Inspirational Sayings

Historical wisdom comes to us today in many ways, but perhaps the easiest way to add daily inspiration to our lives is to read the memorable quotes from these long ago seers and sages of far-off history. The following quotes stretch back over many centuries and come to us as witty, wise, and inspirational as the first time they were written or spoken.

“By their fruits you shall know them.” Matthew 7:20

“We are far more often frightened than hurt: our troubles spring more from fancy than reality.” Seneca

“Anger rusts the intellect so that it cannot discern right from wrong.” Medieval Jewish Proverb

“If you live in the river make friends with the crocodiles.” Indian Proverb

“Whoever continually adapts shall be preserved to the end.” Lao Tzu

“Dig the well before you are thirsty.” Chinese Proverb

“Attempt only what you are able to perform.” Cato the Elder

“No man, while drinking one cup, should have his eyes on another.” Talmud

“No gift is more precious than good advice.” Desiderius Erasmus

“Reason may deceive us; conscience, never.” Rousseau

“If you cannot drive an ox, drive a donkey.” Suidas

“The spider and the fly can’t make a bargain.” Jamaican Proverb

“Enquire not what boils in another’s pot.” Thomas Fuller

“The gift is life; the gift is all.” Ebla Cuneiform Tablet

“Procrastination is the thief of time.” Edward Young

“One of these days is none of these days.” English Proverb

“There is nothing permanent except change.” Heraclitus

“He who is bound to a star does not turn back.” Leonard da Vinci

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35

“The supreme duty of the wise man is to resist appearances.” Cicero

“A character is tested through business, wine, and conversation.” Abot de R. Nathan

“Never esteem anything as advantageous to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.” Marcus Aurelius

“In charity there is no excess.” Sir Francis Bacon

“Good deeds are the best prayer.” Serbian Proverb

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Cicero

“To a valiant heart, nothing is impossible.” King Henry IV

“The monkey in the eyes of its mother is a gazelle.” Arabic Proverb

“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb; sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Proverbs 16:24

“The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet and Doctor Merryman.” Jonathan Swift

“Above all liberties, give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience.” John Milton

“He who envies admits his inferiority.” Latin Proverb

“No one who lives in error is free.” Epictetus

“Don’t approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back or a fool from any side.” Yiddish Proverb

“Where might is master, justice is servant.” German Proverb

“Persons of many friendships are thought to be real friends to no one.” Aristotle

“I would prefer to fail with honor than win by cheating.” Sophocles

“Friendship lasts a day; kinship lasts forever.” Sumerian-Mesopotamian Tablets

“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” Publius Syrus

“With God you may cross the ocean; without him, do not cross the doorstep.” Russian Proverb

“Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune.” Thomas Fuller

“Let consideration for duty control your mind.” Claudius

“Whenever I am compelled to laugh at a fool, I am not compelled to hunt far; I laugh at myself.” Seneca

“Enough suffices for the mind.” Euripides

“There never was a good war or a bad peace.” Benjamin Franklin

“Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses the most.” Thucydides

“The superior man is intelligently, not blindly, faithful.” Confucius

“No revenge is more honorable than the one not taken.” Spanish Proverb

“To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with a whole heart and a free mind.” Pearl S. Buck

“My fathers planted for me, and I plant for my children.” Talmud

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.” Henry David Thoreau

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” Charles Dickens

“He whose heart is closed will not benefit by open eyes.” David Kimchi

“He who cannot write legibly says the pen is no good.” Hebrew Proverb

“Many a time the thing left silent makes for happiness.” Pindar

“Pleasant words are the food of love.” Ovid

“One pays a high price for small favors.” Seneca

“Give every man your ear but few your voice.” Shakespeare

“Take from the world what is pure and from life what is sufficient.” Arabic Proverb

“The old one who is loved is winter with flowers.” German Proverb

“The reason why we have two ears and one mouth is that we may listen more and talk less.” Zeno of Citium

“Do not damage the earth, the sea or the trees.” Revelation 7:3

“He is the best man who is timid in counsel but bold in action.” Herodotus

“Dignity does not consist of possessing honors, but of deserving them.” Aristotle

“To do injustice is more disgraceful than to suffer it.” Plato

“God gave us memories so we might have roses in December.” James M. Barrie

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on his shoes.” Mark Twain

“It is not enough to aim, you must hit.” Italian Proverb

“Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Ephesians 4:26

“I only quote others to express myself better.” Montaigne