"There are many marvellous stories told of Pherecydes. For it is said that he was walking along the seashore at Samos, and that seeing a ship sailing by with a fair wind, he said that it would soon sink; and presently it sank before his eyes. At another time he was drinking some water which had been drawn up out of a well, and he foretold that within three days there would be an earthquake; and there was one."

"The market is a place set apart where men may deceive each other."

"It was a common saying of Myson that men ought not to investigate things from words, but words from things; for that things are not made for the sake of words, but words for things."

"One of the sayings of Diogenes was that most men were within a finger’s breadth of being mad; for if a man walked with his middle finger pointing out, folks would think him mad, but not so if it were his forefinger."

"Epimenides was sent by his father into the field to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at mid-day and lay down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept there fifty-seven years; and after that, when awake, he went on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short nap."

"Being asked whether it was better to marry or not, he replied, "Whichever you do, you will repent it.""

"He used to say that other men lived to eat, but that he ate to live."

"Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, "The descent to Hades is the same from every place.""

"Anarcharsis, on learning that the sides of a ship were four fingers thick, said that "the passengers were just that distance from death.""

"He declared that he knew nothing, except the fact of his ignorance."

"One of the sophisms of Chrysippus was, "If you have not lost a thing, you have it.""

"Aristippus being asked what were the most necessary things for well-born boys to learn, said, "Those things which they will put in practice when they become men.""

"He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance."

"He used to say that it was better to have one friend of great value than many friends who were good for nothing."

"All things are in common among friends."

"Bias used to say that men ought to calculate life both as if they were fated to live a long and a short time, and that they ought to love one another as if at a future time they would come to hate one another; for that most men were bad."

"Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words."

"The saying, "Practice is everything," is Periander’s."

"Another was, "Watch your opportunity.""

"Pittacus said that half was more than the whole."

"Heraclitus says that Pittacus, when he had got Alcæus into his power, released him, saying, "Forgiveness is better than revenge.""

"Aristophanes turns Socrates into ridicule in his comedies, as making the worse appear the better reason."

"One of his sayings was, "Even the gods cannot strive against necessity.""

"Solon used to say that speech was the image of actions;... that laws were like cobwebs,—for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off."

"Solon gave the following advice: "Consider your honour, as a gentleman, of more weight than an oath. Never tell a lie. Pay attention to matters of importance.""

"As some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess.""

"Writers differ with respect to the apophthegms of the Seven Sages, attributing the same one to various authors."

"Often when he was looking on at auctions he would say, "How many things there are which I do not need!""

"He said that men ought to remember those friends who were absent as well as those who were present."

"The apophthegm "Know thyself" is his."

"Chilo advised, "not to speak evil of the dead.""

"When he was praised by some wicked men, he said, "I am sadly afraid that I must have done some wicked thing.""

"Alcæus mentions Aristodemus in these lines:— ’T is money makes the man; and he who ’s none Is counted neither good nor honourable."

"Thales said there was no difference between life and death. "Why, then," said some one to him, "do not you die?" "Because," said he, "it does make no difference.""

"Aristippus said that a wise man’s country was the world."

"When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, "Not to unlearn what you have learned.""

"Pythagoras used to say that he had received as a gift from Mercury the perpetual transmigration of his soul, so that it was constantly transmigrating and passing into all sorts of plants or animals."

"Socrates said, "Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods.""

"When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, "To know one’s self." And what was easy, "To advise another.""

"Once Diogenes, who was washing vegetables, ridiculed him as he passed by, and said, "If you had learnt to eat these vegetables, you would not have been a slave in the palace of a tyrant." But Aristippus replied, "And you, if you had known how to behave among men, would not have been washing vegetables.""

"Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust."

"Another of his sayings was, that education was the best viaticum of old age."

"The chief good he has defined to be the exercise of virtue in a perfect life."

"He used to define justice as "a virtue of the soul distributing that which each person deserved.""

"Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, "To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.""

"He used to teach that God is incorporeal, as Plato also asserted, and that his providence extends over all the heavenly bodies."

"The question was once put to him, how we ought to behave to our friends; and the answer he gave was, "As we should wish our friends to behave to us.""

"He was once asked what a friend is, and his answer was, "One soul abiding in two bodies.""

"He used to say that personal beauty was a better introduction than any letter; but others say that it was Diogenes who gave this description of it, while Aristotle called beauty "the gift of God"; that Socrates called it "a short-lived tyranny"; Theophrastus, "a silent deceit"; Theocritus, "an ivory mischief"; Carneades, "a sovereignty which stood in need of no guards"."

"Very late in life, when he was studying geometry, some one said to Lacydes, "Is it then a time for you to be learning now?" "If it is not," he replied, "when will it be?""