23 quotes
Show at all times so strong a regard for truth that your bare word shall carry more weight than the oaths of others.
II. To Nicocles (-374)
Be gracious to all men, but choose the best to be your friends.
I. To Demonicus (-370)
Rather let it be your object to bequeath to your children a stainless name than a large fortune.
II. To Nicocles (-374)
It is the function of the ruler to use his best endeavours to make his subjects happier.
VIII. On the Peace (-355)
Be not content only to praise the virtuous, but imitate them too.
III. Nicocles or the Cyprians (-365)
If you are fond of learning, you will soon be full of learning.
I. To Demonicus (-370)
Of all our possessions, wisdom alone is immortal.
Regard as your most faithful friends, not those who praise everything you say or do, but those who criticize your mistakes.
II. To Nicocles (-374)
Be slow in deliberation, but be prompt to carry out your resolves.
I. To Demonicus (-370)
Do not do to others that which angers you when they do it to you.
III. Nicocles or the Cyprians (-365)
I maintain, then, that we should make peace, not only with the Chians, the Rhodians, the Byzantines and the Coans, but with all mankind.
VIII. On the Peace (-355)
If you be a lover of instruction, you will be well instructed.
Argos is the land of your fathers.
V. To Philip (-346)
Oratory is good only if it has the qualities of fitness for the occasion, propriety of style, and originality of treatment, while in the case of letters there is no such need whatsoever.
XIII. Against the Sophists (-390)
Indeed, you have caused the orators to practise and study, not what will be advantageous to the state, but how they may discourse in a manner pleasing to you.
VIII. On the Peace (-355)
Manage the city as you would your ancestral estate: in the matter of its appointments, splendidly and royally; in the matter of its revenues, strictly, in order that you may possess the good opinion of your people and at the same time have sufficient means.
II. To Nicocles (-374)
But I marvel when I observe these men setting themselves up as instructors of youth who cannot see that they are applying the analogy of an art with hard and fast rules to a creative process.
XIII. Against the Sophists (-390)
If all who are engaged in the profession of education were willing to state the facts instead of making greater promises than they can possibly fulfil, they would not be in such bad repute with the lay-public.
XIII. Against the Sophists (-390)
The greatest thing in the small compass is a sound mind in a human body. Strive with all your body to be a lover of toil, and with your soul to be a lover of wisdom, in order that with the one you may have the strength to carry out your resolves, and with the other the intelligence to foresee what is for your good.
I. To Demonicus (-370)
Always when you are about to say anything, first weigh it in your mind; for with many the tongue outruns the thought. Let there be but two occasions for speech — when the subject is one which you thoroughly know and when it is one on which you are compelled to speak. On these occasions alone is speech better than silence; on all others, it is better to be silent than to speak.
I. To Demonicus (-370)