Aesop Quotes

The discreet man should have a reserve of everything that is necessary before the time comes for him to make use of them.

Acquaintance softens prejudices.

Fair weather friends are not worth much.

Evil wishes, like fowls, come home to roost.

Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Do not tell others how to act unless you can set a good example.

Πυρ, γυνή και θάλασσα, δυνατά τρία.
Fire, woman and sea, the mighty three.

Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends.

A fox once fell into a trap, and after a struggle managed to get free, but with the loss of his brush. He was then so much ashamed of his appearance that he thought life was not worth living unless he could persuade the other Foxes to part with their tails also, and thus divert attention from his own loss. So he called a meeting of all the Foxes, and advised them to cut off their tails: “They’re ugly things anyhow,” he said, “and besides they’re heavy, and it’s tiresome to be always carrying them about with you.” But one of the other Foxes said, “My friend, if you hadn’t lost your own tail, you wouldn’t be so keen on getting us to cut off ours.

"exclaimed, "O foolish creatures that we are, for the sake of a little pleasure we have destroyed ourselves.

A Man and a Lion were companions on a journey, and in the course of conversation they began to boast about their prowess, and each claimed to be superior to the other in strength and courage. They were still arguing with some heat when they came to a cross-road where there was a statue of a Man strangling a Lion. “There!” said the Man triumphantly, “look at that! Doesn’t that prove to you that we are stronger than you?” “Not so fast, my friend,” said the Lion: “that is only your view of the case. If we Lions could make statues, you may be sure that in most of them you would see the Man underneath.” There are two sides to every question.

Expect no reward when you serve the wicked, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.

Evil companions bring more hurt than profit.

"The Mischievous Dog A DOG used to run up quietly to the heels of everyone he met, and to bite them without notice. His master suspended a bell about his neck so that the Dog might give notice of his presence wherever he went. Thinking it a mark of distinction, the Dog grew proud of his bell and went tinkling it all over the marketplace. One day an old hound said to him: "Why do you make such an exhibition of yourself? That bell that you carry is not, believe me, any order of merit, but on the contrary a mark of disgrace, a public notice to all men to avoid you as an ill mannered dog." Notoriety is often mistaken for fame."

Those who pretend that they can mend others should first mend themselves, and then they will be more readily believed.