Publilius Syrus

Never promise more than you can perform.

Ready tears are a sign of treachery, not of grief.

Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.

No one knows what he can do until he tries.

It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last.

Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.

If you refuse where you have always granted you invite to theft.

No one should be judge in his own case.

He doubly benefits the needy who gives quickly.

It is better to learn late than never.

It is folly to punish your neighbor by fire when you live next door.

Do not turn back when you are just at the goal.

Hares can gambol over the body of a dead lion.

To do two things at once is to do neither.

It is not every question that deserves an answer.

A fair exterior is a silent recommendation.

Necessity knows no law.

As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.

You should not live one way in private, another in public.

A suspicious mind always looks on the black side of things.

How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself.

To-day is the pupil of yesterday.

The judge is condemned when the criminal is absolved.

Many receive advice, few profit by it.

Look to be treated by others as you have treated others.

No one knows what he can do till he tries.

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.

In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.

Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.

Nothing can be done at once hastily and prudently.

To do two things at once is to do neither.

Practice is the best of all instructors.

It is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery.

Count not him among your friends who will retail your privacies to the world.

A gift in season is a double favor to the needy.

No man is happy who does not think himself so.

We simply rob ourselves when we make presents to the dead.

Money alone sets all the world in motion.

Pardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many.

We must give lengthy deliberation to what has to be decided once and for all.

The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.

Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.

The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.

Admonish thy friends in secret, praise them openly.

Tis foolish to fear what you cannot avoid.

The loss which is unknown is no loss at all.

It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.

Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.

You should go to a pear tree for pears, not to an elm.

There are some remedies worse than the disease.

As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.

Never promise more than you can perform.

What is left when honor is lost?

Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it.

We desire nothing so much as what we ought not to have.

The gods never let us love and be wise at the same time.

Depend not on fortune, but on conduct.

It is no profit to have learned well, if you neglect to do well.

A good reputation is more valuable than money.

The end always passes judgement on what has gone before.

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

It is only the ignorant who despise education.

It is a very hard undertaking to seek to please everybody.

For a good cause, wrongdoing is virtuous.

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

A rolling stone gathers no moss.

It is more tolerable to be refused than deceived.

The wise man avoids evil by anticipating it.

While we stop to think, we often miss our opportunity.

An angry man is again angry with himself when he returns to reason.

- Publilius Syrus