It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.
Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.
The sun, too, shines into cesspools and is not polluted.
Calumny is only the noise of madmen.
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.
The art of being a slave is to rule one's master.
Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.
As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task.
Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.
Of a rich man who was mean and niggardly he said "That man does hot possess his estate but his estate possesses him."
We have two ears and only one tongue in order that we may hear more and speak less.
Wise kings generally have wise counselors and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.
The only good is knowledge and the only evil ignorance.
Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.
When I look upon seamen, men of science and philosophers, man is the wisest of all beings when I look upon priests and prophets nothing is as contemptible as man.
The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.
Thales was asked what was most difficult to man he answered: "To know one's self."