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A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who in endeavouring to crush it gave himself a hard slap. Then said the fly jeeringly, "You wanted to revenge the sting of a tiny insect with death; what will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury?"

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More quotes by Phaedrus

You will soon break the bow if you keep it always stretched.

Endure this evil lest a worse come upon you.

By this story [The Fox and the Raven] it is shown how much ingenuity avails, and how wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.

He carried and nourished in his breast a snake, tender-hearted against his own interest.

O that such beauty should be so devoid of understanding!

Fables, I, 7, 2. Reported in Hoyt's (1922)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Phaedrus (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.