Bias of Priene quotes

Bias of Priene was an ancient Greek philosopher and statesman, renowned as one of the Seven Sages of Greece. His wisdom and sense of justice earned him great respect among contemporaries and later generations alike. He is remembered for his sharp intellect and the famous maxim, "Most men are bad." Here are 20 of his quotes:

Speak of the Gods as they are.

Bias of Priene

Cherish wisdom as a means of travelling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession.

Bias of Priene

Accept of things, having procured them by persuasion, not by force.

Bias of Priene

You should look into a mirror: if you look fine, do fine things; if you look ugly, correct by nobility the defect of your nature.

Bias of Priene

Great strength of body is the gift of nature; But to be able to advise whate'er Is most expedient for one's country's good, Is the peculiar work of sense and wisdom.

Bias of Priene

Choose the course which you adopt with deliberation; but when you have adopted it, then persevere in it with firmness.

Bias of Priene

Do not speak fast, for that shows folly.

Bias of Priene

Great riches come to many men by chance.

Bias of Priene

Do not praise an undeserving man because of his riches.

Bias of Priene

Most men are wicked.

Bias of Priene

Seek to please all the citizens, even though Your house may be in an ungracious city. For such a course will favour win from all: But haughty manners oft produce destruction.

Bias of Priene

The greatest misfortune of all is not to be able to bear misfortune.

Bias of Priene

Some, by admiring other men's virtues, become enemies to their own vices.

Bias of Priene

Love prudence.

Bias of Priene

Beneath this stone lies Bias, who was born In the illustrious Prienian land, The glory of the whole Ionian race.

Bias of Priene

He used also to say that that man was unfortunate who could not support misfortune; and that it is a disease of the mind to desire what was impossible, and to have no regard for the misfortunes of others.

Bias of Priene

When he was asked by an impious man what piety was, he made no reply; and when his questioner demanded the reason of his silence, he said, "I am silent because you are putting questions about things with which you have no concern."

Bias of Priene

He used to say, too, that men ought to calculate life both as if they were fated to live a long and a short time: and that they ought to love one another as if at a future time they would come to hate one another; for that most men were wicked.

Bias of Priene