People weep at the inventions of poets, and at real sufferings they look quietly and indifferently.
Small states can resort to any means to survive.
The words of the true master must not deal with trifles, nor speak useless things to those who listen, but of those things which save them also from poverty, and bring valuable goods to others.
Our peace agreements make no sense: we do not stop, we only postpone wars.
There will be no harmony between us until we find a common enemy.
Do not think that if you have done something bad you can hide, because by hiding from others, you cannot hide from your own conscience.
Do not visit the same people often and for a long time: there is saturation in all of them.
You don't make friends quickly, and if you do once, try to be constant, because it's just as shameful to have no friends or to change them very often.
Do not scold anyone in case of failure, because fate takes care of everyone, and the future is unknown.
Think through decisions without haste, put them into practice quickly.
One of the first obligations of friendship is to anticipate the requests of friends.
Beware of gossip, even if it is untrue, because most people do not know the truth, and their judgments are based on hearsay.
Obey the king's laws, but nevertheless consider the king's will stronger than any law.
Stop the activity when you are still able to continue.
Begin to speak in two situations: either when you have thought clearly about the object you are speaking about, or when it is necessary to speak about something specific; because only in these two situations it is better to speak than to be silent, in the other cases it is much better to be silent than to speak.
Accustom yourself not to be sad, but to be focused, because sadness will earn you the reputation of a conceited man, and concentration, a thoughtful man.
About those you want to befriend, speak laudatory to the people who can convey your words to them. For praise is the beginning of friendship, and slander, of enmity.
A piece of advice to the ruler: do nothing in anger, but give the impression that you are angry when it is useful to you.
Treat the weaker states as you would like the stronger states to treat you.
Language takes precedence over thought for many people.
Practice with voluntary work, so that you are prepared, if necessary, to successfully pass the mandatory ones.
Learning is a sweet fruit from a bitter root.
Often, touching someone with words, people pay with deeds.
What is shameful to do is not even appropriate to talk about.
Without the comic one cannot know the serious, and in general anything is known by means of its opposite, if a man wants to be thoughtful.
Wealth is not blind at all - it is insightful.
Strong is he who knows how to keep quiet when he is right.
To fear death is nothing else but to ascribe to yourself a wisdom which you do not have, that is, to imagine that you know what you do not know. For no one knows what death is, not even if it is not the greatest good to man, and yet we fear it as if it were the greatest of evils. But isn't it the most shameful of ignorances to think you know what you really don't?
For the misfortunes that befall them, men are inclined to blame fate, the gods, and everyone else, but not themselves.
Everything that produces the transition from non-being to being is creation.