Quotes from the ancient world

Telemachus, whose father Odysseus left for war when he was a baby, says he has only his mother's word for who his father is. No child can be completely sure.

Everything flows and changes, so the river is never the same twice, and neither are you. The popular wording is a later paraphrase of Heraclitus's surviving fragments.

Arrogance leads to ruin. The popular saying shortens a two-part verse from the Book of Proverbs, which pairs pride with destruction and a haughty spirit with a fall.

A skill takes so long to master that one lifetime is barely enough. It is a call to start now and to respect how much there is to learn.

The popular summary of Socrates' wisdom: he was wiser than others only because he knew the limits of his knowledge. The exact phrase is a later compression of what Plato wrote.

At his trial, Socrates refuses to stop questioning people about how to live, saying a life without such questioning is not worth living for a human being. He chose death over silence.

Great things grow from small beginnings, so start with what is right in front of you. The original says the journey begins “beneath one's feet.”

The fastest runner doesn't always win and the strongest army doesn't always conquer. Luck and timing affect everyone, so talent alone is no guarantee.

Life moves through opposite seasons, birth and death, weeping and laughing, and each has its proper time. The passage is both comforting and a reminder that we do not control the timing.

Whatever work is in front of you, give it everything you have, because life is short and there will be no chance to do it later.

Cicero says that being grateful is the most important virtue and the source of the others, because people who remember what they owe are loyal, dutiful and kind.

Latin for “the die has been cast.” Once dice are thrown you cannot take them back, so the phrase marks a decision that commits you to whatever happens next.

Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Caesar used it to report a victory so fast and complete that three words were enough to tell the whole story.

Latin for “time flees,” the source of the English saying “time flies.” Virgil's fuller line adds that the time lost can never be recovered.

Latin for “seize the day,” or more literally “pluck the day” like ripe fruit. Horace tells a friend to enjoy today instead of worrying about a future no one can know.

Paul describes the kind of love that should hold a community together: patient, kind, humble and enduring. It was written to a quarreling church, not a couple.

A shortened form of 1 Timothy 6:10, which warns against the love of money, not money itself. Dropping “the love of” changes the meaning.

Even while being executed, Jesus asks God to forgive the people responsible, because they do not understand what they are doing.

Treat even people who hate you with goodwill, wish them well and pray for them, just as God sends sunshine and rain on good and bad people alike.

Education should not just pour facts into students but light their own desire to think and to find the truth.

People who once ran their own government now only want two things, free food and entertainment. Rulers who supply both can keep power without being questioned.

Latin for “Who will guard the guards themselves?” Today it asks who keeps the powerful honest when they are the ones meant to keep everyone else in line.

Latin for “a healthy mind in a healthy body.” Juvenal says that if you must pray for something, pray for these, not for wealth, power or a long life.

Latin for “remember that you must die.” It is a reminder that life is short, meant to make you humble and to push you to spend your days on what matters.