The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus

"I should not be pleased to be king, if I must therefore be pleased to be cruel."

"You can obey a request much better than a command."

"The eyes and ears of the mob are often false witnesses."

"Vain is that wisdom which does not profit the possessor."

"You are eloquent enough if truth speaks through you."

"Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it."

"The angry think their power greater than it is."

"Speak well of your friend in public, admonish him in secret."

"Kindness of heart is always happy."

"Always shun whatever may make you angry."

"He punishes himself who repents of his deeds."

"The greatest of empires, is the empire over one's self."

"Guilt's assistant is guilt's participant."

"In critical junctures, temerity is wont to take the place of prudence."

"Glory is apt to follow when industry has prepared the road."

"There is hope of improvement so long as a man is alive to shame."

"It is folly to censure him whom all the world adores."

"It is folly to punish your neighbour by fire when you live next door."

"Benevolence tries persuasion first, and then severer measures."

"Avarice is as destitute of what it has, as what it has not."

"Suspicion begets suspicion."

"He is much to be dreaded who stands in dread of poverty."

"Timidity styles itself caution; stinginess frugality."

"The poor man is ruined as soon as he begins to ape the rich."

"When the elder do wrong, the younger learn the lesson."

"The wounds of the soul should be cured before those of the body."

"Either be silent, or say something better than silence."

"Why do we not hear the truth? Because we don't speak it."

"It is better to trust virtue than fortune."

"Would you be known by every body? Then you know nobody."

"He is not considered a dupe who understood that he was deceived."

"The little vices of the great must needs be accounted very great."

"It is an advantage not to possess that which you must hold against your will."

"Anger would inflict punishment on another; meanwhile, it tortures itself."

"The happy man is not he who seems thus to others, but who seems thus to himself."

"Error and repentance are the attendants on hasty decisions."

"How terrible is that anguish which can find no voice"

"It is a bitter dose to be taught obedience after you have learned to rule."

"He who subdues his temper vanquishes his greatest enemy."

"He abounds in virtues who loves those of others."

"Reason avails nothing when passion has the mastery."

"Death ever uncertain gets the start of such as are always beginning to live."

"Money is a servant if you know how to use it; if not, it is a master."

"When we speak evil of others, we generally condemn ourselves."

"The later in life evil courses are begun, the more disgraceful they are."

"The same man can rarely say a great deal, and say it to the purpose."

"Not the criminals, but their crimes, it is well to extirpate."

"In our hatred of guilt, it is folly to ruin innocence."

"Let your life be pleasing to the multitude, and it can not be so to yourself."

"If you gain new friends, don't forget the old ones."