foreigners must bring in foreign ideas with them, and novel ideas lead to novel attitudes. Hence inevitably many emotions and preferences emerge which - if the existing government be likened to a piece of music - are out of tune with it."

• On Sparta (Life of Lycurgus), excerpted from Plutarch's Parallel Lives, translated by Richard J. A. Talbert. New York: Penguin Classics, 2005.

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Einhard

Einhard (c. 770-840)
"I do not doubt that there are many people, devoted to contemplation and learning, who think that the circumstances of the present age should not be so neglected that almost everything that happens now - not worthy of any memory - should be condemned to silence and oblivion."

• Two Lives of Charlemagne, respectively by Einhard and Notker th Stammer, translated by David Ganz. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008. 

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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1342-1400)

"'Murder will out.' We see it day by day.
Murder's a foul, abominable treason,
So loathsome to God's justice, to God's reason,
He will not suffer its concealment. True,
Things may lie hidden for a year or two,
But still 'Murder will out,' that's my conclusion."

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

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The Buddha

The Buddha (Quote recorded in the 3rd century)

"Trembling and quivering is the mind,
difficult to guard and hard to restrain.
The person of wisdom sets it straight,
as a fletcher does an arrow."

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

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Cassius Dio

Cassius Dio (c. 163-235)

"It seems that those who exercise supreme powers know more about everyhting else than they do about their own affairs, and although their associates have the fullest knowledge of their superiors' actions, the latter possess no accurate information in return."

•  From Cassius Dio's The Roman History (Book 55, chapter 10), translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (Penguin Classics, 1987).

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Sigurd the Volsung/ Saga of the Volsungs

Sigurd the Volsung (Scandinavian-Germanic mythical hero)

"When men come to battle, a fearless heart serves a man better than a sharp sword."

• From The Saga of the Volsungs, by an anonymous 13th century Icelander, translated by Jesse L. Byock (Penguin Classics, 1990, 1999).

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