If you wish me well, do not stand pitying me, but lend me some succour as fast as you can; for pity is but cold comfort when one is up to the chin in water, and within a hair’s breadth of starving or drowning.
It pays to be content with your lot.
Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
You may share the labors of the great, but you will not share the spoil.
Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.
If these town gods can’t detect the thieves who steal from their own temples, it’s hardly likely they’ll tell me who stole my spade.
A man is known by the company he keeps.
The cat always leaves a mark on his friend.
Give assistance, not advice, in a crisis.
What’s bred in the bone will stick to the flesh.
It is easy to kick a person when he is down.
He is not to be trusted as a friend who illtreats his own family.
It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.
Every man for himself.
The loiterer often imputes delay to his more active friend.
Benefits bestowed upon the evil-disposed, increase their means of injuring you.
To be well prepared for war is the best guarantee of peace.
Straw shows which way the wind is blowing.
Familiarity gives rise to contempt.
Conceit may bring about one’s own downfall.