Quotes from Aesop's Fables

“A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know how to meet him.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“The injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scales.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Once a wolf, always a wolf.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“In trying to please all, he had pleased none.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Those who suffer most cry out the least.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“once upon a time all the rivers combined to protest against the action of the sea in making their waters salt. "When we come to you," sad they to the sea, "we are sweet and drinkable; but when once we have mingled with you, our waters become as briny and unpalatable as your own." The sea replied shortly, "Keep away from me, and you'll remain sweet.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Give assistance, not advice, in a crisis.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG


There was once a Dog who used to snap at people and bite them without any provocation, and who was a great nuisance to every one who came to his master's house. So his master fastened a bell round his neck to warn people of his presence. The Dog was very proud of the bell, and strutted about tinkling it with immense satisfaction. But an old dog came up to him and said, "The fewer airs you give yourself the better, my friend. You don't think, do you, that your bell was given you as a reward of merit? On the contrary, it is a badge of disgrace."

Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“I can't be friends with a man who blows hot and cold with the same breath.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Look and see which way the wind blows before you commit yourself.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“All men are more concerned to recover what they lose than to acquire what they lack.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“The Astronomer

AN ASTRONOMER used to go out at night to observe the stars. One evening, as he wandered through the suburbs with his whole attention fixed on the sky, he fell accidentally into a deep well. While he lamented and bewailed his sores and bruises, and cried loudly for help, a neighbor ran to the well, and learning what had happened said: "Hark ye, old fellow, why, in striving to pry into what is in heaven, do you not manage to see what is on earth?”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“THE FOX AND THE GRAPES

A hungry Fox saw some fine bunches of Grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis, and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air. But it was all in vain, for they were just out of reach: so he gave up trying, and walked away with an air of dignity and unconcern, remarking, "I thought those Grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Better poverty without a care than wealth with its many obligations.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“United you will be more than a match for your enemies. But if you quarrel and separate, your weakness will put you at the mercy of those who attack you.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Servants don't know a good master till they have served a worse.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“It is absurd to ape our betters.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“THE FOX AND THE CROW


A Crow was sitting on a branch of a tree with a piece of cheese in her beak when a Fox observed her and set his wits to work to discover some way of getting the cheese. Coming and standing under the tree he looked up and said, "What a noble bird I see above me! Her beauty is without equal, the hue of her plumage exquisite. If only her voice is as sweet as her looks are fair, she ought without doubt to be Queen of the Birds." The Crow was hugely flattered by this, and just to show the Fox that she could sing she gave a loud caw. Down came the cheese, of course, and the Fox, snatching it up, said, "You have a voice, madam, I see: what you want is wits.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Much wants more and loses all.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“The Flies And The Honey-Pot


A NUMBER of Flies were attracted to a jar of honey which had been overturned in a housekeeper's room, and placing their feet in it, ate greedily. Their feet, however, became so smeared with the honey that they could not use their wings, nor release themselves, and were suffocated. Just as they were expiring, they exclaimed, "O foolish creatures that we are, for the sake of a little pleasure we have destroyed ourselves." Pleasure bought with pains, hurts.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Lay not the blame on me, O sailor, but on the winds. By nature I am as calm and safe as the land itself, but the winds fall upon me with their gusts and gales, and lash me into a fury that is not natural to me.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“The Tree and the Reed

"Well, little one," said a Tree to a Reed that was growing at its foot, "why do you not plant your feet deeply in the ground, and raise your head boldly in the air as I do?"

"I am contented with my lot," said the Reed. "I may not be so grand, but I think I am safer."

"Safe!" sneered the Tree. "Who shall pluck me up by the roots or bow my head to the ground?" But it soon had to repent of its boasting, for a hurricane arose which tore it up from its roots, and cast it a useless log on the ground, while the little Reed, bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright again when the storm had passed over.

Obscurity often brings safety.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“If you are wise you won't be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“Slow but steady wins the race.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“The Mischievous Dog

A DOG used to run up quietly to the heels of everyone he met, and to bite them without notice. His master suspended a bell about his neck so that the Dog might give notice of his presence wherever he went. Thinking it a mark of distinction, the Dog grew proud of his bell and went tinkling it all over the marketplace. One day an old hound said to him: Why do you make such an exhibition of yourself? That bell that you carry is not, believe me, any order of merit, but on the contrary a mark of disgrace, a public notice to all men to avoid you as an ill mannered dog." Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

“The beasts of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. He was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle as a king could be. During his reign he made a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and beasts, and drew up conditions for a universal league, in which the Wolf and the Lamb, the Panther and the Kid, the Tiger and the Stag, the Dog and the Hare, should live together in perfect peace and amity. The Hare said, “Oh, how I have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place with impunity by the side of the strong.” And after the Hare said this, he ran for his life.”
― Aesop, quote from Aesop's Fables

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

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