He who shuns the millstone, shuns the meal

It’s the generally accepted privilege of theologians to stretch the heavens, that is the Scriptures, like tanners with a hide.

Man is to man either a god or a wolf.

By burning Luther’s books you may rid your bookshelves of him, but you will not rid men’s minds of him

War is sweet to those who have not experienced it.

I have turned my entire attention to Greek. The first thing I shall do, as soon as the money arrives, is to buy some Greek authors; after that, I shall buy clothes.

In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can’t long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend...

Nothing is so foolish, they say, as for a man to stand for office and woo the crowd to win its vote, buy its support with presents, court the applause of all those fools and...

What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.

A good prince will tax as lightly as possible those commodities which are used by the poorest members of society: grain, bread, beer, wine, clothing, and all other staples without which human life could not...

Before you sleep, read something that is exquisite, and worth remembering.

For them it’s out-of-date and outmoded to perform miracles; teaching the people is too like hard work, interpreting the holy scriptures is for schoolmen and praying is a waste of time; to shed tears is...

To know nothing is the happiest life.

No one respects a talent that is concealed.

Nature, more of a stepmother than a mother in several ways, has sown a seed of evil in the hearts of mortals, especially in the more thoughtful men, which makes them dissatisfied with their own...

What difference is there, do you think, between those in Plato’s cave who can only marvel at the shadows and images of various objects, provided they are content and don’t know what they miss, and...

To know nothing is the happiest life

Young bodies are like tender plants, which grow and become hardened to whatever shape you’ve trained them.

Whether a party can have much success without a woman present I must ask others to decide, but one thing is certain, no party is any fun unless seasoned with folly.

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don’t do it, and it won’t happen.

If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.

Jupiter, not wanting man’s life to be wholly gloomy and grim, has bestowed far more passion than reason /you could reckon the ration as twenty-four to one. Moreover, he confined reason to a cramped corner...

Women, can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.

Now I believe I can hear the philosophers protesting that it can only be misery to live in folly, illusion, deception and ignorance, but it isn’t –it’s human.

A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit.

I doubt if a single individual could be found from the whole of mankind free from some form of insanity. The only difference is one of degree. A man who sees a gourd and takes...

The more ignorant, reckless and thoughtless a doctor is, the higher his reputation soars even amongst powerful princes.

It is an unscrupulous intellect that does not pay to antiquity its due reverence.

This type of man who is devoted to the study of wisdom is always most unlucky in everything, and particularly when it comes to procreating children; I imagine this is because Nature wants to ensure...

Luther was guilty of two great crimes – he struck the Pope in his crown, and the monks in their belly.

They may attack me with an army of six hundred syllogisms; and if I do not recant, they will proclaim me a heretic

Human affairs are so obscure and various that nothing can be clearly known.

They take unbelievable pleasure in the hideous blast of the hunting horn and baying of the hounds. Dogs dung smells sweet as cinnamon to them.

Your library is your paradise.

The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is.

Do not get excited over the noise you have made

Ask a wise man to dinner and he’ll upset everyone by his gloomy silence or tiresome questions. Invite him to a dance and you’ll have a camel prancing about. Haul him off to a public...

Everybody hates a prodigy, detests an old head on young shoulders.

Picture the prince, such as most of them are today: a man ignorant of the law, well-nigh an enemy to his people’s advantage, while intent on his personal convenience, a dedicated voluptuary, a hater of...

Time takes away the grief of men.

He who allows oppression shares the crime.

It is wisdom in prosperity, when all is as thou wouldn’t have it, to fear and suspect the worst.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Great eagerness in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, or honor, cannot exist without sin

You’ll see certain Pythagorean whose belief in communism of property goes to such lengths that they pick up anything lying about unguarded, and make off with it without a qualm of conscience as if it...

Nothing is as peevish and pedantic as men’s judgments of one another.

Great abundance of riches cannot be gathered and kept by any man without sin