Sourced and curated.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

1736

★ 7.6

Early to Bed and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy and wise.

1735

★ 7.5

Fish and Visitors stink after three days.

1736

★ 7.5

Haste makes Waste.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

1753

★ 7.5

Philosophical literature

Friedrich Nietzsche

Beyond Good and Evil · 1886

★ 7.5

Little strokes fell great Oaks.

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.

1750

★ 7.4

Poem · Philosophical literature

William Blake

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell · 1793

★ 7.3

Novel · Fantasy

Not all those who wander are lost.

J.R.R. Tolkien

1954

★ 7.3

Poem · Philosophical literature

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

William Blake

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell · 1793

★ 7.3

The traveler with nothing on him sings in the robber’s face.

Juvenal

Satires

★ 7.3

Letter

Dripping water hollows out a stone, a ring is worn away by use.

Ovid

★ 7.2

Great things are done when men and mountains meet.

William Blake

1807

★ 7.2

Letter

If a person knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.

Seneca

★ 7.1

Essay

In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Essays: First Series (Emerson) · 1841

★ 7.1

Essay

All rising to great place is by a winding stair.

Francis Bacon

1625

★ 7.0

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Alexander Pope

An Essay on Criticism · 1711

★ 7.0

Speech · Political speech

Justice is truth in action.

Benjamin Disraeli

1851

★ 7.0

Scripture · Religious literature

The love of money is the root of all evil.

1st Timothy 6:10

★ 7.0

Living well is the best revenge.

George Herbert

Jacula Prudentum · 1633

★ 6.9

O, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!

Sir Walter Scott

1808

★ 6.9

For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.

William Ross Wallace

1865

★ 6.9

Letter

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

Lord Acton

1887

★ 6.9

Novel · Coming of age story

Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies.

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations · 1860

★ 5.6

He that lieth down with Dogs, shall rise up with Fleas.

1733

★ 5.5

God helps them that help themselves.

1736

★ 5.5

Experience keeps a dear school, yet Fools will learn In no other.

1743

★ 5.5

When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.

1746

★ 5.5

Genius without Education is like Silver in the Mine.

1750

★ 5.5

Love your Neighbor; yet don't pull down your Hedge.

1754

★ 5.5

Tart Words make no Friends: a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a Gallon of Vinegar.

1744

★ 5.5

Old Boys have their Playthings as well as young Ones; the Difference is only in the Price.

The apparel oft proclaims the man.

1752

★ 5.5

Play · Tragedy (play)

William Shakespeare

Hamlet · 1616

★ 5.4

Rome was not built in one day.

Proverbs (Heywood) · 1580

★ 5.4

Looke ere ye leape.

Proverbs (Heywood) · 1580

★ 5.4

Haste maketh waste.

When the Sunne shineth make hay.

Proverbs (Heywood) · 1580

★ 5.4

And while I at length debate and beate the bush, There shall steppe in other men and catche the burdes.

Proverbs (Heywood) · 1580

★ 5.4

His bark is worse than his bite.

Proverbs (Heywood) · 1580

★ 5.3

George Herbert

Jacula Prudentum · 1633

★ 5.3

Religious literature

None so blind as those that will not see.

Matthew Henry

Commentaries (Henry) · 1706

★ 5.3

Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.

1750

★ 4.7

Great Estates may venture more; Little Boats must keep near Shore.

Fortune, that arrant whore, Ne’er turns the key to th’ poor.

1751

★ 4.7

Play · Tragedy (play)

William Shakespeare

King Lear · 1606

★ 4.6

The poor have little, Beggars none; The rich too much, Enough not one.

1733

★ 3.9

Take counsel in Wine, but resolve afterwards in Water.

1733

★ 3.9

He that cannot obey, cannot command.

1734

★ 3.9

Be slow in chusing a Friend, be slower in changing.

1735

★ 3.9

Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.

1735

★ 3.9

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.

1736

★ 3.9

Creditors have better memories than Debtors.

1736

★ 3.9

Blessed is he that expects nothing for he shall never be disappointed.

1739

★ 3.9

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his Portion.

1744

★ 3.9

What you would seem to be, be really.

1744

★ 3.9

He who multiplies Riches multiplies Cares.

1744

★ 3.9

If you’d lose a troublesome Visitor, lend him money.

1744

★ 3.9

Many complain of their Memory, few of their Judgment.

1745

★ 3.9

The most exquisite Folly is made of Wisdom spun too fine.