Aesop (formerly rendered as Æsop) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop’s Fables. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales associated with him are characterized by anthropomorphic animal characters.

Aesop Quotes

1. “United we stand, divided we fall.”
— Aesop

2. “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.”
— Aesop

3. “In union there is strength.”
— Aesop

4. “Being a good example teaches others to be good.”
— Aesop

5. “A man is known by the company he keeps.”
— Aesop

6. “Good things come in small packages.”
— Aesop

7. “Once a wolf, always a wolf.”
— Aesop

8. “Be satisfied with what you have.”
— Aesop

9. “Every man for himself.”
— Aesop

10. “A kindness is never wasted.”
— Aesop

11. “Don’t cry over spilt milk.”
— Aesop

12. “Little by little does the trick.”
— Aesop

13. “Beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
— Aesop

14. “Persuasion is often more effectual than force.”
— Aesop

15. “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.”
— Aesop

16. “Every man should be content to mind his own business.”
— Aesop

17. “Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.”
— Aesop

18. “It is possible to have too much of a good thing.”
— Aesop

19. “You can fool people some of the time, but you can’t fool them all of the time.”
— Aesop

20. “Please all, and you will please none.”
— Aesop

21. “Pride goes before destruction.”
— Aesop

22. “Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and uncertainty.”
— Aesop

23. “The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.”
— Aesop

24. “There is always someone worse off than yourself.”
— Aesop

25. “Those who cry the loudest are not always the ones who are hurt the most.”
— Aesop

26. “Better to starve free than be a fat slave.”
— Aesop

27. “A fair-minded man tries to see both sides of an argument.”
— Aesop

28. “Kindness is more persuasive than force.”
— Aesop

29. “Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.”
— Aesop

30. “Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either.”
— Aesop

31. “The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.”
— Aesop

32. “The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.”
— Aesop

33. “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”
— Aesop

34. “Always stop to think whether your fun may be the cause of another’s unhappiness.”
— Aesop

35. “Wise men say nothing in dangerous times.”
— Aesop

36. “A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.”
— Aesop

37. “An oak and a reed were arguing about their strength. When a strong wind came up, the reed avoided being uprooted by bending and leaning with the gusts of wind. But the oak stood firm and was torn up by the roots.”
— Aesop

38. “Betray a friend, and you’ll often find you have ruined yourself.”
— Aesop

39. “Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.”
— Aesop

40. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
— Aesop

41. “It is one thing to conceive a good plan, and another to execute it.”
— Aesop

42. “Great determination can overcome most odds.”
— Aesop

43. “Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool.”
— Aesop

44. “It is easy to despise what you cannot get.”
— Aesop

45. “Evil companions bring more hurt than profit.”
— Aesop

46. “Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.”
— Aesop

47. “Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.”
— Aesop

48. “The grateful heart will always find opportunities to show its gratitude.”
— Aesop

49. “A person’s true nature will reveal itself despite disguise.”
— Aesop

50. “Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.”
— Aesop

51. “Appearances are often deceiving.”
— Aesop

52. “Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.”
— Aesop

53. “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own Lures. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.”
— Aesop

54. “Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.”
— Aesop

55. “Give assistance, not advice, in a crisis.”
— Aesop

56. “Who acts in haste repents at leisure.”
— Aesop

57. “The hero is brave in deeds as well as words.”
— Aesop

58. “He who plots to hurt others often hurts himself.”
— Aesop

59. “After the rain cometh the fair weather.”
— Aesop

60. “Gentle persuasion succeeds where force fails.”
— Aesop

61. “The fly sat upon the axel-tree of the chariot-wheel and said, What a dust do I raise!”
— Aesop

62. “Uninvited guests are often most welcome when they leave.”
— Aesop

63. “It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.”
— Aesop

64. “I am sure the grapes are sour.”
— Aesop

65. “Distrust unsolicited advice.”
— Aesop

66. “If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.”
— Aesop

67. “One story sounds good until another is told.”
— Aesop

68. “Our insignificance is often the cause of our safety.”
— Aesop

69. “Obscurity often brings safety.”
— Aesop

70. “Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.”
— Aesop

71. “Do not attempt to hide things which cannot be hidden.”
— Aesop

72. “It pays to be prepared.”
— Aesop

73. “Don’t make much ado about nothing.”
— Aesop

74. “Necessity knows no law.”
— Aesop

75. “The unhappy derive comfort from the misfortunes of others.”
— Aesop

76. “Even a hare, the weakest of animals, may insult a dead lion.”
— Aesop

77. “It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.”
— Aesop

78. “Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease.”
— Aesop

79. “Little friends may prove great friends.”
— Aesop

80. “Harm seek, harm find.”
— Aesop

81. “The strong and the weak cannot keep company.”
— Aesop

82. “Don’t neglect the future in times of plenty, for tomorrow you may need what you wasted today.”
— Aesop

83. “Evil wishes, like chickens, come home to roost.”
— Aesop

84. “Look and see which way the wind blows before you commit yourself.”
— Aesop

85. “I will have nought to do with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath.”
— Aesop

86. “Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.”
— Aesop

87. “What a splendid head, yet no brain.”
— Aesop

88. “Do nothing without regard to the consequences.”
— Aesop

89. “We often despise what is most useful to us.”
— Aesop

90. “A word in season is most precious.”
— Aesop

91. “Much outcry, little outcome.”
— Aesop

92. “Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.”
— Aesop

93. “Bad as any government may be, it is seldom worse than anarchy.”
— Aesop

94. “It is easy to kick a person when he is down.”
— Aesop

95. “It is in vain to expect our prayers to be heard, if we do not strive as well as pray.”
— Aesop

96. “Every man carries two bags about him, one in front and one behind, and both are full of faults. The bag in front contains his neighbors’ faults, the one behind his own. Hence it is that men do not see their own faults, but never fail to see those of others.”
— Aesop

97. “Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.”
— Aesop

98. “The gods help them who help themselves.”
— Aesop

99. “The greatest kindness will not bind the ungrateful.”
— Aesop

100. “Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.”
— Aesop

101. “The little reed, bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright again when the storm had passed over.”
— Aesop

102. “Much wants more and loses all.”
— Aesop

103. “Only cowards insult dying majesty.”
— Aesop

104. “Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.”
— Aesop

105. “False friends leave you in times of trouble.”
— Aesop

106. “Every tale is not to be believed.”
— Aesop

107. “Vices are their own punishment.”
— Aesop

108. “Those who enter through the back door can expect to be shown out through the window.”
— Aesop

109. “We should look to the mind, and not to the outward appearance.”
— Aesop

110. “Put your shoulder to the wheel.”
— Aesop

111. “Don’t let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth – don’t let that get swallowed up by the great chewing complacency.”
— Aesop

112. “Equals make the best friends.”
— Aesop

113. “Facts speak plainer than words.”
— Aesop

114. “We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.”
— Aesop

115. “Self-conceit may lead to self destruction.”
— Aesop

116. “In critical moments even the very powerful have need of the weakest.”
— Aesop

117. “The value is in the worth, not in the number.”
— Aesop

118. “Implementation beats oration.”
— Aesop

119. “Adversity tests the sincerity of friends.”
— Aesop

120. “Any excuse will serve a tyrant.”
— Aesop

121. “Don’t be in a hurry to change one evil for another.”
— Aesop

122. “Here is an Unity Quote that we have all known since school: United we stand; divided we fall.”
— Aesop

123. “Those who return evil for good should not expect the kindness of others to last long.”
— Aesop

124. “If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs.”
— Aesop

125. “Those who suffer most cry out the least.”
— Aesop

126. “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

127. “Every one is more or less master of his own fate.”
— Aesop

128. “The memory of a good deed lives.”
— Aesop

129. “Most arguments are useless.”
— Aesop

130. “Example is the best precept.”
— Aesop

131. “Children are not to be blamed for the faults of their parents.”
— Aesop

132. “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart therefrom.”
— Aesop

133. “God helps those who have no-cut contracts.”
— Aesop

134. “Better poverty without a care than wealth with its many obligations.”
— Aesop

135. “He who incites to strife is worse than he who takes part in it.”
— Aesop

136. “Change of habit cannot alter Nature.”
— Aesop

137. “Better to die once and for all, than live in continual terror.”
— Aesop

138. “If words suffice not, blows must follow.”
— Aesop

139. “A Fox entered the house of an actor and, rummaging through all his properties, came upon a Mask, an admirable imitation of a human head. He placed his paws on it and said, “What a beautiful head! Yet it is of no value, as it entirely lacks brains.””
— Aesop

140. “It is with our passions as it is with fire and water, they are good servants, but bad masters.”
— Aesop

141. “If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.”
— Aesop

142. “No gratitude from the wicked.”
— Aesop

143. “Don’t go looking for trouble.”
— Aesop

144. “Like will draw like.”
— Aesop

145. “Expect no reward when you serve the wicked, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pain.”
— Aesop

146. “He that is hard to please, may get nothing in the end.”
— Aesop

147. “Men often bear little grievances with less courage than they do large misfortunes.”
— Aesop

148. “Liars often set their own traps.”
— Aesop

149. “The least outlay is not always the greatest gain.”
— Aesop

150. “It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.”
— Aesop

151. “Fair weather friends are not worth much.”
— Aesop

152. “Wealth unused might as well not exist.”
— Aesop

153. “He that is neither one thing nor the other has no friends.”
— Aesop

154. “Better poverty without care, than riches with.”
— Aesop

155. “Better no rule than cruel rule.”
— Aesop

156. “If you are wise you won’t be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.”
— Aesop

157. “Beware that you do not lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.”
— Aesop

158. “The desire for imaginary benefits often involves the loss of present blessings.”
— Aesop

159. “No argument, no matter how convincing, will give courage to a coward.”
— Aesop

160. “The more you want, the more you stand to lose.”
— Aesop

161. “We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.”
— Aesop

162. “What’s bred in the bone will stick to the flesh.”
— Aesop

163. “Pray do not grieve so; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it.”
— Aesop

164. “Whoever neglects old friends for the sake of new deserves what e gets if he loses both.”
— Aesop

165. “Keep your place in life and your place will keep you.”
— Aesop

166. “I can’t be friends with a man who blows hot and cold with the same breath.”
— Aesop

167. “You will only injure yourself if you take notice of despicable enemies.”
— Aesop

168. “Zeal should not outrun discretion.”
— Aesop

169. “A crust in comfort is better than a feast in fear.”
— Aesop

170. “Try as one may, it is impossible to deny one’s nature.”
— Aesop

171. “We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.”
— Aesop

172. “Never soar aloft on an enemy’s pinions.”
— Aesop

173. “You may share the labors of the great, but you will not share the spoil.”
— Aesop

174. “To be well prepared for war is the best guarantee of peace.”
— Aesop

175. “There are many statues of men slaying lions, but if only the lions were sculptors there might be quite a different set of statues.”
— Aesop

176. “It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.”
— Aesop

177. “Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous.”
— Aesop

178. “If men had all they wished, they would be often ruined.”
— Aesop

179. “Clumsy jesting is no joke.”
— Aesop

180. “He that is discontented in one place will seldom be happy in another.”
— Aesop

181. “Straw shows which way the wind is blowing.”
— Aesop

182. “Benefits bestowed upon the evil-disposed, increase their means of injuring you.”
— Aesop

183. “A false tale often betrays itself.”
— Aesop

184. “Precious things are for those that can prize them.”
— Aesop

185. “The Boys and the Frogs SOME BOYS, playing near a pond, saw a number of Frogs in the water and began to pelt them with stones. They killed several of them, when one of the Frogs, lifting his head out of the water, cried out: “Pray stop, my boys: what is sport to you, is death to us.”
— Aesop

186. “It is easy to propose impossible remedies.” The.”
— Aesop

187. “The quarrels of friends are the opportunities of foes.”
— Aesop

188. “In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.”
— Aesop

189. “What is most truly valuable is often underrated.”
— Aesop

190. “He that always gives way to others will end in having no principles of his own.”
— Aesop

191. “In a crisis, give help first and then advice.”
— Aesop

192. “Each person has his strong point.”
— Aesop

193. “Plodding wins the race.”
— Aesop

194. “I thought these grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.”
— Aesop

195. “Better a long life of toil than a short one of ease.”
— Aesop

196. “While I see many hoof marks going in, I see none coming out. It is easier to get into the enemy’s toils than out again.”
— Aesop

197. “Misfortune tests the sincerity of friendship.”
— Aesop